So i rebuilt recently and moved from the 4080 FE to the 4090 FE with the heatkiller waterblock. It is a dense boy. Overall, I still really love this case, and after building in it twice, I'd definitely buy it again but its not without its own challenges.
[MEDIA=imgur]a/KiiigVL[/MEDIA]
Updated Specs:
- CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS (standard 260w power limits)
- Motherboard: MSI Z690i UNIFY
- RAM: 32GB DDR5-6000 G.Skill
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 4090 FE (600w power limit)
- PSU: ASUS Loki 1000W SFX-L
- SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB NVME (x2)
Water Cooling:
- CPU Block: EKWB DDC CPU/Pump Block Combo
- GPU Block: Heatkiller 4090 FE Waterblock
- Radiator 1: Corsair XR5 280MM
- Rad1 Fans: 2x Noctua NF-A14 Chromax.Black (Exhaust)
- Radiator 2: Alphacool ST20 Slim 280MM
- Rad2 Fans: 2x Noctua NF-A12x15 (Exhaust)
- Monitoring: Aquacomputer High-Flow 2
- Monitoring/Control: Aquacomputer Quadro Controller
- Tubing: EKWB 12mm OD Acrylic
- Fittings: EKWB Satin Titanium Fittings/Adapters
- Coolant: Aquacomputer DP Ultra Blue
Temps (Ambient Room Temperature is 25c):
- Synthetic Load (3D Mark, Timespy Extreme Stress Test, 4K, 20 Runs)
- CPU Max: 91c (Pcore 5)
- CPU Average: 67c (All Pcore average)
- GPU Core: 68c
- GPU Memory: 65c
- GPU Hotspot: 73c
- Coolant Temp:
- Idle: 29-31c
- Gaming Load (4K BF2042): 35-36c
- Synthetic Benchmark: 38.1c
- Fan/Pump Setup:
- Fans spin at 40% minimum and will ramp to 80% based on coolant temp (ramping to max when coolant reaching 34.5c)
- I recognize that this is a pretty "loud" setup, but being in the living room and sitting about 10ft away from my TV and PC when gaming, its not a bothersome level of sound. Our stationary fans to cool the room are significantly louder so its a non-issue. I also acknowledge that this is A LOT(up to 180-ish watts from the CPU and 450w from the GPU when gaming, higher in benchmarks) of power with 2 small radiators, so temps aren't as picture perfect, but theyre absolutely satisfactory and I don't see any throttling.
Case Desires:
- Use 2x 280 radiators 30mm and 25mm fans (i use 1x 30mm w 25mm fans and 1x 20mm with 15mm slim fans). I would have been okay with a 10-15mm larger case (although I know SFF is all about size) to have that compromise.
- I also wish I could have slightly shorter USB and front panel header cables, as the motherboard is always in the same spot and likely same orientation so it feels like the cables are a bit too long. But I could probably make custom shorter ones if I was talented enough.
- Next time if the screws could be magnetic that would be awesome. I've lost a few of the fallen soldiers in my dining room against the wood floor lol.
- Optional feet that could be added in the standard upright orientation to raise it just a bit more. Since I use mine hooked up to my AVR/TV as a living room 4K setup, I use a thickboy HDMI cable and its a bit of a tight fit. Currently using furniture raisers to give me a bit of extra height.
Personal Desires:
- SFF PSU cables that were more flexible and a different length. I went through cable mod and had a small discount so I went with the pro-config cables and theyre thick boys. I don't think they're hindering the airflow too much, its just asthetically not as pleasing as I'd like. I got the shortest possible 12VHPWR cable and its still super long and has to do a 180 bend in the case lol.
- I wish they made better 140mm slim fans for smaller builds like this. (the Arctic P14's have been known to rattle so I stayed with Noctua's)
