Project Evolv mATX Ryzen 1700 Build

[Jhelms]

System goal:
The goal of this system is to take over as my primary work station. This is a business machine primarily with great 1080p gaming capabilities – designed for reliability and simplicity first and foremost. Not a lot of parts are going into this build. The machine has WAY more capabilities than even my rendering and design work requires so overclocking to the last percentile even when gaming is not a priority for me. But bet your gaming chair swamp arse I will have some fun with it

Most of this build will consist of off the shelf parts. Equipment these days has come so far, not a lot is needed to build out a killer good looking system. I will kept the visuals simple and clean with a gray scale theme with white light and red highlights in the hardware and RGB devices. Of course… I will go a little overboard with the fine details as always… something no one will really see except in photos – but that is just how I build.

A big chunk of parts will arrive tomorrow. However this will be a slow build to the finish as a lot of custom detail parts are on the way from around the globe to complete my vision. I estimate to have it completed in 2-3 weeks as parts come in.

Hang in with the build - I think you guys will dig it!

Sponsored by: My Wallet

Special thanks: To my wife who has stopped asking “how much did that cost”

Project Evolv Equipment Log:
- Case = Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX
- PSU = Seasonic Prime Titanium 750W
- CPU = Ryzen 1700 / Cooled by Corsair H100i V2
- Mobo = AsRock AB350M Pro 4
- Ram = G.SKILL Trident Z RGB C14 2x8gb 3200 (F4-3200C14D-16GTZR)
- Video Card = Sapphire Nitro+ RX580 8GB
- Primary HD = Samsung 960 Pro NVMe 512gb with EKWB M.2 Heatsink
- Fans = Anidees AI Halo / Nebula White 140mm x 3
- PWM Hub = Silverstone CPF04
- Lighting = 4x Phanteks RGB LED Strips run off case controller
- Cables = CableMod
- OS = Win 10

Some of my previous builds on here:
Project AM1 SFF build
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...ni-itx-desktop-build-business-machine.204060/

Project 300R
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/project-300r.174567/

I have been building gaming rigs since late 90's. My first fast rig was a water cooled overclocked 2500+ with WD raptor drives plus a 9800 pro GPU! Very cool to still be building rigs on and off after all these years. Still love it!

Coming soon:

 

[Norton]

Subbed

Sponsored by: My Wallet

Special thanks: To my wife who has stopped asking “how much did that cost”

 

[de.das.dude]

subie

 

[Jhelms]

Almost time to start Lots of goodies have arrived. NICE

 

[Chicken Patty]

I'm in

 

[Nuckles56]

Nice hardware, I'm in. Also good board choice there, I had a really good time with it

 

[PLAfiller]

System goal:

Sponsored by: My Wallet

Special thanks: To my wife who has stopped asking “how much did that cost”

You nailed here dude. Nailed, I tell ya!

 

[Jhelms]

Some progress tonight! Had some much deserved down-time and fun.
- A lot of hardware is still inbound such as properly sized countersunk washers (the 6-32 hardware temporarily is using m3 washers for fitment) Custom thumb screws and more inbound
- Currently using 10-24 stainless socket caps to retain the fans. I have 10-24 countersunk hardware on order and proper red aluminum countersink washers - will look hot
- Lots of thin, red anodized flat washers will be utilized on the video card hardware just to add the red accent to the theme
- Corsair AM4 bracket is still inbound. Will rock some custom red / stainless hardware on the mount as with the rest of the build. Will replace the fans on the H100i V2 cooler too. Likely just to some nice LED high static pressure versions
- EKWB heatsink shipped for the NVMe drive. Will take time to get here as it is coming from the other side of the planet
- Phanteks LED strips still in shipment - slow boat
- I will be laser engraving the top of the case as well as the front. Still deciding on what I want to do

Anyways, you get where the build is going from the pics. Nice, clean and simple. When lit, she should look pretty damn nice!

All hardware will be countersunk / stainless with red aluminum washers. You see a lot of here on the rad and mobo. Will just take time to get it all here.

Made a short aluminum, rubber ended video card support. Keeps her perfectly level.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Good attention to detail!

