Small form factor gaming - build log and support forum for new builders

[AusWolf]

An update on the latest:

It seems like my 2070 has died for no reason. I tried installing Windows, but after a couple minutes, the screen went blank and the card's fans turned to full speed. The drive activity led showed normal use, so it's definitely the card. I tried again a few times, and the same thing happened. It's weird because it worked perfectly fine the last time it was in a PC. Can a GPU die sitting on a shelf?

Anyway... This means that the mini gaming station will still be called "HTPC 1". I could have just resorted to using the 11700's Xe iGPU, as it has all the video decode I need with HDMI 2.0 and everything, but instead, I swapped the 2070 with a 6500 XT I had laying around for minimal gaming capabilities. It won't be as powerful as the 2070, but at least it'll be super silent (what my 2070 isn't).

I've just finished installing Windows and the drivers. I'll let you guys know how it goes and probably post a few pictures after the holidays.

Have a merry Christmas all!

 

[Lei]

Can a GPU die sitting on a shelf?

Did you store it a moist place?
May be it was sad you dumped it, so it took revenge when u came for your ex-GPU

Today I plugged in an infrared heater. Played Dirt 5, no problem. Played Yakuza Kiwami 2. PC went off and Surge Protector broke the circuit.

 

[AusWolf]

Did you store it a moist place?
May be it was sad you dumped it, so it took revenge when u came for your ex-GPU

Today I plugged in an infrared heater. Played Dirt 5, no problem. Played Yakuza Kiwami 2. PC went off and Surge Protector broke the circuit.

View attachment 275988


View attachment 275989

That game looks... mmm... cool.

I would not use a heater (especially in the same circuit as my PC) unless I absolutely had no other choice. They chew through ridiculous amounts of power.

My 2070 was stored in the room where my main PC and most of the rest of my computer gear is. I don't know what went wrong. It shouldn't have been sad, because I was going to use it again sooner or later. My 6500 XT had more reason to be sad, because I was planning to sell it before the 2070 magically died.

 

[kiakk]

It seems like my 2070 has died for no reason. I tried installing Windows, but after a couple minutes, the screen went blank and the card's fans turned to full speed. The drive activity led showed normal use, so it's definitely the card.

Did you install the windows with the 2070 and you got blank screen only after the driver installed? Than because I do not think that is a dead card, more likely a software, firmware or VGA-Display bug. For example with Acer monitors I am reading online about blank screen bugs (and I also have Acer display), but it is just tiny issues, not bad hardwares.

 

[AusWolf]

Did you install the windows with the 2070 and you got blank screen only after the driver installed? Than because I do not think that is a dead card, more likely a software, firmware or VGA-Display bug. For example with Acer monitors I am reading online about blank screen bugs (and I also have Acer display), but it is just tiny issues, not bad hardwares.

Nope. I got blank screen even during Windows was installing. Same in the BIOS. Everything is OK for a couple minutes, then the screen goes blank, the card's fans go to 100%, and only a restart helps.

 

[dgianstefani]

If you want to build a sub 15 L air cooled or twin 280 mm water cooled system, with support for 4090 cooler and 145 mm CPU coolers, this is a pretty sweet case.

I'm pretty happy with my Sliger SM570, but it is somewhat limited by the 240 mm radiator support (I get around it by having an efficient X3D chip, so most of the heat load is from the GPU), I could theoretically fit an additional 240 mm in my current setup, but it would be tight.

 

[AusWolf]

If you want to build a sub 15 L air cooled or twin 280 mm water cooled system, with support for 4090 cooler and 145 mm CPU coolers, this is a pretty sweet case.

I'm pretty happy with my Sliger SM570, but it is somewhat limited by the 240 mm radiator support (I get around it by having an efficient X3D chip, so most of the heat load is from the GPU), I could theoretically fit an additional 240 mm in my current setup, but it would be tight.

Oh man! Watching this video makes me want to build an ITX main PC again. Just when I though I got settled with m-ATX for life.

