Hi everyone!

Hi there!

I made my first ITX build about an year ago and fell in love with the idea of small computers ever since. I currently have this Hackintosh build:

Intel i5 8700
NH-L9i and a bunch of other Noctua case fans
AMD RX590
Asrock z390 Phantom ITX
1x 16GB HyperX Predator stick (want to upgrade to 32GB sometime down the line)
Coolermaster Elite 130 case

It was pretty small at the time, but now I want to upgrade to something smaller and with better airflow, so I ordered a DAN case and a SF600 PSU to go with it (and while I was at it I managed to get a Ryzen 1600-based system (CPU+mobo+RAM+nvme) for really cheap on the secondary market, to build in my old case). I'm curious where this will take me, since I'm not sure I'm happy with the NH-L9i cooling performance-wise (The airflow in the Elite 130 is pretty bad, I'm curious to see how the DAN case + shroud will improve it) and I've already started researching the deep rabbit hole of compatibility that the Black Ridge is.

 

[Phuncz]

Welcome to the forum ! I think you mean the Intel i5-8600(K), i5-8500 or the i5-8400 ? The Cooler Master Elite 130 is indeed not an airflow optimzed case. The NR200P is maybe their first ITX case that is designed with airflow in mind and it's basically a larger Ncase M1. They have made excellent cases in the past (I'm a fan of the Stacker cases) but a good ITX case has been a swing and a miss for them almost every time.

 

[dapetcu21]

Welcome to the forum ! I think you mean the Intel i5-8600(K), i5-8500 or the i5-8400 ? The Cooler Master Elite 130 is indeed not an airflow optimzed case. The NR200P is maybe their first ITX case that is designed with airflow in mind and it's basically a larger Ncase M1. They have made excellent cases in the past (I'm a fan of the Stacker cases) but a good ITX case has been a swing and a miss for them almost every time.

Sorry. I meant the i7 8700 (non-K). It's sort-of worked so far and have been happy with the space savings on my previously tiny desk, but it's a 3.2GHz CPU that's sitting at 3.1GHz at 98deg when in full load (PL2 65W). I took that to 3.5GHz 98deg by undervolting it today (-100mV), but I'm not comfortable raising the PL2 with that air-starved NH-L9i in there.

I've done a bit of research and I think a better upgrade path for me would be:
1. getting a Cryorig C7G (I heard it's pretty on par with the Black Ridge), swapping the fans with my existing Noctua, then using the NH-L9i with the C7's fan and the free-to-order bracket in the cheap PC
2. getting a black NF-A9x14 HS-PWM to put on the C7G and to be able to turn the NH-L9i back into a NH-L9i
3. getting a second C7 for the cheap PC to replace the NH-L9i, but using its fan

 

[rfarmer]

Sorry. I meant the i7 8700 (non-K). It's sort-of worked so far and have been happy with the space savings on my previously tiny desk, but it's a 3.2GHz CPU that's sitting at 3.1GHz at 98deg when in full load (PL2 65W). I took that to 3.5GHz 98deg by undervolting it today (-100mV), but I'm not comfortable raising the PL2 with that air-starved NH-L9i in there.

I've done a bit of research and I think a better upgrade path for me would be:
1. getting a Cryorig C7G (I heard it's pretty on par with the Black Ridge), swapping the fans with my existing Noctua, then using the NH-L9i with the C7's fan and the free-to-order bracket in the cheap PC
2. getting a black NF-A9x14 HS-PWM to put on the C7G and to be able to turn the NH-L9i back into a NH-L9i
3. getting a second C7 for the cheap PC to replace the NH-L9i, but using its fan

Is your 8700 delidded? If not doing that would help more than any of your other choices. I shaved 20C off of my 8700k.

 

[dapetcu21]

Is your 8700 delidded? If not doing that would help more than any of your other choices. I shaved 20C off of my 8700k.

Oh wow, didn't realise it's so dramatic. I might attempt it, but I'm afraid I'll ruin my CPU.

 

[rfarmer]

Oh wow, didn't realise it's so dramatic. I might attempt it, but I'm afraid I'll ruin my CPU.

It was my first, and only, delid and I was a bit worried too. I bought the Rockit delid kit which made it easy and there are a ton of videos on how to do it.