ITX Build for travelling

RyzenJunkie · 30 Apr 2019 at 22:39

Hi,

Just bought an i5 2018 Mac Mini as wanted something small and to use for video editing but tbh its running like a dog. I plan to go longish term travelling in motorhome but need something for video editing. I will have a decent monitor that iw ill use for a TV in the motorhome anyway so I may get rid of this and build a small mini itx computer that I can shove away in the motorhome but be really powerful.

My requirements are:

ITX
Small Case (small enough to hide out of the way but bog enough to offer decent cooling.
Powerful Cpu such as threadripper or ryzen. Would go intel if was a better choice
Powerful GPU such as radeon 7
Quiet fans and decent temps (don't want the fans blaring all the time)
Possibly water-cooling but not sure how it would work as would be driving the motorhome a lot and would the swish of the fluid cause issues in transit?

Any help appreciated

Cheers

EsaT · 1 May 2019 at 12:52

High performance and very small size with good cooling is indeed challenging.
If you're not in big hurry Zen2 would likely bring major jump in power efficiency.

As for cooling method waterpipes in place of heatpipes don't make heat disappear anywhere.
And for getting actually more cooling performance per noise than in high end heatpipe coolers you would need big chunky radiators, something which don't go that well with ITX cases.
Scythe Mugen 5 would likely fit most cube shaped cases and is within degree or two from best heatpipe coolers:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-rev.b-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html
(overkill for most Ryzens at stock)

I think it would be best to start from what size case you can accept.
You probably have some places in mind for where you would store it during driving and when not in use.

Usefullness of high end GPU would again depend on used software.

Troop · 1 May 2019 at 23:18

How are you going to power everything, will you be on campsite power or off grid wild camping in the camper.

Tinders · 2 May 2019 at 08:10

Would something like a Fractal Node 304 or Bitfenix Phenom be small enough? Ive used streacom cases before, but never for anything as strenuous as video editing.

McstylisT · 2 May 2019 at 11:45

You will need some ventilation if video editing, especially if using the processors mentioned. So as above Fractal node is a good call.

RyzenJunkie · 2 May 2019 at 13:58

Troop said:
How are you going to power everything, will you be on campsite power or off grid wild camping in the camper.

You know, I totally overlooked that. I would lots of the time be using local electric points plugged into the motorhome but would need an off the grid solution such as leisure batteries to power the pc when I can't get access to the mains .

Would I be able to do that off leisure batteries considering the total draw from the pc is likely going to be 700w ish if I'm going threadripper?

Troop · 2 May 2019 at 14:33

RyzenJunkie said:
You know, I totally overlooked that. I would lots of the time be using local electric points plugged into the motorhome but would need an off the grid solution such as leisure batteries to power the pc when I can't get access to the mains .

Would I be able to do that off leisure batteries considering the total draw from the pc is likely going to be 700w ish if I'm going threadripper?

If you want off grid a good laptop is the way to go, try to find one with a good on battery time 6-10 hours.

My van has 500W of solar on the roof and 300A of batteries, 8 months of the year in the UK it all works easily, the 4 dark months with very long nights its a no go without travelling every day for the motor to charge up the batteries.
(300A gives me a max of 150A usable power without risking battery degradation )
700W PC is NO go as its close to 60 Amp draw if you're off grid

I use 2 Laptops and a tablet, charge up during the day and use then at night time.

I only do Off grid

RyzenJunkie · 2 May 2019 at 14:49

Troop said:
If you want off grid a good laptop is the way to go, try to find one with a good on battery time 6-10 hours.

My van has 500W of solar on the roof and 300A of batteries, 8 months of the year in the UK it all works easily, the 4 dark months with very long nights its a no go without travelling every day for the motor to charge up the batteries.
(300A gives me a max of 150A usable power without risking battery degradation )
700W PC is NO go as its close to 60 Amp draw if you're off grid

I use 2 Laptops and a tablet, charge up during the day and use then at night time.

I only do Off grid

Yeah looking like a decent laptop then. Looks like a MacBook Pro 15" with Vega 20 GPU is the only way forward then as the Dell XPS 15 is powerful but also rubbish battery life so I'm told. Grrr

You travel long term in yours then? How you finding it? It's the freedom I am craving and a way to be less tied down. I blame the Saggitatius in me haha

Troop · 2 May 2019 at 15:29

^^^ Yes do 3-6 month trips in the EU or UK when I can , self built van built for off grid.

RyzenJunkie · 2 May 2019 at 17:48

Troop said:
^^^ Yes do 3-6 month trips in the EU or UK when I can , self built van built for off grid.

Ah sounds bliss.

Share some pics lol

LuckyBenski · 2 May 2019 at 18:11

Definitely think this build and its related power discussion deserves a thread in the Project Logs section

WantoN · 2 May 2019 at 19:58

Small cases are fine for cooling, they can recycle the total air volume of the case quickly.

I’d suggest something like a small ITX case that offers 240 rad space for an AIO, and a ‘mini’ card like the 1080ti / 2089.

That’s what I’d do anyway, that or a decent laptop.

