Antidote

[FL630]

Here goes a build log of my new lightly modified Parvum X1.0 case. Named Antidote as it'll be the polar opposite of most Parvum builds you see here, rather than as much water cooled parts crammed into the smallest space, this is going to be an air cooled box with quiet as a major factor.

My previous case was the excellent Phanteks Enthoo Evolve ATX, combined with the Gigabyte G1 Gaming ATX board and an AIO. It was a great setup, but when combined with my 32" monitor it was a bit tight on desk space. One of the two had to be changed, and as I love the large monitor size, it had to be the computer.

My ultimate case has to be the NCase M1, but not only was it too expensive to bring over here, my Strix 980 card is wider than reference so would have had to have been replaced, along with my PSU. This would leave me with only a CPU, RAM and an SSD, not great when I wanted to do it on minimum cost.

So I got in contact with the good guys over at Parvum to see what I could get to fit my current hardware (minus motherboard) in to. A quick chat later saw me put down some money for a widened X1.0, to accommodate a full size ATX PSU, along with my wider than average GPU. A short time later, I had a pile of acrylic and this is where I am now.

The equipment going into this build will be:
Modified Parvum X1.0 mITX case
Intel i7 4790k CPU
Gigabyte Z97N Gaming 5 mITX motherboard
8GB Kingston HyperX Savage DDR3-2400MHz RAM
Asus Strix GTX 980
bequiet! Dark Rock TF CPU cooler
240GB HyperX Savage 240GB SSD
EVGA Supernova G2 750W PSU

I am no photographer (plus Photoshop is on the computer I am building, so no editing) and no modder, so please don't expect JR levels of Parvum excellence

I hear you like cubes?

This case is pretty tiny, so it's going to be one where I build the case around the computer. Fortunately Parvum's design and production is second to none and it goes together really well. It does mean things have to be "built in" to the case, such as working out wiring before you put the bolts in. Fortunately any of the outer panels can be removed at any time to access things, which will be useful in the future with what I have planned.

My choice of motherboard was more a case of what was left in the Z97 ITX world, basically this or Asrock. UK support and CPU connector placement swayed me towards the gigabyte. My choice of cooler was also space limited. I wanted something top down as I'd be limited by height, and the bequiet! Dark Rock TF gets rave reviews. It's crazy how big the cooler is compared to the motherboard. People say fitting is awkward, but I felt it was fairly straight forward if you know how to use a screwdriver properly.

Again, fitting the motherboard to the tray was most certainly the best option, no way to get to the screws once it's all put together.

More to come after this short break...

 

[FL630]

Next up was mounting the bottom panel to the motherboard tray, followed by the front panel. I chose to use a frosted acrylic for the secondary panels in this build, but more on that later. The front panel also houses one of the two fans for this case.

Because of the limited amount of fans to push through air, very important naturally on an air cooled build, I needed to have a good quality fan. Obvious choices were something like the Noctua range, good quiet and lots of airflow, but I just couldn't bring myself to have **** brown fans in my new case. However, I have had one bequiet! fan before and was impressed, so I chose to get the not inexpensive Silent Wings 2 PWM. It's dead quiet, seems to push a good amount of air plus it matches the fans on my cooler. No faults there!

The bequiet! fan comes with soft mounts as standard, with either the option of mounting the fan flush on the case, or 1mm between the case and the fan. I chose the latter to remove any chance of vibrations transmitting into the case.

And here it is, starting to take shape (excuse the edges of the backdrop, told you I'm no pro!)

Next goes in the IO shield. It's a tight squeeze here but with the outer panel on it snugs up nicely. Also note the CPU power and fan headers already plugged in and routed under the motherboard tray. No way of fitting these once the bottom is in place. This is what I meant about prior planning!

Next in is the SSD tray, another part modified with the case widening. This should in theory allow me to run 2-3 SSD's with room to spare. The standard Parvum SSD mount is vertically hanging off this tray, but with the standard ATX PSU it's not possible for me to do this. Fortunately Parvum came up with this modified tray, works a treat.

Next was the first hurdle I encountered. I wanted to keep the bequiet! theme going and there is space for an 80mm fan at the back. This would be ideal if it wasn't for the sheer size of the Dark Rock TF. Sadly a standard 25mm fan does not fit in-between the cooler and the case. I've got two options here, remove the area around the fan to let it sink into the first layer of acrylic, or use a 20mm thick fan and have to suffer with having inconsistent fans Thoughts? Excuse the photo, photographing frosted acrylic side on to white isn't easy.

Parvum include both the 2x USB 3 header and a very high quality and lovely to press anti-vandal switch. Mine is green, which works well for what I'm planning to do, but I believe OCUK stock the full range of colours. If you need a good quality switch, I'd recommend this one, it's lovely.

Now is the turn for the Asus Strix GTX 980. This is a big card and only just fits the Parvum, by 2-3mm at most. I'm not 100% sure I like the X1.0's method for fixing the card in by trapping it by the layers of acrylic. It does work well, just it does lack finesse.

Bolting in the rear black layer gets it absolutely solid.

