So, my future first SFF system is going to be an mATX SFF system. Mostly, because the goal is to have a portable workstation, so a bit more RAM (esp. with the current pricing situation with DDR5) and more PCIe slots might come in handy, but also, because of the unfortunate issues with AIO liquid cooling and the placement / direction of the tubes on ITX boards. And thirdly, because its also a bit of a challenge 
.. and I like challenges.
My ORIGINAL plan was to use the NR200P in Sunset Orange with additional mATX brackets, but NOW, in early April 2022, I've changed gears, and decided to go even further down the semi-custom road, and persue a "Mesh-mATX" (MeshiMatx? Meshematx? "Meshem-atecs" .. something along these lines). Kind of like a v2.0 or v1.5 variant of this concept. Although I'm going to use a Meshroom S now (and yeah, its not the first SFF I've built by now, even in terms of mATX, but its still going to be the first SFX < 20L volume sized one).
For more context, see the reddit posts: MeshATX : Transforms the Meshlicious ITX case into the smallest ATX case - SonGay Custom
Current plans / work in progress (2023-11-29):
The system is being used as our main system, a workstation for both development / design, as well as audio editing and a bit of video editing. Hence the focus on massive CPU power vs. lesser GPU.
System specs:
- CPU: i7-13700k
- Mainboard: MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi
- RAM: 64 GB DDR5 (Corsair Vengeance 5200)
- m.2 SSDs: FireCuda 530 2 TB + Firecuda 510 1 TB (from the old system); might replace the 510 with another 2 TB 530 or other similar good SSD (good = high TBW level, essentially anything > 1 PB)
- SATA SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB (old system); might be phased out or moved over to the NAS system
- CPU Cooling: AIO, Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 A-RGB (with potential fan replacements: be quiet! Silent Wings 4 Highspeed OR Artic P12 Max); for the future system, an AIO with 280 mm seems to be very feasible, because the GPU itself is only 10 cm (!) wide
Hence the other option is going to be the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 280, which did mostly fit when doing a mockup a few months ago.
- PSU: Corsair SF 750, replacing the horridFSP Dagger Pro 850 (the cables are so disgustingly bad, rigid and prone to break, aside of being waaaay too long)
- Case: SSUPDMeshlicious Meshroom S in black, all mesh panels
- GPU: Gigabyte RX 6800 Gaming OC, because of the much better Linux GPU support, and also its just 100 mm wide (!); might try a deshroud for improved breathing room and space between the AIO radiator and the GPU
- OS: Linux (Siduction / MX Linux dual boot), Windows 10 Pro / 11 only in a VM
Intermediate (step) case and setup:
- Case: Asus Prime AP201 - only for building the system itself, because its a workstation and our future main system.
Still, its a very nice, well done MFF (29L) case. Despite its overall "lets be more basic" credo, it feels like the lanky, taller, but younger sibling of the SAMA IM01. Ie. same layout, all mesh panels, tool-less panel removal (via pin system, also very similar to the SAMA or NR200, not so much Lian Li), but also: nice options for cable hiding, quite the few choices for adding fans or SSDs / HDDs, and so on.
- PSU: Seasonic Focus PX-550 - was originally meant for our Music Server / NAS / surfstation, but is filling in until a satisfactory PSU has been acquired. There should not be any issues, as there has been no GPU installed yet. Going to be replaced with the Corsair SF 750 soon, as the GPU has arrived last week.
Originally planned case modifications:
After seeing the very subtle lightning / RGB effects of our new mouse, the Razer Basilisk v3, we feel there might be a need to add bottom spacers or feet and a subtle RGB stripe underneath, to create a similar calm, glowing effect. Just casual, nice understatement, no christmas tree disco organ.
cu, w0lf.
.. and I like challenges.
My ORIGINAL plan was to use the NR200P in Sunset Orange with additional mATX brackets, but NOW, in early April 2022, I've changed gears, and decided to go even further down the semi-custom road, and persue a "Mesh-mATX" (MeshiMatx? Meshematx? "Meshem-atecs" .. something along these lines). Kind of like a v2.0 or v1.5 variant of this concept. Although I'm going to use a Meshroom S now
(and yeah, its not the first SFF I've built by now, even in terms of mATX, but its still going to be the first SFX < 20L volume sized one).For more context, see the reddit posts: MeshATX : Transforms the Meshlicious ITX case into the smallest ATX case - SonGay Custom
Current plans / work in progress (2023-11-29):
The system is being used as our main system, a workstation for both development / design, as well as audio editing and a bit of video editing. Hence the focus on massive CPU power vs. lesser GPU.
