LZ7 #7 Build Log

[Mango]

I present the build log for my LZ7! Thanks to @K888D for designing such an amazing case. It's my first ultra-small form factor build. My previous PC was housed in a Bitfenix Prodigy which is a mansion compared to the LZ7 (comparison photos available in the build log).

First things first, the components list:

Spoiler: Components

• Case: Lazer3D LZ7
  
• CPU: Intel i7 6700K
• Motherboard: Asus Z170I PRO GAMING
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16
• GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1070 Mini ITX OC
• PSU: Corsair SF450
• SSD: Crucial MX300 750GB
• HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2.5" 2TB
• Heatsink: Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B
• Case fan: Cryorig XT140
• Power switch: 16mm Anti-Vandal Momentary Switch

Nothing major but I noticed that one of the the corner pieces was a deeper shade of orange than the other 3.

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Let's begin!

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Right side panel assembled with the corner pieces, power switch, and fan + filter.

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Back panel assembled with one of the corner pieces

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Base panel with feet attached

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The case in its partially assembled form

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Initially, I wanted to show the components being put together as well but I ran into a CPU socket pin scare and I completely forgot to take any more pictures. A good reminder to everyone, don't use too much thermal paste and especially don't let any paste (almost) fall into the CPU socket when removing the heatsink and CPU to clean up the extra! Phew~

This next shot is the first power-on test right after I started taking pictures again. Cables are a mess right now but at least it's alive!

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GPU side panel shot with dust filter installed. I'm afraid of dust and am a silent freak so big open intake vents are my thing.

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Cable management begins. This was my first experience building in such a small case and it was more challenging that I had prepared for. Liberal use of zip ties and clever cable bundling is a must when building in the LZ7.

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A look at the clearance between the BIG Shuriken 2 and the bottom of the PSU. Around half of the heatsink fan is obscured by the PSU but there's still plenty of air being drawn in through the other half.

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Because the 2.5" drives have to be screwed in flush to the drive panel, I ran into issues connecting the bulky SATA power connectors coming off the PSU cable. The solution was to use a SATA power Y-splitter cable that terminates in flat connectors.

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Drive panel assembled and in place. You can see the colourful cables of the Y-splitter behind the smoked acrylic. Ignore the fact that the top panel is on already. I accidentally swapped the assembly order of the top and front panel for this picture.

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The last shot of the internal components and my cable management before I attached the top panel. There isn't a lot space left inside but luckily, there isn't much obstructing the airflow path from the side fan except for a short portion of the 8-pin CPU power cable.

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Build complete! The white-orange combination is striking and I love it. Unfortunately, you can see some blue stains on the acrylic where the air vents are. This is from the blue lettering on the protective plastic bleeding into the panel during the laser cutting process (at least that's my guess).

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Some more staining on the top panel vents.

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Here's the top panel from before I peeled off the plastic showing where the laser cut through the blue lettering. For future production runs, this can likely be avoided/made a non-issue by having the protective plastic with lettering be on the side that faces inside. The other side is protected by plain unmarked plastic.

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Time for some size comparison shots with my Bitfenix Prodigy! The LZ7 is tiny~

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Bonus small form factor items that I own:

• Topre Realforce 87U 55g
• EZGO Slim Wallet 2.0

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All-in-all, I enjoyed building inside the LZ7 and I'm eager to start overclocking my system. I'm sure it'll be somewhat limited compared to an ATX build due to the smaller CPU heatsink but maybe I'll get lucky and get a golden chip that loves low volts . A follow-up post will include performance numbers after I overclock my system and get it stable.

 

[cmyk78]

Build complete! The white-orange combination is striking and I love it. Unfortunately, you can see some blue stains on the acrylic where the air vents are. This is from the blue lettering on the protective plastic bleeding into the panel during the laser cutting process (at least that's my guess).

My LZ7 also has the blue "stains" on the front and top panel, but not nearly as bad as yours. The stains on mine are barely noticeable unless you are looking for them.

 

[Mango]

My LZ7 also has the blue "stains" on the front and top panel, but not nearly as bad as yours. The stains on mine are barely noticeable unless you are looking for them.

If I look at the panels head-on, it's not as noticeable. It's just the angle that I took the photos at. The top panel stains are unnoticeable looking from the front. I tried to rub the colouring off with a damp cloth but I may have spread it lightly instead haha

 

[K888D]

Thank you for the great build log, it's a great feeling to see it being built.

