Other Blame Tree. He went bigger so now I must go smaller !

FFS. The only dog gone combo I hadn't tried was the actual 2080Ti in the actual effing ribbon.

 

One of us, one of us.

 

I've done three ITX rigs before, but none really had any chops.

I'm really very happy with it. The only sacrifice is a 2tb 3.5" drive. That said I plan to get an external box for that.

It's been running perfectly all day. Have benched the crap out of it (and had some very nice surprises) and had a quick go on SOTTR earlier. Finally a small rig that doesn't give up anything in punching power.

 

Getting close. The inner workings are now all finished. I haven't put the panels on yet because it's still very dusty in here (long story, but I need to empty the room to get rid of as much as I can after my brother pulled a prick move).







When I drilled apart the Phanteks I kept all of the filters. I am going to try and make one to fit the PSU, inside the case. The bottom has a filter, so if I can filter off the PSU then the top fans shouldn't receive too much dust.

I must admit though I absolutely love it. Glorious wee thing !

 

OCUK customer service have been fantastic as usual. Raised a very valid point. Maybe unpowered GPUs do not work with the riser. IE, ones that draw all of their power from the lanes. This would make sense, as early risers had a molex hanging out of them.

I left the rig running all night to download Cyberpunk, all great when I got up. Am on it now.

 

Bottom fans were total crap. 2500 RPM 26 CFM.



1700 RPM 73 CFM. It's like a different PC.



Under volted the GPU. And turned the temp limit down to 76. This means the VRAM can operate under 85 and not orb/crash at 96c.

 

Right, time for a revisit. This is a hot box. No getting around it...

When I initially built it I was on a pretty strict budget, I just wanted a working rig after stripping down my TR rig (and sold it) because it sprung a leak. So whilst I love the case (lovely quality for the cash) it doesn't allow the GPU to cool properly. Maybe a 2080Ti is just too much for it, but PUBG being on UE doesn't help at all either. Either way the GPU is right on the brink temp wise.

I wasn't that happy with the PSU either. My old one here at mum's ticked, and had annoying caps on the power cables, and the cooler I got was the cheapest of the cheap also. I also found out that the latter likes to leak around the pump housing too.

When I built my dream rig for home last year I almost went with the CH Impact and this case.



Given half or more of my holiday was me isolating due to a rotten cold I had some spare cash. So I got the case. Mostly because of this.



And the fact the glass is removable. It should help the heat issues somewhat. I am replacing the low rent bronze PSU with this.



Because the Bronze unit runs warm and the fan is always on. It draws air through the side, so there's a nice dusty patch on the side. I did think about a filter, but it would be too restrictive through the holes as well. The cheap cooler is going and being replaced with this.



And I got some sleeved extensions so it doesn't look like hot ass.

 

Just waiting for Amazon to bring the cables, though I can get started now.

 

Cables came in.



So I set to work. First up I tried getting the PSU in "as is" but it was a PITA. So I removed two bolts and swung it out.



Better.





The AIO was much the same principle. Save your hands and swing the back open.



Board in.





Some time later.



Fit GPU and test fit left side panels.





I was very happy that I came up with an idea. The idea was to flip the 2.5" bay around and put it in the middle where all the crap goes.



Meaning when I reinstall the cover panel they are in there, hidden. I fitted the two eloops for that reason, to cool them down some.

A lot later than that...



Reinstall the cover panel.



Et voila.





There was one tiny issue. The glass that came in the front panel had to be removed. It was sitting right against the GPU. I did fit the PCIE slot cover though (the white part with Antec on). I may get some cheese grater for the front, I probably won't lol. The reason? well, this GPU was hitting a thermal wall within about ten seconds in PUBG. If the core went over 78c the memory became so hot it would start showing coloured orbs. Within ten seconds of that? it would bomb to desktop. So, I had to run the fans at 100% as soon as the GPU hit 70c. Which happened within seconds of loading PUBG. Unreal Engine is a vicious bastud.

Now? I locked the fans to go to 60% at 70c and it's not even making it there.



That was after leaving Training Mode in PUBG whilst I went for a shower. So, I am pretty loathe to shove anything in front of the GPU. Especially when I have been living with 100% fan on whilst gaming since I built it originally. I thought it was a bad GPU, seems not. Bad case. And I think I know why.. Where the GPU went in the old case had a solid alu wall right behind the GPU. Meaning there was nowhere for the heat from the back to go, meaning it was going straight back into the board and making the VRAM overheat. Which this case does not do.



Meaning it's now over 20c cooler than it was before.

Little vid I shot.

 

In summation? not a case for those with toddlers who like to poke things

 

Loving the final look, even if the actual case (is it even a case at this point?!) isn't really my thing.

On a linked note, I am glad to see you have switched from the CM240 AIO to the Corsair unit. I had one of the CM units start to leak around the pump housing. Fortunately I was in the middle of a system rebuild and noticed before it got bad enough to cause any issues. I have another 120mm version here used for test bed purchases which seems ok so far but I wouldn't want to put it in a system long term.

 

Yeah I read about the leaking afterward. It seems incredibly common. Not had any issues, but having had one leak before and ruin two brand new GTX 480s it deffo put the wind up me !

When I initially built it I needed everything but the GPU new. So it was quite expensive. Can't believe how good the GPU is now. Removed all of the underclock (mem especially) and I get an extra 30 FPS with it maxing out at 70c with fans on 55%. Before? it would jump to 76 (the max I set for the temp limit) and I had to run the fans at 100%. Which with open back headphones was really annoying.

I've been working on designs for a front part to replace the glass. 5mm white acrylic is fine.