 

[dgianstefani]

Sex.

Personally I would have used transparent custom cables, but this is pretty 9/10.

Man designed his own fan splitter PCB.

 

[AusWolf]

Sex.

Personally I would have used transparent custom cables, but this is pretty 9/10.

Man designed his own fan splitter PCB.

View attachment 302065

This is way overkill for my definition of SFF, but I love it!

 

[dgianstefani]

He's finished the build. <10L case with twin radiators and hard tubing, black nickel chrome.

There really is no excuse for the size of cases these days that still don't support many different types of components, e.g. 30 L+ cases that won't even fit a 360/420mm radiator, I really do think that case manufacturers have gotten lazy with space utilization. Builds like this show what you can do when you're actually building and designing as well as you can, and not just to the "good enough" point.

Particularly impressive to me is that there isn't even maintenance/accessibility compromises here, the loop is easy to drain/fill and the fans/radiators are easy to clean, since the fittings allow rotation right out of the case.

 

[AusWolf]

No update in a long time, so I guess it's time for one.

So... system specs in my profile.

• 7700X got magically upgraded to a 7800X3D. I don't know how it happened. I just clicked "buy", and then it was here. I thought why not use it, then.
• 32 GB RAM got upgraded to 48 GB (2x24 GB) the same way. I was just curious how it would work.

And the most important one:

• The Silent Loop 2 was absolutely rubbish with the 7800X3D for some reason. It couldn't keep it from throttling under barely 50 W of power used. I re-adjusted and re-pasted it multiple times, I even tried the Thermal Grizzly AM5 offset mount which was a huge waste of money - I'll never recommend it to anyone. Interestingly, a cheap low-profile Shadow Rock LP worked a lot better which got me thinking. Now I have a Dark Rock 4 (non-Pro) on it which does wonders. 82 °C max under maximum boost at all times.

For the next upgrade, I'm thinking about a 7800 XT when it comes out, although even my 6750 XT is way more powerful than I need (in fact, I'm currently using the PC with a 6500 XT just because why not), so maybe I'll wait until RDNA 4. We'll see.

Some pics:

 

[Lei]

Here's a thing about Intel vs AMD.
Intel uses more watt under heavy load, but idles 5 times more efficient than AMD

Intel might actually lower the power bill/heat, if you're surfing techpowerup

 

[tabascosauz]

Here's a thing about Intel vs AMD.
Intel uses more watt under heavy load, but idles 5 times more efficient than AMD

Intel might actually lower the power bill/heat, if you're surfing techpowerup

It still depends. 1CCD parts like his 7700X and 7800X3D idle lower, better optimized boards idle lower, lower UCLK/Fabric/VSOC idles lower. 1CCD can get down to about 15W or lower, in which case it's just a few watts difference.

Once Phoenix comes to AM5, it should just about match Intel idle again, as the other APUs do.

The numbers should be broadly accurate still, but I don't know why the test was done this way, it's not technically accurate. AMD package power measures major rail power and estimates minor rails. Intel should still be all estimated. Should have tested system power draw, or measured with something at the 8-pin

 

[AusWolf]

It still depends. 1CCD parts like his 7700X and 7800X3D idle lower, better optimized boards idle lower, lower UCLK/Fabric/VSOC idles lower. 1CCD can get down to about 15W or lower, in which case it's just a few watts difference.

You'd have to disable EXPO and kill background programs for that, though. With EXPO on at 6000 MHz RAM and 3000 MHz UCLK and 1.2 VSOC, it idles at roughly 22-23 W.

Once Phoenix comes to AM5, it should just about match Intel idle again, as the other APUs do.

That'll be very interesting!

 

[tabascosauz]

You'd have to disable EXPO and kill background programs for that, though. With EXPO on at 6000 MHz RAM and 3000 MHz UCLK and 1.2 VSOC, it idles at roughly 22-23 W.


That'll be very interesting!

