Scratch Build – In Progress Tiny - A build that doesn't live up to its name

​

Scratch build is something I've always been glancing at, but it's never become a reality. I honestly don't know why since there haven't been any "obstacles"... Late last year I finally decided that this will finally happen. I've never felt the need to build something small, always went for the bigger builds since I don't lack the space for a computer and prefer a bigger area to work in. So why not go all in while I'm at it?! A couple of years back I stumbled upon this thing where you use water to cool your components, and since I've been on air for the last two years I wanted to go back to all water again! So I ordered a couple of aluminum pipes so I could build this little cube...

----------​

The thought with this cube of mine is to divide it into two sections so I can have the lower section for the radiators and cable management and the upper section for all other hardware. The top and the bottom part of the cube will be wood that will I'll saw out from an oak table, then I'll warnish both parts to get a darker look that'll suit the project. I'm also going to saw out and mill the top part to fit a glass plate so all hardware will be visible from above. Around the glass plate there will be a milled line and also project name which is gonna be filled with colored epoxy that'll match the color of the liquid.

All side parts along with the part that will divide the two sections will be 3mm thick aluminum that's going to be cut in CNC. Fans, ventilation holes, holes for pass through etc.

The main idea with this cube is that it's going to look a bit like a table/furniture. In the near future when we move to a smaller apartment and I'm going to lose my mancave, then hopefully wifey will think it's an ok piece to have in the living room. Later on I've planned to do a desk in a similar fashion so they'll match each other.

----------​

Thanks to corona this have been going slow, but now that things have cooled down a bit I've gotten some things done and I'll be updating shortly so you can see the progress I've done so far and I hope you wanna follow this project from until completion!

----------​

Before I move on to the hardware for this project I wanna send a huge thanks to Inet, MSI and be quiet! for helping me making this dream of mine become a reality!

----------​

Hardware

CPU: Intel i9 10900K
MoBo: MSI MEG Z490 Meg Unify
GPU: MSI 3080 GAMING X Trio
RAM: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout Series DDR4 32GB (4x8GB) 4266MHz
SSD: Patriot Viper Gaming VP4100 1TB M.2
PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W Titanium
Fans: be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm
Other: Motheboard plate and tempered glass from be quiet!

Cooling

Radiators: 2x Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 480mm radiator V.2
Reservoir/Pump: 2x Alphacool Eisbecher D5 250mm Acetal reservoir incl. 1x Alphacool Eispumpe VPP755 V.3
Fittings: Alphacool Eiszapfen 16/10mm
Tubing: Alphacool AlphaTube TPV 16/10 - Black Matte
CPU-Block: Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora Edge - Plexi Black Digital RGB
GPU-Block: TBD

 

The parts for my "little" cube...




Put it together to get an idea of how big it's going to be once done...




Here's the frame itself. Going to be a couple of centimeters added on the height when the legs and wooden parts are added

 

Some more updates of recent progress...



Had a table on the attic that I sawed apart to get the pieces I wanted for the top and bottom parts









The plan was to have the glass plate level with the top. In order to get that done I had to buy this little machine





Quite fun machine to work with and the result was better than I expected since I haven't used this machine before







Once done with that I wanted to sandpaper to prepare for the varnish... but I had a little accident





So I had to find a new wooden piece. A suitable piece of wood at a store nearby cost about 160$, but luckily I found a table at facebook market for 15$ which had the measurements I wanted... So this coming week it's at it again!

 

It's butcherblock. Just glue it back together with pipe clamps.

 

I thought about it, but decided to do a new one where I can do some stuff a little bit better now that I've gotten used to the machine

 

Now the 3000 series has finally been released and I suppose that very many just like me are extremely positively surprised by what we saw. The rumored performance and price tag of these monsters was more than I dared hope for. Then, as usual, you should take all the numbers Nvidia presents with a pinch of salt ... but some videos I have seen on youtube so far have shown that these cards should really be nearby!

For this project I will use MSI's upcoming Geforce RTX 3080 GAMING X Trio! If we compare it with the same models of the 2000 series, the model has new, more efficient fans and also an updated cooling system. The back plate is matte, which will fit my project perfectly, as matte black is what I have in mind for all black parts in the construction. In addition, the backplate offers passive cooling. On top of all this, the design is new from the previous generation.

For power, unlike the reference variants, it is good old 8-pins. The 3080 Gaming Trio X comes with three of these. At present, I unfortunately do not know any specs for the core clock or the memory speed, but I expect it to be a bunch of Mhz above the FE card!

I have taken the information about the card from this video, so if you want more in-depth info you can take a look here:



Despite considering myself to be middle-aged I'm feeling like that kid the night before x-mas... can't wait!

 

As the hardware I'll be using keep arriving, I thought I could go through what I've chosen and why I went with just those components for the project.

Motherboard: MSI Z490 MEG Unify​

At present, every other motherboard is either filled with the possibility of unicorn vomit a little here and there or is naked and a little boring. It almost feels like there is no alternative in between. This motherboard is a lavished alternative that actually completely lacks RGB without being visually boring for that matter. Black brushed metal on all heatsinks and a black PCB.

In addition to the visuals, the motherboard is lavished when it comes to opportunities for overclocking. 8 + 8 CPU power and 16 + 1 power phases of 90 amp. So once it ends up under water, just hope I got a decent cpu and can go really high!









Another thing I value quite a lot is that there's a start button, reset button and LED debug are at the bottom of the motherboard. Comes in handy as the chassi is currently far from ready, and that in the future it can be very comfortable if you put it on a test bench. These emit a white light instead of that annoying red, in addition there is the possibility to turn off the light.

