Kimera Industries Project Nova: 17 liters of 5-slot mATX goodness

[wovie]

After cramming 2 EVGA Hybrid GPUs into a Corsair Air 240, I'm pretty convinced they won't fit in the Nova - the rads are just too bulky. Plus they're louder than what I expected.

So, lots of research ahead for me into (my first) proper custom watercooling solution... any tips in particular that would apply specifically to the Nova would be appreciated!

 

[jeshikat]

3) The gigabyte board uses Intel's Alpine Ridge controller for USB 3.1 Type-C ports. Most other boards use the ASMedia ASM1142 chip. Technically, the alpine ridge controller can also support Thunderbolt 3. You won't see any marketing for thunderbolt 3 on the Z170MX-Gaming 5, but Gigabyte's Full-ATX Z170 boards recently received Thunderbolt 3 certification despite being released a while ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the motherboards with Alpine Ridge controllers are eventually certified too.

Someone on HardForum analyzed the Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 (the Mini-ITX) and the BIOS chip on it has less storage capacity than the ATX boards so it can't fit the extra data needed for Thunderbolt. I'm not sure if the mATX is like that or not.

After cramming 2 EVGA Hybrid GPUs into a Corsair Air 240, I'm pretty convinced they won't fit in the Nova - the rads are just too bulky. Plus they're louder than what I expected.

So, lots of research ahead for me into (my first) proper custom watercooling solution... any tips in particular that would apply specifically to the Nova would be appreciated!

Dual GPUs with AIO coolers will be difficult unless they're short cards.

Custom loop will be mostly determined by parts choice. Did you have a build in mind?

 

[Vittra]

Yeah, I remember the post about the ROM being too small on the Gigabyte ITX board for TB3. had mentioned it in my post but subsequently removed it since I couldn't find the source post on [H] anymore. I would imagine the mATX would have received it's update by now if it were possible. Unfortunate.

 

[Anthony]

Well I'm going to need this case to be made bigger just so I can cram this beautiful board in haha.

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH-Z170-MARK-1/

 

[wovie]

Dual GPUs with AIO coolers will be difficult unless they're short cards.

Custom loop will be mostly determined by parts choice. Did you have a build in mind?

I'm going to try watercooling my current rig first, hopefully reusing as much as possible when transferring to the Nova later.

So far I've picked out the EK-Supremacy and this Nemesis 240 GTS: http://www.hardwarelabs.com/nemesis/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=120. It's 30mm thick, so coupled with standard fans (~25mm) it should come out to less than 60mm.

I'd like to use the FrozenQ M1 reservoir if supported - if not, could you recommend an alternative?

I've got time today to pick out the rest of the parts, I think the last major piece is the water pump.

Sorry if any of this has been answered already, still reading up on everything. In fact I'm going to go back and re-read this thread. BBL

 

[iFreilicht]

Well I'm going to need this case to be made bigger just so I can cram this beautiful board in haha.

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH-Z170-MARK-1/

"Quad SLI/CF Support!" - Only has 3 PCIex16 slots.

 

[QinX]

"Quad SLI/CF Support!" - Only has 3 PCIex16 slots.

It points to only 2 slots, so it supports dual GPUs in quad SLI/Crossfire, technically not incorrect, but yeah dat marketing value!

 

[wovie]

Just joined so I could post in here, wanted to say this is looking fantastic and hope to see this on my desk sometime soon

One question though, would the use of a 240mm rad + ATX make the possibility of dual gpus impossible? I'm guessing it will which would be kinda unfortunate for me. Anyways, I saw that the handle was being revised. Will the original aluminum handle from the beta be an option as well or will only the new one be available? Thanks!

This is 2x GTX 980 with the Alphacool ST30 front-mounted, it's a 30mm thick radiator.

And here's an ATX PSU side-mounted - however, note that the final design is meant for it to be rear-mounted. More info and pictures here (post #5): http://www.kimeraindustries.com/blog/2015/4/3/nova-progress-update-design-changes-continue

 

[Anthony]

It points to only 2 slots, so it supports dual GPUs in quad SLI/Crossfire, technically not incorrect, but yeah dat marketing value!

Bigger and shinier is always "better" right? I am a fan of the color scheme though.

 

[Vittra]

Keep in mind there are radiators smaller than the ST30. Technically I believe that is a 27.5mm rad, but the shroud is what makes it bigger than that.

The Dazmode Darkside Extra Slim and EK SE radiators are true to size, so at 27.5mm, it gives a slight amount more of breathing room if it's needed.

 

[mirshko]

Top fan should fit just fine.

I'm using a single Noctua Industrial 140mm because I'm a sucker for Noctua but the stock fans would probably perform well. I actually run it in a pull config with the fan on the inside to give more room for the tubing.

So I decided to take your advice and go with the NZXT X41 since it seems to be the best bet in terms of ease of use and the ability to swing it out of the way to make room to work in the case. Now I'm wondering, just for cost calculations, what are the exact fans you would put in the nova along with the Industrial 140mm fan you mentioned, I just want the model numbers. Another thing, with the config of the industrial fan and X41 how loud is the system, or is it pretty much silent?

