The case arrived, time to do some test fitting!
The bottom radiator - very tight fit :D I had to remove the front HDD assembly.
The bottom radiator only leaves space for a single slot GPU :o
3x Scythe slim fans in the bottom, filtered of course.
Mounting the top radiator with fans already attached and doing the first hard tubing run to connect the rad's. This took a while...
A straight run between the radiators.
So far, so good.
I wanted to take the FLT 120mm with the D5, but it would have been too thick, so I had to take the DDC version.
Res/pump assembly.
D5 would have been a lot "thicker"...
I had to drill some holes to mount the res/pump combo to the PSU bracket.
I had to drill some holes to mount the res/pump combo to the PSU bracket.
I had to drill some holes to mount the res/pump combo to the PSU bracket.
Very thight with the fans and the power cable!
I had to thighten the PSU screws throught the radiator fins!
It sits. :)
In my opinion the best ITX alder-lake mainboard you can get.
Unboxing is always fun.
It's so "clean" :o
A lot of I/O, even Thunderbolt 4.
Testfit.
Optane M.2 SSD as boot drive.
Adata XPG M.2 SSD.
The it is, the i9 12900k!
The Quantum Velocity fits on point.
I like how the CPU Block matches the res/pump combo. At this point I had to take a while, thinking about the layout of the loop again.
Some details.
Some details.
GPU block + backplate arrived!
Clean af.
Nickel + Plexi = best combo!
I wanted to get the ASUS EKWB RTX 3090, but as you know, when it comes to GPU's, you have to take what you can get. So I bought a reference 3080 and a water block for it, but I still need a single slot cover for the I/O.
Am I the only one who hates these triple fans air coolers? Especially when they are so thick (triple slot)...
Testing with soft tubing.
Hard tubing in this small case was a pain in the ****.
Since the CPU and the GPU block had predetermined in and out ports, I had to "work my way around them" in some cases. You will see in the final picture.
Up to 3 bends on a single run at the top took some attempts.
Finished build.
Finished build.
I tried my best to make a video for y'all.
Codename "Mini-Wan", Cleanest EKWB ITX Build, silver/white, Alder Lake i9, 3080
Hello guys!
This build is all about minimalism. My goal was to put as much performance as possible into a small as possible case.
All of that while still being able to put in a custom water cooling loop AND making it look clean. Hard tubing was not easy in such a small space...:D
I also had to drill some holes to fit the res/pump combo.
I wanted the build to look clean, minimalistic, and more "mature" - so no fancy colorful RGB, just white.
This is also the first time I am using an Optane SSD as my boot drive for even lower latency and improved 4krndm reads than "normal" ssd performance would bring.
Furthermore this build is undervolted (CPU & GPU) and completely manually tuned, so a lot of testing was necessary (temprature levels, fancurves, clockspeeds, power consumption etc.) This resulted in nearly complete silent operation, even under load.
After finishing the tuning for the first time, I noticed that the loudest component was actually the Corsair PSU. The 3080 was pulling so much power that the PSU had to spin up the fan (it only does so above 300 Watts power consumption). Since I could not change the fan curve of the PSU, this was the main reason to undervolt and lower the power consumption of the system.
The fans are configured as follows:
3 Scythe Slim Fans are pushing air into the system from the bottom through the first radiator. The run at 500RPM PWM-controlled and are completely silent. They start to spin faster and push more fresh air into the system only when necessary (CPU above 80 degree's). This might sound very high, but we must not forget that there are 3 more fans ;-)
The Phanteks T30's are unbelivable great fans the are configured to only spin up when the CPU is above 40 degree's (idle and office work CPU stays under 40) and then run at 600RPM - also completely silent, pushing air through the second 360 radiator.
They start to speed up when the CPU reaches 70 degree's and then they are noticable but still very quiet.
The loudest noise actually comes from the Scythe slim fans when the CPU hits above 80 degree's and they spin at about 800 RPM.
Windows 11 of course, since the last time I checked, the OS scheduler handles the alder lake efficency cores better than Win 10.
Please note that some of the parts from the part list are not 100% correct since they were not available to choose.
This build is all about minimalism. My goal was to put as much performance as possible into a small as possible case.
All of that while still being able to put in a custom water cooling loop AND making it look clean. Hard tubing was not easy in such a small space...:D
I also had to drill some holes to fit the res/pump combo.
I wanted the build to look clean, minimalistic, and more "mature" - so no fancy colorful RGB, just white.
This is also the first time I am using an Optane SSD as my boot drive for even lower latency and improved 4krndm reads than "normal" ssd performance would bring.
Furthermore this build is undervolted (CPU & GPU) and completely manually tuned, so a lot of testing was necessary (temprature levels, fancurves, clockspeeds, power consumption etc.) This resulted in nearly complete silent operation, even under load.
After finishing the tuning for the first time, I noticed that the loudest component was actually the Corsair PSU. The 3080 was pulling so much power that the PSU had to spin up the fan (it only does so above 300 Watts power consumption). Since I could not change the fan curve of the PSU, this was the main reason to undervolt and lower the power consumption of the system.
The fans are configured as follows:
3 Scythe Slim Fans are pushing air into the system from the bottom through the first radiator. The run at 500RPM PWM-controlled and are completely silent. They start to spin faster and push more fresh air into the system only when necessary (CPU above 80 degree's). This might sound very high, but we must not forget that there are 3 more fans ;-)
The Phanteks T30's are unbelivable great fans the are configured to only spin up when the CPU is above 40 degree's (idle and office work CPU stays under 40) and then run at 600RPM - also completely silent, pushing air through the second 360 radiator.
They start to speed up when the CPU reaches 70 degree's and then they are noticable but still very quiet.
The loudest noise actually comes from the Scythe slim fans when the CPU hits above 80 degree's and they spin at about 800 RPM.
Windows 11 of course, since the last time I checked, the OS scheduler handles the alder lake efficency cores better than Win 10.
Please note that some of the parts from the part list are not 100% correct since they were not available to choose.
Color(s): Black Silver White
RGB Lighting? Yes
Theme: Art
Cooling: Custom Liquid Cooling
Size: Mini-ITX
Type: General Build
Hardware
CPU
$ 429.20
Motherboard
$ 373.80
Memory
Graphics
Storage
$ 74.09
Storage
$ 238.68
Case Fan
$ 15.95
Cooling
Cooling
Cooling
$ 210.89
Cooling
Approved by: