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Some anecdotal build observations:
I enjoy working in this case because All the panels comes off so that I can access everything easily. The spine is surprising rigid. As easy to build as other SFF cases where al the panels comes off (M1, A4, S4M)
The case is compact, but with the side panels off, it feels spacious somehow. It was easiler to feed/connect/manage cables than a standard ATX case, or even a compact Cerberus, for that matter.
I did notice that sliding the CPU side panel on is easily from bottom to top, than top to bottom. For some reason there is a small step on the B-side of the side panel that catches on the NH-L12 heatsink fins. I had to slide a sheet of paper of the heatsink, slide the side panel on, and then remove paper.
The side panels (and top hats) are beautifully machined from four solid blocks of aluminum. I noticed that the screw holes on the edges are not actually tapped. With the slight copper color inside the screw holes, I thought they were some sort of tiny M3 pressed nuts. I later found out that they were actually tiny coil springs pressed inside the blind holes, acting as screw threads. One fell out, and I super glued it back into the hole last night. I’ll inspect it tonight to see if it stayed, and if the others are loose.
I enjoy working in this case because All the panels comes off so that I can access everything easily. The spine is surprising rigid. As easy to build as other SFF cases where al the panels comes off (M1, A4, S4M)
The case is compact, but with the side panels off, it feels spacious somehow. It was easiler to feed/connect/manage cables than a standard ATX case, or even a compact Cerberus, for that matter.
I did notice that sliding the CPU side panel on is easily from bottom to top, than top to bottom. For some reason there is a small step on the B-side of the side panel that catches on the NH-L12 heatsink fins. I had to slide a sheet of paper of the heatsink, slide the side panel on, and then remove paper.
The side panels (and top hats) are beautifully machined from four solid blocks of aluminum. I noticed that the screw holes on the edges are not actually tapped. With the slight copper color inside the screw holes, I thought they were some sort of tiny M3 pressed nuts. I later found out that they were actually tiny coil springs pressed inside the blind holes, acting as screw threads. One fell out, and I super glued it back into the hole last night. I’ll inspect it tonight to see if it stayed, and if the others are loose.
I believe that step is to hold the filters in place that were planned.
You know, I hate to be pedantic, but I keep seeing people say this. The front, back, and sides are extruded, and then have some extra machining done to them. That's quite a bit different from solid blocks that are machined to the final shape, which would need significantly more machine time.
That's pretty bloody good.
Quick question about the VLP ram, I've never used it before and seems a little different to regular ram, but would something like
https://enoch.systems/en/p/components/memory/m4ui-8gs1vc0k-c.html work for my computer? I couldn't find the ram you used >.<
Without know what hardware you have, I cannot tell if that would work with your PC. The one you linked is registered ram, which only works with server / HEDP hardware. Try searching for these:
https://enoch.systems/en/p/componen...ery_low_profile_vlp.html?memory_dimmtype=1399
Updated with 4x A12x25 fans with two M tophats:
CPU temperatures are actually similar to having 4x A12x15 fans with two S tophats. The A12x25s are more quiet, and sound better at max RPM. I had them set at 1000rpm, only ramping up to 2000 when CPU/MB reaches 70c.
GPU temperatures are much better though. Running Forza Horizon 4 for 30 minutes resulted in 49c (GPU fan speed at 51%. Pretty happy with it.
CPU temperatures are actually similar to having 4x A12x15 fans with two S tophats. The A12x25s are more quiet, and sound better at max RPM. I had them set at 1000rpm, only ramping up to 2000 when CPU/MB reaches 70c.
GPU temperatures are much better though. Running Forza Horizon 4 for 30 minutes resulted in 49c (GPU fan speed at 51%. Pretty happy with it.
Thanks! Yes I think I will stayed with this setup for a bit, but really until my system is stable.
I am running into some strange boot problems. I have no overclock, turned off MCE, everything in my BIOS is as Intel stock as possible. I had tried resetting the motherboard. This involves me repeating the following, not in any order: unplugging the motherboard battery, which requires removing the NH-L12. Shorting the reset jumper. Etc. until I looked up the error light color, and found that yellow meant ram error. I would reseat the ram, and that would seem to fix the boot stalls.
