Description

Hello guys !

This is my first itx liquid cooled computer and I want to share with you. After I saw couple stunning builds on this website (example: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/nQNQzy ) I decided to build one to myself. I give it to you this particular example because in my oppinion was a complicated one.

When I saw that case it was first time love. After I buy it I saw that everything except the case is mediocre. I plug the original power supply to the components and the coil noise was terrible; also the qi charger located on the top of the case was low powered. Even with that I keeped that charger in function by attaching an usb cable to it directly on the motherboard.

After couple researches on the web I saw that the only power supply who can fit on that tiny space is Seasonic Focus+ (gold or platinum) - bought the Seasonic Focus+ 850W Gold. The original plastic cover of the power supply was keeped and it fits perfect on this - there is a picture with that attached.

My main thoughts was to fit a full size video card (with waterblock) and also a pump with reservoir in that limited amount of space and as you can see...... I did it !

The initial setup was designed for an i7 8700k but until some components arrived, I sell the cpu and I replace with the new i9 9900k wich was delided and the tim was replaced with liquid metal. Also even in pictures is presented the Kryonaut, the video card was treated with liquid metal from Thermal Grizzly.

In order to install the pump I have to create a custom mount from metal (it was taken from a hardware shop - used for keeping the furniture against the wall). I cut it with a dremel to about 2 cm wide and I threaten the metal by putting on fire until was red and then insert on oil for hardening; then it was baked for about 2 hours on about 150 degrees. The custom mount is keeped by the original screws from the power supply fan. Nothing was destroyed on the power supply and the warranty of the product is ok.

Also the bottom of the case (the honeycomb pattern) was removed with a dremel for a better air flow.

All the original cables from the power supply were shortened and meshed and re-climped as you can see in pictures.

The fans used for the bottom were BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 120 mm and for the inside of the case I used Corsair LL's, all 4 fans controlled by a Corsair Commander Pro and a Corsair hub for lightning effects. The rgb strip from the bottom of the case was replaced also with a Corsair RGB lightning strip (where 3 of them - last strip was cutted to fit on the dimension).

The radiators I used: XSPC Ultra Thin 240 mm and XSPC Ultra Thin 120 mm. I use also a XSPC temp sensor mounter on the water circuit - this is connected to the Corsair Commander Pro.

After 20 hours of building I made some benchmarks and I unfortunately saw that this case cannot compete with their big brothers in terms of cooling. On prime 95 with fans at maximum the cpu get about 97 degrees wich is too much for me. The computer is extremely hot; the water stays to about 50 degrees in full load.

This build was a test for myself to see if I can do such complicated project. Definitely I will chose a little bit higher case (such Corsair 280x) for thicker radiators and better air flow.

Kind regards !

P.S. Please excuse my english language.

Comments

  • 7 months ago
  • 3 points

I've said it before! Beautiful build!

If you want a shot at keeping the temps down do what I did:

Of course I don't have a custom loop, I have a Corsair H80i V2, which is twice as thick as your CPU rad. But that is not the important thing here, as you have about twice the rad surface area overall.

Assuming that the water block has good contact with the IHS (9900k is known to not be perfectly flat on some units-may need lapping) here is the problem with the A1. The rear and side fans are both configured as exhaust. Basically the heat coming off your 240 rad is also being exhausted through the CPU rad, and also creating close to negative airflow since the bottom fans are not pushing as much air as they could due to the restriction of air trying to get past the bottom rad.

In theory InWin likely wanted to create a neutral pressure environment with 2 fans in and 2 out. In practice this will not be the case, as either a large graphics card and/or a 240mm rad at the bottom will slow down airflow. Thus we more than likely have a negative pressure environment.

You should flip the fan over on the CPU rad and set it to intake pull. Even better use two fans set up as push pull intake on the CPU rad. That way you are keeping positive Pressure in the case, and the side exhaust fan is removing hot air from both rads. You can also buy a fan filter (thermaltake makes a good one) which I'm using on my Corsair CPU rad, if you want to keep the dust from making it's way in from the rear.

