Project Portable - Watercooled BitFenix Prodigy ITX

daveip · 30 Oct 2013 at 01:13

Intro
So - I've got plans to build an interesting ITX box. It needs to be super portable and I think even the Parvum S1 would be too big. So here's the plan:

Haswell 4670K, with ASUS ROG Impact and 7990 all watercooled with 2x240mm radiators. Power supply is an Antec HCP 850.

Colour theme - Red + White
The case is small and people have fit a lot into a Prodigy before, but usually with things like PSU extenders or shrouds for fans. I want to keep these items strictly inside the case!

Here are the challenges and plans:

Power supply is 180mm and semi-modular. Space available is only 180mm! So some modding of the Mobo/PSU tray is going to be needed. I still want to have the cables somewhat hidden, so will have some way of extending the PSU cover.
2x240mm Radiators won't fit as standard with 25mm fans attached. I'll have to move the top radiator more towards the back and also the front radiator down a few mm to allow clearance. The Alphacool rad is 45mm thick, so I'm just really wishing it's going to fit!! I have plans to create a custom plates out of acrylic for the top and bottom to keep this as clean as possible. Front and top will also include a mod to minimise airflow restriction.
I want to show off the 7990 water block (when it comes in stock) and the tubing on the CPU side so will create windows on both side panels to do so.

This video's given me a lot of information as to how to tackle everything:

Project Updates:
1 - The case is here!
2 - The first weekend
3 - Midway
4 - So close but yet so far

**** Current Status ****

PARTS LIST
Here's the rough BOM for this. No fittings or tubing added.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7990 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £499.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI IMPACT Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £205.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Antec High Current Pro 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £161.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX21C11T3K2/16X) £139.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC7990 SE - Nickel £114.95
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Arctic White £69.95
1 x Laing 10W DDC-Pump 12V DDC-1T £54.98
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy - Nickel £52.99
1 x EK-DDC X-RES 140 CSQ - Acetal £41.99
2 x EK CoolStream Radiator XT 240 (120.2) £38.99 (£77.98)
1 x XSPC Razor HD 7990 Backplate £24.95
2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM - 3 Pin £16.98 (£33.96)
1 x Mayhems Pastel - Red Coolant 1L £14.99
2 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 120mm red LED fan - White £11.99 (£23.98)
Total : £1,838.65 (includes shipping : FREE).

In Possession Of

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
Antec HCP 850W
Magicool 240mm Radiator
EK Nickel Plexi Surpremacy
2x Scythe GTs
Laing DDC
Bitfenix Prodigy White
EK Tube Res
45 + 90 rotaries
Alphacool UT45 240mm
Extenders (To go from under rad)
ACRYLIC - Red, White, Transparant Red
Asus Rampage Impact
Intel 4670K
Geil Evo Potenza White 16GB RAM
Red coolant
3/8" compression fittings
Tubing
Braided Cables
2 Bitfenix Spectre Pro Red LED
7990 Waterblock - Nickel +Glass/Plexi
EK PreciseMount Naked Ivy
Liquid metal

Purchased (In the mail or pre-ordered)

Asus 7990

To Purchase

More clear tubing
Fan shroud (why to come)
More paint or perhaps vinyl wrap?

daveip · 31 Oct 2013 at 10:58

Shopping for this build is coming together nicely. Should have all the parts in the next couple of weeks and will do the obligatory "pre-build" shots!

So here's a question - I might be able to stretch the budget out to get an i7 4770K. Do I or don't I?

daveip · 31 Oct 2013 at 11:40

The 7990 is already 2 GPUs ... considering its ITX and only1 PCI-E expansion slot, it's the fastest card I can fit in the thing.

daveip · 1 Nov 2013 at 12:39

Stuck with a 4670k. Can't justify paying an extra £100 for the i7 and I can easily swap out the chips in the future if needed.

Everything I need for the initial setup is ordered! Wooohoooo!!!!

Only things missing from my shopping list is the 7990 waterblock, some Liquid Metal Pro and a PreciseMount Naked Ivy kit for the CPU block. Hopefully these will come back in stock shortly!

daveip · 2 Nov 2013 at 00:44

Update 1 - The case is here!

The case came today. It's bigger and heavier than I'd thought it'd be! First thing I did - strip out everything that I didn't want/need in the case.

I test fit the radiators in there and it turns out I don't have to modify anything for the front rad to fit. Thought I might have needed to shift the rad up a few mm.

Top radiator will fit and wont foul the front rad.

But I will need to do something to the top panel in order to mount the rad. Hopefully you'll be able to see in this pic that the holes don't line up.

It's Saturday tomorrow! Will be getting the trusty jigsaw and dremel out

Should probably make a visit to the local craft shop for some acrylic too.

daveip · 3 Nov 2013 at 22:34

The first weekend

Had to get some work on the case done this weekend! I think pretty good progress has been made.

So, I took a jigsaw to the case and took off the top and front panels. Makes the case look a lot more airy!! Also cut out the back and top of the PSU cage so the cables from my Antec HCP 850 would fit and also there'd be space for the backplate for my waterblock.

Please bear with the bad photos ... I only have my iPhone

Followed on with some 5mm acrylic for a new front panel and checking where I'd fit the pump/res. I wanted to find white acrylic for the front panel, but my local hobby store didn't stock 5mm white, only the clear. Plan is to paint the back side of this white and polish the edges. Wonder how this will turn out.

