Completed The MI-6 Microtower Case: Performance in 6.7L

[firewolfy]

As has been discussed a few times, the gen 4.0 doesn't yield any measurable performance gain for GPUs. But, there is still the issue of some AMD MBs that don't switch from gen 4.0. I started researching whether pcie gen 4.0 should be a problem when using a riser cable.

I contacted Li-Heat and am waiting to hear back regarding gen 4.0 performance. I'll post when I hear back from them.

I also found this technical test video from PLDA that seems to show that a 10" pcie riser performs fine: PLDA Comparison Test
(caveat - I'm not an EE, so I could be misinterpreting the video)

Fire

 

[ignsvn]

I agree it's not about performance.. i think more about future (and backward) compatibility.

I also think this whole gen 4 saga is really confusing, especially when gen 5 is also just around the corner.

 

[ondert]

Anyone has seen this beauty? Isn't it so nice only at 175 mm length?

 

[ignsvn]

Hmm I found this one instead. If my eyes are correct it's 190mm long. Not sure about global availability though.

影驰科技-全心致力于计算机硬件的生产和销售！

影驰科技（GALAX）是业内深具实力的显卡、内存、固态硬盘生产与销售公司。在十余年的砥砺前行中，公司始终秉承“玩家主场，尽情分享”的经营理念，全心致力于优质产品的研发与创新。

www.szgalaxy.com

 

[ondert]

Actually without the bracket it is 175mm. That 190mm length is with bracket.

 

[rfarmer]

Hmm I found this one instead. If my eyes are correct it's 190mm long. Not sure about global availability though.

影驰科技-全心致力于计算机硬件的生产和销售！

影驰科技（GALAX）是业内深具实力的显卡、内存、固态硬盘生产与销售公司。在十余年的砥砺前行中，公司始终秉承“玩家主场，尽情分享”的经营理念，全心致力于优质产品的研发与创新。

www.szgalaxy.com

Actually without the bracket it is 175mm. That 190mm length is with bracket.

It will fit, I was able to squeeze an Inno3d RTX 2070 in mine and it is 196mm.

 

[ignsvn]

It will fit, I was able to squeeze an Inno3d RTX 2070 in mine and it is 196mm.

I call that brute force attack ?

 

[rfarmer]

As has been discussed a few times, the gen 4.0 doesn't yield any measurable performance gain for GPUs. But, there is still the issue of some AMD MBs that don't switch from gen 4.0. I started researching whether pcie gen 4.0 should be a problem when using a riser cable.

I contacted Li-Heat and am waiting to hear back regarding gen 4.0 performance. I'll post when I hear back from them.

I also found this technical test video from PLDA that seems to show that a 10" pcie riser performs fine: PLDA Comparison Test
(caveat - I'm not an EE, so I could be misinterpreting the video)

Fire

I full AMD build sounds very cool @firewolfy but there is the question if we will even see a RX 5700 itx sized GPU.

 

[DrAwesome95]

RX 5700 itx sized GPU.

We had a debate on here earlier on but fingers crossed for a 5700/XT card less than 200mm in length.
This time they didn't even have a Nano card to show off at launch like they did for Vega.

 

[ignsvn]

I'm waiting for @firewolfy to come up with updates about the gen 3/4 riser. I doubt i'll ever bottleneck gen 3 bandwidth, but would be nice for future support.

Also, other than Kensington lock, last time there was a suggestion about using hex instead of the usual philips + screw, but I'm not knowledgeable about those. Less stripping of the head?

 

[DrAwesome95]

I'm waiting for @firewolfy to come up with updates about the gen 3/4 riser. I doubt i'll ever bottleneck gen 3 bandwidth, but would be nice for future support.

The fastest card currently available to consumers (2080ti) barely saturated 8 lanes at Gen 3 speeds.
Thankfully it will be a while before that even becomes an issue.
Besides gen 4 ssds, I don't think PCIe Gen 4 is more than a gimmick.

 

[ignsvn]

The fastest card currently available to consumers (2080ti) barely saturated 8 lanes at Gen 3 speeds.
Thankfully it will be a while before that even becomes an issue.
Besides gen 4 ssds, I don't think PCIe Gen 4 is more than a gimmick.

I don't say it's a gimmick, but agree that as of now the immediate benefit is for newer SSDs.

 

[huddy]

Fire MI-6 SFF Ryzen Build

Alright, build is done although I haven't run memtest or performed any benches in Linux yet as I haven't installed.

