I just wanted to share my build and my experience. As we all know know building in a SFF can be very rewarding but also very frustrating. I selected the Skyreach because there's no better power/cooling to size ratio out there.
There's many examples of the normal brickless layout, with the DC-ATX next to the motherboard, the Nanoatx brick below the GPU and shifting the GPU closer to the motherboard. This was originally what I had planned and I had originally purchased the shift brackets, the the 180 GPU pin adapters, a super flexible riser cable in preparation. However the shift brackets was very difficult to bend and I realized with my motherboard combo and blackridge there really was no room for the gpu to be shifted closer to the motherboard because the riser would hit the 120mm fan. Also inherently running the brick under the 2070S is a huge challenge especially since theres no room for the GPU connectors and even with the 180 connectors you will likely need to remove one panel off the brick to create more clearance. Those 180 connetors also have exposed soldered points which can cause shorts. My buddy actually had his system start smoking cause of that!
Here's the basic layout as it would sit in the case(Note I ended up relocating the 40mm to the top of top of the case).
A build like this you need to carefully go step by step otherwise things won't fit. I think I took apart my system at least 3 times cause of the power button!
1) Fit the power button to the front panel. So for this to work you need to move the power button to the GPU side.
2) Preparing your motherboard. I'm running an Asus Z390-I Strix motherboard with a 9700k, Vcolor 16 gig 2666 hz VLP Ram x2 and a blackridge cooler. You need to remove the large VRM heatsink on the motherboard in order for the blackridge to fit. I did place some alphacool copper heatsinks with doublesided thermal tape to compensate for the lack of VRM cooling. I figure this combo + the active cooling from the fan should be enough. I also went ahead and removed the mobo nvme heatsink and used the heatsink that came the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 2 tb. It's going to be stuffy under there and I wanted as much air flow as possible.
Now this is where you need to pay attention. You need to install the power connector because the CPU heatsink will cover the F-panel, at least on my motherboard. You may also want to connect your riser cable but I did find I didn't need to because the heatsink wasn't covering it.
Bending the Blackridge cooler I preheated the heat pipes with a heatgun, used something solid where the fan would go as well as using the edge of a table to push on it till it would bend. There's only so much you can bend as ultimately the 120 mm x 15 mm fan will run into the VLP ram is ultimately the limiting factor. I found it easiest to install the heatsink without the fan to the motherboard first, I didn't screw it in all the way to give me some wiggle room to slide in the 120 mm fan from the ram side. Once in place I used the stock blackridge fan clip on one side and the ram will keep the fan secure on the other side and tighten the heatsink down. You definitely want the 120 mm blowing air onto the motherboard.
2) Install the motherboard into the case and remove the top, bottom, and front panel to make your life easier.
3) Preparing your 2070S. So I decided to ditch the stock fans, shroud, but kept the blackplate. To keep the backplate you need to bend the slanted sides so they're perpendicular, but to remove the backplate you need to completely remove the heatsink so I decided to repaste the GPU while I was at it.
The most important thing here is you need the Kareon Kables with the low profile connector. Ordering was really confusing but just send him an email. He's awesome to work with, responds quickly, and honestly the fastest cable turn around time I've ever seen. I got the 12" length, and you need to make sure you specify you need the 6 and 8 pin power connectors for the 2070 super. He was even more awesome and included zip ties which were handy. Ordering cables you're also going to need to order new 24 pin 13" because the stock HDplex motherboard cable will not be long enough. The stock 8 pin CPU cable should be long enough.
Make sure you put some electrical tape on the connectors as it'll be right against the power connector.
4) Install the GPU into the case and install the 8 pin CPU and 24 Pin motherboard cables.
5) Prepare the nanoatx brick. I installed a 40 mm noctua. I emailed Larry and apparently it doesn't matter if the fan is intake or reversed.
6) Mount the Nanoatx to the front panel and slide it in. You should just barely have enough clearance for the power button connector and the GPU power connectors.
7) Now for the DC-ATX because of the power connector I found it easier to slide it from the front of the GPU. Install the top and bottom panels. There's even holes to secure the DC-ATX Unit. How convenient. Plug all the connectors in and install the side panels.
8) All done. Sit back and enjoy your all your hard work.
