Completed SLATE-CASE AQ >>Status Update - Finalizing Order Fulfillments!
- Thread starter TaylorChiller
- Start date
@Pesz Hey I was thinking of redoing my cable management. Do you happen to remember or jot down the lengths for your 24 pin and CPU cables?
Specs:
- Asus Rog Strix X670E-I
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
- PowerColor Red Devil Limited Edition Radeon RX 7900 XTX
- G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo 32 GB DDR5-6000 CL30
- Cooler Master V SFX 1100 Platinum
- 2 x WD Black SN850x 1TB
- 4 x 140mm be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4
- EK-Quantum Vector² Red Devil RX 7900 XTX Waterblock
- EK-Quantum Velocity² D-RGB - AM5 CPU block
- EK-Quantum Surface S280 Rad
- Alphacool NexXxoS ST20 280mm Rad
- Phanteks Glacier 160R Resiviour + EKWB DDC 4.2 pump
One thing I am so thankful for is that the GPU block fit with basically less than a MM to spare.
Not sure if I were to change anything about my build since it all fits and works, I would have liked the drain valve in a much different spot but really could not find any other place to put it, I'm used to needing a lot of tilting to drain a case anyway, would have liked a temprature sensor as well but didn't know where to put that either.
Finally finished my build last weekend, here are some quick photos. This case was originally from @crxss, who graciously sold it to me (Taylor, I'd still love to buy another perforated panel! 
)
Specs:
So as a replacement that wouldn't break the bank, I went with the Asrock Z690 and the 12600k (which I snagged for a good deal at $200), as well as re-using my DDR4 RAM.
With the GPU and CPU undervolted, I rarely cross 400 watts total heat load under the most demanding games, and things stay extremely quiet. I'm blown away by being able to hold this much cooling capacity in what is a reasonably small case. Plus, I still have tons of room in the GPU side.
I wanted to run both radiators in pull and be fully symmetrical, but I would not have been able to fit all of the required fittings on the front side. The air is still being pulled from the side and pushed out the front and back - this works very well with coolant reaching 41C at the most, and fans never crossing 1000RPM. Most of the time I'm in the mid-30's.
More general case thoughts -
Pros:
)Specs:
- Asrock Z690 ITX/AX
- Intel i5-12600k
- Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x32gb DDR4 3600
- RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition with an EK Special Edition water block
- Modultra LOBO CPU Block with an EK DDC 4.2 pump
- 2x 280mm Alphacool ST20 Radiators
- 4x Noctua NF-A14 fans (both pulling in air from the side and pushing it out the front & back)
- Koolance QD3 quick disconnect fittings (incredible for bleeding air - this is a must for any high-end SFF build that doesn't have a large reservoir)
- Alphacool inline Temperature sensor
- Aquacomputer QUADRO in the basement of the case controlling the fans + pump (the pump was rewired to take power over the PWM header)
- Silverstone Extreme 850R PSU with the stock power cables - holy smokes, they are so stiff. The fact I could get the 24 pin folded over itself the way I did is a small miracle.
So as a replacement that wouldn't break the bank, I went with the Asrock Z690 and the 12600k (which I snagged for a good deal at $200), as well as re-using my DDR4 RAM.
With the GPU and CPU undervolted, I rarely cross 400 watts total heat load under the most demanding games, and things stay extremely quiet. I'm blown away by being able to hold this much cooling capacity in what is a reasonably small case. Plus, I still have tons of room in the GPU side.
I wanted to run both radiators in pull and be fully symmetrical, but I would not have been able to fit all of the required fittings on the front side. The air is still being pulled from the side and pushed out the front and back - this works very well with coolant reaching 41C at the most, and fans never crossing 1000RPM. Most of the time I'm in the mid-30's.
More general case thoughts -
Pros:
- Build quality is amazing
- Flexibility is incredible. Spine rails are a 10/10 idea, even if the implementation does make some sacrifices.
- Dual 280mm rads in a case this small is fantastic - and they lend themselves to a very natural loop order.
- Extremely stylish.
- Overall thoughtfulness around build flexibility is profoundly high and effectively unrivaled. The downside to this is that some configurations have their own (seemingly avoidable) pitfalls. To be clear - I’d rather have the flexibility and deal with the pitfalls than not have it at all. This is an enthusiasts case.
- The rail system is fantastic, but doesn’t lend itself well to water cooling as the fan/rad mounts don’t move with it. This is best suited to setting once and building from there. You need to make sure you build this thing in the right order.
- Adjusting the thumbscrew nearest the PSU is near-impossible once the PSU is installed - again, adjust the spine first, and then add the parts.
- The bracket that mounts down on the GPU slot/IO bracket is noneffective for most single-slot cards (Eg. waterblocked with single-slot brackets, like mine). You can work around this by taking the extra thumbscrew (and screw) and tightening it over the slot/IO bracket, which works reasonably well.
- Using the spine-shift mod without the GPU-shift mod doesn’t seem possible? GPU IO lines up in totally the wrong place.
