Hi guys! I've been modding pc since 2013 but took a break and just recently started again. NZXT sent me an H1 case to mod. The idea of the project is to make a custom front panel with ventilation holes by the gpu to replace the tempered glass. You can find a rough design here, the lines on the right are the ventilation holes. It should improve the ventilation a lot. Spoiler: Front panel rough design The build is sponsored by NZXT, AMD, Patriot and TeamGroup for now, but more companies might join , in bold the sponsored hardware Hardware list (TBC) CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X MB: Asus ROG STRIX B450-I GPU: TBC SSD: PATRIOT VPN100 2TB + TEAMGROUP MP34 1TB HDD: WD BLUE 2.5 1TB RAM: PATRIOT VIPER STEEL DDR4 3200 MHz 32 GB / T-FORCE DARK Z ALPHA DDR4 3600 MHz 16 GB CASE: NZXT H1 Will follow up with updates soon, I've ordered what I needed to start modding but the coronavirus situation is slowing down the shipments a bit. Here's few pictures of the H1 compared to the H200i, this thing is small! Stay tuned!
Started with some painting today, I separated the back panel from the frame before painting it in white. The two are attached together with industrial tape, I used Isopropanol to rub the surface and inserted a knife in between. The main colours of the building will be black and white, but I want to add accent of another colour which I haven't decided yet, suggestions? At the moment I have decided to leave the original panel at the back, until I find a viable solution to design a 3D panel that can host 1 or 2 fans (if anyone wants to help in that feel free!). The same tape is used for the front panel, so it will be easy to replace with a custom made one with more airflow. If you use a hot card like an RX 5700 XT the case will get very hot, as the glass pushes back the air inside the case, hopefully with the custom panel and the airflow holes, this situation should be better. I designed the panel (it's a 2D design) and sent the DXF file for laser cutting, it should be delivered sometime next week. Stay tuned!
Happy monday! Let's start the week with some hardware pics TEAMGROUP / T-FORCE sent me 16gb of ram and a 1TB NVMe SSD for this build. The ram kit is: T-FORCE DARK Zα DDR4 GAMING MEMORY (FOR AMD) 3600Mhz 16GB - https://www.teamgroupinc.com/en/product/dark-z-alpha-ddr4 I really like the design of the heatsink and especially that they come in black, I think it's a neutral colour that can fit any build. The kit is 43mm tall, it can't be classified as low profile, however it fits perfectly in the H1 (which supports RAM height up to 44mm). The kit is AMD Ryzen compatible and optimised out of the box. Performance wise the kit is fast, the XMP profile will set the ram at 3600 MHz CL 18-22-22-42 automatically. I did a few test to see the difference between 3200 MHz vs 3600 MHz. I used 3D Mark Time Spy V1 benchmark. I used a kit of Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 3200 MHz CL16 to compare the T-Force ones, and as CPU a Ryzen 5 2600 at 4.1 GHz. 3200 MHz: Total score 8168 - CPU score 6166 - FPS 20.72 3600 MHz: Total score 8211 - CPU score 6480 - FPS 21.77 As Ryzen scales better with higher clock ram, the cpu score is higher using the 3600 MHz with a gain of 1 FPS. The difference is not huge, but if you are looking to get as many FPS out of your build as you can, then you should definitely go for a 3600 mhz kit like the T-Force one. This kit is also available in 4000 MHz and 3200 MHz. The ssd is: TeamGroup MP34 M.2 PCIe SSD 1TB - https://www.teamgroupinc.com/en/product/mp34 It's a NVMe 1.3 drive, very fast! It comes with 5 years of warranty, the size is a standard 2280. The SSD is also available in 512GB and 256GB, however the speeds might be different than the one I tested. TeamGroup states that this SSD should reach speeds of READ 3000 and WRITE 2600, however my test shows that it can even go beyond that! Using CrystalDiskMark benchmark, my sample reached READ 3431 and WRITE 3000 on an ASUS ROG STRIX B450-I, making it one of the fastest PCIe 3 NVMe ssd I ever tested.