 

[Jhelms]

Coming along nicely Still waiting for a lot of hardware to arrive but the system is in use. Some notes:
- I went away from the Anidees AI Halo / Nebula White fans. Needed something quieter with good flow and found that with the Corsair mag lev bearing fans. Also, with the RGB white which is sort of a purply blue white, the LED white light on the fans looked dirty / dingy in comparison.
- The GSkill ram is running excellent EXCEPT for the RGB software. Until they fix a LOT of things, I am stuck with the rainbows and unicorn farts color theme
- Had a failed Seasonic Prime Titanium supply out of the box (it happens). B&H Rocked and got me a new one quickly which works flawless
- The black, white and silver color theme really turned out nice. With the onboard RGB, I can turn the system any color and it just works. I generally leave it on white light most of the time.

Went with a very conservative OC. 3.8 on the 1700 and 1460 / 2250 on the RX580. Ram is running at the XMP Profile 3200 with CL14 timings. No issues. Overall great little rig! Next check in will be the completed build.

Some RGB Examples:

Random:

 

[Nordic]

Special thanks: To my wife who has stopped asking “how much did that cost”

They get passed the sticker shock faster when you explain it in terms of mocha's or other caffeinated beverages. My significant other got quiet when I compared it to her annual coffee budget.

 

[Jhelms]

HA! Indeed Add in hair, nails, shoe budget (yes shoe budget is a thing)

 

[thebluebumblebee]

That looks nice, but does it actually breathe?
(yes, I realize he has 2 Titan X's in there)

 

[Nordic]

HA! Indeed Add in hair, nails, shoe budget (yes shoe budget is a thing)

wifes_budget = sum(caffeinated_beverages, nails, shoes) * X years
computer_budget = sum(parts) / X years

highground = wifes_budget - computer_budget

 

[Jhelms]

It does breath fine for this build, they modified the front panel on this new mATX case to be further out from my understanding (saw it in a review someplace). So far, I have seen zero issue with temps in this case for the small load (in comparison to the video's build) Idle is only 65W overclocked on this machine and when gaming. I am just not seeing a big thermal load. Peak draw dynamically, I am only seeing around 200-250W, with a couple spikes to 300 which is rare. Also, being mATX, dual cards would not be common thing in this case as the bottom card would be choked airflow wise.

The top panel is still pretty restrictive which is why I would not recommend a top mount radiator for this case and why I went with only a single front. It does breath, you can feel it flowing out the back and a bit out the front, but not even close to the top mount flow of most cases.

Zero offense to his build (I watch Jayz videos and he is good) but he does have 4 120mm exhaust fans and only 2 120mm intake fans and complains of a negative pressure situation inside the case Not rocket science there. Switch the rear to a high flow 140mm or reverse the rear 120 as an intake fan and he may be a lot better off. Also, it would not cost much to take the top panel to a machine shop, have an area CNC'ed out and just put a black mesh grill under it and he would have all the flow he could want and it would look dead sexy (have thought about doing this to mine)


Edit: Last note, one of the issues that helps with this case especially when installing 120mm fans up top, you have to seal off any open areas so the hot air does not simply re-circulate back into the case. You have to force it to exit the case since the flow of the top mount fans will greatly exceed the ability of the top cover to exhaust all flow. In this, warm air is recirculated which is not good.

 

[Jhelms]

wifes_budget = sum(caffeinated_beverages, nails, shoes) * X years
computer_budget = sum(parts) / X years

highground = wifes_budget - computer_budget

Hahaha - make sure to graph it and powerpoint it. Gotta put that up on the wall, use a laser pointer and school her!

 

[FreedomEclipse]

makes me wish I had the money to do an entirely new build

 

[Nordic]

Hahaha - make sure to graph it and powerpoint it. Gotta put that up on the wall, use a laser pointer and school her!

That just turned into some roleplay fun. I think that is worth the effort.

 

[Jhelms]

That just turned into some roleplay fun. I think that is worth the effort.

 

[Jhelms]

Well I got exactly 97 days out of my 90 day warranty on the H100I V2 lol. Pump started acting up every now and again and today she died totally - Could not recover. So, with that, in went the AMD Wraith Spire that came with the 1700. While not even close to the H100i V2 in cooling capabilities, it really is not bad at all and is working fine in my system.

Idle with fan at 40% (virtually silent): 36-38c. Streaming or basic internet apps around 40c
Full tilt 100% all cores: Peaked at 66C and holds tight

Passed everything I could throw at it. Cooler is working great. Thinking I will stick with factory air! Scary... Never thought I would say that.

 

[craigo]