Which leads me on to problem number two. Sag from the card means, with a backplate, it just touches the heat pipes of the CPU cooler. I might need to find a way to prop it up to remove the sag, but I'll worry about that later.

And finally, the reason for all of this hassle of getting a custom case, the PSU. It's certainly a squeeze!

And this is where I leave it tonight. Should be running by tomorrow.

 

[FL630]

Thanks chaps.

Hest transfer wouldn't be my primary concern, but vibration would. It'd also scratch the backplate when I move it around (which I do lots). Heat wouldn't be ideal, but I don't imagine the backplate would affect it greatly.

 

[FL630]

So next step, putting more panels on!

First up, the front. Before I do this, take note of the slot in the front, could be useful for something

After that, SSD goes in on top of tray with the cables already installed and dropped down the front.

Then, on goes the top

Then finally we start this battle! Obviously the key to this build is going to be custom cables. Unfortunately I'm unable to get any at this time so it'll be a case of ramming them all in there and hoping they fit.

And finally, we can see it in all it's glory! Excuse the sides of the backdrop, but I wanted the whole thing in shot. As you can see the previously mentioned slot holds an RGB LED strip which causes the whole frosted case to glow. I love it!!

It's going to have a load more LED's put in in the future, but I've now got a running PC. I'm really happy with how the outside of the case turned out, it's exactly what I wanted in a PC.

I'll run a few benchmarks tonight, try to OC the CPU and see where I get. Results coming later or tomorrow...

To do:
Custom PSU cables - any hints on what colour to go with the purple glow?
LED lighting, more more more!
Play with rear fan options, if required.
Paint the RAM black

 

[FL630]

Thanks Luggs. Sadly I can't take claim to the led strip in the acrylic, that was Parvum's idea. It does work really well though. The LED's are RGB, so right now it's cycling through the colours, looks great. That said, it does need more, as it doesn't really illuminate the inside, just the panels.

Even happier for me, with fans at only 500-600rpm, with only passive exhaust, these are my idle temps! Absolutely no fan noise, the bequiet! fans are excellent, I'd highly recommend them.

 

[FL630]

I'm strongly considering the NZXT Hue+ when it comes back in stock, this will give the best lighting effect without a doubt, but it's whether I can justify spending £50 on some flashy lights.

Right now I'm using a cheap £10 off eBay setup which does work well, just has little customisation aside of 20 colours.

Started OCing my GPU, which I know is a good card from it's last case. I can get it to run Firestrike and Heaven stable at +160 on the core and +500 on the memory, but the temps are a little high for my liking as it's such a compact case.

Not tried to OC the CPU, I wont push crazy hard as Realbench encoding takes it to a stable 70 degrees under full load, fans still remaining less than 1000rpm.

 

[FL630]

Thanks mate, cheers for the work done today.

As an update for this project...

I've got an NZXT Hue+ installed and am waiting for NZXT to send me a few extra LED strips to replace the faulty ones from the box. The strips that do work are fantastic, super bright and the customisation is pretty cool, especially the Spectrum Wave setting which runs through all the colours in a loop.

Also, rear panel has been re-cut to help fit an 80mm fan. I've got this now as an intake blowing directly onto the CPU cooler as a 3rd fan. I've also re-orientated the front 120mm fan as an exhaust to bring negative pressure into the case, meaning there is fresh air being taken over the GPU using a passive intake. It works really well, using Heaven and RealBench encoding at the same time gives me 70 degrees on the CPU and 67 on the GPU. Not mind blowing, but for a small case with only 2 fans to the outside world, I'm quite happy.

Next on my list of to-do's is custom sleeved cables, a new inner wall and an NZXT Grid+ to control the fans a little better than the stock Gigabyte software.

Overall, really happy with the case, it's exactly what I wanted. Pics to come soon once I get the LED's sorted.

 

[FL630]

Small update as promised. Pretty much re-built the whole thing today, which is the great thing with a Parvum case, you can just take parts of the case off to fit sections you need to get to.

So here's the new front panel, cut with a U shaped channel to try and get some even lighting.

And here it is with fan and LED strip installed. As you can see the strip sits flush with one side of the case, so the outer layer of Acrylic doesn't interfere. This does mean the LED's are poking out on the inside of the case slightly.

Next, as it was out of the case, I thought I'd fix my GPU. I've had some resonating sounds come from the fans when they are at low to mid RPM's, which I can't diagnose. The GPU cooler however does not sit firm on the card, instead it rotates slightly. So I whipped the cooler off, cleaned the mess of paste from the GPU and re-seated it. The result, no different, though the temps do seem a bit lower, running Heaven hitting a stable 66 degrees and still very quiet.

Finally, I made an effort to neaten up the cables a little. The only way I'll ever be happy with this case is when I get some custom cables, but at this time it's not possible. So I just went around cable tying everything up and I'm happy enough with the result, it looks 10x neater than before.

And finally, a short youtube clip of the awesome NZXT Hue+ and it's various modes, my favourite being the blue/green covering marquee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTj9JH1NHPs