Log Lone L5 workstation

[GuilleAcoustic]

A few months ago, I bought a very lovely Lone L5 case but parts availability being a pita, I only recently got everything that I needed to build my new rig.

Parts are as follow:

• Lone L5 White and Black
• Asus ROG Strix Z490-I Gaming
• Intel core i9-10900T (10 cores, 20 threads, 35W*)
• Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3200MHz (Samsung b-die)
• Western Digital SN750 500GB NVMe
• Cryorig C7G + Noctua NF-A9x14 Chromax Black
• 2x Noctua NF-A8 Chromax Black
• HDPLEX 400W hifi DC-DC
• HDPLEX 400W AC-DC

As the title says, this is a workstation aimed toward development. I do not need nor want a dGPU and sadely AMD Renoir APU are not easy to source. I got a good deal on that 35W* i9, so everything's fine . OS wise, I'll be running Linux as always.

I still have to make custom cables and will update the thread once it's done. The idea is to house the DC-DC at the bottom of the chassis (secured with a custom bracket) and make nice 24pins and EPS cables, along cable lacing to make it all clean and tidy. I'm planning flat black ribbon cables for the fans (one for the CPU fan and a split one for the front fans). At the moment, the front fans are set as exhaust but I might change that depending on temperatures.

The HDPLEX AC-DC with have a custom case, with improved C14 connector (EMI filtering + fuse + power switch) and an aviation style output connector (not settled on the model yet).

Now, let's the eye candy begin:

ps: I'd like to thank @Lone and larry from HDPLEX for their awesome products and the time they took to answer all my emails.

 

[BaK]

A few months ago, I bought a very lovely Lone L5 case but parts availability being a pita, I only recently got everything that I needed to build my new rig.

Beautiful case indeed!
The dark interior as well!

Are you going to keep the RGB on the RAM sticks visible?
I am still looking for a way to mod my Vengeance RGB modules...

Don't you think 400W of power is a bit overkill for that build?

Especially if by this

The HDPLEX AC-DC with have a custom case, with improved C14 connector (EMI filtering + fuse + power switch) and an aviation style output connector (not settled on the model yet).

you mean a *cough* external case?

According to Lone you should be able to fit it inside the L5:

The HDPLEX 200W AC-DC is known to fit hanging over the PCI slot

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Don't you think 400W of power is a bit overkill for that build?

That i9 has a 123W PL2 ... and the 200W version was not available. Been waiting for weeks and settled on the 400W instead. I'd rather have some headroom for RAM, peripherals, second m.2 than running the PSU close to its limit ;-)

The 200W is known to be a tight fit and I'm pretty sure that the heatsink on the back would conflict with the RAM.

I have a custom chassis in mind designed around the 400W combo, so nothing lost.

Are you going to keep the RGB on the RAM sticks visible?
I am still looking for a way to mod my Vengeance RGB modules...

I really love RGB ... j/k ... I'll probably just turn them off with some software.

you mean a *cough* external case?

According to Lone you should be able to fit it inside the L5:

I've read that, but I don't want to butcher the chassis to fit a bigger power plug.

 

[vlad1966]

I used to have an Lone L5 White and Black but like a dummy, sold it a few months back & have regretted it ever since :-(
Looks like Lone has now stopped manufacturing them, at least for a while.

GuilleAcoustic - Mind If I ask where you were able to source the i9-10900T from? Those seem as rare as the 4000 series AMD APU's.​

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I used to have an Lone L5 White and Black but like a dummy, sold it a few months back & have regretted it ever since :-(
Looks like Lone has now stopped manufacturing them, at least for a while.

I use to procrastinate a lot, my title speaks for itself .... but I'm so glad that I pulled the trigger without hesitation on this one last batch.

GuilleAcoustic - Mind If I ask where you were able to source the i9-10900T from? Those seem as rare as the 4000 series AMD APU's.

No worries, it's not a secret. I bought it from Alternate, a Germany based retailer. They often have T series parts and currently have i9-10900T is stock for 452€. Those are genuine CPUs, not ES or QS.

 

[Soul_Est]

Excellent start! Looking forward to more.

 

[Solo]

Hell yes

 

[Valantar]

The L5 is one of the best looking cases ever made IMO, and this build matches it perfectly. Those giant DIMMs blocking the airflow path of the cooler make me cry a bit inside, but I guess that's more or less unavoidable. Makes me wonder if rotating the heatsink 90° would improve CPU cooling though - might be worth a try. Definitely looking forward to seeing the PSU solution, that external case sounds interesting even for someone as averse to external PSUs as me.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

The L5 is one of the best looking cases ever made IMO

I can't agree more, I've always loved industrial designs.

Those giant DIMMs blocking the airflow path of the cooler make me cry a bit inside, but I guess that's more or less unavoidable

That motherboard is feature rich, but it's kinda cramped around the CPU socket. I guess it's the price to pay. Even regular sized DIMM would obstruct the air path, sadly.

Makes me wonder if rotating the heatsink 90° would improve CPU cooling though - might be worth a try

That's something I'll try for sure. But I think that the mounting bracket conflicted with the VRM heatsink ... can't remember though. Definitely worth a try. Just (re)tried and it doesn't fit lol. Can't tell if the C7G is not a real square or if the CPU area is not exactly squarish ... but the end result if the same: it only fits in one way.

Definitely looking forward to seeing the PSU solution, that external case sounds interesting even for someone as averse to external PSUs as me.

