Scratch Build – Complete ⭐ Monolith - almost passive, compact gaming PC

Lovely.

 

thanks!

i did a few more little updates on the graphics card cooler and then i started to assemble the whole thing.



i made a plate to increase pressure of the cooler on the rear end of the card, which collided with the heatpipes


so i cut out a peace of the mount. I also realised that some of the thermalpads dont touch, because the PCB bends too much. Therefore i made two more mounts, one in the front and one in the back to improve that.


Then finally i started to assemble the rest of the system, starting with the heatpipes. and, off course, made a mess...


next was the mainboard with all the cables installed before


after that it was the graphics card turn


very tight, but it fits


the frame was next


very tight with all those cables!


the last thing was the PSU




then off to a first testrun!


I will tell you more about the temps tomorrow or monday, but so much said after a short test, the temperature of the GPU (measured by GPU-Z) is way better than i expected and the VRMs and what else is in the back, gets very hot to the touch.

 

I did a worst-worst-case test today. I ran Furmark for one whole hour. The config was as you can see in that last pic. The fans were running, but no sidepanels. So basically no airflow over the graphics card, you could call this passive cooling at least when looking at the VRM temps. After 30 min i put a piece of paper over the top half of the big heatsink to guide the airflow over the fins, which probably improved the temps of the GPU.

Good news first. The GPU maxed out at 56°C, which is a lot better, that what i hoped for before starting this project.
The not so good news next. The VRM area of the graphics card got up to almost 100°C. I bet, this would be quite a bit lower, if i had sidepanels to guide the airflow over these hot areas. Also i could still put another heatsink on to the rear of the graphics card, that should help as well.

 

Now we're talking!

I would say the graphics card needs some airflow over the VRM's. It looks like most of the air its getting is coming out of the PSU and the PSU cables and RAM seem to be blocking most of the airflow from above? I'm wondering if you can utilise the dead space under the back of the GFX card to install a small temperature controlled fan to blow over the VRM heat sink? Something like a barrel fan or blower fan with a bit of ducting to blow down through the VRM sink.

Keep up the good work .

 

Sweeeeeeeet.

 

Anodized or powder coat? Looks very nice.

 

@ cobalt: thanks! I will repeat that test with the side panels installed. that should result in improved temperatures. if not, i can still think about optimizations

@ Mankz: thank you!

@ Dr. Coin: thanks! Its anodized.

I am almost done, just a few finishing touches on that lid.
So here are some quick shots. I will show you better ones sunday or next week, because tomorrow i will be heading to Cologne for the Gamescom.
Who ever wants to see my build in real life, come over to the DCMM booth.

 

Looks awesome dude.

 

Daaaaaamn there was no way of visualising this until it was actually done! It look absolutely amazing! Great job!

 

It came out great. The toasty VRMs might be because of the thermal pads and their fit. If you can get everything touching with only paste, it should improve things. I'd be tempted to see if you can get one of those waterblock/heatsink combos and just use the sink here.
or... Got room to jam a heatpipe into the that VRM sink?

 

Thank you guys!

@Cheapskate: I did another test today as you can see further down this post.
Changing to thermal paste wont significantly improve things. The heatsink on those VRMs got up to 88°C (last pic) in that first test, which shows, that the heat transfer works really well. The Heatsink just need to be bigger or needs better airflow to be able to dissipate more heat.
I thought about putting one of these on the graphics card, but the fins need to be vertical instead of horizontal.


The Gamescom is over.




Today i repeated to one hour Furmark Test.
Same conditions as before, just with side panels attached.

- one hour of Furmark
- attached side panel, which were removed just before taking the photos
- the fan in the front was controlled by the PSU
- the fan in the rear ran at about 50-60% (1200RPM at 100%)

Compared to the first test without side panels, the maximum temperature of those VRMs improved by 11-12°C to now about 89°C.
The temperature of the GPU went down by 3°C to a max of 53°C.












I hope, i can get some final pics done tomorrow or the day after.

 

Mmmm that black anodising is so sexy. Such a clean build. Makes mine look like Frankenstein's monster. Hopefully when I do my anodising it will look this good.

 

thanks!

Alright im pretty much done with this project. There are still a few little things to do, like delidding the CPU, maybe painting the feet. I will keep you updated on those things, but for now, im done, so its time for some pics

But first I want to thank my Sponsors Fischer Elektronik, Impactics and MSI for the support and the trust im my work!
































I even got a few more goodies from MSI

 

Stunning work!

 

Dear Case designers.

Please make a non-passive case that looks like that.

Will buy.

 

Nice one dude

Do let us know your solution for cooling the GFX VRM's.

 

thank you guys!

you find some pics further up on this page. I put a heatsink on them.

I took a few more pics of the two siblings.

 

I am in utter awe. Holy ****!

Seriously impressive work, sir.

I'll be the one to ask ... when is this going to retail? You have an absolute winner right here.

 

@Mankz - I'd love a passive version. -Say, with a 3 foot tall sink but setup like Gtek's Tenuis.