I did this on my A1 with my Corsair H80 v2 and I dropped 10 degrees or more on my 9900k with the Asus AI overclocked 4.9Ghz via the bios. I can play Gereration Zero and Shadow of the Tomb Raider at full 4K maxed settings and my Aorus Extreme 2080TI (which barely fit with some finessing) won't go over 70c. The CPU stays at around 50-55c. At idle the CPU is around 30-32 with an ambient of 24 to 26 in the room- It will hover at 40-42 after a gaming session for ten minutes as it gradually drops down to idle while the system equalizes.

Usually intake/exhaust on the rad does not matter in larger full ATX towers, but in the tiny A1 it makes a huge difference! The only downside, is the LL120 on the CPU rad will be facing the other way, and won't look as pretty, but it's a small sacrifice to make.

If you go with a push pull intake on your CPU rad, you may have make new bends on some of your hard tubing, but from what your pics show you should be fine on the water block. That being said, try just flipping the single fan on your CPU rad to pull to see how it fares.

If I can keep my huge open shroud Aorus 2080ti, and 9900k cool with a single Corsiar AIO and single fan on CPU rad, I'm sure it will work even better with your custom loop, with proper air routing. The side fan is perfect for exhaust as it makes no difference to the system what the air temperature moving though this fan, is.

So to summarize: Both bottom and rear fan/s set to intake- both rads getting cool air directly from outside- and side fan set to exhaust= positive pressure in case and all heat is drawn away from all components from the fan at the side of the case.

a couple of last things:

1)The intake airflow at the bottom is not the greatest when the case is on a desk. One thing I think InWin could have done a better job with - for the time being I've raised it with a couple of books. I'm planning to get some taller rubber feet, to aid the airflow underneath the case.

2) The Corsair WHITE LL120s are rated much higher in speed and RPM than the black ones. I was going crazy with this, as I had a black fan on my rad, while the other three white fans were screaming. (they are all set to obey CPU temperature in the bios) The Black fans are only officially rated to 1500 rpm, whereas the white ones will go as high as 2200rpm. Not a lot of people are aware of this. As soon as I swapped in a white fan on my CPU rad everything quieted right down!

Scroll down when viewing the following pages for the specs in white vs black LL120 Corsair fans:

WHITE: https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX75501

BLACK: https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX68780

I hope this gives you some insight :)

  • 9 months ago
  • 2 points

Amazing work here Onyx! I cannot believe you fit the pump/res combo AND a full size GPU in there. That custom fan bracket is simply brilliant!

Now let's talk about cooling performance, I know the 9900k is a super hot chip but I don't think it should be getting to 97c in this setup, Did you happen to spin the cpu on a flat surface to see if the IHS is truly flat? A couple of vidoes Jayztwocents made showed that the new soldered CPUS IHS's needed to be lapped as they were not flat and it caused imperfect contact with the CPU block. If not that then I think you may have a less that perfect thermal paste application. Would be interesting to see how the 8700K performs also as I have the same cooling capacity and my 8700k CPU oc'd to 4.9 is staying under 85c in prime95. I hope you can sort it out as this is an awesome A1 build. +1 for Feature

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

The cpu was delided and the tim was replace with liquid metal. Before that tim was applied, the surface of the cpu was carefully sanded on a flat surface. Bear in mind that temperature was obtained ONLY in Prime95. In the rest of applications the maximum temp was 75 degree Celsius.

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Oh I see well you definitely covered all the bases then. I don't have personal experience with the 9900k but reviews seemed to show she's a really hot chip, those extra cores come at a cost! If only getting really hot under prime95 you should be perfectly fine for daily normal use and gaming. Cheers!

  • 9 months ago
  • 2 points

I’m calling a feature. This build is sick!

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you !

  • 9 months ago
  • 2 points

I think you need more pictures.

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Picture 14 is sick.

  • 8 months ago
  • 2 points

Hello Qnyx,

I already beg your pardon for my english. I have a similear build as you, also inspired by the same that inspired your built as you. I use also an 9900k and i dont have any temperature issues. Mine is overclocked at 5.3ghz on each core and water temp doesn't go over 35°C and cpu goes to 75°C on OCCT and CineBench. I really think that you have and air flow problem or that your delid is defect.

I do my air flow like this: 2 bottom fans push air IN, back side fan push air OUT, and the last fan on the side push OUT too.

I dont know how to post some pictures of my build for help you but if you need i can try to help you.

