HG Osmi Build

[fminus]

Please have a look at the Osmi build I did. You will reduce thermals GREATLY by swapping out the SFX Psu for a HDplex. Lower thermals = lower noise. Other users who built an Osmi complained of high temps with a GTX 970 in there.

In addition, the 140mm exhaust hole at the top has poorly designed ventilation holes. With the fan placed so close it causes unneeded noise. You will need to run the fan at a lower speed to avoid excessive noise. To run a lower fan speed, you need less heat. To get less heat, i would remove the SFX Psu....see where i am getting at?

 

[leonroy]

Please have a look at the Osmi build I did. You will reduce thermals GREATLY by swapping out the SFX Psu for a HDplex. Lower thermals = lower noise. Other users who built an Osmi complained of high temps with a GTX 970 in there.

In addition, the 140mm exhaust hole at the top has poorly designed ventilation holes. With the fan placed so close it causes unneeded noise. You will need to run the fan at a lower speed to avoid excessive noise. To run a lower fan speed, you need less heat. To get less heat, i would remove the SFX Psu....see where i am getting at?

I actually did pore over your thread prior to starting my Osmi build. Many thanks for the detailed build log. Was initially going to start with a HDPLEX setup but noticed that you gave up trying to fit a large Noctua cooler and went with the NH-L9i instead.

Guess now since I've purchased a SFX PSU I'll find out one way or another how toasty things will get. I actually picked up a faster spinning PWM 140mm fan so it could ramp up as things get toasty during say encoding or gaming. It's a pity therefore that the ventilation holes cause noise - guess another thing to mess around with

Since Ryzen is in fact confirmed to support ECC and Biostar are on the verge of launching their ITX board I'll be gunning for that. 95W CPU TDP to dissipate.

Have to say the more I research ITX builds the more I appreciate Apple's Mac Pro (2013 trash can). Incredible how Apple managed to get a single fan to draw air through a single heatsink and cool two GPUs and a 12 core Xeon in the bargain. Definitely shows what a custom, no compromise solution can achieve. Pity they didn't make it a touch bigger and a bit more modular.

 

[fminus]

@leonroy With the new HDplex, I definitely think it is possible to fit a larger Noctua cooler in. The issue I had before were the 24pin ATX bulging out too from it twisting to align with the motherboard. With the new design, it is parallel to the motherboard pins and much easier.

I don't know if I mentioned before, but the Osmi is really tailored to use the BeQuiet fans shape. When I attempted to throw in a Noctua I ended up taking a dremel to the around the corners to get it to fit.

I agree the MacPro had a great design. On the tonymac forum, there was a guy who made a similar setup with two aluminum blocks inside an old G4 Cube. I was actually considered doing something similar with the Osmi, but went the easy way in the end. It is definately plausible if you keep the TDP down with say a 6700T + RX460. On the HDplex blog, someone had luck passivley cooling a GTX 970, so i think a 1070 could work if you down clocked it a bit and had two fans running.

Regardless, Good luck with your build and let us know how it goes!

 

[leonroy]

History repeats itself. In 2003 I gave up waiting on a decent Opteron board and bought a Xeon system instead. In 2017 I'm going with a Z270 Intel setup after seeing the lottery that is buying an AM4 ITX motherboard.

Ordered the following:

• Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITX/ac
• PSU: Corsair SF450 SFX Power Supply
• GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1070 Mini ITX OC
• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad Core Processor
• RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX
• Set of ball tip hex drivers for the notoriously fiddly Osmi (thanks to @Vitamin Moto for the tip)

Only think I can't decide on is whether to reuse a 960GB Crucial M500 SSD I have lying around or order a new Samsung 950 EVO 1TB M.2 drive instead...

Was originally hoping to use the M500 and upgrade to a M.2 drive later but the Osmi looks like it's a complete and utter bugger to open up after the fact. Tough one.

 

[Vitamin Moto]

Go for M.2.

 

[leonroy]

Well...finished, took all day and into the night. Quite possibly the trickiest machine build I've ever done.

First things first, dry fit of the be quiet Silent Wings 3 fan and the ASRock mainboard. It's a tight fit for the mainboard and you really have no clearance either side:

Dry fit of the Gigabyte 1070, which on newer revisions of the Osmi simply slides in through the front:

Next up, dry fit of both on the table and determine in which orientation the Noctua NH-L12 fits. Due to the memory on one side of the board, the VRM sinks on the other side and the case fan on the top there's only one orientation where the Noctua fits. Apparently it's not the recommended placement for tower cases, but a quick internet search suggested performance wasn't really affected. Not sure why Noctua recommend not doing it but I really had little choice (apart from use a different heatsink):

With the dry fit done I had to figure out how to get the motherboard and the graphics card both into the case. After much fiddling I can categorically declare that it is impossible to slide a 1070 in whilst the motherboard is in place. I had two options:

1. Remove the base of the case as @Vitamin Moto did, or
2. Try and wiggle the bugger in.

I took the latter approach:

And damn near cracked the locking tab on the graphics card.

