The saga of the little gem continues...

[theGryphon]

Initial build: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/i-think-i-found-a-little-gem-realan-e-i7.6175/

New build:

Parts list:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair VIII Impact
RAM: G. Skill Trident NEO 2x16GB (Hynix)
GPU: ASUS GTX 1650 LP
SSD: 2x Corsair MP510 1.92TB M.2
PSU: G-Unique ArchDaemon 400W plug-in, with custom 400W Dell external brick
Cooler: Cryorig C1 with Noctua NF-A12x15
Fans: 2x 80x25mm, 1x 80x15mm, 2x 60x20mm

You might ask why I had to go with the Crosshair VIII Impact. I didn't. However, this board has top of the line components, and the best VRM cooling among ITX-width AM4 motherboards. In a small enclosure, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have any heat-related reliability issues. Plus, where I am now, this board retails for only $60 more than the ASUS X570-I...

On the non-functional side, I am an SFF enthusiast and I like putting big hardware where all evidence suggests they shouldn't go

Why the 3950X? Until 3950X's showed up and were reviewed, I was pretty much sure there was no way I could sufficiently cool them. But reviews, especially Optimum Tech (thanks bro ), proved that this beast is something special, and it works very well even with quite measly cooling. I trusted my Cryorig C1 would do a better job than the Noctua NH-L12s, especially with the Noctua NF-A12x15 fan I got for it, and I wasn't disappointed.

A side note on the Cryorig C1... if you look closely, you'll see that the heatsink is actually designed to work best with a 120mm fan. The dimensions are that it's 140mm wide, but the top heatsink surface is 120x120. That is why I purchased the 1850-RPM 120x15mm Noctua fan instead of the original 1350-RPM 140x13mm Cryorig fan. The resulting air pressure that goes into the heatsink is much better but I'll do some comparison tests later...

In this tiny 5.8 liter case, the 3950X performs like the beast it is. I haven't done any extensive benchmarking yet but for starters, Cinebench 20: SC 529, MC 9593!

The power statistics are that 3950X draws about 12% more power than the 1800X I retired, that's about 145W (CPU only) in CB, which is higher than stock since I have the 1900 FCLK and PBO+200 enabled.

Thanks for looking! Any questions, let me know below...

 

[rfarmer]

OMG this I have to see, 3950x and Crosshair Impact in a Realan E-i7.

 

[smitty2k1]

After I finally moved on from my Realan E-i7 you're going to make me come crawling back aren't you!?

PS: will let my (heavily modified) Realan E-i7 go to a good home for the cost of shipping.

 

[theGryphon]

I knew you guys would be intrigued ?

 

[theGryphon]

All parts are finally here:

Can you believe they sold me a used 3950X? A major retailer at that too. They blamed the human malware but came through... costing me two weeks...

 

[smitty2k1]

Are you planning on external fans on the Asus right away or are you going to run with the built in fans? I bought the 5 pin splitter cable to replace the built in fans on my Asus 1650 with 80x15 slim fans, but haven't gotten around to experimenting yet.

I also haven't used it for gaming yet because it's the living room PC and we are stuck inside for this quarantine so it's being used by the other half of the household most of the time!

Looking forward to the finished result!

 

[theGryphon]

Finally, it's done!

 

[theGryphon]

I think this is the first 3950X build I've seen with an external brick, so yay! In a package of 245x236x100, I love the end result!

It was an exercise of measure five times, purchase once. It was an exciting experience building this, and everything went great. It does make you happy when a plan comes together!

What I've also learned is that AMD did an incredible job with the 3950X, and I mean that literally. Coming from the 1800X, power and cooling requirements of 3950X is pretty much the same but you get 1.5X single core, at least 2.5-3 times multi-core performance. It really challenges what you know about cooling/power/performance...

With the new (actually, as intended by the case manufacturer) positioning of the case and airflow design (intake as opposed to exhaust of the CPU fan, and exhaust as opposed to intake of the two 80x25mm fans), I am also experiencing much lower noise levels.

