down sizing i7 860

Well, seems im to be a father for a second time which leads to the bad news of having to move my desk out of the 2nd bedroom were the first spawn sleeps to make way next year.

Currently rocking a TJ07 and in a 2 bedroom 62m squared house, space is tight and so is the cash- story of everyone really

so the i7 860 bought from Launch date in a Second hand ROG 3 Formula with 16GB of DDR3 is moving into a small home to fit on my wife's desk.
Find a small case without having to buy a second hand p55 mATX was a bit of a mission, until I saw a deal on the Jonsbo UMX4- b grade!!! Having used the UMX3 for clients I knew the quality is that of the Silverstone.

Coming in at 37.97 Litres I believe its one of the smallest Volume ATX cases out there, the TJ07 was 69.6 Litres.



Plans are to keep it quiet so will be sticking with water.

beQuiet Silent Loop 240 to cool the CPU with fans being changed to SilentWings 3, this will be set up top to Extract with the rear set to intake, full speed being a PureWing 120

Strix 480 to replace the GTX 960 4GB since i Have a 1440p screen, and so down the wife. Will be using the Strix ability to control PWM fans to drive the bottom fans, which will be SilentWing 2's.

Hoping the fac AMD handle's DX12 better will help off load the old i7 860 running at 4.6Ghz.
Keep seeing all these bench marks of DX12 vs 11 being use don Skylakes and Devils...which is great and all but most machines on steam are rocking a lot older CPUs, so I see this as a real test for DX12!
Might go with a GTX 1060, depends- either option will be watercooled with an alpha block, thinking of using EKWB Predator 240 at the bottom ( in the wrong orientation) to drive the GPU in its own loop, whilst using the STRIX fan controller to control the pump and fan speed

PSU is a B-grade Corsair AX 750 Plat so if I go 480 will crossfire it later (im lucky, i get it at trade price so second reason why i'll use the Strix)

current old dog







Thermochill pa120.4 in the bottom classic icon!

Nice case you've got there

so, left with 3 options since I've lost the stock backplate for the LGA 1156 as I had EBWK MX block that need the stock removed =/

option 1)

Use the Eisbeacher 250 I have and get a D5 pump since i currently use a DDC, or get the 250 DDC version and add the current pump.
Avoid the RX 480 Strix idea, get another Zotac 1060 and use the Free GPX block and hook it all up together with a 240 at the top.



Option 2)

Waiting to see how ebay goes from a 980 Ti Strix and just run the Eisbeacher to the CPU block

Option 3)

Go balls deep and get a Strix 1060 and hooked it up to an Eiswolf GPU which can power the CPU block and 240 rad.
When I do change Mobo and CPU in a year or two, stick the Eisbaer on the CPU to run its down loop.

***Option 4***

Just get the Eisbaer and see if the MX screw will work with the CPU top bracket and will screw down into the MX backplate, if not, cut off the 4 arms and use the Correct backplate.
The have the option to add any Gpu with quick-disconnects or allow it in its own system

will be running a few Different GPUs over time so trying to figure the best method =/

anyone wanting to buy a Zotac 3/6GB GTX 1060 water block? may help my choices

***trying to work out if I used the Eisbear/Silent Loop unit with the MX plate and spring loaded screws, in theory it should hold the block down with pressure, may need to have it tightened more or less... curious to find out

Well GPU is solved, STRIX 980 Ti has been won on eBay.
Seems I'll be selling the Zotac waterblock if anyone's interested. Unfortunately don't have access to members market so will be on the Bay tomorrow .

Will get the Silent Loop 240 for up top and cut the backplate down

I prefer the other option you presented: Feline cooling!

Cenedd said:

I prefer the other option you presented: Feline cooling!

Click to expand...

nothing like running 3D Mark and having a cat on top off the case to bring temps to MAX!

980ti comes tomorrow, 1080 on the 5th but seems will be put on hold for a client build for an xmas gift. Christ i havent gamed fro 7 months! now looks like 8 after xmas at this rate

although seems like a fun build, doing as a bit of a promo so £750 of an i5 6600 and rx 480 4GB. one Very happy father

got around to getting better snaps







Its stated max height of 52mm up top for fans and Rad. Have see builds with 30mm rad and fans work fine, but very very tight!
Current fans that are pre-installed are 20mm





the 980 Ti fits like a glove.....