Honestly I have a Dell XPS15 with a 7700HQ and a 1050, it plays games fine. I even enjoyed Shadow Warrior 2 on it. Something with a 1060 or 1070 would be great for gaming.

RyzenJunkie · 2 May 2019 at 20:05

WantoN said:
Small cases are fine for cooling, they can recycle the total air volume of the case quickly.

I’d suggest something like a small ITX case that offers 240 rad space for an AIO, and a ‘mini’ card like the 1080ti / 2089.

That’s what I’d do anyway, that or a decent laptop.

Honestly I have a Dell XPS15 with a 7700HQ and a 1050, it plays games fine. I even enjoyed Shadow Warrior 2 on it. Something with a 1060 or 1070 would be great for gaming.

Whats the battery life like where gaming, which I presume would be similar load as video editing?

Poneros · 2 May 2019 at 20:51

You don't necessarily need to go laptop, but you do need to do proper research especially into the parts' efficiency curve. Even a Threadripper + Radeon VII isn't going to be 700w unless you just push voltage insanely. Tbh, definitely wait for Zen 2 & Navi, that's just a no brainer, first of all. Secondly, going a laptop isn't going to help, this is a mistaken impression some people have but haven't thought it through. The reason why should be obvious: you're going to do the same work. Laptops don't have special parts which can do these tasks any better or with greater efficiency than desktop, they're simply compact. Whatever "efficiency" laptops have are simply due to the parts being used only at (or near) the optimal frequency in order to maximize performance/watt, something which can be easily tweaked on PC. At the end of the day, a laptop is just a PC with a battery, not essentially different other than that.

First of all, you gotta figure out what programs you're using and which parts are the best with those programs, and if need be which ones you need to prioritise. The performance/watt will look very different from vendor to vendor based on the program.

Second of all, you gotta ask yourself why it is you need something as powerful as a threadripper, especially now that you've been convinced to switch to laptop. That leads me to believe you don't really need a Threadripper or you don't really know. If you don't actually need a Threadripper that would be great, because cooling a threadripper is more complicated in small builds than the usual AM4 suspects.

Lastly, figure out exactly what space you need/want for a case, because itx builds vary GREATLY in dimensions, and when you're space constrained you need to know exactly what you're going for in order to plan out such a build.

Overall, I'd say you have to properly lay out your requirements & constraints and think them through. Once you have that done, it will be very simple to plan out a build.

Here's what I mean when I'm talking about effiency:

Small compact Threadripper build example:

Troop · 2 May 2019 at 21:04

RyzenJunkie said:
Ah sounds bliss.

Share some pics lol

He needs to be able to power whatever he gets first!. hence laptop for their battery use when no power is available.

Pics,

Started with this.

Then I ended up with this.... all hand built by me.

Pics are some of the ones sent to the DVLA to get it changed from van to "motor Caravan"

Laptop

Last one. made all the cabinet and even the cushions a first for me.

Poneros · 2 May 2019 at 21:40

Battery is easy enough to sort out. Or well, it's complicated, but doable. Too many variables to get into it without them being spelled out (location, budget, requirements etc). Nonetheless, PCs these days can be incredibly power efficient and running them even in a camper van off of batteries isn't that far off from a laptop. After all, if you're doing any kind of work that battery is going to be gone quick, so either way you'd want to sort out the energy storage unless you want to only do 1-2hrs a day of work. Remember, the work hasn't changed & the parts are not any more efficient, there's only so much you can do with a <99 Whr battery.

For example, this system if properly tuned for optimal efficiency would not require more than 250ish watts IF it was all equally and fully stressed, which is never really going to happen. So realistically you'd be looking at <200w for an absolute powerhouse. Obviously, the 2080 ti is overkill and can be changed easily for another turing gpu, but it is the most efficient GPU once properly undervolted, so there's that.

RyzenJunkie · 2 May 2019 at 21:52

Ok, when I mentioned threadripper, it was because I will be doing video editing with Davinci Resolve. Read lots about it and the threadripper seems to be the best. I suppose I could get away with a Ryzen 2700x or the 3 series when it's out and a Vega 64/Radeon 7/Navi

I just don't want to be lacking in power when it comes to 4k video editing.

Cheers

RyzenJunkie · 2 May 2019 at 21:53

Troop said:
He needs to be able to power whatever he gets first!. hence laptop for their battery use when no power is available.

Pics,

Started with this.

Then I ended up with this.... all hand built by me.

Pics are some of the ones sent to the DVLA to get it changed from van to "motor Caravan"

Laptop

Last one. made all the cabinet and even the cushions a first for me.

Wow, looks really well done. What van is that? There's going to be 5 of us in mine (myself, wife and 3 kids which are home educated) so guess I'm going to be looking for something quite big unless I can sort it like an itx build lol

WantoN · 3 May 2019 at 00:58

RyzenJunkie said:
Whats the battery life like where gaming, which I presume would be similar load as video editing?

Short, very short. Two hours max.

WantoN · 3 May 2019 at 01:16

Personally I wouldn’t get threadripper. Expensive and power hungry. But it’s up to you to decide.

It’s always a balancing act; power draw, performance, cost. A desktop can be no compromise, but a desktop run off grid? AM4 for me. I’d be undervolting what equipment I could too.