Fortunately I had just enough space to unscrew the hex bolts holding the left vertical strut to the base of the case. After loosening that (took a lot of force and a quality hex driver) I was barely able to get the graphics card to clear and sit where it needed to go. No harm, no foul (besides a few scuffed memory socket tabs.

If I'd loosened the vertical strut before hand this step would have been much easier, and in fact HG just got back to me this morning (after finishing the build alas) with exactly that suggestion.

Nice and snug:

Layout of the CPU and surrounding components. You really want to plug every cable in before mounting such a large heatsink in such a tiny space. In fact if using a 2.5" SSD (I had one spare) cable and secure it to the case before you put the board and graphics card in. It's extremely difficult to get the cables routed afterwards. If you can get an M.2 drive, do and avoid that hassle.

Tada! I had to trim the locking tab on the ATX power cable to fit it into the motherboard. It's pretty tight in there:

Seriously tempted to use security screws so I'm never tempted to open this case and fiddle with it again.

 

[Vitamin Moto]

Nice! Brings back recent memories of late night fiddling

Interested to see your idle/load temps. I intentionally didn't go for K model, as people say it produces a lot more heat that non-K model.

Seems like despite bigger cutouts on newer OSMI, 1070 still doesn't fit cleanly without fiddling. Oh well

 

[leonroy]

Here're some temp measurements.

Idle (silent):

After an hour of FurMark GPU + FurMark CPU burn test (sounds like a hair dryer):

One thing that bugs me is the fan curve of the be quiet fan:

Which means the fan speed varies like so:

I'd expected a much smoother fan profile, instead I see a jump from 950rpm to 1600rpm every few mins when the machine is under heavy load.

I'm currently using the motherboard fan controller. Anyone able to recommend fan controller software which can be a little more intelligent about the fan speed and perhaps take both CPU and GPU temps into account?

 

[alexep7]

Speedfan actually allows you to do that in Configure - Fan Control - Advanced Fan Control

 

[K888D]

Which component is it that is causing the computer to sound like a hair dryer? It looks like your CPU and system fans are running at around 1100 -1200 rpm which although won't be silent shouldn't be too loud.

If it's your GPU have you tried setting the fan profile in the Gigabyte software to the silent profile? Your GPU will run a few C hotter and you may lose around 100MHz off your boost speed, but it will be so much quieter.

 

[Vitamin Moto]

Temps seems not too high, shame about the noise that goes with it.

Couple of thoughts. Small Noctua CPU cooler is indeed near-silent at idle and desktop mode, but close to 1000 RPM it get's quite noticable.
3 PIN SilentWings fan will not give you great control over it. This was the main reason I went for Noctua 4 pin PWM exhaust fan.
At medium/high loads, Corsair SF450 fan is also pretty loud (Noctua NF-A9X14 remedies this very nicely).

Put all these things together and it's no wonder it sounds like a hairdryer.

How is the 1070? Does it have coil whine?

 

[leonroy]

Speedfan actually allows you to do that in Configure - Fan Control - Advanced Fan Control

Do you know if it allows for a combination of inputs like if CPU hits 70C or GPU hits 60C chassis fan goes to 100% for X mins?

If it's your GPU have you tried setting the fan profile in the Gigabyte software to the silent profile? Your GPU will run a few C hotter and you may lose around 100MHz off your boost speed, but it will be so much quieter.

Thanks for the tip! That made a huge difference. Lost about 20Mhz and temps went from about 76C to 81C.

Temps seems not too high, shame about the noise that goes with it.

Couple of thoughts. Small Noctua CPU cooler is indeed near-silent at idle and desktop mode, but close to 1000 RPM it get's quite noticable.
3 PIN SilentWings fan will not give you great control over it. This was the main reason I went for Noctua 4 pin PWM exhaust fan.
At medium/high loads, Corsair SF450 fan is also pretty loud (Noctua NF-A9X14 remedies this very nicely).

Heheh, come now, I learned from your build I replaced the stock Pure Wings 2 (3-pin) fan for the top of the range Silent Wings 3 (4-pin) PWM model. The problem with it is that going from 95% to 100% duty results in the fan rpm going from 1000rpm to 1600rpm - a very big jump - which is very annoying to hear and also not as effective at cooling vs a more gradual fan profile. I think I might have been better off with a Noctua 140mm PWM fan which goes to 2000rpm or 3000rpm even. I have a feeling these fans are optimal within the middle of the range rather than the extremity. Or it could just be this model of fan.

What RPMs do you see with your Noctua at the various duty cycles?

You can use Speedfan to check by going to:

• Configure > Advanced
• Select Nuvoton NCT****
• Set PWM 1 mode to Manual for your fans
• Click OK
• Check Automatic fan speed
• Now mess around with the fan duty values

Once done testing, closing Speedfan and rebooting will go back to Smart Fan IV. Or you can manually change it back via Speedfan.

I actually messed up on my max temp screenshot. CPU load temps hit 86C not 67C and fan speed gets to about 1700 RPM on the NH-L12. Screenshot updated.