System specs:
- CPU: i7-13700k
- Mainboard: MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi
- RAM: 64 GB DDR5 (Corsair Vengeance 5200)
- m.2 SSDs: FireCuda 530 2 TB + Firecuda 510 1 TB (from the old system); might replace the 510 with another 2 TB 530 or other similar good SSD (good = high TBW level, essentially anything > 1 PB)
- SATA SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB (old system); might be phased out or moved over to the NAS system
- CPU Cooling: AIO, Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 A-RGB (with potential fan replacements: be quiet! Silent Wings 4 Highspeed OR Artic P12 Max); for the future system, an AIO with 280 mm seems to be very feasible, because the GPU itself is only 10 cm (!) wide
Hence the other option is going to be the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 280, which did mostly fit when doing a mockup a few months ago.
- PSU: Corsair SF 750, replacing the horrid
- Case: SSUPD
- GPU: Gigabyte RX 6800 Gaming OC, because of the much better Linux GPU support, and also its just 100 mm wide (!); might try a deshroud for improved breathing room and space between the AIO radiator and the GPU
- OS: Linux (Siduction / MX Linux dual boot), Windows 10 Pro / 11 only in a VM
Intermediate (step) case and setup:
- Case: Asus Prime AP201 - only for building the system itself, because its a workstation and our future main system.
Still, its a very nice, well done MFF (29L) case. Despite its overall "lets be more basic" credo, it feels like the lanky, taller, but younger sibling of the SAMA IM01. Ie. same layout, all mesh panels, tool-less panel removal (via pin system, also very similar to the SAMA or NR200, not so much Lian Li), but also: nice options for cable hiding, quite the few choices for adding fans or SSDs / HDDs, and so on.
- PSU: Seasonic Focus PX-550 - was originally meant for our Music Server / NAS / surfstation, but is filling in until a satisfactory PSU has been acquired. There should not be any issues, as there has been no GPU installed yet. Going to be replaced with the Corsair SF 750 soon, as the GPU has arrived last week.
Originally planned case modifications:
As we're going with the Meshroom S, the following modifications mostly apply to the original SSUPD Meshlicious:
To properly accomodate the mATX mainboard, the Meshlicious frame requires a slight cut on what would normally be the front (panel) side. We might add a slight extension of about 1 - 2 cm width, too.
Also, to position the AIO properly, we MIGHT need to add a holding bracket or two, and also may have to add a few more holes to fix the original 280 mm radiator brackets to the right side of the case (depends on what the Meshroom S has to show up with, info might be obsolete for this Meshilicious v1.5)
For properly keeping the GPU in place, there might also be the requirement of adding another bracket on its bottom or we need to fabricate a small attachable GPU holder by ourselves.
To properly accomodate the mATX mainboard, the Meshlicious frame requires a slight cut on what would normally be the front (panel) side. We might add a slight extension of about 1 - 2 cm width, too.
Also, to position the AIO properly, we MIGHT need to add a holding bracket or two, and also may have to add a few more holes to fix the original 280 mm radiator brackets to the right side of the case (depends on what the Meshroom S has to show up with, info might be obsolete for this Meshilicious v1.5)
For properly keeping the GPU in place, there might also be the requirement of adding another bracket on its bottom or we need to fabricate a small attachable GPU holder by ourselves.
After seeing the very subtle lightning / RGB effects of our new mouse, the Razer Basilisk v3, we feel there might be a need to add bottom spacers or feet and a subtle RGB stripe underneath, to create a similar calm, glowing effect. Just casual, nice understatement, no christmas tree disco organ.
Case: SSUPD Meshlicious in black, with all mesh panels. Test build in the SAMA IM01 (clone / licensed EU version: Inter-Tec IM-I Pocket).
Mainboard: MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi - the DDR5 prices are down to something more reasonable (32 GB DDR 5 ~ 150 Euro vs. DDR 4 - 80 - 100 Euro), but also: Change of plans with the CPU requires more intervention.
RAM:32 GB for starters - 64 GB DDR 5; its a workstation, after al
CPU:Intel i7-12700k or i5-13600k - 13700k - tests / benchmarks show, that the 13700k performs as well as the 12900k with just the power limit set to 140W (eg. Computerbase article (German))
CPU Cooling: AIO - after more in-depth research, I'm going with the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 + 2x Be Quiet Light Wing 4 HS, and hope it's gonna work out well.