Another little update painted the main frame white too I used some foam tape to re-attach the back panel, but it didn't work well, since the gpu gets very hot, i think the tape doesn't stay in place when it gets too warm and the glue starts to melt, so will find another solution. However I ordered some dowel pins, i'm planning to use them as spacer for the back panel to create a space of 16mm for slim fans and at the same time improve the airflow leaving more space for the air to come out I also received the laser cut front panel, however my original design didn't work, so I'm sending a new file, this is the new sketch Unfortunately all the deliveries are late, I don't think I will be able to make any progress for the next 10 days.
Back with another hardware upgrade, Patriot also sent SSD and RAM for this project, more specifically they sent: SSD: PATRIOT VPN100 2TB RAM: PATRIOT VIPER STEEL DDR4 3200 MHz 32 GB The rig will have 2 NVMe drives for a total of 3TB and also a 1TB normal 2.5HDD for storage (lots of space!) Some hardware porn pictures now PATRIOT VPN100 2TB This SSD will be used for windows and games installation. It's very fast, just slightly slower than the TeamGroup one, although this one is 2TB vs 1TB of the TeamGroup. Also i cloned my previous C drive on this (which was 500gb) and it doesn't allow me to extend the partition to full 2TB, so I now have 2 partitions 1 of 500gb and 1 of 1.5ish tb. I will do a clean installation of windows as soon as the CPU arrives and that should solve the issue. PATRIOT VIPER STEEL DDR4 3200 MHz 32 GB I can choose which ram to use for this build, a 3600 Mhz 16g GB kit or a 3200 MHz 32 GB kit, what are your thoughts? As for now I have the 32gb kit installed and working with it, playing RE3 Remake the RAM usage goes all the way up to 11GB. This also shows the ram clearance Any ram taller than this kit would not fit, I tried the Corsair RGB Pro and they definitely don't fit.
last week I received the acrylics panels, I will paint them this week. Today I also received the CPU from AMD, was stuck at the customs for over a week.
Quick update. This week been painting stuff, and also working on the rear panel, I think the best aesthetic option will be using the original panel, so I create spacers for it, and also fillers (which have been painted and now drying). In the picture I used an Akasa slim profile 15mm fan, will probably replace it with 2 noctuas. Still some painting to do, but also wanted to give you a sneak peek of the front panel I painted the back in black, and used some vinyl to mask and create a pattern of lines, the front will be painted white, and once the vinyl will be removed the lines will stay black. Stay tuned!
Another updated, here's the finished rear panel. I've ordered 2 Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM chromax.black.swap to place as exhaust fans. I'm very satisfied with the result, it looks very nice in my opinion. More pics to follow.
The rear panel is now completed, I have also replaced the NZXT fan with a NOCTUA, the case has a total of 3 fan now It looks very good, i think it would be possible to add a slim 240 radiator at the back, but it would need to expand that for at least 35mm more, which probably would look too bulky.
Hello! I completed the front panel too, here's some pics: I will post few more pics of how I made it in the next coming days.
Yo any updates on this? This is propably the best try on solving the temperature issue in the H1. What are the temps? You should propably post this on r/sff aswell! Hopefully I can get a reply haha
Hi guys, I'm back in London after a long break and managed to finish the build! I found those two waiting for me, huge thanks to ASUS UK! Here's some pictures of the final mod, hope you like it! Full gallery here: https://imgur.com/gallery/qeULQoB Got a huge temperature drop from the tempered glass, gpu now runs cool at 65!
Hi Mark, For a couple weeks now, I own a H1 case too. Currently I'm waiting for my RTX3070 Asus TUF to arrive. This will be a tight fit but should work. But having exhaust fans just like you would help a lot. Your build has inspired my to mod my case too. I was wondering if the rear panel does feel sturdy. The H1 feels premium and quite strong. But by taping those 3D-printed parts on there it might lose some of its sturdiness. How does it feel? I'm glad that I have a 3D printer to use as well. Besides that, which kind of things would you do differently next time? I might take that into account. Kind regards, Gijs de Beun
I have the MSI ventus 2 3070 in a stock H1 and it runs at 65 c in games and boosts to 1950mhz happily so I don't think there is a fundamental lack of ventilation in the H1. However this mod does look very clean and clever use of thin fans for extra air flow
