Phase 1: neilhart’s i9-9900K air cooled ABS prototype mini-ITX case

[neilhart]

This is my first experience with the 8 core/16 thread Intel i9-9900K and I was worried about keeping the CPU cool.

I collected these parts and started by whipping together a base plate for the prototype. I use sheet ABS because it is easy to cut and form parts as needed.

As seen here the prototype is an 8L black box with hex mesh covered ventilation windows. The system is dual boot to Win 10 Pro and MacOS 10.13.6.

The prototype is nearly finished and lacks front panel audio. I am thinking about a Phase 2 case fabricated from aluminum and maybe a Phase 3 case that would have the exterior aluminum anodized grey or black.

In any case, the next versions will have far fewer screws.

In this construction I am using a HDPLEX 400 DC at the bottom front and a HDPLEX 400 AC suspended between the CPU cooler tunnel and the MSI Aero ITX GTX 1070. The HDPLEX units are from last year and are not the current versions.

The CPU cooler is the Noctua NH-D9L and I am using it with three noctua NF-A9 PWM fans wrapped with a ABS shroud forming a tunnel. This works very well and keeps the CPU to am maximum of 63 degrees C when running all 8 cores at 4.2GHZ under full CPU load (one hour test).

I have another noctua NF-A9 fan set to provide air directed at the HDPLEX 400 AC unit.

I currently have 2 500 GB Samsung SSDs installed with macOS and a Seagate 500 GB hard disk with Win 10 Pro installed.

That is what is today. I am planning the next case version but have nothing to share at this time on that subject.

Neil

 

[Windfall]

This is my first experience with the 8 core/16 thread Intel i9-9900K and I was worried about keeping the CPU cool.

I collected these parts and started by whipping together a base plate for the prototype. I use sheet ABS because it is easy to cut and form parts as needed.

As seen here the prototype is an 8L black box with hex mesh covered ventilation windows. The system is dual boot to Win 10 Pro and MacOS 10.13.6.

The prototype is nearly finished and lacks front panel audio. I am thinking about a Phase 2 case fabricated from aluminum and maybe a Phase 3 case that would have the exterior aluminum anodized grey or black.

In any case, the next versions will have far fewer screws.

In this construction I am using a HDPLEX 400 DC at the bottom front and a HDPLEX 400 AC suspended between the CPU cooler tunnel and the MSI Aero ITX GTX 1070. The HDPLEX units are from last year and are not the current versions.

The CPU cooler is the Noctua NH-D9L and I am using it with three noctua NF-A9 PWM fans wrapped with a ABS shroud forming a tunnel. This works very well and keeps the CPU to am maximum of 63 degrees C when running all 8 cores at 4.2GHZ under full CPU load (one hour test).

I have another noctua NF-A9 fan set to provide air directed at the HDPLEX 400 AC unit.

I currently have 2 500 GB Samsung SSDs installed with macOS and a Seagate 500 GB hard disk with Win 10 Pro installed.

That is what is today. I am planning the next case version but have nothing to share at this time on that subject.

Neil

Looks very interesting. Where do you get mimi-itx boards at? I've never seen that form factor.

 

[neilhart]

Looks very interesting. Where do you get mimi-itx boards at? I've never seen that form factor.

yes I goofed that one but I don't see where a user can edit the title row.

Neil

 

[Windfall]

yes I goofed that one but I don't see where a user can edit the title row.

Neil

I think it should be up in "Thread tools".

 

[neilhart]

I think it should be up in "Thread tools".

Thank you Windfall. I usually do not miss things like this.

 

[BaK]

I reall dig the shroud tunnel that also supports SSDs, good idea!
Are the discs velcro-taped?

 

[Windfall]

Thank you Windfall. I usually do not miss things like this.

Glad I could help!

 

[neilhart]

I reall dig the shroud tunnel that also supports SSDs, good idea!
Are the discs velcro-taped?

I have modded the mods on this prototype.

Each of the three drives is attached by 4 M3 SS Flat head screws, counter sunk, to the extended tunnel wall.
The noctua NH-D9L CPU cooler was designed for these 92mm fans and with the shroud it is very efficient.
And I modded the RAM sticks by trimming off most of heat spreaders so the front most fan could sit as low as seen in the first post.

Neil

 

[neilhart]

After moving this motherboard with the i9-9900K into the LUNA Prime case and finding that I did not have an air cpu cooler that could keep the temps down, I moved back to this Phase #1 case.

I was running with a GTX 1070 but switched to a ITX size RX560. The reason being that the newer Nvidia GPU is not supported by Apple in Mojave where as the RX560 is nearly OOB compliant.

Also the RX560 does not require a PCIe 12V power cable.

With this last reassembly I reworked the front area of the case by removing the GPU power cable and dressing the cables . Now there is very little free space left.

Anyway here are the bench marks with non-OC i9-9900K and the RX560. Again I am using a noctua NH-D9L with three NF-A9 PWM fans and a three sided shroud and I can run my hour long Prime95 torture test with the CPU temps not exceeding 64 C.

I also reworked the rear panel to include the IO plate.

This is where I am at now and I am planning a Phase # 2 case which may be an aluminum version of this prototype.

Neil

 

[neilhart]

I have had this PHANTEKS EVOLV Shift case sitting in my work area for months and I keep moving it out of the way. I had built up the EVOLV Shift one time and was never happy with the system. My problem, not PHANTEKS.

Through no forward planning on my part, I noticed that the Phase #1 system was just about the size to fit into the EVOLV case. I confirmed that the system would fit with little or no modding.

The key here is that my Phase #1 system will run in any orientation and it can keep itself cool while doing so.

I completely diss-assembled the EVOLV case and drilled out a few pop-rivets. I then removed just over 101 mm ( 4 inches ) of the center portion of the frame.

I then made up 4 angle plates from 1.56 mm x 101 mm aluminum and used JB Weld epoxy to re-assemble the shorten case frame work.

I did a test fitment and ran the system with the EVOLV top and bottom plastic pieces in place.

Every thing seems to be in order.

Nothing is ever as simple as it first appears and I had to open up my Phase #1 case and reverse my sliding power-on/reset/LED assembly so that the system now has the power on button on the EVOLV case top which is the rear IO panel area.

Here are a few photos of my modding.

I need to do more testing to determine if I need to vent the new right side panel.

More to follow.
Neil

 

[neilhart]

I am getting closer to the next final configuration of the modded PHANTEKS EVOLV Shift case. I have right angle USB 3.0 adapters on order and am wrapping up the power and reset switch and LED mods. Here is a photo of today.

more to follow.

 

[neilhart]

Then with the case WIP:

Next up is doing the new side panels to replace the tempered glass ones. I am using dark smoke colored acrylic panels seen in the lower portion of this photo. The idea is to move the PHANTEKS panel hardware to these panels adjusting for the missing 4 inches in height.

more to follow.