PSU: Cooler Master 750 / 850, Lian Li 850, FSP 850, or maybe Seasonic Focus SGX 750 , depending on what is more viable, but esp. available.
Is going to be located to the right side, not the left, which should avoid blocking the PCIe slots.
GPU:PNY RTX A4000 or RTX 3060 Ti or 3070, maybe Founders Edition - going with my "old" GTX 1660 for now, but a "cheap" 3060 Ti is the plan, and then maybe UV / power limiting it, too. We want to either do the DYI 3060 Ti Palit StormX mod or go with the Bykski GPU Water Block for 3060 Ti, depending on what we get our hands on first.
According to the NVidia website, the 3070, the 3070 Ti FE but esp. the 3060 Ti FE are only 112 mm wide, so perfect for our purposes. And as reasearch in the DIY Palit StormX thread revealed, the "el cheapo" 3060 Ti versions stick to the original card size and just add a bit of their own cooling solutions. Eg. the Palit RTX 3060 Ti OC - clearly nearly identical construction as the FE version.
This is greatly going to influence where PSU and GPU are going to be placed. My plan is to try the "original" version of GPU + Radiator in the same compartment, placing the radiator first and the GPU beside. Only if that does not work out, I'm going for "my" version, ie. placing the GPU with a vertical mount inside the "mainboard compartment". Might be the future location anyway, if I vote for a custom loop in the nearby future (with the water block mentioned above).
VRM cooling: When using the Arctic Liquid Freezer II, its automagically taken care of. Else, a 40 or 60 mm fan positioned above the VRM should do.
Case modifications: To properly accomodate the mATX mainboard, the case frame needs a slight cut on what would normally be the radiator side, so while doing that, I'm planning to create a 1 - 2 cm extender for this anyway. This would result in a bit more volume, roughly 15 - 15.5L. This also allows for better cable management and a potential space to place SSDs, additional (slimline) fans etc.
Mainboard: MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi - the DDR5 prices are down to something more reasonable (32 GB DDR 5 ~ 150 Euro vs. DDR 4 - 80 - 100 Euro), but also: Change of plans with the CPU requires more intervention.
RAM:
CPU:
CPU Cooling: AIO - after more in-depth research, I'm going with the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 + 2x Be Quiet Light Wing 4 HS, and hope it's gonna work out well.
PSU: Cooler Master 750 / 850, Lian Li 850, FSP 850, or maybe Seasonic Focus SGX 750 , depending on what is more viable, but esp. available.
Is going to be located to the right side, not the left, which should avoid blocking the PCIe slots.
GPU:
According to the NVidia website, the 3070, the 3070 Ti FE but esp. the 3060 Ti FE are only 112 mm wide, so perfect for our purposes. And as reasearch in the DIY Palit StormX thread revealed, the "el cheapo" 3060 Ti versions stick to the original card size and just add a bit of their own cooling solutions. Eg. the Palit RTX 3060 Ti OC - clearly nearly identical construction as the FE version.
This is greatly going to influence where PSU and GPU are going to be placed. My plan is to try the "original" version of GPU + Radiator in the same compartment, placing the radiator first and the GPU beside. Only if that does not work out, I'm going for "my" version, ie. placing the GPU with a vertical mount inside the "mainboard compartment". Might be the future location anyway, if I vote for a custom loop in the nearby future (with the water block mentioned above).
VRM cooling: When using the Arctic Liquid Freezer II, its automagically taken care of. Else, a 40 or 60 mm fan positioned above the VRM should do.
Case modifications: To properly accomodate the mATX mainboard, the case frame needs a slight cut on what would normally be the radiator side, so while doing that, I'm planning to create a 1 - 2 cm extender for this anyway. This would result in a bit more volume, roughly 15 - 15.5L. This also allows for better cable management and a potential space to place SSDs, additional (slimline) fans etc.
Case: SSUPD Meshlicious in black, with all mesh panels.
Mainboard:
a) DDR 4 version: MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi - most reasonable priced, and also (sadly) the only mATX Mortar option available.
Both the Z690 and the B660 (no matter which RAM type) share the same VRM, so not much is lost. I want Z690 mostly out of UV reasons, anyway. OC is NOT the game here
b) DDR 5 version: MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi - the DDR5 prices are down to something more reasonable, but also: The Gigabyte ITX / mATX boards seem to suffer from various issues, including very limited CPU cooling support, but also overheating issues, etc. Essentially not worth the saved moneys over DDR5 boards.