I am also experiencing some crashes during temperatures tests. Running Prime95 while adjusting power limits in XTU crashed my system, and required reseating the ram for the system to recover. I ended up running different soft to test temperatures — running Cinebench and Keyshort for CPU test, and GPU intensive Forza and Timespy benchmark.
I suspect it’s either bad VLP ram, ram not 100% compatible with my Z390i, or bad motherboard. Hopefully it’s not the VLP ram.
Once I get this stable again, I might do more setup tests
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I think this settles it for me.. Sticking to my 7700K compared to the 9900K as it just gets too hot when at higher clock speeds. Really hope Intel's 10nm makes a difference or I'll likely settle with a ryzen build in the future.
Kinda surprised your top hats didn't do more for cpu temps, but I guess the nh-l12 is at it's limit so it won't matter how much air you exhaust.
Kinda surprised your top hats didn't do more for cpu temps, but I guess the nh-l12 is at it's limit so it won't matter how much air you exhaust.
Testing 240mm AIO
The L12 was great with Intel stock settings, but I hit a thermal ceiling pretty quick when I unleash the 9900K for overclocking.
With MCE on, and unlimited power limit, the pc would draw 210w, and get toasty.
So I set out to use my 240mm AIO (Enermax Liqfusion 240) and the L tophat, and kept the two A12x25 fans up top with the M tophat. I think it looks more balanced to have the L tophat on the bottom.
I also swapped in some 3000 ram.
With 4.7ghz MCE on, the cpu is 80c in Prime95 small FFT.
Rendering with Keyshot, the cpu gets up 60s.
The L12 was great with Intel stock settings, but I hit a thermal ceiling pretty quick when I unleash the 9900K for overclocking.
With MCE on, and unlimited power limit, the pc would draw 210w, and get toasty.
So I set out to use my 240mm AIO (Enermax Liqfusion 240) and the L tophat, and kept the two A12x25 fans up top with the M tophat. I think it looks more balanced to have the L tophat on the bottom.
I also swapped in some 3000 ram.
With 4.7ghz MCE on, the cpu is 80c in Prime95 small FFT.
Rendering with Keyshot, the cpu gets up 60s.
Thanks!!wow, nice temps! in this configiration may I ask you to test also with raised bottom? don't know how much, everything not less than 1cm will be ok, I suppose
GPU temps?
Tested lifting the case with some spare case feet, they’re just propped up temporarily:
Also wiped down the case to remove fingerprints...
In terms of thermals, I can’t really tell if there is a large enough improvement. 80-85c during Prime95 small FFT torture tests.
About 65 to 70c for productivity loads. Some throttling though — 3.8ghz to 5ghz.
In terms of GPU, with the AIO radiator fans set to intake, my 2080FE temperatures sits at about 78c (stock 50-60% fan speed) for Heaven tests. With a more aggressive fan curve (up to 80% fan speed), GPU temperatures comes down to 63c.
A note about performance of the Z390i heatsinks —I had to remove all of the “ornamental” motherboard heatsinks to fit the NH-L12. Since I didn’t overclock my 9900K with the L12, the VRMs were ok. I’ve done this before in other Asus ITX motherboards before, and they are usually ok. With the 9900K, the motherboard VRMs do get push a lot harder than my other build (8700K / Z370i).
With the 240mm AIO, if I leave the motherboard VRM heatsinks off, the motherboard would throttle non-stop. Fluctuating from 150w to 170w, and as a result, speed goes between 3.6ghz to 4.8ghz. It was a throttling mess. If I were to keep the AIO, I might reinstall the motherboard heatsinks, and find a good balance for power / temps / speed.
Another note on the Enermax Liqfusion. The backplate insulating foam is not great. It has degraded over two to three rebuilds, and would short out some of the rear motherboard components. It was extremely frustrating to troubleshoot, as I had to tear down the whole rig multiple times to spot this problem.
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Moving this back the the M1 to better cool the GPU. Not really working so far. It’s still running at 80c. I have more work yet...
I tightened the block one more time, and it seems to be much better now...
After 30 minutes of Forza Horizon 4, I’m getting 54c for CPU and GPU.
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