Geeek A60 mini-itx RTX 2080 9900k Powerhouse - compact and shiny

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Xab3r
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Geeek A60 mini-itx RTX 2080 9900k Powerhouse - compact and shiny

It all started as a simple “I will upgrade only my CPU...” and as a result there is basically nothing left of my original hardware :-)
I picked up Silverstone Raven RVZ03 as my first case of choice - reviews were mostly positive, visual appeal was fine and I decided that it could be a right case for my new rig.
Unfortunately, although quality and all were good, temperatures were too high using Cryorig C1 as CPU cooler, Palit GameRock 1080ti and SF600 plus 2 120mm case fans - as a result random shutdowns under average gaming load. PC was overheating quite fast even in open case scenario.
As I mentioned before, I bought Corsair SF600 because it is a well known SFF choice. And I was really really disappointed - for some reason Corsair engineers decided that everyone is obsessed with noise level, so under average load(200w) PSU fans are not spinning at all. It is nice and all, but this psu overheats in a few hours... without turning fans on. They stay idle even when temp inside PSU is 50+ degrees! Quite a genius engineering solution to hardwire fans to incoming load and not to the temp sensor. Official chart says that you have to drain at least 240w to get fans spinning....
Bought SFX PSU from Silverstone and it is much much cooler - no overheating under my usual load. And fans do spin, yey.

In a few weeks I decided to change case to one of “sandwiched motherboard/GPU” style cases plus water cooling to get temps even lower. Geeek A60 appeared to be a good choice and I did not regret even once neither during assembly process nor afterwards.
Main cons is that case is fully(almost) made of acrylic glass. Main pros is that it supports 240mm AIO, huge cards and is really well-thought. Personally I would be glad to pay extra 100-150 bucks to get fully-aluminum version with tempered glass side panels with better ventilation. It is easy to create custom side panels, but replacing internals, which are plastic as well, would be much harder.

As a cooling solution I picked Kraken240, competition was Corsair
AIO, but reviews said that tubing there is much more rigid and I was afraid that it will be hard to fit everything in there. I did never regret about my choice - kraken works and looks awesome. Fitting tubes was kinda hard but manageable

Next problem was that my old GPU won’t fit into the new case, it was expected because GameRock 1080ti is a really huge card. 2080 cards selection for this case is pretty limited atm, so I had to pick either EVGA Gaming, Gigabity OC or Asus Strix. Strix won, although I am still not sure about my choice - card is fairly noisy in comparison to the old one, which was almost silent even under load.

And of course I had to add RGB . Otherwise it’s not a gaming case, right ? EmojiSo a few strips of two sided tape, Deepcool RGB LEDs and more cable management and I got remote-controlled lights ! Note that temps got 2-3 degrees higher after turning highlighting on. Definitely manageable, but worth noting.

Temps on idle: 30-34c cpu, 30 gpu
under average (most of my games, i.e. PathOfExile 3.5k on ultra) load: 50-60 cpu, 55-65 gpu
under stress(furmark) load: cpu 65, gpu 75+ aaaand it shuts down after 25-30 minutes, probably due to PSU overheating - still thinking how I could improve cooling in this part of the case. One of the options would be to install 120mm x 13mm case fan right on top of psu. I have ordered a custom 3d printed side panel with improved ventilation and few additional moutning points. Still waiting for it to arrive though, will update this post as soon as I'll install them

Color(s): Blue Green Purple
RGB Lighting? Yes
Theme: Technology
Cooling: AIO Cooling
Size: Mini-ITX
Type: General Build

Contests

This build participated in 1 contest.

Hardware

CPU
$ 383.00
Intel - Core i9-9900K
Socket: LGA 1151
Cores: 8
Integrated Graphics: Yes
Motherboard
$ 189.50
ASRock - Phantom Gaming-ITX/AC
Chipset: Z390
CPU Socket: LGA 1151
Size: Mini-ITX
Memory
$ 62.99
Corsair - Vengeance LPX (2666Mhz) (Black)
Type: DDR4
Capacity: 16 GB
Graphics
$ 559.00
ASUS - ROG Strix
Chip Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip: RTX 2080
Storage
$ 284.05
Samsung - 970 PRO
Form Factor: M.2
Interface: M.2 (M)
Capacity: 1 TB
PSU
$ 133.99
SilverStone Technology - SFX SX700-G
Wattage: 700
Form Factor: SFX
Efficiency: 80+ Gold
Case
GEEEK - A60
Type: Mini-Tower
Side Panel: Window
Cooling
$ 69.99
NZXT - Kraken X52
Type: AIO
Accessories
Monitor
$ 1,590.94
Samsung - CF791
Size: 34 Inch
Panel: VA
Refresh Rate: 100 Hz
Keyboard
$ 74.00
Razer - Ornata Chroma
Interface: Wired
Key Switch Type: Razer Green
Type: Full Size
Mouse
$ 239.99
SteelSeries - Sensei - Wireless
Interface: Wireless
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