Will have to get a snap of the case next to the ACER 27" Predator and TJ07 to highlight its size

will see how the 980Ti hold up with sound, may add sound proof material to the door, but could stick a AIO/ G10 on there

beQuiet 240 Silent Loop turns up today along with 3 Pure Wing 2 Fans for the 3 intakes ( 2 bottom & 1 rear)

beQuiet gear arrived yesterday, managed to grab some snaps and installed for placement, damn thats close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









Something about the brushed metal effect I love, and yep, not Windows in the build so case has to look the part all the time





Rad space:

Its going to be very tight, seems any motherboard with VRM heat sinks flush at the top of the board may not work- or would have to be very low profile. Same goes with the 8 pin power, current board the Formula 3- its flush with the top.... time will tell

Looks good. Heatsinks will likely fit with a touch of Dremel persuasion!
Obvious question: is "Silent Loop" an accurate name?!

Cenedd said:

Looks good. Heatsinks will likely fit with a touch of Dremel persuasion!
Obvious question: is "Silent Loop" an accurate name?!

Click to expand...

Have to see, Haven't used the Eiswolf Pumps set but can run at 7/12w through header. Eisbaer wasn't to bad at 12w but silent at 7 although was poorly filled!

3rd picture from bottom, can see the fill port next to the power lead, will make sure the rad is flat down and that at highest point and top up.

Alphacool had to have quality control rechecked on the Eisbaer units due to poor filling

***** Easy solution if it clashes with this board or any other board in the near future****



should space it out away from the mother board but not add to much height

That case is really clean, nice build

orbitalwalsh said:

***** Easy solution if it clashes with this board or any other board in the near future****

Click to expand...

Just don't mount the rad with the ports at the bottom like they've done in the picture. Right pain in the whatsit to get the air out as it has to get to the bottom to leave the rad. It's possible if you HAVE to, but don't chose to do it the hard way.

harvey.l12 said:

That case is really clean, nice build

Click to expand...

Thanks cant wait to have it done

Cenedd said:

Just don't mount the rad with the ports at the bottom like they've done in the picture. Right pain in the whatsit to get the air out as it has to get to the bottom to leave the rad. It's possible if you HAVE to, but don't chose to do it the hard way.

Click to expand...

Sorry, will still be inside the case at the top. the Z bracket would just bring it out a bit more. The fans are mounted very close to the motherboard tray

Would drop the unit by 20mm but could make all the difference. wouldn't look pretty but again, havent got the Glass version

or if all else fails, it goes on the bottom and top & rear fans turn into exhausts

Would a fan work as a spacer? More like 25mm but might be narrow enough to clear and would give you either push/pull or just single fan with case, fan, rad.

Cenedd said:

Would a fan work as a spacer? More like 25mm but might be narrow enough to clear and would give you either push/pull or just single fan with case, fan, rad.

Click to expand...

No, needs to be brought out closer to the side panel. Fans are mounted dead center of case but with the gap behind the mobo tray, fans sit inline withe the mobo

Will need to reuse my fan cards too

Ah, I see. So you're trying to move the top rad and its fans sideways, away from the motherboard tray. The dropping it down is just an unwanted side-effect.
If you do that, you'll probably want some sort of shroud between the rad and the case so that the hot air goes out and doesn't get pulled back into the case.

Cenedd said:

Ah, I see. So you're trying to move the top rad and its fans sideways, away from the motherboard tray. The dropping it down is just an unwanted side-effect.
If you do that, you'll probably want some sort of shroud between the rad and the case so that the hot air goes out and doesn't get pulled back into the case.

Click to expand...

Correct, my poor explanation .

I have a feeling it'll work fine for this Maximum iii board and current viii and pending 9 boards, which is great as I can produce Strixly BeQuiet in ATX form like I did with the mATX UMX4. Difference being this is my build so a SOC Force or Aoura board will be going in and they have heatsinks in line with the edge of the board

Hopefully can get away with the shroud, hoping warm air rising, rear acting as intake and PSU at the top left also exhausting will help the air out of the top along with positive pressure .

Might just have to take the blow and use the rad at the bottom, again no glass panel so can't see it, just hope it works for Asus boards

The man you want to ask is Frank Jeagar. In post 46 of his Big Shell Project he makes a metal plate to stop air recirculation around the top rad in a Phanteks Evolv ATX. He might be able to give you some real world numbers on how much difference it made.

Ghetto mod!

Due to me losing the stock LGA backplate and not changing mobo just yet, nor wanting to hack off the arms. I went to see if i could hybrid mount the Silent Loop using the EKWB mounts...
Also means I can sell the Formula iii, i7 860 , 16GB and EKWB block in one go





Not perfect but works. Means I can moved the mother board into test clearance issues with ASUS boards. Gigabyte Boards will be a different story when I come to upgrade.


Runs 4Ghz constantly , room temp was between 21-24c. will have to stress to make sure mount is ok.

Size difference between the TJ07 and the UMX

got a bit of a thing for beQuiet fans

all installed, now hope to get the motherboard in