got a great deal today - picked up 2x Corsair ML120 Pro LED Red for US$10 each. remember when each of this bad boy would be like US$25-30 each? have always wanted a case full of these fans, sure they are not the top performer like Noctua A12x25 but it's not supposed to. The LED fits my build, and the fan is quiet enough as case fans (basically silent from 1100RPM).
so what do I do? stuck both on top of the case naked of course hehe. this is not gonna be permanent that's for sure, but it does help cooling quite a bit. Idle temp dropped by 2C with the fans running at 1000RPM only. haven't ran any benchmarks yet.
Picked up a Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse today for a good price. The card is clearly too thick for the X1 but the shroud is super simple to take off - just 5 screws holding it to the backplate. Just want to test if it can run without fans directly on top of the heatsink and it did, admirably.
Right now all 3 fans are fixed at 1500RPM and virutally silent to me. All 3 are exhausting hot air out of the case, creating naturally pressure to draw fresh air in from the side.
Auto-undervolt in Radeon Software, GPU temp reached 93C with ambient of 30C but did not throttle much. Will try to improve it with the next steps. Currently idle at 50C, not too shabby at all.
Next step will be getting a mini 4-pin PWM adapter to get the 3 ML120 Pro controlled by GPU temps, and then figure out what fan can I jam inbetween the heatsink and the side panel. Definitely will take off the backplate for extra clearance and use the shield that came with the Dan A4 as protective measure instead.
A weird thing to note though, I have always let the PCIE setting in bios to be Auto. The Mech OC card works out of the box with the ADT Gen 3.0 that was included with the X1. The Pulse card didn't work at all, further it got is loading past Aorus logo and immediately got Windows 10 BSOD - Critical process died/failed. Swapped out the ADT riser for the 3M Gen 4.0 riser from the A4-SFX v4.1 and everything just works. Hmm.
So last night another enthusiast in my local community pointed me towards these amazing little fan - Scythe Kaze Haci 8cm PWM fans. They are slim fans, only 10mm thick and maxed out at 3000 RPM. And at 6 USD each I immediately get 3 of them this morning.
Here is how I jammed 3 fans into the case haha
Ran Time Spy benchmark, GPU clock boosted to 2008Mhz and yet temp only reached 77C with 3 fans on full blast. Ran the benchmark a couple more times in different configs and settle with 3 fans at 2250 RPM - basically inaudible with the case fully closed.
Since I don't have the mini 4-pin PWM adapter yet (getting it tomorrow), all 3 fans are running off the motherboard fan headers so there's no more header for the bottom fan below the PSU. Also the heatpipes of the GPU is too tall and complete block the installation of the fan above the PSU. And there's the occasional warm breeze over my hand now ? ? ?
So I got the T1 v1.1 Black on order, 1st batch with shipping date of July 24th. In the meantime, what do I do to prepare for it? Getting an EK AIO 240 D-RGB on the cheap of course! Got a good deal that is 30% cheaper than retailer's prices in VN.
Much better temp and lower noise. Will be doing some more testing with it but I think I can let the 3900X loose from ECO mode with this AIO ?
Got these bad boys in earlier this week. Arctic P12 PWM for less than 10USD each.
Time for testing! Method: 5x Cinebench R20 runs in Air-con room Conditions and settings:
Room temps: 29-30C
Pump curve (C-%): same across 3 runs - 36-20, 48-34, 58-52, 64-72, 70-100
Fan curve (C-%):
Red & Green: 36-20, 50-36, 60-52. 68-74, 74-100
Blue: 30-20, 42-38 , 50-56, 56-76, 60-100
Ryzen Master setting:
Red & Green: PBO enabled
Blue: PBO enabled and Auto OC +200 MHz offset
Results from HwInfo64: the P12 is just amazing! At 1800RPM it just kills the ML120 both in thermal and noise performance. At full load I can't even hear the fan noise over the pump noise!
CPU temp: avg. and max temp are within 1C, negligible difference right?
CPU power: but the P12 is cooling the CPU at 13% more power than the ML120 (130W vs 115W)
Pump speed: additionally, the P12 helped the pump to run 100RPM lower and reduce noise
And this is me waiting for the T1. Too bad the T1 only supports slim fans for radiator and Arctic doesn't make slim fan. Guess I'll be saving these for the GPU mod then.
so this is how my Saturday went ? before vs. after
not happy with that 92mm fan I had to find a way to make the full size 120mm work below the EK rad. before the issue was not being able to lower the front of the rad enough to close the top lid, since it hits the edge of the front piece. I noticed there's about 5mm between the edge of the fan and the hoses, so the solution came to mind is to just not screw in the fan, push the rad back as much as possible with the 120mm fan in place and push the top down. and it works! the fan is perfectly secured and held in place by the tubing with 0 movement.
super tight clearance shot - had to bend the stock cables a lot since I don't have custom cables in the lengths that works for the T1 yet. though I'm getting the M2426 from JHack and that will solve most of that issue
also could not run this with PSU flipped because the position on the backplate makes the PSU reaches higher than in default, especially the PSU bracket and the thick PSU plug.
