SleekForge *Brought to you by, Streacom...*

[Jay85]

Project time!

This project is brought to you by:



www.minibotpc.com
This project link


And in cooperation with:




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Streacom has kindly sent over their DA6 XL for this project build and their new VU1 Dials which i am eager to review and what better test platform than on their very own DA6 Chassis. Bitspower is once again sending over the required watercooling hardware and for this rather sleek looking build we will be going with a black and gold theme. That means we'll be seeing some Asus ProArt components in this build and who knows what else is in for store!

A quick overview of the DA6:

"The DA6 is a vertical open frame ITX case designed to provide the ideal platform for showcasing computer components. This open-frame design, combined with the unique approach to mounting hardware, means the DA6 has incredible support for the ever-increasing size and cooling demands of gaming hardware whilst still maintaining SFF conformity."

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The tubular design of the main structure adds a rather stylish look to the frame while adding to that common look we're all use to with 90 degree hard tubing runs in modern watercooled builds. However, it has yet to be decided whether we will be going with a hardline build or a simple EPDM and sleeved tubing build. More to come on that front as we progress with the build.

As usual, a quick run down of the core components:

• AMD 7800x3D (TBC)​
• MSI B650i (TBC)​
• 32gb Corsair Vengeance DDR5 6000mhz​
• Samsung 980 PRO 1TB nvme​
• Asus ProArt RTX 4070TI OC​
• PSU (TBC)​
• Bitspower Watercooling hardware​

Pictures to follow as per usual

 

[Jay85]

Streacom's VU1 dials are here and they're even better than I expected! It's small footprint and size is going to make for some interesting builds. A mini review will be available soon on our website

The little touches on the screen and the thank you greeting surprised me, it's the little things that count that make it rather special.

 

[Jay85]

Buckled up.

I've always been curious if the tube frame of the DA6 could be used to route water. The frame is also the distro

A little tempted to drill holes into the tubular pipes and weld G1/4 threads into it lol.

Nah it would never work, not unless i block off one end as the whole thing is one piece. Quite elegant when you look at it.

 

[Jay85]

Good luck with the new project, I'm sure it'll be awesome!

As always, waiting for parts to arrive is the longest part of these builds. Though it gives me plenty of time to think about the next one though or what i can change or add.

 

[Jay85]

DA6 XL in the house! Or Office, it's become more of an office than a home at the moment

 

[Jay85]

what I want to know is where is the join in the frame's tube? I've looked at so many pictures of this thing and I can never find the seam. They did a magnificent job making it seamless.

I've had a really good look myself and i honestly can't find it. If there's one thing that Streacom does really well it's craftsmanship on anything they touch and produce. I can't find any faults with it really, looks like all bases are covered but i'll know more once i start building in it.

The only downside i've noticed so far is the lack of IO ports lol but the motherboard will provide most of that.

Cable management is going to be super important in this one so im thinking of going the custom cables route and do exact lengths. I think @jabski did that for his and it looks awesome!

 

[Jay85]

I've never enjoyed these skeleton cases but looks forward to seeing the result!

We're making good progress! A big part of the puzzle arrived today!

 

[Jay85]

The chosen GPU for this build and it wasn't ridiculously expensive either.

 

[Jay85]

Some final shots of the ProArt 4070ti, not gonna lie it's beautiful card. Very well built and very cool and quiet.


Excited to get this build under way , board and cpu next but we've had to make some slight changes to the core components.

 

[Jay85]

Unboxing because i couldn't resist... Please don't hate

 

[Jay85]

Get the acetone on that cooler and backplate stat!

Both those ridiculously huge Geforce RTX flashes need to come off.

Thought the same tbh, it would look so much cleaner. I do love the matte gold accents on it though, helps break up the black abit.

 

[Jay85]

The ProArt square and line art on the backplate are beautiful, but Asus just gotta be Asus and spaff their nonsense over every available surface.

Yes Asus, we get it, we bought the effin card. No need to continually advertise it.

They gotta make everyone aware it's an Asus Card as the ProArt branding isn't enough already

 

[Jay85]

Agreed, would look even better if they'd been a bit more discreet with the branding! But still, great looking card

At least the top side with the Fans is relatively clean.

 

[Jay85]

A nice choice. Very good pictures too

Going to test fit the card into the DA6 tonight and measure cable length. Not 100% sure im going with custom cable lengths yet but we'll see.

 

[Jay85]

And yet MDPC-X Vanilla Sands is perfect for the ProArt branding...although I'm not a fan of PET sleeve, so I'll find you a paracord version

I'm all for it haha! Still undecided whether i want to go soft tubing with this or hardline but since its CPU only (unless i find a ProArt gpu block that matches the theme) i may go soft tubing. Sleeving is an uncertainty at the moment as i want a really clean build.

 

[Jay85]

When I looked at that case, I really couldn't help but think those tubes should have ports built in, and be part of the WC loop.

I'm looking forward to another of your builds, and well done to your sponsors. Great to see the support, although I know you'll do them proud.

I feel the same mate, but i've realised that the top and bottom parts are not connected to the center tubes therefore i would need to seal the center tubes in and then tap or weld G1/4 threads on. Neat idea though, it would technically become a proper "tubeless" design.

Honestly the support has been great. I love being able to show my ideas and then getting brands onboard to support the idea, makes you feel a certain way... proud maybe?

 

[Jay85]

Abit more progress while i wait for the board and cpu to come.

Test fitting the mounting locations everything, this isn't the final locations for some of the parts but just wanted to get a feel for where things should go. The modularity of the design means i can pretty much mount things where i want with the only limitation being space. My Bitspower stuff probably won't be finalised till after Computex happens so there's abit of a wait to go yet.

 

[Jay85]

New sponsor and an exciting one too!

Happy to announce that Kingston Technology is sponsoring our build

 

[Jay85]

Confirmed the kit they will be sending us for this workstation build.

KF564C32RSK2-64 Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5 Silver/Black XMP 64GB 6400MT/s CL32​

An absolute beast of a kit! This should be a SK Hynix kit from what i've read and know of Kingston so looking forward to some nice clocks and timings.

 

[Jay85]

congrats on the new sponsor mate. I like where the psu is mounted. Might be cool to have the psu fan black

Not sure if this will be the permanent location yet as it really depends on how the watercooling stuff will fit.

I do like how the fan sits though, maybe if it was more centred too.