My First SFF Build: Dan A4-SFX V4

[omardesu]

Here's my 1st crack at a SFF build. I haven't built a PC since 2003, so this is was a fun project. But I did spend a lot of time creating 3 custom cable harnesses.

Build list:

Dan A4-SFX V4 case
i7 9700K
Noctua NH-L9i w/modified fan duct based of Dan's original duct
ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-itx/ac
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB DDR4-3200
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD
EVGA GTX 1070 Ti Gaming
Corsair SF600 Gold
Noctua NF-A9x14 case fan (plan to add one more)
Addressable RGB LED strips
Custom white cabling

 

[tinyitx]

Nice!
May I ask:-
1. ambient temp
2. CPU idle temp + load temp (gaming or synthetic benchmark)
3. SSD temp

And, what have you been using since your build in 2003? Pre-built system like Dell?

 

[deadline]

Really nice! What kind of RGB strips did you use, and do you control them from the motherboard? Did you use a splitter as well, as it seems to be two led stripes?

 

[omardesu]

Nice!
May I ask:-
1. ambient temp
2. CPU idle temp + load temp (gaming or synthetic benchmark)
3. SSD temp

And, what have you been using since your build in 2003? Pre-built system like Dell?

Ambient temp is around 24C
CPU idle temp is around 45C
Load temp ~72C during Fortnite on Epic. CPU load is around 50% usage
SSD temp on frontside is 72C when GPU is hitting 82C
SSD temp on backside is always 54C... not sure why that is.

As for computers, I had laptops provided by my work. For the older models with removable HDD's, I'd run Ubuntu on another HDD and swap to use it as my personal computer. Then I started buying Macbooks in 2006-2007 and have been using them til now. Up til last year, I was using Bootcamp, but I decided why not make a dedicated Windows machine.

Really nice! What kind of RGB strips did you use, and do you control them from the motherboard? Did you use a splitter as well, as it seems to be two led stripes?

I bought some off of Amazon (the links are below), and they are controllable from the mobo using ASRock's RGB software. I didn't use any splitters, so they are in series. I was able to cram 3 strips inside as there is not much space for the 4th strip. I also added some NZXT RGB cable combs which also connected to the end of the last LED strip.

http://amzn.com/B07PDMY6F2

http://amzn.com/B07G5FH59R

 

[omardesu]

Final RGB setup (I feel like I killed too much time on cabling and RGB)!!!!

Update 12/3/2019:
Upgraded the L9i to an Asetek 645LT and low profile Ballistix ram. Had to go back to the stock PSU harnesses for the time being, but I ordered up some wiring from moddiy.com on Black Friday, so I'll probably be crimping some new harnesses in January!

 

[Nanook]

Here's my 1st crack at a SFF build. I haven't built a PC since 2003, so this is was a fun project. But I did spend a lot of time creating 3 custom cable harnesses.

Build list:

Dan A4-SFX V4 case
i7 9700K
Noctua NH-L9i w/modified fan duct based of Dan's original duct
ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-itx/ac
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB DDR4-3200
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD
EVGA GTX 1070 Ti Gaming
Corsair SF600 Gold
Noctua NF-A9x14 case fan (plan to add one more)
Addressable RGB LED strips
Custom white cabling

This looks great! What are settings for your 9700K to keep it so cool?

 

[omardesu]

@Nanook I’ve hit max temps and throttled when I was running Fortnite with the FPS uncapped on all Epic settings. Now that I have a 144Hz monitor, I set the FPS limit to 160 FPS. That will leave my gpu ~95% usage on Epic settings, but the CPU stays at 50%. With that kind of usage, the heat mostly stays in the GPU half of the case, and I have to believe the blower design helps this.

Aside from that, no settings have been changed on the 9700K. It is running completely stock!

 

[tinyitx]

I do not think the 9700K is cool, especially it idles at 45C. This is 21 degrees C above ambient!
Typo?

 

[Nanook]

@Nanook I’ve hit max temps and throttled when I was running Fortnite with the FPS uncapped on all Epic settings. Now that I have a 144Hz monitor, I set the FPS limit to 160 FPS. That will leave my gpu ~95% usage on Epic settings, but the CPU stays at 50%. With that kind of usage, the heat mostly stays in the GPU half of the case, and I have to believe the blower design helps this.

Aside from that, no settings have been changed on the 9700K. It is running completely stock!

Thanks! I wasn’t sure if you’re running stock or OC’ed. Your 9700K temps/settings actually sound similar to my A4-v4, Black Ridge + 9900K. Intel 95w stock settings with -4 AVX, 40s idle, 70s gaming, 90s Prime95 small FFT, and 100+ in Keyshot cpu rendering - I quit the program before hitting TJ max.

 

[Nanook]

I do not think the 9700K is cool, especially it idles at 45C. This is 21 degrees C above ambient!
Typo?

Not very cool objectively speaking. But cool for this combination of hardware.

 

[omardesu]

So I ran the Forza Horizon 4 Benchmark and it's very clear how much the 1070 Ti is the bottleneck... I may be able to reduce CPU temps even further to match the GPU performance. Thoughts?

 

[PalaSicka]

This is amazing. I really like the temp numbers. I see you have the bottom fans in pull configuration, have you tested pushing the air out of the box - especially asking about the one under the motherboard.