Hardest Build Yet - Sliger SM580 / Dual 2080Ti SLI / 3950x / Custom Loop

Nemeses

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jun 17, 2018
12
32


Hi everyone!

While this is my first post on this forum, I've been challenging myself to create smaller and smaller builds for the past few years.
When Sliger launched their new SM580 a few months ago, one thought immediately sprung into my head...

"Would it be possible to squeeze in two 2080Ti's, a Ryzen 9 3950x, Lots of storage and...a complete custom loop with two 280mm radiators?"

I knew it was going to be my hardest and most expensive build to date.
Before getting into more details of the build, here's my component list.

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Main Components:
Loop Components:
Other:
Donor Components (more on this later on in the post):
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Alright! On with the build itself.
While the SM580 supports a 280mm radiator at the top, the bottom was never designed to fit anything but a single 120/140mm radiator or a set of fans.
Also, my Coolstream CE with a thickness of 45mm (along with 25mm fans) turned out to be too large. But, of course, there's a fix!
  1. Drill all the rivets
  2. Remove two of the side-panel mounting clips on each side
  3. Mount the radiator and fans
  4. Put it all back together again hoping you don't have to touch it again (I had to, but I'll spare you that story)
After dealing with the radiator spacing issues, I had to perform the tedious task of making my 2080Ti's with a combined width of 6 slots fit into 3 slots.
  1. Replaced the stock coolers with EKWB's Vector RTX blocks and backplates
  2. Swap the first card's bracket with EVGA's own 2-slot conversion kit
  3. On the second card, carefully cut and remove the 2nd slot DP port
  4. Swap the card's bracket with a single-slot 1080Ti Bracket


    The RTX series of GPUs uses an NVLINK bridge to provide the insane 200 Gbit/s bandwidth between the cards. Sadly, no standard bridges exist for a 3 slot configurations (2 cards + 1 space in between). Luckily PNY makes a 3 slot bridge for the Quadro RTX 6000 and 8000 which also fits and works for the 2080Ti (Product ID RTX6KNVLINKX16S2RKIT).
When moving to final assembly and before having to wrangle tons of tubing, I found that the ASRock ITX board's SATA connectors provide only 3mm of clearance against the PSU (because they are angled sideways instead of upward-facing from the motherboard). Even the thinnest SATA cables out there (Silverstone) didn't suffice, so I resorted to cutting them up even further.


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Last but not least, the current generation of X570 ITX motherboards DO NOT SUPPORT dual GPU setups using SLI and NVLINK using x8x8 bifurcation.
I tried to solve this using DifferentSLIauto (https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/sli-with-different-cards.158907), but to no avail.
Luckily I stumbled upon LukeD's post that describes 'lifting' the DSDT from an SLI-enabled ATX board and injecting the relevant information into the DSDT from my ITX board, see https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...itx-motherboards-with-pcie-bifurcation.11873/ for details.
I can confirm that this works when used for my ASRrock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 using an ASRock X570 Taichi as the DSDT donor.

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Q: Is the Corsair SF750 PSU enough to power the 3950x and dual 2080Ti's?
Yes, but I've locked the GPU power limits at 100% and slightly undervolted. Still more tuning to be done.
I might replace the PSU later this year with Silverstone's upcoming 1000W SFXL (https://www.anandtech.com/show/14556/silverstones-1000w-sfxl-psu-when-less-is-more) to enable some serious overclocking and benchmark scores.

Q: What temperatures does the system run at?
Under load during 3DMark TimeSpy, with fans at 2000rpm and pump at 75%, the CPU stays at around 72 degrees C with the GPUs hovering at around 74 degrees C.

Q: What is your 3DMark Score?
I'm hitting 21,914 points (https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/43524714)
 
Last edited:

lambino

Chassis Packer
Jul 19, 2019
17
8
This is so sweet. I wish someone made a single PCI-e slot form factor reservoir, it could fit pretty handily between your two cards. The question is how much water could be fit in a custom milled enclosure that size.
 

Nemeses

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jun 17, 2018
12
32
This is so sweet. I wish someone made a single PCI-e slot form factor reservoir, it could fit pretty handily between your two cards. The question is how much water could be fit in a custom milled enclosure that size.

Would be nice, although I needed the spacing to feed the cables and tubing. Plus, there is no room for an internal pump with this setup.
 
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ZivZulander

Trash Compacter
Jan 12, 2020
50
86
I know you are still tweaking it, but can't wait to see this in the PPL thread, in case you haven't seen it yet:
 

Nemeses

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jun 17, 2018
12
32
I know you are still tweaking it, but can't wait to see this in the PPL thread, in case you haven't seen it yet:

Oh cool! I'm traveling but will do some measurements on volume, tweak the power and OC settings, and post over there next weekend.
 

Nemeses

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jun 17, 2018
12
32
I know you are still tweaking it, but can't wait to see this in the PPL thread, in case you haven't seen it yet:

Posted my result here:
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/ppl-performance-per-liter-round-2.8824/post-183365
 
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fabio

Shrink Ray Wielder
Apr 6, 2016
1,885
4,325
Hey! This build are nuts! Seriously love it all your mods!

I was wondering if you can tell me you think: To inject the SLI info into the ITX board, do you need to have phisycally the donor board?

Thank a lot!
 

Nemeses

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jun 17, 2018
12
32
Hey! This build are nuts! Seriously love it all your mods!

I was wondering if you can tell me you think: To inject the SLI info into the ITX board, do you need to have phisycally the donor board?

Thank a lot!

For those that missed the dm response.
Yes, a physical donor is needed (I recommend just ordering on Amazon along with a cheap CPU, PSU and some RAM and returning within return policy).
 
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xkruz

Average Stuffer
Apr 1, 2020
61
106
For those that missed the dm response.
Yes, a physical donor is needed (I recommend just ordering on Amazon along with a cheap CPU, PSU and some RAM and returning within return policy).
Can I use different brand's sli certificate? Ex: asus x570 for gigabyte x570
Or Z390 for gigabyte x570?
I'm interested to do 1080ti sli
 

Nemeses

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jun 17, 2018
12
32
Can I use different brand's sli certificate? Ex: asus x570 for gigabyte x570
Or Z390 for gigabyte x570?
I'm interested to do 1080ti sli

Not to my understanding. SLI keys/licenses are issued to specific board manufacturers and Nvidia has apparently started to include some sort of validation of the license in their latest drivers. This is also why I cannot share my DSDT without risking to brick my own rig.
 
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tokes808

Average Stuffer
Aug 24, 2020
73
28
I love your build ! Just ordered a SM580 myself as I sold my Ghost S1 due to GPU compatibility & cooling. Really like how you mounted your res/pump kind of reminds me of the ones on the Ncase M1. I can't decide on buying a RTX 3080 FE or EVGA FTW3 Ultra