Single summary shot:

 

[theGryphon]

Are you planning on external fans on the Asus right away or are you going to run with the built in fans? I bought the 5 pin splitter cable to replace the built in fans on my Asus 1650 with 80x15 slim fans, but haven't gotten around to experimenting yet.

I also haven't used it for gaming yet because it's the living room PC and we are stuck inside for this quarantine so it's being used by the other half of the household most of the time!

Looking forward to the finished result!

My intent was always to replace the stock fans for the largest fans that would fit with the Crosshair VIII Impact, and I did so with the 60x20mm fans I found locally. I'm running them off the mobo now. I've located the splitter you mentioned and the 60x20mm fans that would go with it but it would have been way more expensive and taken weeks if not months to arrive.

 

[smitty2k1]

Your build looks great, even better than the first iteration! Couple of questions:
1) Why did you use 60mm fans on the GPU instead of 80mm fans?
2) What didn't you like about the ASUS heatsink? I liked it more than my Gigabyte 1050ti because it is flat.
3) Where are you located? I figured ModDIY would ship that splitter cable worldwide.
4) I've got a spare case lid that I drilled holes in (looks pretty good) that you can have for the cost of shipping (well, you can have the whole case!):

 

[theGryphon]

Your build looks great, even better than the first iteration! Couple of questions:
1) Why did you use 60mm fans on the GPU instead of 80mm fans?
2) What didn't you like about the ASUS heatsink? I liked it more than my Gigabyte 1050ti because it is flat.
3) Where are you located? I figured ModDIY would ship that splitter cable worldwide.
4) I've got a spare case lid that I drilled holes in (looks pretty good) that you can have for the cost of shipping (well, you can have the whole case!):

Thanks bro, especially for your offer, and I love that you have the non-ODD version of the case but it's too much to ask!

1) I had to use 60mm fans this time because of the motherboard. While it fits in the case just fine, it extends into the fan area and makes it impossible to fit any larger fan. It's a very small clearance even with 60mm fans. I did fit 20mm thick ones instead of 15mm, so I think they work even better than the 80x15mm ones (especially because the GPU heatsink is small).

I took this photo to show the clearance with 60mm fans:

2) The way the heatsink is attached on the board, there are rubber washers at the screw holes, which makes sense, but the washers do not make contact with the PCB and if you accidentally press on the heatsink vertically towards the PCB on one side, the heatsink actually dislodges from the GPU itself. The heatsink basically wobbles to one side and another over the GPU. Terrible reliability. Unlike in any other card I ever purchased, you cannot handle it from the heatsink! I actually had to break the warranty seal and redo the thermal paste.

3) I'm located in Istanbul, Turkey for work. I found the splitter and 60x20mm 5pin fans on aliexpress but did not pull the trigger. Current setup works with the fans, so didn't need to.

4) Getting just the lid would bastardize your case and like I said, while I would love that version of the case, I feel like it's too much to ask from anyone. I have a backup plan for my case lid, let me try that first, and we talk after I post the results

 

[theGryphon]

One thing I must add, I never thought I'd like RGB lighting on my PC build, but I think I really like it with this motherboard handling all lights in the case. DIMM and even the crappy case button!! is lighting up with harmony... it's a little mesmerizing to look at

 

[theGryphon]

A little update: I found a working solution to my lid problem...

Background story: I had cut a 130mm-diameter hole on the lid of the case before this new build but the hole location no longer matched the socket location with the new motherboard. So, I tried to "fix" it but ended up with an ugly cutout, which I'm not gonna even show publicly... it's embarrassing ?

So, instead, I'm showing you the working solution:



What I did is I took this 120mm brushed aluminum grill plate from AC Infinity that I had laying around and super-glue it on the lid!

Is it perfect? No. Does it work? Perfectly! ?