Completed Lone Industries L5 - 4.6L Mini ITX

[QuantumBraced]

Oh I see. Cool, so the L12S is the best performing cooler you've tested so far? With the fan being under the heatsink, it shouldn't be TOO starved of air despite the heatsink being so close to the panel. But it's good that that few mm is there, otherwise the only intake for the fan would be whatever can get in through the side of the finstack.

Do you think realistically it would be feasible to do a window panel or would it be too much of a hassle/added cost or too early to say?

 

[Lone]

Yes, the NH-L12S seems perfect for the L5, but may be overkill for some. Please note that the default fan orientation for the NH-L12S is with the fan blowing into the heatsink fins, drawing air nearest the motherboard. The fan should not be starved for air. The air blows through the fins and out the back of the case very well, with the help of the case fan. The side panel only gets slightly warm to the touch.

The window is easily do-able. I just don't know when or if I will offer it. First step would be to do some renderings and see how it looks.

 

[QuantumBraced]

Oh I see, of course it makes a lot more sense to push air through the heatsink and then the pressure from the case fans exhausts out the back. Great streamlined airflow and easy dust control, I like it.

Would the L9x65 work for people who don't want to obstruct their entire motherboard or would the fan on that be so close to the panel that it wouldn't perform any better than a smaller cooler? Or hard to say without testing, don't know if you have one lying around. Would also be interesting to see if it would perform better with the fan flipped.

Window would be awesome. Could just be a panel with a cutout and 4 screw holes and then you screw on a tempered glass window to the outside that covers the entire side. Would look great and also give a couple more mm of cooler clearance. I think it would boost demand for the case, but that's just my feeling.

 

[Lone]

The NH-L9x65 would be too close to the panel. Definitely not recommended.

I've been doing a few more tests today.

i5-6500, GTX 750 Ti, NH-L12S, two case fans, Prime95 Small FFT (3 cores), FurMark, fans at full speed, 10 minutes.

I thought I'd try running the fans at full speed after seeing a recent SFF Network article where they decided to do this. It definitely keeps things a few degrees cooler, and shows max cooling potential at max load. At normal fan speed, the GTX 750 Ti maxed out at 79*C. Second case fan blowing onto GPU makes a big difference under FurMark tests.

 

[bOcy]

Exhausts holes(area) are sufficient ?

 

[Lone]

There is room for improvement with the rear exhaust vents (see "raised back" results, which added a little more exhaust area). I'd like to try increasing their size/area. CPU vent obviously provides a more direct exhaust path for the NH-L12S. Here's a spreadsheet containing some of my most recent test results. I'm interested to know how the fan grille style front vents (round cutout) would effect cooling performance, or if we're limited by exhaust.

 

[Lone]

I decided to try flipping the fan on the Noctua NH-L12S so it was blowing IN toward the motherboard. Surprisingly CPU temps seem to improve. However, GPU temps are higher.

Also did a few tests this morning with the L4 using the same hardware under the same conditions.

Added a couple NH-L9i test results. It also appears that cable routing can have a noticeable impact on cooling.

 

[Windfall]

I decided to try flipping the fan on the Noctua NH-L12S so it was blowing IN toward the motherboard. Surprisingly CPU temps seem to improve. However, GPU temps are higher.

Also did a few tests this morning with the L4 using the same hardware under the same conditions.

Added a couple NH-L9i test results. It also appears that cable routing can have a noticeable impact on cooling.

Some 1050ti, WX 4100, and qudaro P1000 tests would be nice. Then again, if you can't afford all those GPU's, no pressure!

 

[robbee]

So it would seem like back to back cooling in combination with a cpu vent offers best cooling, also quite a bit better than the L4. Are you considering changes to the L5 depending on these results?

 

[Lone]

Some 1050ti, WX 4100, and qudaro P1000 tests would be nice. Then again, if you can't afford all those GPU's, no pressure!