RAM: 32 GB for starters (DDR5 CL 36 seems to reasonable available by now)
CPU: Intel i7-12700k or i5-13600k, although the benchmarks for the 13700 (non-k!) look awesome as well (identical to the 12700k, but with lower TDP,;could become a nice option for B660)
CPU Cooling: AIO, either Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB or Be Quiet Silent Loop II 280. But the Arctic should fit, albeit a bit tight. Might switch the fans out with the SilverStone Air Penetrator 140i ARGB, the Be Quiet Light Wings or maybe even the Noctua NF14 IndustrialPPC. I'd like to stick to RGB, but a bit more classy than just your regular rainbow unicorn vomit.
PSU: Sticking to the Corsair SF 750 SFX; measurings and test fits with cardboard dummies showed, that there should be at least 5 mm distance even with the PSU located inside the case (vs. my "1 - 2 cm" outbound location on the GPU + Radiator side). The radiator of the Liquid Freezer II is only 138 mm wide (see Specs Sheet at the Arctic website), vs. the usual 140 + something of others.
Second option would be to go with the original Mesh-ATX / Meshlicious method, ie. placing the PSU on the mainboard side, but with one particular change: Placing the PSU on the OTHER side, ie. right below the RAM banks etc. So it wont block the extension slots.
I even came up with a third, experimental version, which would require to replace the mainboard tray with a custom one, with a custom opening on its bottom half, that allows the PSU to be placed right below the mainboard, similar to how its done in the Densium 4 (plus) case; although, of corpse, it'd be a SFX and not a Flex ATX unit.
GPU: PNY RTX A4000 or RTX 3060 Ti or 3070, maybe Founders Edition, but essentially anything very short, not larger than 2.5 slots.
Original plan is to place it on the mainboard side, with a PCIe 4 riser cable. But with the second choice detailed above, the original approach of GPU on the other side should work, too - although we'd have to watch out for the width not becoming an issue.
According to the NVidia website, both the 3070 as well as the 3070 Ti FE are only 112 mm wide, so perfect for our purposes (aside of the fact that they're also very short; the regular 3070 FE might even fit at the mainboard side, with a bit of adaption of the former PSU opening).
The RTX A4000 is said to be 125 mm wide, which would just about fit on the GPU side, but as I intend to add an extension of about 1 cm anyway, this might not become much of an issue.
VRM cooling: When using the Arctic Liquid Freezer II, its automagically taken care of. Else, a 40 or 60 mm fan positioned above the VRM should do.
Case modifications: As a potential weight reduction option, I am planning to either replace the mesh steel panels with similar ones made out of aluminium, or maybe even with custom 3D printed ones. A nice method to cheap-skate on the radiator bracket might be to "abuse" the solid steel panel and just add a nice fat cutout into it. Secure the panel with screws instead of the original Lian Li pins, and depending on where the fans are located, add a dust filter on top.
Also, the original Mesh ATX calls for a slightly thicker side panel (where normally the radiator would be placed), which I might extend by 1 - 2 cm instead, eg. for better cable routing, SSD locations etc. This would enlarge the volume to approx 16 - 16.5 L.
Mainboard:
Both the Z690 and the B660 (no matter which RAM type) share the same VRM, so not much is lost. I want Z690 mostly out of UV reasons, anyway. OC is NOT the game here
b) DDR 5 version: MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi - the DDR5 prices are down to something more reasonable, but also: The Gigabyte ITX / mATX boards seem to suffer from various issues, including very limited CPU cooling support, but also overheating issues, etc. Essentially not worth the saved moneys over DDR5 boards.
RAM: 32 GB for starters (DDR5 CL 36 seems to reasonable available by now)
CPU: Intel i7-12700k or i5-13600k, although the benchmarks for the 13700 (non-k!) look awesome as well (identical to the 12700k, but with lower TDP,;could become a nice option for B660)
CPU Cooling: AIO, either Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB or Be Quiet Silent Loop II 280. But the Arctic should fit, albeit a bit tight. Might switch the fans out with the SilverStone Air Penetrator 140i ARGB, the Be Quiet Light Wings or maybe even the Noctua NF14 IndustrialPPC. I'd like to stick to RGB, but a bit more classy than just your regular rainbow unicorn vomit.