The idea is to have something matching the L5 design while adding a few features you don't have with external bricks.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

By the way, does anyone have recommandations on the following:

• Crimping tool suited for PSU and fan cables
• Wire type to make custom cables

Ideally, I'd like very flexible wires for 24 pins and CPU EPS ... or at least as flexible as electrical and safety requirements allow.

 

[BaK]

I did both of my sig's builds with a 10$ crimping tool, had to adjust it a bit though with a dremel.
But this is what I will be using for my B01T3 build. Looks like good quality, but didn't try it yet. Not supposed to work with 16AWG.

20.99US $ 25% OFF|SN 2549=SN 28B+SN 01BM IWISS Crimping Tools fo0.08 1.0 mm² XH2.54/Dupont 2.54/2.8/3.0/3.96/4.8/KF2510/JST Terminal|Pliers| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

And for the wires, I ordered them at that store. They look as flexible as they should be.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/5839149?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27426c378eu7Nu

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Thanks for the suggestions @BaK. Also, can't wait to see more of your "boite" project

 

[BaK]

Also, can't wait to see more of your "boite" project

Aah finally someone noticing the 1337 french title 'jeu de mots'!
Was expecting @aquelito to be the first, but you won!

Got some fresh pics to publish soon!

 

[Valantar]

I bought my crimper from moddiy.com, can't find the link right now but it was named SN-28B according to the confirmation email. Cost about $40, which is around half of what most people say that a "quality" crimping tool costs. Has worked perfectly for me, including jobs well out of its spec (such as crimping together several 18AWG wires). Sturdy build, jaws seem good, ratcheting action is solid and reliable. The only thing it hasn't worked well for is fan cables, simply because those use very thin gauge wire that doesn't play well with the jaws on my crimper. If I were to guess, it's probably hard to find a single set of jaws that covers everything one might need in PC building, but something like what @BaK linked is probably good. Looks very similar to mine, and the price is great!

Edit: oh, nvm, I just spotted that the jaws on the unit @BaK linked has a fourth set of teeth in the jaw! That's brilliant! Definitely ought to extend the range of wire gauges it can handle. I might have to order one myself, or at least a new set of jaws!

 

[BaK]

Yeah the smallest teeth of the crimper I linked are very tiny, should work fine with fan cables.
That's where my old cheapo one was failing.

 

[DrLeroy]

I am really enjoying this little build, the L5 is my dream home server case, one note on the C7g having used one on a R9 3950x, R7 1700, and R5 1600 all with the Noctua fan, is that they can struggle to exhaust the hot air with larger Ram dims, as the orientation essentially has them slightly chocked off, I saw a few deg temp improvement when switching to LP ram with mine, just my 2c on the matter. but how good is it that they include the brackets that fit the Noctua fan now, the original C7 and C7c I do not believe had these?

what are your development workloads like for this system?

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I am really enjoying this little build, the L5 is my dream home server case

That will be its true final form too, but I need a workstation first. That will give me time to make my own case to move this hardware into. I'm considering this later inside the L5: https://www.solid-run.com/arm-servers-networking-platforms/honeycomb-workstation/

one note on the C7g having used one on a R9 3950x, R7 1700, and R5 1600 all with the Noctua fan, is that they can struggle to exhaust the hot air with larger Ram dims, as the orientation essentially has them slightly chocked off, I saw a few deg temp improvement when switching to LP ram with mine, just my 2c on the matter.

That's my only concern. I don't have the OS installed yet, but it stays around 26C under EFI. I don't really need the 4.6GHz turbo, that' gives me a comfortable margin to play with if the temps are not to my likings.

but how good is it that they include the brackets that fit the Noctua fan now, the original C7 and C7c I do not believe had these?

This is exclusive to the C7G from my understanding. It comes with a set of wires for 14mm fans and one for 25mm fans.

what are your development workloads like for this system?

I mostly do C/C++, Python and AVR developpement on Linux (Archlinux is my distro of choice). Aside from microcontrolers, I'd like to go back to making my own game. I'm a pixel art art / retro game lover, so nothing too demanding GPU wise.

 

[BaK]

Yeah the smallest teeth of the crimper I linked are very tiny, should work fine with fan cables.
That's where my old cheapo one was failing.

Just confirning the tool works fine!
I have done some 26 AWG cables for the power switch, LEDs and reset switch easily.
What I found to work best is to pre-crimp the terminal only on the third teeth, to tighten a little bit its biggest jaws. The terminal can then hold by itself on the cable, grabing the isolation, and its easier to put them both on the smallest fourth teeth to finish the crimp.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I recently bought an RTX A2000 and was wondering if I could "safely" use an HDPLEX250W GaN unit where the front fans sit and use a Weipu connector for some brickless goodness.

The idea would be to make a custom bracket based on the fan bracket model @Lone shared, that would still allow some air to escape from the front.

Did anyone try a build with no front fan at all ?

My components are i9-10900T, C7G with Noctua slim chromax 92mm, Asus Z490-I, 32GB b-die Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB, RTX A2000 12GB.

I'm also considering swapping the C7G for a Thermalright AXP120-X67 as it is the biggest cooler that fits my stupidly tall Asus Z490-I and Corsair Dominator Platinum.

Edit: might be worth mentioning, but I have one of the latest batches with the extended GPU vents.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Here's a first attempt at designing an adapter to replace the front fans. I do not have an SKP model of the HDPLEX250W GaN, but it is backward compatible with the 400W HIFI... so here I go :