One last thing, the longer countersunk screw seems to break quite easily, I've broken 2 already from just normal screwing actions. Probably just me but @Wahaha360 could you share the full list and quantity of screws please so I can source them locally when needed? Cheers!
and quick testing the ID-Cooling IS-47K. Really like the cooler, great compatibility, good thermal performance
... now settling in at the other end of the country, still waiting for parts and stuff to come before I could move to custom loop. Though one thing did came in, the M2426 by J-Hack
Finally decide to have a dedicated thread to document every thing SFF that I do. So here it is.
Preface:
Just a bit of background about me. Loved video games growing up (even more because my parents forbid it in typical Asian parent fashion), which led to my enthusiasm for computers and technology in general. Stuck with laptop throughout schools so built myself my first PC with the first bonus I got out of uni. Started out typical ATX tower build, then found SFF around 2017-2018 and drawn to this forum because of the Dan A4.
Current build:
v3.1 - FormD T1 - De-shroud the GPU and upgrade the 3rd radiator fan so there are now 3x A12x25 and 2x A12x15 in the build
Current part list (As of 29/08/2020):
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor CPU Cooler: EK EK-AIO 240 D-RGB 66.04 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
it fits, Wahaha confirmed it in the T1 thread also if you need any more reassurance. There's a tiny bulge but you will never notice it unless you look for it.
Hey @thelaughingman (nice handle and av by the way, I use that in games sometimes ?).
I'm planning my build and want to use the EK-AIO, I admit mostly for the RGB. You're one of the only people I know of who is using this cooler and documenting their builds so I hope you don't mind me asking for some guidance ?
My build is going to have the Asus 3080 TUF in 3-slot mode.
I would like to use the Corsair Vengeance RGB memory, which are normal (tall?) profile, with very little give around the edges.
My question is, can the EK-AIO tubes route around these? Is there any room to tuck them up over the top as in this image, or is there enough room to have them sit in front of the RGB of the memory and still close the side panel? I'm assuming I can get creative with the PSU cable routing.
@solarnoise for 3 slot mode you should stick with LPX or Crucial Ballistix (40mm), the other RGB RAMs are all 50-55mm tall which is basically the entire width of CPU chamber so you're not gonna be able to run any tubing over the RGB RAMs then. the area up top that you highlighted I did not try to squeeze both tubes in that space so can't say for certain that it fits
Hey @thelaughingman (nice handle and av by the way, I use that in games sometimes ?).
I'm planning my build and want to use the EK-AIO, I admit mostly for the RGB. You're one of the only people I know of who is using this cooler and documenting their builds so I hope you don't mind me asking for some guidance ?
My build is going to have the Asus 3080 TUF in 3-slot mode.
I would like to use the Corsair Vengeance RGB memory, which are normal (tall?) profile, with very little give around the edges.
My question is, can the EK-AIO tubes route around these? Is there any room to tuck them up over the top as in this image, or is there enough room to have them sit in front of the RGB of the memory and still close the side panel? I'm assuming I can get creative with the PSU cable routing.
In 3 slot mode, Absolutely not. I had that same RAM kit. It will hit on the side beam in T1. Top is a no go.
You can "try" to route the tube from the bottom. Depends on your tube length, malleability(fitting locations, tube length, tube material, tube sleeve etc) and the other cables you have.
Since I used Corsair H100, I was not successful. Already had to stuff the cables somewhere. I used "almost" custom cables as well.
the EK-AIO is great, quiet pump even at max RPM, my 3900X is UV to 1.156V and temps are 45C (idle) - 60C (normal load) - 75C (CB R20). the RGB of the block is pretty, if only they have made the block in a prettier shape haha. IMO this is better than any of the Asetek AIO unless you want block with LCD display like the Kraken ones
the EK-AIO is great, quiet pump even at max RPM, my 3900X is UV to 1.156V and temps are 45C (idle) - 60C (normal load) - 75C (CB R20). the RGB of the block is pretty, if only they have made the block in a prettier shape haha. IMO this is better than any of the Asetek AIO unless you want block with LCD display like the Kraken ones
Hey man, how were you able to fit that extra 25mm fan under the radiator? I tried with my Ek240 but couldn't get the dant thing to fit. Thanks for the help
Hey man, how were you able to fit that extra 25mm fan under the radiator? I tried with my Ek240 but couldn't get the dant thing to fit. Thanks for the help
you cannot screw in the 25mm fan, you have to push the radiator towards the back to the maximum extent so that the fan is wedged between the motherboard and the hoses & tubing