PSU: Sticking to the Corsair SF 750 SFX; measurings and test fits with cardboard dummies showed, that there should be at least 5 mm distance even with the PSU located inside the case (vs. my "1 - 2 cm" outbound location on the GPU + Radiator side). The radiator of the Liquid Freezer II is only 138 mm wide (see Specs Sheet at the Arctic website), vs. the usual 140 + something of others.
Second option would be to go with the original Mesh-ATX / Meshlicious method, ie. placing the PSU on the mainboard side, but with one particular change: Placing the PSU on the OTHER side, ie. right below the RAM banks etc. So it wont block the extension slots.
I even came up with a third, experimental version, which would require to replace the mainboard tray with a custom one, with a custom opening on its bottom half, that allows the PSU to be placed right below the mainboard, similar to how its done in the Densium 4 (plus) case; although, of corpse, it'd be a SFX and not a Flex ATX unit.
GPU: PNY RTX A4000 or RTX 3060 Ti or 3070, maybe Founders Edition, but essentially anything very short, not larger than 2.5 slots.
Original plan is to place it on the mainboard side, with a PCIe 4 riser cable. But with the second choice detailed above, the original approach of GPU on the other side should work, too - although we'd have to watch out for the width not becoming an issue.
According to the NVidia website, both the 3070 as well as the 3070 Ti FE are only 112 mm wide, so perfect for our purposes (aside of the fact that they're also very short; the regular 3070 FE might even fit at the mainboard side, with a bit of adaption of the former PSU opening).
The RTX A4000 is said to be 125 mm wide, which would just about fit on the GPU side, but as I intend to add an extension of about 1 cm anyway, this might not become much of an issue.
VRM cooling: When using the Arctic Liquid Freezer II, its automagically taken care of. Else, a 40 or 60 mm fan positioned above the VRM should do.
Case modifications: As a potential weight reduction option, I am planning to either replace the mesh steel panels with similar ones made out of aluminium, or maybe even with custom 3D printed ones. A nice method to cheap-skate on the radiator bracket might be to "abuse" the solid steel panel and just add a nice fat cutout into it. Secure the panel with screws instead of the original Lian Li pins, and depending on where the fans are located, add a dust filter on top.
Also, the original Mesh ATX calls for a slightly thicker side panel (where normally the radiator would be placed), which I might extend by 1 - 2 cm instead, eg. for better cable routing, SSD locations etc. This would enlarge the volume to approx 16 - 16.5 L.
Right now, April 9th, 2022, the Meshlicious in black, with all mesh panels and PCIe 3 riser has been ordered, and should arrive at the 11th (ie. Monday).
Aside of that, the plans are now as follows:
Mainboard: Going with the Gigabyte Z690M Aorus Elite AX DDR4, because it seems to be the most reasonable one. The Asus Prime Z690M-D4 just looks so bad in terms of VRM load (the manual / specs just mention 10 + 1 + 1, probably 50A, but nothing else), and the Gigabyte seems to use almost the same setup as the MSI B660 / Z690 mATX boards. Yes, less extension ports, but if push comes to shove, and a PCIe 1x is required, one can still pick a nice NGFF-to-PCIe adapter and incorporate that.
Although, if I cannot solve the AIO compatibility issue (see latest post in this thread), I might have to switch back to the Asus Prime, or even the MSI Mortar (which is a DDR5 board, which all the issues attached, esp. RAM cost).
RAM: Sticking to 64 GB DDR 4 , 3600 XMP. I'm permanently clocking out 11 GB during regular work, and plans go towards running a VM for streaming (OBS / Audio / VJing), which should have enough RAM, too.
Case: As already mentioned, its the Meshlicious in black with all mesh panels, PCIe 3.0 riser. For a future GPU (probably RTX 2060 or 3060), I need to purchase a proper PCIe 4.0 riser anyway. There will be a few small case modifications, most prominently, the cutout on one side of the upper case beam, to settle the mainboard properly into the case.
Case weight notices: Without side panels, the case only weights about 1.5 kg, but with side panels attached, its roughly3.7 kg.
Correction: Its only 3.3 kg! See my post about the weight check below.
Maybe replacing at least some of those with something more light weight (but with similar "air flow" specs) might be worth the effort.
PSU: Will be positioned on the "GPU" side of the Meshlicious. Also, switching back to the Corsair SF 750, although I'm also pondering about a TFX or FlexATX, because of size restraints (not wanting to bond with the radiator too much). As soon as the case is there, I'm planning to do excessive cardboard mockups, to see if the PSU would be too "touchy" with the radiator, or if its a neglectable issue.