I found the Corsair SF450 and Noctua NH-L12 to be incredibly quiet. I personally wouldn't change the SF450 fan - but perhaps your ears are more sensitive than mine

I'm tempted to buy these two Noctua fans and see what their profiles are like:

• NOCTUA NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
• NOCTUA NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 PWM

Might be a case of diminishing returns though.

How is the 1070? Does it have coil whine?

There actually was one instance where I heard very loud coil wine. But it's only happened once.

 

[K888D]

I actually messed up on my max temp screenshot. CPU load temps hit 86C not 67C and fan speed gets to about 1700 RPM on the NH-L12. Screenshot updated.

I found the Corsair SF450 and Noctua NH-L12 to be incredibly quiet. I personally wouldn't change the SF450 fan - but perhaps your ears are more sensitive than mine

I was wondering what was going on with those temps! I have almost the exact same setup running in my LZ7 case, even down to the same CPU cooler and GPU model, the only difference in my setup is I am using a standard i7-7700 rather than the K version. My CPU temps under stress testing reach 80C with a CPU cooler fan speed of around 1400rpm on the NH-L12 bottom fan during Prime95, this is still pretty quiet though.

The problem with your case fan jumping up to full speed during stress test is probably because it's a PWM fan, when the CPU is stressed it will reach its 100% fan speed pretty quick, the PWM signal from the CPU cooler is then also passed onto the case fan as they share the same PWM signal. Unless you specifically set the case fan to be controlled independently from the PWM signal, some motherboards are better at doing this than others. I prefer to use 3pin fans for case fans as you can have more control over them with some motherboards.

Another point to consider is that using the top fan as an exhaust will be drawing all of the GPU heat through the case which your CPU cooler will be pulling in and contributing to higher temps. You will get lower CPU temps if you flip the orientation of the case fan so it becomes an intake, this will supply your CPU with cool air. The only problem is that the OSMI case does not seem to have much ventilation around the GPU to take care of the exhaust heat, so I'm not sure whether the overall effect will be better or worse as you may start to suffer from heat recirculation after a while.

 

[leonroy]

A quick check confirms that setting the exhaust to max seems to have negligible effect on the GPU at high temps. It does however influence the CPU and of course the internal system temp.

One downside of the Osmi is that the case blocks the exhaust on the front of the GPU completely which is a shame since without the case panel on you can feel a lot of heat exiting the GPU from that side.

Here we go, found the specs for the two Noctua industrial fans. The specs for the 3000 RPM are here:

The specs for the 2000 RPM variant are here:

Seems the 2000 RPM model is the one to get. The 3000 RPM variant is way too powerful and could blow a fan header too.

 

[Vitamin Moto]

I would stay away from Noctua industrial fans if your goal is more silence oriented and go for standard Noctua fans.

Their industrial fans are meant for harsh conditions, (dust filled server rooms etc.) because of that, fan motors are more powerful and much more noisy.

You don't really need 14mm fan @ 3000 RPM

I know, the color is not the best on standard Noctuas, industrial fans definitely looks cooler in black, but you will be sacrificing a lot of silence.

 

[VegetableStu]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the CPU heatsink's orientation bad for the case to stand on this side? I imagine the water in the chamber welling up on the fan side and never returning back

EDIT: I looked up Noctua and they did suggest not mounting it like that on a vertical case

EDITx2: oh I found the part you explained. Dang. Sorry

 

[Vitamin Moto]

What RPMs do you see with your Noctua at the various duty cycles?

My chassis exhaust fan stays 600 RPM at all times.

CPU fan is 360 RPM at idle & 600 RPM at load.

CPU/GPU at idle is 35-40 C / 40-45 C

CPU/GPU at load is 60-70 C / 70-80 C

Both chassis fan & CPU fan are controlled by motherboard BIOS. Both are set to "Silent" fan profiles.

 

[leonroy]

@K888D I noticed you have the Gigabyte 1070 Mini in your LZ7 case (excellent info in that thread). How important would you say it is to leave the exhaust point on the end of the GPU uncovered as shown here?

Because best I can tell the Osmi completely blocks this exhaust point on the GPU. Wondering if it might be worth reaching out to HG for a custom Osmi shell with ventilation holes.

 

[K888D]

@K888D I noticed you have the Gigabyte 1070 Mini in your LZ7 case (excellent info in that thread). How important would you say it is to leave the exhaust point on the end of the GPU uncovered as shown here?

Because best I can tell the Osmi completely blocks this exhaust point on the GPU. Wondering if it might be worth reaching out to HG for a custom Osmi shell with ventilation holes.

I don't really have any info on what difference it would make if you blocked that exhaust area of the card, but when I'm gaming my system is sat on the desk next to my monitor and I can feel the warm air blowing through the front case vent from across the desk.

 

[fluzzywuzzy]

Just making sure before I potentially waste any money, there's no chance of fitting any of the new RTX2070 ITX cards in here huh? Both the upcomming Gigabyte and MSI versions should be ok for length and depth, but will have a thickness of 42mm, this Gigabyte 1070 are 37mm if I'm not misstaken and look to be fit with no space at all left, correct? :$