Specs:
Gigabyte Aorous X570I
Ryzen 7 3700X
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB, 3200MHz (B-Die Version, will try for CL14)
Samsung 970 Pro 500 GB
Samsung 970 EVO 500 GB
Corsair SF450W
Noctua NH-L12S
Noctua NF-A9x14 intake fan

Couple of build notes:

• Installing PSU first would have been wise as the NH-L12S overhangs the board in the installed orientation and contacted the PSU during installation. I'm thinking it didn't end up messing with the mount based on idle temperatures but I have my eye on it.
• NH-L12S does contact the sidepanel and cause a slight bulge (about .5-1.0 mm) as expected. I didn't try to bend the heatpipes before installation.
• A custom 24 pin cable would go a LONG way towards cleaning up the wiring. The 8 pin and PCIe 6+2 didn't have a ton of extra cable to deal with.
• Case quality is fantastic and was smooth and easy for my first SFF build (not sure if my old PC-V351B is > or < 20L but it was essentially SFF before that was much of a thing). Took about 2 hours, much of that being me taking time to ensure I installed the CPU and HSF correctly (didn't want to destroy the CPU by accident).
• Just enough places for zipties given that my build didn't have any 2.5" drives.
• I'd look to get a custom cable for SATA drives if I ever add 1x or 2x 2.5" drives to avoid having excess cable inside the case.
• So far X570I chipset fan is inaudible from 3 feet (as is the entire case) while sitting at idle for 4 hours. I'll post some temps/benchmark stuff once I have time to install Linux over the next week. I'm hoping the RdRand BIOS fixes get pushed out this week so I can jump straight to Ubuntu 19.04 instead of 18.04 LTS. I may just go ahead and use 18.04 for benchmark/stability tests and then repeat once 19.10 comes out as I need to start migrating files from my old Windows 7 machine.

I'll generate a build thread here and reddit probably next week. @firewolfy , is the MI-6 on pcpartpicker? If so, I'll update my build on there and make it public also. I clearly need to look into how to embed the imgur shots too.

 

[rfarmer]

Fire MI-6 SFF Ryzen Build

Alright, build is done although I haven't run memtest or performed any benches in Linux yet as I haven't installed.

Specs:
Gigabyte Aorous X570I
Ryzen 7 3700X
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB, 3200MHz (B-Die Version, will try for CL14)
Samsung 970 Pro 500 GB
Samsung 970 EVO 500 GB
Corsair SF450W
Noctua NH-L12S
Noctua NF-A9x14 intake fan

Couple of build notes:

• Installing PSU first would have been wise as the NH-L12S overhangs the board in the installed orientation and contacted the PSU during installation. I'm thinking it didn't end up messing with the mount based on idle temperatures but I have my eye on it.
• NH-L12S does contact the sidepanel and cause a slight bulge (about .5-1.0 mm) as expected. I didn't try to bend the heatpipes before installation.
• A custom 24 pin cable would go a LONG way towards cleaning up the wiring. The 8 pin and PCIe 6+2 didn't have a ton of extra cable to deal with.
• Case quality is fantastic and was smooth and easy for my first SFF build (not sure if my old PC-V351B is > or < 20L but it was essentially SFF before that was much of a thing). Took about 2 hours, much of that being me taking time to ensure I installed the CPU and HSF correctly (didn't want to destroy the CPU by accident).
• Just enough places for zipties given that my build didn't have any 2.5" drives.
• I'd look to get a custom cable for SATA drives if I ever add 1x or 2x 2.5" drives to avoid having excess cable inside the case.
• So far X570I chipset fan is inaudible from 3 feet (as is the entire case) while sitting at idle for 4 hours. I'll post some temps/benchmark stuff once I have time to install Linux over the next week. I'm hoping the RdRand BIOS fixes get pushed out this week so I can jump straight to Ubuntu 19.04 instead of 18.04 LTS. I may just go ahead and use 18.04 for benchmark/stability tests and then repeat once 19.10 comes out as I need to start migrating files from my old Windows 7 machine.

I'll generate a build thread here and reddit probably next week. @firewolfy , is the MI-6 on pcpartpicker? If so, I'll update my build on there and make it public also. I clearly need to look into how to embed the imgur shots too.

Nice build, I had the GTX 1070 Aero itx in my first MI-6 build, it's a good little GPU. If you want a custom 24pin cable you might have a talk with @pslate from pslatecustoms, he does a lot of custom cables for SFF cases and might be willing to do a custom fit one for you.

