Velka 7 - Build
- Thread starter DotA
- Start date
A lot of mesh in a small box makes sense, but I suggest to keep any exhaust fans minimal and only where you need heat removed by airflow redirection - anything other than an overload of filtered intake airflow will result in a dust box collector!
Bearing in mind it's summer upon us, what toasty internals do you intend?
Bearing in mind it's summer upon us, what toasty internals do you intend?
So this is going to be a build for my wife to play games we like together, based off my old AM4 pc.
Origina lspecs was a am4 1700, Gigabyte x370 k7 with ddr 3000 16gb, nvme Samsung 512gb, with a Gigabyte 1070 g1, and corsair h115 AIO. Original was in a Fractal define 7 compact. The compact 7 was a horrible case and i got a o11 mini which still is very good just too big for how much we use it to the space it takes.
The 1700 was later swapped later for a 5700x, the h115 started to leak after 8years and so i decided to make the changes then to swap everything down for a Mitx case. Managed to get a 2nd hand Gigabyte b450 itx MB for a good price.
Why the Velka 7? love small cases, its one of the smallest cases where i can still uses normal parts as well as being a vertical case. The Velka is 6.2 litres which is a third smaller then the other option that i was looking at the Fractal Terra. I could have gone with some of the smaller Velkas but then would have had to have gone for smaller coolers, Flex PSU's,and Low profile GPUs.
(Seen a few builds of Velak 7s with a 9800x3d and AMD 9070xt being the max you can support)
The cons are the price, being artisan prices (£200) for these low production itx cases being very normal. Also it took nearly 7 weeks to get to me after ordering. And cooling being what the CPU and GPU can throw out without any other fans, Partly why im staying the the 65 watt CPU and 150 Watt GPU.
Most the parts are here but waiting on my cooler to arrive and also needing some HDMI and display port adapters cables to get the GPU running.
Origina lspecs was a am4 1700, Gigabyte x370 k7 with ddr 3000 16gb, nvme Samsung 512gb, with a Gigabyte 1070 g1, and corsair h115 AIO. Original was in a Fractal define 7 compact. The compact 7 was a horrible case and i got a o11 mini which still is very good just too big for how much we use it to the space it takes.
The 1700 was later swapped later for a 5700x, the h115 started to leak after 8years and so i decided to make the changes then to swap everything down for a Mitx case. Managed to get a 2nd hand Gigabyte b450 itx MB for a good price.
Why the Velka 7? love small cases, its one of the smallest cases where i can still uses normal parts as well as being a vertical case. The Velka is 6.2 litres which is a third smaller then the other option that i was looking at the Fractal Terra. I could have gone with some of the smaller Velkas but then would have had to have gone for smaller coolers, Flex PSU's,and Low profile GPUs.
(Seen a few builds of Velak 7s with a 9800x3d and AMD 9070xt being the max you can support)
The cons are the price, being artisan prices (£200) for these low production itx cases being very normal. Also it took nearly 7 weeks to get to me after ordering. And cooling being what the CPU and GPU can throw out without any other fans, Partly why im staying the the 65 watt CPU and 150 Watt GPU.
Most the parts are here but waiting on my cooler to arrive and also needing some HDMI and display port adapters cables to get the GPU running.
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Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Sep 2010
- Posts
- 2,956
I could almost mirror this build,have a 1700, B350 motherboard and 16GB kit not in use!
Case will be the very beat up BitFenix Shinobi my main system is currently in and whatever PSU I have lying about... It won't be pretty
Look forward to seeing it, still competent parts for slightly older games
Case will be the very beat up BitFenix Shinobi my main system is currently in and whatever PSU I have lying about... It won't be pretty
Look forward to seeing it, still competent parts for slightly older games
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Sep 2010
- Posts
- 2,956
My 'server' (more accurately - Bedside media PC with occasional game server duty) PC is a DTX format board crammed into an ITX case. Missed out on an O11 mini air the other day that would have been perfect for an ATX spare system!
ITX boards are the limiting factor!
ITX boards are the limiting factor!
The 1070 is a cracking card with 8GB - I have it in my decade+ old x79 with a Sandy bridge E5 Xeon and 16GB quad channel DDR3. That sure is a machine from the proper era of HEDT that lasted the intended 10 years, with the 1070 later replacing the original 7970. It was my primary gamer until 6 months ago when the forecast dictated now-or-never to build big once more and I cross fingers I get similar longevity - value certainly having left the building!