Tempting. I will have to rely on customers to test other hardware. The Zotac GTX 750 Ti (single fan) should be very similar to what you've listed? GTX 1050 Ti should be same or better, especially dual fan models.

So it would seem like back to back cooling in combination with a cpu vent offers best cooling, also quite a bit better than the L4. Are you considering changes to the L5 depending on these results?

Yes, it's basically like adding two 80 mm fans to an L4. I still have a few more tests I'd like to do. The CPU vent is the main consideration. I might make it optional, not sure.

I still want to look at: 1. Would increased exhaust (more open back venting) airflow improve cooling, and 2. How would increased intake airflow improve cooling (ie. fan grille)? I guess the bigger question I'm still trying to answer is: 3. Can I make this work well without a CPU vent?

 

[Windfall]

Tempting. I will have to rely on customers to test other hardware. The Zotac GTX 750 Ti (single fan) should be very similar to what you've listed? GTX 1050 Ti should be same or better, especially dual fan models.



Yes, it's basically like adding two 80 mm fans to an L4. I still have a few more tests I'd like to do. The CPU vent is the main consideration. I might make it optional, not sure.

I still want to look at: 1. Would increased exhaust (more open back venting) airflow improve cooling, and 2. How would increased intake airflow improve cooling (ie. fan grille)? I guess the bigger question I'm still trying to answer is: 3. Can I make this work well without a CPU vent?

No pressure!

I was wondering if you were going to include fan mounts under the GPU.

 

[Lone]

Haha, I know.

Unfortunately, I don't think fan mounts under the GPU could be worked into this design without major changes.

 

[Windfall]

Haha, I know.

Unfortunately, I don't think fan mounts under the GPU could be worked into this design without major changes.

The bottom is vented, correct?

If so, It's double-sided tape time!

 

[Lone]

The bottom is vented, correct?

If so, It's double-sided tape time!

Only the front and back are vented. What GPU are you using?

Also, in case it's of interest to anyone. Another test I did today was an open case FurMark without Prime95. This gave me a baseline for the GPU alone. The test ran for 20 minutes.

GPU temp (open case): 74-75°C (ambient 18-19°C)

I think this helps put some of the GPU temp results in perspective.

 

[Windfall]

Only the front and back are vented. What GPU are you using?

Also, in case it's of interest to anyone. Another test I did today was an open case FurMark without Prime95. This gave me a baseline for the GPU alone. The test ran for 20 minutes.

GPU temp (open case): 74-75°C (ambient 18-19°C)

I think this helps put some of the GPU temp results in perspective.

Any LP Cards have fans that would suck from the bottom, so venting there is a good idea, even if it adds a little to the cost, IMO. I'm sure those temps would drop with a vented bottom.

 

[Lone]

Any LP Cards have fans that would suck from the bottom, so venting there is a good idea, even if it adds a little to the cost, IMO. I'm sure those temps would drop with a vented bottom.

Note, that 74-75°C is with an open case, so the GPU has no obstructions.

I am actually pushing cool air into the case (positive pressure), so any bottom GPU vent would act as an exhaust, as the tiny low profile GPU fans aren't capable of pulling very much air.

 

[Lone]

I created a quick questionnaire to help me in my decision making:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...9DtokMoXb57VESakkOcCyPMA/viewform?usp=sf_link

If there's any questions you think I missed, let me know.

 

[JCameronMorris]

I created a quick questionnaire to help me in my decision making:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...9DtokMoXb57VESakkOcCyPMA/viewform?usp=sf_link

If there's any questions you think I missed, let me know.

Tried to do this but came up with:

"The form Lone Industries L5 is no longer accepting responses.
Try contacting the owner of the form if you think this is a mistake."

You got plenty of responses?

 

[Lone]

Sorry about that, it should work now.

 

[Lone]

Not much new to report. I'm quite busy lately. I've been using one of my prototypes at work, and have been mostly focused on idle temps now.

I am considering a CPU vent either default or optional. It would probably look something like this (minimal, 120x120 mm):