Unfortunately, SOC power draw depends heavily on the board, even if the CPU is exactly the same one at the exact same set VSOC. I have seen both chiplet AM4 and AM5 below 20W, but I am right on the 20W mark myself and if I change to one of my other boards it instantly adds a few watts of SOC power at the same 1.05V.

If you want good results on AM5 and 3000 UCLK I'm afraid you'll need a good sample that does it at sub-1.1V or so.

APU SOC and package power is on a whole other level, as it needs to be in laptops.

 

[AusWolf]

Unfortunately, SOC power draw depends heavily on the board, even if the CPU is exactly the same one at the exact same set VSOC. I have seen both chiplet AM4 and AM5 below 20W, but I am right on the 20W mark myself and if I change to one of my other boards it instantly adds a few watts of SOC power at the same 1.05V.

If you want good results on AM5 and 3000 UCLK I'm afraid you'll need a good sample that does it at sub-1.1V or so.

Maybe it does - I haven't tried. Maybe one day.

I'm not too fussed, to be honest. Lower is obviously better when it comes to power, but as long as it's manageable, it's fine. My GPU eats 6 W while watching Youtube, so at least there's that.

 

[tabascosauz]

Maybe it does - I haven't tried. Maybe one day.

I'm not too fussed, to be honest. Lower is obviously better when it comes to power, but as long as it's manageable, it's fine. My GPU eats 6 W while watching Youtube, so at least there's that.

You could also be a fellow enjoyer, once APUs come out

 

[AusWolf]

You could also be a fellow enjoyer, once APUs come out

View attachment 310966

Is that your 5700G? It looks awesome!

I might buy a Zen 4 APU just for the fun of it, but I'm not sure if I could sacrifice the X3D to permanently use one.

 

[tabascosauz]

Is that your 5700G? It looks awesome!

I might buy a Zen 4 APU just for the fun of it, but I'm not sure if I could sacrifice the X3D to permanently use one.

Time for a true, sub-10L SFF with Phoenix APU? A second PC. iGPU is plenty strong

 

[AusWolf]

Time for a true, sub-10L SFF with Phoenix APU? A second PC. iGPU is plenty strong

Second? Do you mean fourth? (Fifth if you count my netbook)

 

[AleXXX666]

My dream is still FRACTAL DESIGN Node 202. Sexy as f

 

[AusWolf]

My dream is still FRACTAL DESIGN Node 202. Sexy as f

It looks nice, just a tad expensive.

Reminds me of my secondary HTPC in a Silverstone Milo ML-09B. It's not really a gaming machine with its GT 1030 in it, but it's almost completely passively cooled. I can post about it if anyone is interested.

 

[AleXXX666]

It looks nice, just a tad expensive.

Reminds me of my secondary HTPC in a Silverstone Milo ML-09B. It's not really a gaming machine with its GT 1030 in it, but it's almost completely passively cooled. I can post about it if anyone is interested.

have seen some builds in that, reminds 90-s "desktop" form factors when monitors were on top of pcs lmfao

 

[A Computer Guy]

It looks nice, just a tad expensive.

Reminds me of my secondary HTPC in a Silverstone Milo ML-09B. It's not really a gaming machine with its GT 1030 in it, but it's almost completely passively cooled. I can post about it if anyone is interested.

I just got an ML-09B last week but I really regret not getting the more flexible sleeved cables for the SFX power supply. It's a nice case for it's size. Previously I tried some generic 4L case from ebay but the 1U PSU got wasn't modular so the cables were in the way for the side slot that I wanted to use for an ejectable SATA bay and finding a new modular 1U that I was comfortable with didn't pan out yet.

Post some pictures I'd like to see.

 

[Kyan]

My dream is still FRACTAL DESIGN Node 202. Sexy as f

The Fractal design ridge is pretty much an upgrade version of the node 202. I will put my R5 3600 and RX 6750xt in it when I will upgrade my main pc.