For future production runs, this can likely be avoided/made a non-issue by having the protective plastic with lettering be on the side that faces inside. The other side is protected by plain unmarked plastic.

Thank you for the suggestion, I think what you have said is correct about the laser bleeding the bluend printed ink into the cut surface. I will definitely be asking the manufacturer to cut the parts with the clear film face up for future runs. I am a little surprised that they didn't already know to be doing this.

 

[ricochet]

I tried to rub the colouring off with a damp cloth but I may have spread it lightly instead haha

Since it is spreading have you tried with a minute amount of rubbing alcohol and/or nail polish remover? Maybe test with a q-tip (cotton bud) first on a hidden section.

 

[Mango]

Since it is spreading have you tried with a minute amount of rubbing alcohol and/or nail polish remover? Maybe test with a q-tip (cotton bud) first on a hidden section.

That was my first thought too but I did a quick Google search about using alcohol on acrylic and all the top results say that alcohol on acrylic can cause cracks.

I might try to carefully sand it out with some high grit sandpaper.

 

[Phuncz]

Indeed, I'd also try with extremely fine sand paper (grit 1500 and above) or perhaps a white pencil eraser.

Nice build ! I was also looking at that GPU but I didn't need much GPU power for my LAN-party rig. I have the same CPU cooler still in the box, it doesn't fit on my motherboard with the socket completely at the top.

 

[barfl]

Have you thought about trying one of those magic eraser sponges? that might be even less abrasive than fine grain sand paper and still get the job done.

 

[EdZ]

The 'magic erasers' are fine Melamine foam sanding pads, so may dull a high gloss finish or 'shine' a matt finish. Electrical contact cleaner is generally plastic-safe (though check the can of your particular brand) and should remove ink from the surface without attacking the acrylic.

 

[ricochet]

A very high quality toothpaste might work as well... again spot test well before using!

 

[iFreilicht]

This is certainly my favourite version of the LZ7, glad to see it looks as good as I expected!

 

[Mango]

Quick update with some overclocking results and temperatures.

For the CPU, I'm using OCN's custom x264 stress test with my i7 6700K clocked at 4.4GHz with a vcore of 1.248V. Temperatures stabilize around 80C for the 1.5 hours that I ran the stress test. Both the CPU fan and case fan ramped up to 100%. I'm going to try to lower vcore a bit more before I do an overnight stability test. Previous attempts for 4.5GHz @ 1.3V (unstable btw) pushed the temps close to 90C so I had to dial it down.

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As for gaming temperatures, I looped the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided benchmark (max settings except 0xAA) until temperatures stabilized at around 70C for the i7 6700K and 73C for the GTX 1070. At these temperatures, my fan profiles set both the CPU fan and case fan at around 80%. I left the fan on the video card on "auto" and it ramped up to about 60%. Core clock hovered around 2000 - 2038MHz, memory clock at 4600MHz, power limit 112%, and 10% additional voltage.

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[zhl146]

How are you liking the Cryorig XT140? Most of the other builds I've seen use the prolimatech and it has trouble idling at lower RPM, making it audible at idle. It's not loud, but it does whoosh a little.

 

[Mango]

How are you liking the Cryorig XT140? Most of the other builds I've seen use the prolimatech and it has trouble idling at lower RPM, making it audible at idle. It's not loud, but it does whoosh a little.

The XT140 also has an minor audible whoosh at its lowest RPM. AI Suite reports the minimum operating RPM of ~850 RPM at 40% fan speed but it won't allow me to set it below 47% fan speed which is ~950 RPM.

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Right now I've turned the case fan off until the CPU hits 50C. This effectively makes the system silent as the CPU fan (under 50% fan speed) is inaudible over the surrounding ambient noise and the video card also has a fan auto-off feature. CPU temperatures rise a little into the mid-to-upper 30s which is no big deal.

 

[Phuncz]

It may also be the software or fan controller that's the limiting factor there. I've had the same kind of limit with Asus' SmartFan control in Windows, although in the BIOS I could set it to 20% without issue.

 

[jeshikat]

It's an AI Suite issue

I'm not sure if it still works but on the older versions of AI Suite you could go to

C:\ProgramData\ASUS\FanXpert

and edit the

<mindutytokeepruning>XX</mindutytokeepruning>

line in FanCalibrationData.xml, replacing XX with whatever minimum speed you want.