 

[Weredawg]

Fire MI-6 SFF Ryzen Build

Alright, build is done although I haven't run memtest or performed any benches in Linux yet as I haven't installed.

Specs:
Gigabyte Aorous X570I
Ryzen 7 3700X
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB, 3200MHz (B-Die Version, will try for CL14)
Samsung 970 Pro 500 GB
Samsung 970 EVO 500 GB
Corsair SF450W
Noctua NH-L12S
Noctua NF-A9x14 intake fan

Couple of build notes:

• Installing PSU first would have been wise as the NH-L12S overhangs the board in the installed orientation and contacted the PSU during installation. I'm thinking it didn't end up messing with the mount based on idle temperatures but I have my eye on it.
• NH-L12S does contact the sidepanel and cause a slight bulge (about .5-1.0 mm) as expected. I didn't try to bend the heatpipes before installation.
• A custom 24 pin cable would go a LONG way towards cleaning up the wiring. The 8 pin and PCIe 6+2 didn't have a ton of extra cable to deal with.
• Case quality is fantastic and was smooth and easy for my first SFF build (not sure if my old PC-V351B is > or < 20L but it was essentially SFF before that was much of a thing). Took about 2 hours, much of that being me taking time to ensure I installed the CPU and HSF correctly (didn't want to destroy the CPU by accident).
• Just enough places for zipties given that my build didn't have any 2.5" drives.
• I'd look to get a custom cable for SATA drives if I ever add 1x or 2x 2.5" drives to avoid having excess cable inside the case.
• So far X570I chipset fan is inaudible from 3 feet (as is the entire case) while sitting at idle for 4 hours. I'll post some temps/benchmark stuff once I have time to install Linux over the next week. I'm hoping the RdRand BIOS fixes get pushed out this week so I can jump straight to Ubuntu 19.04 instead of 18.04 LTS. I may just go ahead and use 18.04 for benchmark/stability tests and then repeat once 19.10 comes out as I need to start migrating files from my old Windows 7 machine.

I'll generate a build thread here and reddit probably next week. @firewolfy , is the MI-6 on pcpartpicker? If so, I'll update my build on there and make it public also. I clearly need to look into how to embed the imgur shots too.

Great build and information about the process. I was planning to use the same cooler and motherboard so this is all good to know

 

[Revenant]

In my Intel rig the L12S touches but does not bulge the side panel. Does your side panel still light up with top plate?

I ask because I might be imagining shoving a 16 Core R9-3900X and 2080 mini whenever it comes out into a build.

 

[vitorfernandes87]

I have a CCD MI-6 second edition and after some months (finally) i'm starting to move my system to the case but I've have a doubt.
I want to change my 2 SSDs to 1 M.2 SSD but I'm afraid of the temperatures (the M.2 it is placed under the board Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI, so it will be between the board and the 1060).

Anyone with a similar setup?
How it behave in terms of temperature?

 

[Revenant]

I have a CCD MI-6 second edition and after some months (finally) i'm starting to move my system to the case but I've have a doubt.
I want to change my 2 SSDs to 1 M.2 SSD but I'm afraid of the temperatures (the M.2 it is placed under the board Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI, so it will be between the board and the 1060).

Anyone with a similar setup?
How it behave in terms of temperature?

I had a rear mount SSD. Mine was in an NCASE M1 with no GPU next to it and it got toasty but never throttled. I'm going to say that it probably isn't a good idea.

Are you doing anything that will benefit from the M.2? For games, daily use, and even some light video/photo editing you probably won't notice a difference.

 

[ignsvn]

So last night: "F*ck it, I'm in"

 

[firewolfy]

I have a CCD MI-6 second edition and after some months (finally) i'm starting to move my system to the case but I've have a doubt.
I want to change my 2 SSDs to 1 M.2 SSD but I'm afraid of the temperatures (the M.2 it is placed under the board Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI, so it will be between the board and the 1060).

Anyone with a similar setup?
How it behave in terms of temperature?

Hi Vitor,
I have been running my MI-6 with my main SSD (M.2) under the MB. I have a 1070. I have had no problems at all. So you should be good.

I did some thermal tests that included a SSD at that location. Tried to make it worst case with Prime95 and all. Temp is around 52C wtih a good cooler. Here is a LINK to the webpage with the testing.

Hope that helps.