CPU: 12700k (no changes)
GPU: Intel + Nvidia (no changes), but with the new case, Riser PCIe 4.0, and "ITX appropriate" length; something along the lines of a RTX 2060 or 3060. Positioned on the "CPU" side, in the place where normally the PSU would reside.
Storage: Pre-existing FireCuda 510, maybe add another 520 or 530 to act as addition. Probably going with a 2 TB SATA Raid, too.
CPU Cooling, Revision #2 ( as of April 12th, 2022):
The case is here, and reality has settled in; mockups and pre-calculation can only go that far. So: a 280 mm is not gonna fit. Or more like, its going to fit waaay too snug = 140 mm radiator width + 100 mm PSU width = 240 mm = THE WIDTH OF THE CASE.
Hence, the revised options look like this
a) Semi-open AIO: Alphacool Aurora Pro 240, etc.
b) Regular AIO: any decent 240 mm, eg. Arctic Freezer II or be!quiet Silent Loop. Although the temps might not be that nice.
c) Case Mod: outbound PSU - as seen with eg. the Cooler Master HAF XB Evo; in theory, grinding down a bit of the part what would normally be the opening for the vertical "small" GPU position, would open up to the 64 mm of a SFX PSU.
d) custom loop, eg. 200 mm radiator
VRM cooling: Don't know if all out mesh is enough, so there might be an attempt with a slow running 60 mm fan pushing air over the MB from the side.
Aside of that, the plans are now as follows:
Mainboard: Going with the Gigabyte Z690M Aorus Elite AX DDR4, because it seems to be the most reasonable one. The Asus Prime Z690M-D4 just looks so bad in terms of VRM load (the manual / specs just mention 10 + 1 + 1, probably 50A, but nothing else), and the Gigabyte seems to use almost the same setup as the MSI B660 / Z690 mATX boards. Yes, less extension ports, but if push comes to shove, and a PCIe 1x is required, one can still pick a nice NGFF-to-PCIe adapter and incorporate that.
Although, if I cannot solve the AIO compatibility issue (see latest post in this thread), I might have to switch back to the Asus Prime, or even the MSI Mortar (which is a DDR5 board, which all the issues attached, esp. RAM cost).
RAM: Sticking to 64 GB DDR 4 , 3600 XMP. I'm permanently clocking out 11 GB during regular work, and plans go towards running a VM for streaming (OBS / Audio / VJing), which should have enough RAM, too.
Case: As already mentioned, its the Meshlicious in black with all mesh panels, PCIe 3.0 riser. For a future GPU (probably RTX 2060 or 3060), I need to purchase a proper PCIe 4.0 riser anyway. There will be a few small case modifications, most prominently, the cutout on one side of the upper case beam, to settle the mainboard properly into the case.
Case weight notices: Without side panels, the case only weights about 1.5 kg, but with side panels attached, its roughly
Correction: Its only 3.3 kg! See my post about the weight check below.
Maybe replacing at least some of those with something more light weight (but with similar "air flow" specs) might be worth the effort.
PSU: Will be positioned on the "GPU" side of the Meshlicious. Also, switching back to the Corsair SF 750, although I'm also pondering about a TFX or FlexATX, because of size restraints (not wanting to bond with the radiator too much). As soon as the case is there, I'm planning to do excessive cardboard mockups, to see if the PSU would be too "touchy" with the radiator, or if its a neglectable issue.
CPU: 12700k (no changes)
GPU: Intel + Nvidia (no changes), but with the new case, Riser PCIe 4.0, and "ITX appropriate" length; something along the lines of a RTX 2060 or 3060. Positioned on the "CPU" side, in the place where normally the PSU would reside.
Storage: Pre-existing FireCuda 510, maybe add another 520 or 530 to act as addition. Probably going with a 2 TB SATA Raid, too.
CPU Cooling, Revision #2 ( as of April 12th, 2022):
The case is here, and reality has settled in; mockups and pre-calculation can only go that far. So: a 280 mm is not gonna fit. Or more like, its going to fit waaay too snug = 140 mm radiator width + 100 mm PSU width = 240 mm = THE WIDTH OF THE CASE.