I don't know the answer, but I know @N9neBreak3r had some issues too, perhaps they can chime in on a fix?
I ended up making a custom bracket that allows me to mount a louqe twin axial gen 4+ riser (from my experience its the best riser out there). Another user on here had the same problem as me and ended up designing and 3d printing a bracket to do the same thing. Go back several pages on this thread and you'll find a link for 3d print file from him!
First off I would like to thank user dds for selling me the case after he decided to go a different route with an air cooled build. Second Thanks to Taylor for making a phenomenal case, checked all the boxes for me (cooling capacity, ascetics and size). This case gave me the ability to tame a 4090 and I9-13900k with low rpm fans and pump:
Sides Off
Fan Speeds : Approx 900 rpm
Pump: 50%
Idle:
CPU 35 °C
GPU 25 °C
Gaming (Still Testing):
CPU 75 °C
GPU 65 °C
Note:
The fans I'm using are 29mm thick and this seems to be about the very max you can fit when paired with an ST20 radiator. Arctic P14 pressure optimized may be more performance, cheaper and fit better, my choice was mostly to match the Asus Loki PSU fan.
Hardware::
- MSI MEG Z690I Unify (Bios Flashed for 13th Gen)
- Intel I9-13900K Delid
- Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC
- CORSAIR Vengeance 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 5200 (PC5 41600)
- ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L 1000W Platinum
- 2x Seagate FireCuda 530 M.2 4TB Gen4 NVMe
- 2 x Blacknoise Noiseblocker X B14 ARGB 140mm x 29mm
- 2 x Blacknoise Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B14-PS 140mm x 29mm 1200RPM
- 2x Alphacool NexXxoS ST20 280mm Rad
- Bykski GPU Water Block For Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24G, Full Cover With Backplate N-GV4090AORUS-X
- EKWB Quantum Velocity² Direct Die D-RGB - 1700 Nickel + Plexi
- EKWB Quantum Kinetic FLT 80 D5 PWM D-RGB - Plexi
- EKWB Quantum Torque Fittings Satin Titanium 12mm
- Aquacomputer Quadro Fan/LED Controller
- Aquacomputer Flow sensor high flow Ver.2, G1/4
- Go Chiller Graphene-Based Liquid Coolant
- 2x Dewire Relay 280
- Artisan Keycaps Brushed Aluminum and Sapphire Cap
- Mainframe Telios 2mm Sleeving
- Remington Wire 18awg PTFE wire
- MDPC-X Crimps and Connectors
Disclaimer: There was modding involved to get everything fitting right, feel free to use any of my files or mod them as they may help you with your parts. Fitment and quality will vary depending on your printer and material used. All parts were printed on X1C with poly carbonate filament and seem to be working very well. I can Answer any questions you guys have here.
Links for Shorter IO Cables and Right Angle Options to Save Space:
- Low Profile IEC C13 Power Supply 90
- USB Type E Right Angle M/F (For USB C)
- USB Type E Right Angle To USB C (Front Panel Replacement)
- USB 3.0 Extension with 90 degree Connector
- Shorter USB 3.0 Rear Panel Flat Cable (0.3m)
Other Random Modding Parts Used:
- 4-40 Threaded Inserts Used
- Fan Filters That Fit
- 1mm Self Adhesive Foam (Vibration Dampening/Gasket)
- Case Feet
- DIY LED Cables/Splitters
- Artisan Keycaps Etsy
Link to 3d Printed Parts:
@TaylorChiller When is the next round of preorders opening? Very sad I missed this one.
Hey,
Its not likely to happen this year. Too many things going on and too much risk with the economy. I will be ramping up news soon, since I've finally been able to get a proper break from everything, not just Protolyth stuff.
hoping for the next version with a slightly longer GPU (330 - 340mm) accomodation 
Cool. If possible I’d like to order another glass panel and perforated panel for mine.
Looking to do something similar to this! What pump are you using and what are its dimensions? Trying to see if I can cram in a D5 Next there.Adding some in progress shots of my own here. As others have noted micro 90 degree fittings are your friend here, and every millimeter counts.
After a ton of trial and error, and almost settling on a loop with an FLT80 reservoir at the top, I ended up going with a compact bottom mounted DDC combo. Draining and filling with the FLT was way too involved and the degree of tilting the case around felt like an accident waiting to happen.
Some other notes:
The GPU top seemed to sag outwards in my build, this started happening after I changed the layout to reduce the size of the motherboard half of the case. I ended up fixing this by using a screw to lock the GPU IO plate at the bottom, and a few washers to slightly tilt the PCIe extender bracket to account for the sag.
The space between the radiators and the PSU bracket is very tight once fittings are added, both with the 20mm slims that I ended up with and the original 30mm thick ones that I started off with.
I‘m much happier overall changing my pump res combo and going with the thinner 20mm rads, those two changes made a huge difference and gave me loads of space to work with for tubing and cable management.
Please don’t judge the random clear piece of tubing, I ran out of thick fittings in time for the leak test
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