Processor: Intel i9 10900K​

Since I've been using AMD lately, I felt that it was time to run intel again, partly for the better performance when you sit down to play, as well as the more fun overclocking. So a 10900K will be the processor I get to play with. Now I'm not the believing type, but I hope the hardware gods have given me a good one that clocks nicely!

RAM: G.Skill 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600MHz CL17 Trident​

32GB RAM and a decent speed on these. Of course, you could go up in speed as the motherboard supports a much higher one, but these will work just fine. Then with these there is the possibility for lighting as the theme will have a color in addition to the black / dark.

SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB​

I've previously only run SATA variants of m.2, but felt it was time for a disk with proper speeds! Read in reviews that they could get hot without a heatsink, but the motherboard comes with such thingies, so there's nothing to worry about!

 

To make sure every component gets the power it needs, a power supply is needed. To cool everything, I've heard you need fans ...

PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 1200W Titanium​

be quiet! was immensely wonderful and provided me with one of their new Dark Power Pro 12 1200W Titanium. So making sure all the components, pumps and the like gets the power it needs as well as overclocking everything wont be any worries at all. The fact that this "little" box it is the most gorgeous PSU I have ever seen does not make things worse. Brushed metal in a dark design also makes it fit the theme like the hand in the glove! To hide this creation at the bottom of the case and then forget it should be punishable. So it will end up fully visible at the top of the case. I lack the tools to try it out completely, but all the reviews I have read so far have given it perfect reviews.















The power supply also comes with already sleeved cables which really is a nice addition.

Fans: be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM och be quiet! Silent Wings 3 High Speed 120mm PWM​

Since I've been using these in all builds in recent years and enjoyed them very much, it feels silly to change a winning recipe. Cools really well and is really quiet, what more could you want?

High speed will sit on the radiators while the lower speed fans will act as chassis fans.

 

The other day, a small package filled with 20kg of goodies arrived, the package was filled with various stuff used to cool the hardware for this project! Radiators, pumps, fittings, etc. : D











Since the case is still a quite some time away, it feels sad that so much good stuff should just be left unused. So I thought I would and build myself a little temporary thing so I can take advantage of all this wonderful cooling. Had a piece of unused plexi lying here at home which turned out to be absolutely perfect in size for my thought. So I put together a small stand for pump / res and radiators


















































Some of the holes were off by a mm, so when I take off and clean the radiators, I'm gonna correct those. But for having fixed it in about 2 hours, I think it turned out perfectly ok. The idea was mostly functionality and not appearance

 

I didn't read the text first. I thought this was going to be an internal partition.

 

I finalized my temporary cooling solution yesterday. Not exactly the prettiest solution... but letting so much water cooling stuff just lie around not being used pains me!
So it'll have to look a little bit scruffy until I get the case done and can transfer all the stuff over there





Pressure test


20 minutes later, all good...


Fill 'er up


Up n running

 

Ohh hehe... nope, that's gonna CNC cut in aluminum along with all sides

 

Some news regarding the project and hardware for this project. Had the great honor of testing the MSI 3080 Gaming X Trio and compared it to my current 1080Ti, it was a real boost in terms of performance! Spent a lot of time testing the card, running benchmarks, overclocking and tinkering with a small video on the whole thing ... keep in mind that I'm not a pro at editing videos. Hope it is of interest to some of you!



In addition, I have spent a bunch of hours completing drawings for everything that is to be cut out in CNC. So hopefully I will have the opportunity to squeeze and feel these things in the near future!

The next little update is that I've got some help for the project from Viper Gaming who sent these wonderfully beautiful memories and a nice little fast m.2

https://viper.patriotmemory.com/pro...nce-memory-ram-viper-gaming-by-patriot-memory
https://viper.patriotmemory.com/pro...id-state-drive-viper-gaming-by-patriot-memory

 

All parts that are being CNC-cut are starting to be made, so I thought I'd show a quick picture of it. The closest part is the part that will sit at the bottom of the front and house my two 480 radiators...

 

Yet another piece done... can't wait to have them all in my hands

 

Finally a little update ... the plates that will sit around the case have finally arrived!

Now it is a bit of work to fix the plate that will sit in the middle and separate the top and middle sections. Figure out where I should put the motherboard plate, PSU and where reservoirs and all bulk fittings should sit. Then also come to the conclusion where I should saw out in the back plate for the motherboard plate and PSU. After that, drill holes and threads in the frame to attach them ... after that, it's the job of fine-tuning and painting all the parts

The front parts where the lower part will house my two 480 radiators and the upper part that will hold some fans to cool the parts in the top section



The side plates





Rear upper part where it is to be sawn out for motherboard plate and PSU. As well as the rear lower part where there will be fans for exhaust



The middle part where it will also be sawn and drilled a lot for motherboard plate, PSU, reservoirs, bulk fittings and where it is cut out and ready for my aquaero

 

Are you sure you can afford the real estate? This is one of those cases where a touchscreen panel would be better.
-Oh, right.. Dog/floor.

 

Trust me... I've been considering that on and off But I want the outside to be quite subtle and with the aquaero I can control everything from aquasuite
Afford the real estate... is that some american saying I've yet to encounter or am I just slow in my thinking now?

 

Finally, I have sorted out a lot of hassle and gained momentum on the project. The table that was purchased will now be transformed to become top and bottom ... so take two on this, and I hope I don't break this table top too!



Became top and bottom...





Time to measure the cut out for the glass...











Then we take out this little device so I can lower the glass to be at the same height as the top part...



Shortly after this, I managed with to f up, but luckily not destroy anything... I cut myself on a small metal piece that protruded from a sawn-off part of the table and bled down everything and a little more ... But either today or tomorrow it's on again!

 

Just so you know- I didn't 'like' this because you were injured.
I can't confirm the same for Goatee, though.