Hence, the revised options look like this
a) Semi-open AIO: Alphacool Aurora Pro 240, etc.
b) Regular AIO: any decent 240 mm, eg. Arctic Freezer II or be!quiet Silent Loop. Although the temps might not be that nice.
c) Case Mod: outbound PSU - as seen with eg. the Cooler Master HAF XB Evo; in theory, grinding down a bit of the part what would normally be the opening for the vertical "small" GPU position, would open up to the 64 mm of a SFX PSU.
d) custom loop, eg. 200 mm radiator
VRM cooling: Don't know if all out mesh is enough, so there might be an attempt with a slow running 60 mm fan pushing air over the MB from the side.
CPU cooling: As one can see from the MeshATX original videos / posts, the radiator is positioned on the other side, where normally the GPU would sit. I'm going to try "classic" AIO first, and if that does not work out as expected, Iit's obviously down the custom loop road.
a) AIO: Arctic Freezer II 280 should be doable, esp. with an mATX board. Mostly because of the superb performance, although I might have to remove the VRM heatsink; other option would be the be!quiet Silent Loop 2 280mm, and replace the default fans with Arctic P14 / P140 Bionix.
b) Semi custom loop: If Freezer II or Silent Loop 2 fail, the third option for an AIO would be the Alphacool Eisbaer Pro Aurora 280. Tubing length should be decent / similar to the "normal" AIOs.
c) Custom loop: Alphacool 280 mm radiator, maybe also Alphacool cooler / pump combo, soft tubes, Arctic P14 / P140 Bionix fans. It'd be my first custom loop, so I want to go slow
Radiator bracket: Multiple choices available. Either find a nice 280 STL, dig out one on the interwebs (Amazon, Ebay) and adapt it, "borrow" it from another case (eg. Core 500) - or the brutal way: Build one myself from fine paper-thin steel
a) AIO: Arctic Freezer II 280 should be doable, esp. with an mATX board. Mostly because of the superb performance, although I might have to remove the VRM heatsink; other option would be the be!quiet Silent Loop 2 280mm, and replace the default fans with Arctic P14 / P140 Bionix.
b) Semi custom loop: If Freezer II or Silent Loop 2 fail, the third option for an AIO would be the Alphacool Eisbaer Pro Aurora 280. Tubing length should be decent / similar to the "normal" AIOs.
c) Custom loop: Alphacool 280 mm radiator, maybe also Alphacool cooler / pump combo, soft tubes, Arctic P14 / P140 Bionix fans. It'd be my first custom loop, so I want to go slow
Radiator bracket: Multiple choices available. Either find a nice 280 STL, dig out one on the interwebs (Amazon, Ebay) and adapt it, "borrow" it from another case (eg. Core 500) - or the brutal way: Build one myself from fine paper-thin steel
My current plan is to use the NR200P (if possible, in "sunset orange") with additional mATX brackets (there are 3D print templates for that, but might also make them myself using steel or aluminium plate) and the power supply bracket set in the front position.
For those who it may concern, there is a page in my own wiki listing some of the research of suitable cases for mATX SFF. Its written in German, because I put it together for my best friend, whose understanding of the english language is not that good, but most of it should still be pretty self-explaining
NR200P is going to be ordered in a bit, and then the prep work is mostly going to be mocking up things, esp. radiator / liquid cooling in regards of what may or may not fit. For "the real deal", ie. setting up the mATX board, I've got an old mATX intel board (Sandy Bridge) sitting around, so I can do actual tests and not have to rely on mockup templates.
System-wise, its going to be along the lines of roughly the following specs:
CPU: i7 12700k - the 12900k seems to be way too much of a challenge, cooling-wise
RAM: 32 GB DDR5 or 64 GB DDR4
Board with DDR5: its probably going to be either the MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi, or the Asus ROG Strix B660-G Gaming Wifi
Board with DDR4: the Asus Prime Z690M-D4, as this one seems to be the most versatile currently available in Germany, because of the amount of extension slots, ie. both a PCIe 5 x16 and also a PCIe 4 x16, which may come in handy if I ever decide to run two different GPUs (eg. small consumer AMDGPU + workstation NVidia GPU), Thunderbolt, and more; VRM is lower-tier, but acc. to the spec overview its still 10 + 1 (50A).
Update: OR the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WIFI DDR4 - read & seen a few tests of "more budget-oriented boards", and the MSI B660 has shown to perform extremely solid. Not 100% happy with the placement of the extension slots, but aside of that, it has got everything I'm expecting from a well-built mATX board, including nicer looking heatsinks, so in theory, AIO / Custom Loop shouldnt have too many issues.