Thanks again to everyone in the NFC Discord community and Kareon for the awesome cables.
There's many examples of the normal brickless layout, with the DC-ATX next to the motherboard, the Nanoatx brick below the GPU and shifting the GPU closer to the motherboard. This was originally what I had planned and I had originally purchased the shift brackets, the the 180 GPU pin adapters, a super flexible riser cable in preparation. However the shift brackets was very difficult to bend and I realized with my motherboard combo and blackridge there really was no room for the gpu to be shifted closer to the motherboard because the riser would hit the 120mm fan. Also inherently running the brick under the 2070S is a huge challenge especially since theres no room for the GPU connectors and even with the 180 connectors you will likely need to remove one panel off the brick to create more clearance. Those 180 connetors also have exposed soldered points which can cause shorts. My buddy actually had his system start smoking cause of that!
Here's the basic layout as it would sit in the case(Note I ended up relocating the 40mm to the top of top of the case).
A build like this you need to carefully go step by step otherwise things won't fit. I think I took apart my system at least 3 times cause of the power button!
1) Fit the power button to the front panel. So for this to work you need to move the power button to the GPU side.
2) Preparing your motherboard. I'm running an Asus Z390-I Strix motherboard with a 9700k, Vcolor 16 gig 2666 hz VLP Ram x2 and a blackridge cooler. You need to remove the large VRM heatsink on the motherboard in order for the blackridge to fit. I did place some alphacool copper heatsinks with doublesided thermal tape to compensate for the lack of VRM cooling. I figure this combo + the active cooling from the fan should be enough. I also went ahead and removed the mobo nvme heatsink and used the heatsink that came the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 2 tb. It's going to be stuffy under there and I wanted as much air flow as possible.
Now this is where you need to pay attention. You need to install the power connector because the CPU heatsink will cover the F-panel, at least on my motherboard. You may also want to connect your riser cable but I did find I didn't need to because the heatsink wasn't covering it.
Bending the Blackridge cooler I preheated the heat pipes with a heatgun, used something solid where the fan would go as well as using the edge of a table to push on it till it would bend. There's only so much you can bend as ultimately the 120 mm x 15 mm fan will run into the VLP ram is ultimately the limiting factor. I found it easiest to install the heatsink without the fan to the motherboard first, I didn't screw it in all the way to give me some wiggle room to slide in the 120 mm fan from the ram side. Once in place I used the stock blackridge fan clip on one side and the ram will keep the fan secure on the other side and tighten the heatsink down. You definitely want the 120 mm blowing air onto the motherboard.
2) Install the motherboard into the case and remove the top, bottom, and front panel to make your life easier.
3) Preparing your 2070S. So I decided to ditch the stock fans, shroud, but kept the blackplate. To keep the backplate you need to bend the slanted sides so they're perpendicular, but to remove the backplate you need to completely remove the heatsink so I decided to repaste the GPU while I was at it.
The most important thing here is you need the Kareon Kables with the low profile connector. Ordering was really confusing but just send him an email. He's awesome to work with, responds quickly, and honestly the fastest cable turn around time I've ever seen. I got the 12" length, and you need to make sure you specify you need the 6 and 8 pin power connectors for the 2070 super. He was even more awesome and included zip ties which were handy. Ordering cables you're also going to need to order new 24 pin 13" because the stock HDplex motherboard cable will not be long enough. The stock 8 pin CPU cable should be long enough.
Make sure you put some electrical tape on the connectors as it'll be right against the power connector.
4) Install the GPU into the case and install the 8 pin CPU and 24 Pin motherboard cables.
5) Prepare the nanoatx brick. I installed a 40 mm noctua. I emailed Larry and apparently it doesn't matter if the fan is intake or reversed.
6) Mount the Nanoatx to the front panel and slide it in. You should just barely have enough clearance for the power button connector and the GPU power connectors.
7) Now for the DC-ATX because of the power connector I found it easier to slide it from the front of the GPU. Install the top and bottom panels. There's even holes to secure the DC-ATX Unit. How convenient. Plug all the connectors in and install the side panels.
8) All done. Sit back and enjoy your all your hard work.
Thanks again to everyone in the NFC Discord community and Kareon for the awesome cables.
