Log Streacom DA2 + Ryzen 5950X + RTX 3090 + active 240/240/280

evadne

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 15, 2020
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This is my first SFF build using Ryzen 9 5950X & RTX 3090 in the Streacom DA2 chassis. It took a bit more than a year to put together (on and off) but now I have finally managed to get all of it to work.

Assembled



Components

  • Streacom DA2 Chassis + additional mounting rails
  • ASRock Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3
  • AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX (2 * 32 GB)
  • Corsair SF750
  • Koolance Elbow 90° Fittings
  • Assorted Fittings from Corsair, Barrow, EKWB
  • Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis GTS
  • XSPC TX240 Normal
  • XSPC TX240 Crossflow
  • EK Quantum Velocity CPU Block (Intel mount)
  • EK Quantum Vector RTX 3080/3090 Block
  • EK-FC Terminal Rotary 90°
  • EK-RAM Monarch X4 Block
  • Koolance CHC-122 Chipset Block
  • EK DDC 3.2 PWM Pump
  • Koolance Heat Sink for PMP-400 Pump (HTS-PMP400)
  • OCLabs Pump Top
  • EK-UNI Pump Bracket 140mm
  • Singularity Comupters Mounting Rail 140mm * 4
  • Aqua Computer OCTO
  • Aqua Computer Flow Sensor
  • Aqua Computer RGBpx Strips
  • Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC Fans * 2
  • Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM chromax.black.swap Fans * 4
  • Alphacool ES Quick Release Fittings * 2
  • Assorted heatsinks from AquaTuning UK
  • XSPC 10-K temperature sensors
  • Custom power extension cable from China
Bits & Pieces

The layout of the system is pretty standard. However, the motherboard has been modded to remove its default heatsink; the MOSFETs/Chokes are now cooled passively with small heatsinks and the X570 chipset is cooled with a Koolance CHC-122 block.



This is the view from the side of the system with the DA2 backplate removed.



Closer shot of the motherboard from a previous iteration during modding. Removal of the default heatsink from ASRock allows usage of space above the MOSFETs/Chokes and this allows an additional 10/13mm tube to fit through. The Quantum Velocity CPU block is mounted here. However, instead of using the rubber pad included by EK, 2 * 1mm nylon standoffs are used on each corner to allow clearing certain ICs mounted on the back of this board.



Barrow Thread Reducers are used with the Koolance 90° Fitting to allow additional fittings to clear the screw heads… This allows additional usable height within the system and the reason will become apparent quite soon.



The 3090 being cleaned. I am not quite impressed with PNY’s choice of thermal pads as they have basically all crumbled. Ample use of isopropyl alcohol was required to clean all of this off.



The 3090 with the Quantum Velocity block mounted. This is pretty standard but the EK-FC Terminal Rotary 90° is used instead of the default terminal. This is because the default terminal would require usage of 90° fittings and could jeopadise compatibility of the build with a 280mm side radiator.



In stability testing it soon became apparent that the back side of the 3090 can be extremely hot. To combat this issue I have chosen to add a Monarch X4 memory block to the backside. Due to the system being a small form factor build, a proper solution such as EK’s active backplate or the full cover backplate water block from MP5Works would not fit, as both would require downgrading the side radiator from 280mm to 240mm. This block is fixed to the backplate purely with adhesive thermal pads. Later in the build one of the fittings was changed to an elbow fitting to achieve lower clearance.



Sideways view of the Monarch X4 block on top of the backplate in the built system. By ensuring that the chipset block was connected with Koolance 90° fittings an additional 5mm clearance was made available, thus the X4 block will fit.



The GPU is supported with a custom mechanism to ensure that it does not sag or cause the bracket to deform over time. The whole GPU assembly is quite hefty.



This is the side radiator assembly affixed to the chassis with standard vertical rails. The pump is fixed with a 140mm EK-UNI bracket to the radiator via 4 Singularity Computers 140mm rails. The radiator’s fins are slightly inset from the frame and this fact is exploited. The pump is fixed to the bracket which uses up this space and moves the pump closer to the radiator (so the fans cool the pump indirectly). An Offset Rotary Fitting was also used on one end to ensure that the tube stays as close to the radiator as possible, and allowing the other tube to fit within the same space… Further, a small extender was used to trap air as liquid returns to the pump.



The DDC pump was modded with Koolance brackets (part of the heatsink pack) and the OCLabs top. This top was specifically chosen, as it was the thinnest. A custom cable sleeve was also used; additionally the cabling was redone so all 4 wires are connected to a fan header instead of 2 to a Molex receptacle and 2 to a fan header.



A quick comparison between EK X-TOP and the OCLabs top explains why the latter is a good choice… The only downside is that the latter comes with untapped holes and you need to tap the holes yourself.