Additionally, I know for a case like this blower style GPUs are best, however I only have a EVGA ACX 760 4GB at the moment and don't have the extra funds to get a new one (I will probably wait for the 1000-series of Nvidia cards anyways to upgrade) so my concern is with the temps of a dual fan card, will it suffer and dump air into the case or do you think with a front intake fan it will be alright?

 

[Suryc]

It's similar to the pic in the link VirtualVoid posted, though instead of an internal bracket the ATX PSU would mount directly to the frame.

Sorry for reviving and older topic, but from looking at those pictures it looks like mounting an ATX power supply makes mounting two graphics cards impossible by covering up the upper slot. Is this the case? If so that would be a bit of a problem, since going with SLI is one of the main reasons to mount an ATX PSU in the first place.

Thanks for your time!

 

[wovie]

Sorry for reviving and older topic, but from looking at those pictures it looks like mounting an ATX power supply makes mounting two graphics cards impossible by covering up the upper slot. Is this the case? If so that would be a bit of a problem, since going with SLI is one of the main reasons to mount an ATX PSU in the first place.

Thanks for your time!

I think you're right. Now the question is would a SFX-L fit in its place?

 

[wovie]

Keep in mind there are radiators smaller than the ST30. Technically I believe that is a 27.5mm rad, but the shroud is what makes it bigger than that.

The Dazmode Darkside Extra Slim and EK SE radiators are true to size, so at 27.5mm, it gives a slight amount more of breathing room if it's needed.

Even better! Looked into the Dazmode Darkside a little bit - sounds really promising, I think I'm sold on those!

 

[jeshikat]

So I decided to take your advice and go with the NZXT X41 since it seems to be the best bet in terms of ease of use and the ability to swing it out of the way to make room to work in the case. Now I'm wondering, just for cost calculations, what are the exact fans you would put in the nova along with the Industrial 140mm fan you mentioned, I just want the model numbers. Another thing, with the config of the industrial fan and X41 how loud is the system, or is it pretty much silent?

Additionally, I know for a case like this blower style GPUs are best, however I only have a EVGA ACX 760 4GB at the moment and don't have the extra funds to get a new one (I will probably wait for the 1000-series of Nvidia cards anyways to upgrade) so my concern is with the temps of a dual fan card, will it suffer and dump air into the case or do you think with a front intake fan it will be alright?

Honestly, the stock fan should be fine. I just had the Noctua already and it's all black so I used that. The pump of the X41 makes a very slight hum at 6V. I hear it but I'm extremely sensitive to noise so for most people it should be basically silent. At full load the fan becomes noticeable but it's still pretty quiet.

Reference video cards are better for SLI but for a single GPU a non-ref card like your EVGA GTX 760 will be better actually. The reference cards get pretty loud under load, at least the 980s do. You can see in the picture above where I had a de-shrouded ASUS GTX 780 in an attempt to build an ultra-quiet setup. Unfortunately between the poor fan controls on the Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 and the lack of fanless mode on that 780 it wasn't as quiet as I'd like, but it was close.

Sorry for reviving and older topic, but from looking at those pictures it looks like mounting an ATX power supply makes mounting two graphics cards impossible by covering up the upper slot. Is this the case? If so that would be a bit of a problem, since going with SLI is one of the main reasons to mount an ATX PSU in the first place.

It's just the perspective of the picture that makes it look like that. An ATX PSU does not interfere with the top PCIe slot.

 

[mirshko]

Honestly, the stock fan should be fine. I just had the Noctua already and it's all black so I used that. The pump of the X41 makes a very slight hum at 6V. I hear it but I'm extremely sensitive to noise so for most people it should be basically silent. At full load the fan becomes noticeable but it's still pretty quiet.

Awesome! Thank you for the information! TBH I was a little worried about having a ACX cooler.

For the fans to use in the case what do you recommend, I saw that you had a 92mm in the back and a 120mm in the front. Do you think that would be enough considering the side water cooler?

 

[jeshikat]

I'd say either front or bottom fan to bring fresh air to the video card. I don't find the rear fan that necessary with an AIO mounted to the side. The case is small enough that the positive pressure it creates is enough to expel the hot air without the aid of exhaust fans.

With a heavily overclocked 5960X and 980Ti then the rear fan may be needed but for your setup it shouldn't.

 

[Anthony]

I reworked my parts list a bit since the income tax fairy will be visiting shortly lol.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wCvsdC

Any changes you fellows/ladies could recommend or am I ready to wait for something much better than Santa?

 

[jeshikat]

The Samsung 850 EVO 500GB is faster and is available for that price or lower pretty regularly so I'd go with that over the Mushkin. I don't know if they've gotten better but I've handled several Mushkin Chronos drives at work and have almost snapped the SATA connectors off a few of them because they were so flimsy.

 

[Vittra]

Mushkin drive appears to be MLC, which isn't bad.

Personally, I'd go with either a Crucial or Samsung drive in 2.5" Sata form factor. CX200 or Samsung Pro.. I'd avoid the Evo line at this point. Not enough value for the drawbacks anymore, especially if you are in the US.