PC: Custom watercooling on gaming rig (Part 2)

OK...
Before starting out I thought of making a comparison between the CM 130 and my former SG06 :)

Not such huge difference but on the inside... it's a lot more spacey and nice.
Also I made a quick fit test with da massive rad! What a beast!

First of all, in order to put the Monsta radiator, you need to remove the 5.25" bracket in order to cut some areas where an SSD/HDD is meant to be mounted (on the lower side) that certainly gets in the way of the radiator.

In order to remove the bracket you need to remove 4x rivets that hold the 5.25 on the front. Some patience and a little drill and bracket is off :)

...and radiator fits like a glove :D

As it's a bit heavy I thought of giving a little bit of support, not to have both fans, the radiator filled with the coolant just holding by 4 thin screws.

So, I got some rubber feet from a local store which with a little sanding were a perfect fit underneath the rad. You can barely see it after trying a lot.

Perfect :) Now it was time to dremel the 5.25 bracket. With some caution the annoying bumps removed and bracket was ready to be mounted in it's place.

Going well so far \o/

Next step, was to void that GTX 970 warranty... damn that always feels like crap, but what can you do? lol

And voila... Waterblock fitted like a glove xD

Time to check it inside the case in it's full glory.

Last but not least, I thought about giving a test on how everything fits along with the PSU in place... I must say, using the right angle fitting is so ESSENTIAL!

(Also it gives a slight glimpse on the horror of cable management lol... I can't even think about it but I will certainly deal with it when time comes)

Next step... tubin' n' fittin'... stay tuned :)

PC: New GPU in da house :)

Hi peepz. I thought about sharing an update to my main gaming rig.

Some weeks ago I sold my Asus GTX760 DC2OC to a friend so I was without a GPU for this time. Thankfully the NVidia Maxwell series arrived, so I knew that it was time to update my mini rig :)
Sadly the GTX980 is out of my budget so the GTX970 was picked (it's best value for money anywayz).

Now to the tricky part... WHAT GTX970 is appropriate for my SilverStone SG06 case?

First of all, there are plenty of stock versions of GTX970 (non overclocked) from different hardware vendors that would work just fine out-of-the-box. These are the following:

I decided not to buy the entry level from any hardware vendor (not because I have any problem with entry level, but mainly because I don't like overclocking, so a little boost by default would have been better).
With that decision I had 5 things to consider:

1. Length (max length that can be used ~10" as it is, and 10.75" if you cut the front frame)
2. Height (Well normally you don't have to worry but if you use the combo DVD/drive bracket) height is an issue especially with power cables needed for GPU
3. Depth (I certainly don't need more than 2x card depth. For example some huge 2.5x or 3x coolers don't let the case close!
4. Temperature control
5. Fan noise

After a long of research and reviews through the forums... I had the following info and choices:

• Asus Strix: This was my first choice mainly because I love Asus, but also because it has the best cooling imho. Sadly though... it's TOO big for my SilverStone SG06 case. Even cutting the front frame (a classic mod for people putting larger GPUs)... at 11" you can't do anything more. Also the height with the heatpipes might get in the way of the bracket of 3.5"HD/Slim CD combo.
• EVGA ACX series: FTW model seemed sexy enough and certainly fits based on height and length. After checking some reviews saying about higher noise for my taste, and some issues based on the ACX cooling solution, I didn't fell for it
• Gigabyte G1: Awesome card but nothing more to say except that it's length is a massive 12"... so a certainly no no!
• Zotac Amp Omega: It seemed legit, but for some reason I don't like it much and it's cooler seem like it has more height than the SG06 might support with the HD/DVD combo bracket. It's depth is certainly bigger than the case can support so I don't see it coming anyway.
• MSI Gaming: Lovely card and logically it could fit (ofc with cutting the metal frame on the front) as it's 10.6" but it's huge on height making it a tight (or no fit at all) if using the combo bracket as well
• Gainward Phantom: What a lovely and beasty card! It's silent, good looking, and height and length is awesome (even without cutting the frame). Only thing I worry is that it will be tight or no fit on depth as the cooler makes a depth of 2.5 cards. SG06 has some more space but still I can't know for sure it fits (without modding).
• Palit JetStream: Ok this card met ALL the requirements as it'is rather nice and fits just fine (without mods). Height and Length (9.72") are just fine and Depth is something more than 2x but checking from review pics is 99% ok. Some reviews said that it has awesome silent behavior although increased temps based on that favoritism. Thankfully I can change that from the utility. I just wish it was red to mach my ROG mobo but you can't have it all :)

Ok Palit was the safest and wisest choice... so after some days.... IT ARRIVED!
Damn that box felt huge (although it doesn't feel so big in the pictures).