A custom power extension cable was used in lieu of the bundled cable. This cable is much lower profile and allows more usable free space, which will become apparent shortly.



When assembled, the protruding part of the side radiator assembly fits into the space between the SFX PSU and the motherboard. The rest of the OCLabs top basically touches the PSU (less than 1mm clearance). An alternative solution would be to mount the pump behind the GPU, but that would not be compatible with a longer card.



All components shown. Note that in the final version the pump inlet area was slightly modified to allow air to be trapped in the right place. To reduce the amount of tubing, a crossflow radiator was installed on the top to feed the CPU.



The side radiator assembly could be installed quite easily with 2 quick disconnect fittings in place. The radiator was mounted in this manner, however, in order to accommodate the tubing running from the Chipset block to the GPU block, which can be seen in the final assembly. Said tube was held in place with friction, aided by a few machine screws. Further, to allow proper positioning, the fans are first fixed to the radiator with short M4 screws and tightened with a small hex key, then the vertical mounting rails are fixed directly to the fans. Therefore it is theoretically possible to move the radiator further up if required (which would require swapping the lower 2 screws to M3 due to how the vertical rails are designed).



Enjoy :)
 
Last edited:

paulesko

Master of Cramming
Jul 31, 2019
415
322
Very interesting build! is this the v1 or v2 of the case? I saw yesterday that there are two versions.

One question. Do you think those xspc rads have enough flow? it would greatly improve with some openings on there.

Also have you seen the mp5works thing for active cool the backplate of a gpu. it´s perfect for the 3090, but maybe there is not much room for it ni your build.
 

evadne

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 15, 2020
46
50
Very interesting build! is this the v1 or v2 of the case? I saw yesterday that there are two versions.

One question. Do you think those xspc rads have enough flow? it would greatly improve with some openings on there.

Also have you seen the mp5works thing for active cool the backplate of a gpu. it´s perfect for the 3090, but maybe there is not much room for it ni your build.
  1. This is based on the V1 case; I’d like to get V2 backplate some time. However, I do not plan to run the system with the side panel on anyway. Ideally I would mod the backplate to have a big opening where the holes are.
  2. No, they are quite starved with so little clearance but this is better than having no fans. The top radiator provides at least 1°C cooling according to my measurements. I will have to take further measurements. To make them perform better, I would have to mod the case itself, potentially making new perforated panels (top panel, front panel, bottom panel with elevated feet). This should be feasible with some CNC / laser cutting and it should be possible to fasten them to the core without further modding, though, as the screw holes already exist. I would expect the cost to be roughly on par with buying the Winter One case though.
  3. Yes but it was out of stock so frequently and the availability date changed again recently so I gave up on it. Additionally to use that block I would have to downgrade the side radiator to 240mm. Therefore the current solution is a compromise to give some active cooling to the backplate. IMO a proper setup in this case that retains the 280mm side radiator would require EK’s active backplate and involves shifting the GPU down by 1 slot with a special thin riser to reclaim the space + using a 1-slot bracket for the 3090 which I don’t think is easily available.
Some kind of backplate cooling for the 3090 is definitely required. Even placing heatsinks (no paste or pad) on the backplate would stop it from throttling due to memory temperature. I would presume that this issue is not present on the 3080 which has all memory on one side. So if you go with a 3090 then you could at least stick some heatsinks onto the backplate and let airflow do the work of keeping the GDDR6X chips within range.

In this current build I could run the GPU at 50°C – 55°C with RTX on etc and the backplate is at most lukewarm to touch. However the CPU runs hotter than expected and probably needs re-pasting.
 

paulesko

Master of Cramming
Jul 31, 2019
415
322
Interesting, yes I guess modifying the case is uberly expensive and not worth it. And I didn´t know ekwb had an active cooled backplate, that´s nice to know, bercause I see it to be very important with the 3090.

On the case... is the backplate the only difference between the two versions?

thanks!
 

evadne

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 15, 2020
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PermaChanged

What's an ITX?
New User
Feb 22, 2021
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That's an impressive build buddy, a heck of a lot crammed in there - interesting change to the PSU mounting too! Not sure I agree with the RGB strips being added to such a minamalist case but that's just personal preference :p
 
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evadne

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 15, 2020
46
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That's an impressive build buddy, a heck of a lot crammed in there - interesting change to the PSU mounting too! Not sure I agree with the RGB strips being added to such a minamalist case but that's just personal preference :p
Yes indeed. The other orientation would have worked for a shorter GPU, with the pump occupying the space between the PSU and the bottom fans/radiator. But when I originally designed the build I was going to fit a Radeon VII which is quite a bit longer. The current orientation also has the added benefit which is that cable management is easier…