The strange case of the shrinking PC!

[martin-w]

Or more accurately, my PC with a mega huge Phenteks Evolv X case, with its tempered glass panels that weigh 6 million tons (maybe more) is to be transformed into a Mini ITX machine. Will be moving in a few months, island hopping,  and don't want to be hauling that mega heavy machine around. Don't get me wrong, its an awesome case, but its time for small form factor.

Ncase M2 on the way. Via a friend in the UK, they don't ship to Guernsey.

Posh Asus Mini ITX motherboard.

1000 watt Corsair Platinum SFF PSU. (yes, the wattage is that high with SFF PSU's, now. 

Arctic Freezer 3 240 AIO. (yes, that's right ME buying an AIO 😲 - D15 won't fit) Its the sensible option rather than a smaller Noctua that wont cool my 12900K that well.

Noctua fan hub.

Motherboads has whopping big heat sinks, so hoping the AIO pump fits. And hoping the EVGA 3090 FTW3 will fit in the config I favor. 

Wish me luck boys and girls. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2024 by martin-w

[BobFS88]

52 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Arctic Freezer 3 240 AIO. (yes, that's right ME buying an AIO 

Good choice, at lease your maintenance on your water cooling will go down. Since I had may system, I just only had to do a refill.

54 minutes ago, martin-w said:

And hoping the EVGA 3090 FTW3

I am still surprise, that card is still going for $1600.00+ new. I got the founders edition for $200.00 less when building my machine a few years ago. 😅

 

[martin-w]

42 minutes ago, BobFS88 said:

Good choice, at lease your maintenance on your water cooling will go down. Since I had may system, I just only had to do a refill

 

My present cooler is an air cooler, Bob, no water.

You topped up the water in an AIO? I know it's possible with some, but I don't think many do.

[martin-w]

44 minutes ago, BobFS88 said:

am still surprise, that card is still going for $1600.00+ new. I got the founders edition for $200.00 less when building my machine a few years ago. 😅

 

Is it? Not surprised, it's still a great card. It's a pity EVGA stopped making graphics cards. 

[BobFS88]

16 minutes ago, martin-w said:

You topped up the water in an AIO? I know it's possible with some, but I don't think many do.

No I actually have an open loop system. 

[martin-w]

25 minutes ago, BobFS88 said:

No I actually have an open loop system. 

 

Oh right, sorry, misunderstood.

Dependent on noise levels, I may go that route with the M2 after I've moved house.

Custom loops are perfectly feasible in the M2. Having said that, there's also an external loop worth considering with something like the Singularity Computers "Water box"

[martin-w]

Change of plan. Arctic Freezer 3 won't fit on motherboard, not unless I remove the M.2 heatsinks and opt for a smaller third party SSD Cooler.

Switching to a Corsair.

[martin-w]

Corsair Titan 280 RX RGB seems to fit nicely. The case is now with a friend in the UK, she is shipping it to me on Monday. Ncase don't ship to Guernsey so had to do it that way. 

[martin-w]

I don't know if anyone is interested in my shrinking PC shenanigans... but the latest is no go for an AIO.

An AIO would fit on the side panel but the pump is likely to be too high with the danger of air being trapped in the pump.

So it's now the Noctua NH-D 12L. Which does fit and surprisingly, not much warmer than my current D15.

[BobFS88]

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

I don't know if anyone is interested in my shrinking PC shenanigans.

I think is good information and helpful for who may consider doing the same thing. 

 

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

So it's now the Noctua NH-D 12L. Which does fit and surprisingly, not much warmer than my current D15.

Look like for size cabinet that maybe your best bet.

[Fielder]

3090 will draw lots of watts. It's also large (wide, number of slots) compared to some 4070TiSuper. You get native FG with series 4000 which to me is the whole ball game. The 4070 series draws far fewer watts of power than 3090,

[martin-w]

21 hours ago, Fielder said:

3090 will draw lots of watts. It's also large (wide, number of slots) compared to some 4070TiSuper. You get native FG with series 4000 which to me is the whole ball game. The 4070 series draws far fewer watts of power than 3090,

 

Yep, I have one of the new Corsair 1000 watt small form factor PSU's, Impressive little thing. This is my old CPU and graphics card and DDR5  from my previous build that's being transferred to the new case. The 3090 FTW3 fits in okay and there's room at the bottom for fans to help feed the card. A couple of slim 120 mm Noctua's are going at the bottom. Its a full mesh case, so cooling should be fine. 

[Fielder]

I put Noctua 120 mm fans on my AIO water cooler. Much better than the original Corsair fans which I threw away. 3000 rpm.

[martin-w]

19 hours ago, Fielder said:

I put Noctua 120 mm fans on my AIO water cooler. Much better than the original Corsair fans which I threw away. 3000 rpm.

 

Yep, as you may of noticed, I've always been a fan of Noctua products. Interestingly though, regarding the slim 15 mm fans, there's a Silverstone that seems to beat all the sim fans for noise and cooling.