A sheet of 1mm steel for the top panel! Also created some plates to go in front of the fans to sort of act as a grill (so you don't break blades with your fingers!) but still wanted to see the fans. This acrylic is special light gathering acrylic, so hoping it will pick up some of the light from the LED fans in the post. The GTs I want to keep but will probably find a way to mod them to include LEDs. I don't really want to paint the blades, but I might do. Should I??

So, tomorrow the board + CPU should arrive. Will do a quick test to make sure they're working. I want to paint the radiators too, but can't decide whether to paint them red or white.

daveip · 13 Nov 2013 at 01:36

Here goes an update. I didn't take pictures whilst I was making the different parts etc ... so here's more of a "this is where I am now" sort of post.

Here's a post of a lot of the components I have in the build. It's not everything but meh ...

This is what the build looks like at the moment

From the above view, you can see that I've painted the acrylic front panel and the steel top panel. I used Simoniz Acrylic to paint it - it's really good! dries quickly, smooth and is very hard. Downer is that it does go EVERYWHERE, as in the dust ... Those also aren't Bitfenix Spectre Pros! I modded the Scythe GTs that I have with LEDs. Wanted some lights in the fans behind those transparent red panels.

I got the CPU loop plumbed up this evening

So here you can see the red painted piece of acrylic that I've used to artificially extend the length of the PSU cage. I also have cutouts for the cables that need to be routed through it.

The pump/res just fits

I have to do some funky routing for the cables to go in the gap between the rad + front panel, but it seems to work. Tubing is longer than I had hoped for but its ok.

Schmexy RAM that I have running @PC2800 at the moment. Haven't seen how far I can push this RAM yet.

No 7990 yet

the one I received in the post seemed to be faulty so its on it's way back to OCUK. I got my waterblock for it on Friday so was lucky I hadn't set the loop up yet and installed the waterblock!

Ahh yes - and I did paint the radiators white! I used the same acrylic paint as used to paint the front and top panels

And finally a "night" shot

Some things I've forgotten to take closer pictures of:

I've added a switch to the LED strip lights, so I can turn the LED strip lights on and off. Otherwise it could prove to be a bit of a nightmare at night.
All the additional screws I've needed to use for the attaching of the front panels etc etc ... they all have red countersunk washers with M3 countersunk head bolts in them. Schmexy!

I'll have to try remember to take a picture of the above in the next update.

So, what's left?

When the replacement 7990 gets here, test it, add waterblock and get it plumbed into the system.
I need to sort out the front panel power switch. I have anti-vandal switch for that.
Also need to cut windows in the side panels. They're not done
And I have to figure front panel audio. Plan is to put them on the GPU side, side panel. There's enough space there for the 2 1/4" locking neutrik connectors I've picked up and also some switches to "trick" the HD audio to effectively switch the headphone and mic jacks on and off.

At the moment, the rig is cooking on AIDA64 stress test overnight. I have the 4670K @ 4.5Ghz/1.275V average max core temp of 50C ish. My Haswell is delidded!

daveip · 13 Nov 2013 at 11:37

NoustieChris said:
Very nice. I do love a watercooled Prodigy

Me too - the thing is surprisingly heavy already!! The waterblocked GPU is going to add another 2KG to the thing :S

daveip · 18 Nov 2013 at 00:28

So close but yet so far

Update time!

Got the side panels cut this weekend. But before that, just pictures of the things I said I'd show before

Countersunk screws + red washers!

Switch at the back of the machine to turn the LED strips on and off

Power switch - Dimastech switch from OCUK. I thought these would be the same as the Bulgin ones I've used on my audio equipment before, but the Dimastech ones are a lot more plasticy

Side panel 1 - I think I should work on getting that reservoir more centred in the tall part of that window.

GPU side panel - My ASUS 560 GTX in there at the moment but hoping this time next week, my watercooled 7990 will be in this space!

I've yet to put acrylic in the windows. 2mm clear I think - anything thicker is probably going to prove problematic to fit. I still need to finish the edges properly as they're still a bit rough.

There's also front panel audio connectors - Neutrik 1/4" locking jacks. These need to be wired up too but waiting to do that after I finish with the prep on the side panel. The switch below will be used to connect up to HD audio and essentially "switch" the jack on or off.

So this is where I am this weekend

That is OCCT in the background. Spent a fair bit of time OCing the chip on this thing.

So far I'm at 47X100.5 = 4.72Ghz @ 1.39V - CPUID validated in my sig.

Temps are extremely comfortable on the CPU but I am a little worried about how hot the VRMs get on the motherboard. Hmmm ... it's not a particularly good overclocker either. Little bit disappointed there.

So question for you guys - I'm trying to get hold of red handles for the Prodigy ... hoping Stulid can help me out on this one but failing that, shall I try vinyl wrapping the soft-flex handles? I'm considering vinyl wrapping the side panels too instead of painting them. What do you guys think?

daveip · 19 Nov 2013 at 19:48

GPU Overclocking

So I didn't document my CPU overclocking as it was very much a learning curve for me and I started from scratch so many times.

The below clocks are on air and are sort of for my own benefit to keep a record of the overclock process and Valley benchmarks obtained.

STOCK: 1000/1500 @1.15V

GPU Clock 1: 1025/1500 @ 1.15V

GPU Clock 2: 1050/1500 @1.15V