CPU cooling: Either AIO, maybe Arctic Freezer II 280 or be!quiet Silent Loop, or an open AIO like the Alphacool Aurora 240 or 280
GPU: Intel + NVidia; originally wanted to go with AMDGPU only, but those plans aimed for an AMD-only system, so the GPU would have been a neccessity (and AMDGPU is much more reliable under Linux than NVidia) - but I've scraped that in favor for going with the latest Intel; with iGPU, the nastier issues with NVidia should be avoidable (I'd need it only for streaming / video rendering, and very VERY rarely, playing a game, so, once in a blue moon)
Storage: I got a few pre-existing SSDs plus a FireCuda 510 1 TB NVMe, which is gonna stay as my main system disk, although I might switch back to MX Linux, cause (K)Ubuntu offers quite a few annoyances that tick me off on a daily base. Dedoimedo recently wrote a raving review of MX Linux MX-21 KDE, so that might be a good option for a "glorious" return.
PSU: Going with the Cooler Master V-Series V850 SFX Gold, over the very classic SF750
DDR4 vs. DDR5 depends on whether 32 GB is enough for now, or if I indeed need 64 GB RAM. My current system only has got 16 GB, which I gonna change soon (probably next week), because with just a bit more work-intense loads, I've already managed to max out my system quite a few times (read: web developer / frontend designer with lots of backend / database work, but also extensive JS development, which easily may chew up lots of system resources).
For those who it may concern, there is a page in my own wiki listing some of the research of suitable cases for mATX SFF. Its written in German, because I put it together for my best friend, whose understanding of the english language is not that good, but most of it should still be pretty self-explaining
NR200P is going to be ordered in a bit, and then the prep work is mostly going to be mocking up things, esp. radiator / liquid cooling in regards of what may or may not fit. For "the real deal", ie. setting up the mATX board, I've got an old mATX intel board (Sandy Bridge) sitting around, so I can do actual tests and not have to rely on mockup templates.
System-wise, its going to be along the lines of roughly the following specs:
CPU: i7 12700k - the 12900k seems to be way too much of a challenge, cooling-wise
RAM: 32 GB DDR5 or 64 GB DDR4
Board with DDR5: its probably going to be either the MSI MAG Z690M Mortar Wifi, or the Asus ROG Strix B660-G Gaming Wifi
Board with DDR4: the Asus Prime Z690M-D4, as this one seems to be the most versatile currently available in Germany, because of the amount of extension slots, ie. both a PCIe 5 x16 and also a PCIe 4 x16, which may come in handy if I ever decide to run two different GPUs (eg. small consumer AMDGPU + workstation NVidia GPU), Thunderbolt, and more; VRM is lower-tier, but acc. to the spec overview its still 10 + 1 (50A).
Update: OR the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WIFI DDR4 - read & seen a few tests of "more budget-oriented boards", and the MSI B660 has shown to perform extremely solid. Not 100% happy with the placement of the extension slots, but aside of that, it has got everything I'm expecting from a well-built mATX board, including nicer looking heatsinks, so in theory, AIO / Custom Loop shouldnt have too many issues.
CPU cooling: Either AIO, maybe Arctic Freezer II 280 or be!quiet Silent Loop, or an open AIO like the Alphacool Aurora 240 or 280
GPU: Intel + NVidia; originally wanted to go with AMDGPU only, but those plans aimed for an AMD-only system, so the GPU would have been a neccessity (and AMDGPU is much more reliable under Linux than NVidia) - but I've scraped that in favor for going with the latest Intel; with iGPU, the nastier issues with NVidia should be avoidable (I'd need it only for streaming / video rendering, and very VERY rarely, playing a game, so, once in a blue moon)
Storage: I got a few pre-existing SSDs plus a FireCuda 510 1 TB NVMe, which is gonna stay as my main system disk, although I might switch back to MX Linux, cause (K)Ubuntu offers quite a few annoyances that tick me off on a daily base. Dedoimedo recently wrote a raving review of MX Linux MX-21 KDE, so that might be a good option for a "glorious" return.
PSU: Going with the Cooler Master V-Series V850 SFX Gold, over the very classic SF750
DDR4 vs. DDR5 depends on whether 32 GB is enough for now, or if I indeed need 64 GB RAM. My current system only has got 16 GB, which I gonna change soon (probably next week), because with just a bit more work-intense loads, I've already managed to max out my system quite a few times (read: web developer / frontend designer with lots of backend / database work, but also extensive JS development, which easily may chew up lots of system resources).
cu, w0lf.
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