Here you can find my build but i don't finished all the sleeving yet and don't connected my screen.

https://9gag.com/gag/a83ebDY

Best regards SpencE

  • 7 months ago
  • 1 point

Have you finished your build yet? Could you tell me about temps you get ?

  • 7 months ago
  • 2 points

I would pay you to make my InWin A1 like this one. Sheesh that's amazing!

  • 7 months ago
  • 2 points

Thank you ! P.S. I can help you with that... if you are in the same country with me.

  • 7 months ago
  • 1 point

Well in located in Florida, US. XD

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Awesome build! What's in the tank?

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

It was an old aquarium. I have to get rid of that.

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Do you have a number for the max length of the graphics card with fittings? I have been planning to do the same but I have a strix 1080

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

The video card is Gainward GTX 1080 TI Founders Edition. You can see the product size here: http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=1001&lang=en

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

One of my favorite SFF builds on this site. Simply incredible how you fit so much in such a small space. Its a shame that temps weren't better: I think this would work great with something like a 9700K and a RTX 2070 (around 110W lower power consumption)

  • 9 months ago
  • 2 points

Thank you for your kind words. As you said, I think this case will be excellent for a "lower" hardware; it has to be something with a little low heat dissipation.

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

I love your build OMG !!!!! I have this same case also and i love it but i need to replace the psu that it comes with . its too loud for me. any thing for me to take note of ? im going to buy that seasonic psu that you have.

  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you for your vote !

The Seasonic Focus+ (Gold or Platinum) is the only power supply can fit in that place. Also bear in mind that you have to shorten the ATX cable - that's a must. The length of that cable is 28 cm for that specific power supply. I also prefered to sleeve the PCIEX cables for better appearance. Here you have 3 options: buy Seasonic sleeved cables, cut the existing wires, sleeve them and put everything together and finally use that original cable of the supply but you have to hide it on somewhere because is a little bit too long.

  • 8 months ago
  • 1 point

For your mobo do you know where both the m.2 slots are? I was considering this motherboard

  • 8 months ago
  • 1 point

Onr slot is in the front and has that heatsink with "phantom gaming" and the other one is in the back and it doesn't have radiator.

  • 8 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you

  • 7 months ago
  • 1 point

Hey! I would like to make the same build as your, could you talk about the temps at idle or in game? Do you think I should be able to put external rad outside the case if the temps get too high with 2 slim rad? Currently I have only one 120mm AIO for my 9900k and idle I stay at 35°C

  • 7 months ago
  • 1 point

As I said before, 9900k is not the best cpu for this build and also the video card used by me. My only purpose was to prove that hardware fits inside that tiny case. Regarding the temps, in idle the cpu sit at about 50 - 55 degree celsius and also video card. The problem is not quite related to the hardware temps; the problem is related to the temps of entire build. When gaming, everything is extremely hot: the case, the vents, water, everything. And cpu and vga slowly are raising their temperatures until the frequency drops or there is a crash. Examples: the ddr4 memory have about 70 degree; the ssd's - about 50-60 degree celsius.

  • 7 months ago
  • 1 point

But how this is possible..I have 9900k and RTX2080 an in game I got 60°c for CPU and 50-60°C for GPU with a single 120mm aio

  • 6 months ago
  • 1 point

Sup man I just one to ask, Is there enough spacing between the front of the gpu waterblock and the front glass panel to run 18mm tubing there?

  • 6 months ago
  • 1 point

Yes, there is space, but I think that you will overcrowd everything in this tight space if you will use 18 mm.

  • 3 months ago
  • 1 point

Hi. I have this case and I also want to get rid of the honeycomb design at the bottom, but I dont have and dont know how to use dremel. I am planning to bring it to a welding shop instead. But I wanna know if the bottom part is detachable so I wont have to bring the whole case? its kinda heavy for an itx case.

  • 3 months ago
  • 1 point

The Dremel is a rotary tool which basically has a cutting disc (and more others). The main advantage of that tool is it small profile and you can do delicate tasks (jewellery things per example). Regarding the bottom, unfortunately that is not detachable.

P.S. You can get rid of the honeycomb using also a Li-Ion screwdriver with a cutting disk. An example you can see in this picture: https://www.gesswein.com/images/Product/large/8121210.jpg

[comment deleted by staff]
  • 9 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you !