Some close-ups from the GPU for means of reference

I had to dismantle a lot of stuff from my previous setup, as the card gets tight but can't be powered (2x 6pin connectors) or be installed in the PCI-E bus without removing the HD/DVD combo bracket. After putting things back together and some cable management... here it was in it's full glory :)

With that cable management, the airflow from the front 92mm Noctua fan is enough. LOL you can't see anything from the other side as the GPU+Fan is blocking whole side.

One view from the top, where you can see some minor cable management stuck on the empty sides near the slim Bluray drive. It actually look better than the photos although there aren't much things you can do without a modular PSU. I'm rather happy with the 450W-80 plus SFF PSU though.

Last but not least, some photos with the case closed and ready to rock!

After seeing how tight everything fitted, I can say almost with certainty that Gainward wouldn't fit based on depth since my Palit is so tight that it barely touches the external chassis (thankfully not having any issue).
Also I find it rather difficult, for MSI or Zotac to fit based on height as well (although I can't prove it).
EVGA would fit rather nice (being 9.5") though.
OFC if there was a reference GTX970 would have been awesome (like for example the GTX980 OC of EVGA) but despite many users asking for the reference design, no vendor approved or thought about releasing it yet.

Anywayz... after 2 hours of testing... the GPU just rocks!!! Totally silent and every game set on Ultra at ease. Fun times ahead \o/

I hope you like it despite not being retr0 :)

X500 Evo: Stuffing da beast (Part 4)

Hey guys.

I thought of posting one little update but with much importance :P
First of all 2 days ago I received my original Cherry MX Brown keyboard from Loriano as by little mistake my X500 Evo had the Cherry MX Blue ones when I received it.
Not some biggie as everything's just fine now.

I thought to share some keyboard pr0n for entertainment purposes.

And after some careful time putting all the keycaps in place the keyboard was ready!

The most important thing that I lacked but wanted in my setup was the GPU!
So far I was running my system with the embedded Intel HD Graphics GPU of the Intel i3 3240 CPU which wasn't enough for my taste. Not to mention that I had enough extra wattage to spare alas I had to get one.

After searching for days, about what GPU cards was possible to be powered from the PicoPSU without issue, and also being able to be low profile and most important... being SINGLE slot including the heatsink's thickness... I was among the following:

• ATI Radeon HD 7750 (Sapphire)
• ATI Radeon HD 6750
• NVidia GT640 (Asus - 1GB GDDR5)
• NVidia GT730 (PNY - 1GB GDDR5)

The Sapphire 7750 is a truly nice GPU but sadly it's so rare to find (especially under the Sapphire name) that I stopped thinking about it.

The 6750 was easy to find and more affordable but was lower than my expectations

I already tried the ASUS GT640 (1GB GDDR5) in the past before giving it to my dad for his mini-itx PC, and the only thing I didn't like, was the noise which was kinda loud.

The GT730 not only was the latest of the series that could run in low profile, but it also had a really thin heatsink/fan combo. What drove me insane was the ULTRA LOW TDP it had at only 38W TDP!!! What a definite winner! After I managed to grab one from eBay, I waited patiently till it arrived today! These are some photos of the card itself.

Here's where I removed the normal backplate, putting the low profile one (and after removing the obsolete VGA ribbon - as I was using the space for the PicoPSU connector.

Just before I fire up the X500, I thought about testing how much wattage my system draws without the GPU. After some test I saw it was between 30W and 42W idle @ Windows7 desktop.

Here's the beauty inserted via the included PCI-e flexible ribbon riser making her first boot :)

 

After installing the latest NVidia drivers etc and after a reboot, I thought about checking out the watt-meter to see what's going on.
I was rather surpised seeing that the watt-meter idling @ Windows7 desktop showed lower consumption! lol

Ofc, that isn't such a great deal, as running some YouTube videos etc, raised the watts somewhere between 38W and 50W but still I was rather happy that I was within the required consumption.
Maybe I'll try a Prime benchmark at some point but for now I'm ok to go :)

Just before the end of the article, I thought of posting two screenshots of the Windows 7 benchmark:

Before (using the iGPU)

And after (using the GT730)

That's all for now.
Next article will be really nice as I'm preparing some custom mod and cabling for the upper shell.

Stay tuned :)