I share your thoughts on Fractal cases of recent. I had a Fractal Define mini way back prior to the X79 (which necessitated a new case), but back then the build quality and sound proofing was excellent - albeit having to open the door to game made it more a pleasing living room furnishing. Lately however, the quality, fit and design absurdities of both the Fractal Torrent and Torrent Compact (I have both) are dreadful, leaving me on the hunt for something else. The air filters were so bad that after just 3 months, the insides looked like they had been operating 24/7 for 3 years!
I share your thoughts on Fractal cases of recent. I had a Fractal Define mini way back prior to the X79 (which necessitated a new case), but back then the build quality and sound proofing was excellent - albeit having to open the door to game made it more a pleasing living room furnishing. Lately however, the quality, fit and design absurdities of both the Fractal Torrent and Torrent Compact (I have both) are dreadful, leaving me on the hunt for something else. The air filters were so bad that after just 3 months, the insides looked like they had been operating 24/7 for 3 years!
I used a Fractal R5 with a window as my first pc case, its still in use as my server case due to the x8HDD slots and 5.25 drives, thought that the 7 compact would be as good as but somehow was way worse at cooling and was soon replaced by the o11 mini when it came out. I have a lian li o11 compact now for my main PC and liking it but i know not for everyone due to its goldfish bowl design and cost to make it look nicer with RGB fans and the such.
First impressions of the Velka 7 are its a heavy thing for its size and feels sturdy, its 1.2mm steel. I was worried that it might be a bit flimsy like some other cases that i have seen/felt but no such feeling with this. I can see the build been a bit of pain in the ass as its got so many screws and sandwhiching stuff into it to make it all fit.
1070 still is a great card, i looked at others to replace it with but all from a cost to performace ratio i decided not too. Maybe at a later date when thinggs change a bit more. Also the reason i went with the Velak 7 rather then the Velka 3 thats 4 litres of space, im going have a lot easier of a time upgrading.
First impressions of the Velka 7 are its a heavy thing for its size and feels sturdy, its 1.2mm steel. I was worried that it might be a bit flimsy like some other cases that i have seen/felt but no such feeling with this. I can see the build been a bit of pain in the ass as its got so many screws and sandwhiching stuff into it to make it all fit.
1070 still is a great card, i looked at others to replace it with but all from a cost to performace ratio i decided not too. Maybe at a later date when thinggs change a bit more. Also the reason i went with the Velak 7 rather then the Velka 3 thats 4 litres of space, im going have a lot easier of a time upgrading.
I was always attracted to the Lian-Li's when they first came on the scene with their expensive aluminium designs. All I can find with them these days is aquariums which are not to my taste.
I got a steel server case from an auction way back in the days of the K6-2 which was terrifically heavy and likely why the Lian-Li seemed a fab idea. My current case hunting is warranting something similar again with the Silverstone Alta D1 ticking all the right boxes, but at 20+ kilo's, the thought of carrying it up the stairs is as off-putting as the price!
My 1070 in my old rig is now a second LAN driving sim and excels at the Assetto Corsa range on an old 51" plasma TV at 60fps. For my new once-in-a-decade ground up build, if just gaming, I just couldn't find a reasonable priced worthy successor. The problem was I was paying silly AI subscription money for a long term personal project and the sensible option was to go big with Nvidia. Astonishingly, 11 days after I bought a RTX from OCUK, they increased the price some £800 - the price of a D1.
I've still got a 7970 Ghz edition, 7970 and a 7950 all boxed, left over from the crossfire days. 3GB VRAM just doesn't cut it anymore and I felt a loss not shifting them for a few quid until recent developments in VRAM efficiency appear promising. The 1070's sure are a keeper!
I got a steel server case from an auction way back in the days of the K6-2 which was terrifically heavy and likely why the Lian-Li seemed a fab idea. My current case hunting is warranting something similar again with the Silverstone Alta D1 ticking all the right boxes, but at 20+ kilo's, the thought of carrying it up the stairs is as off-putting as the price!
My 1070 in my old rig is now a second LAN driving sim and excels at the Assetto Corsa range on an old 51" plasma TV at 60fps. For my new once-in-a-decade ground up build, if just gaming, I just couldn't find a reasonable priced worthy successor. The problem was I was paying silly AI subscription money for a long term personal project and the sensible option was to go big with Nvidia. Astonishingly, 11 days after I bought a RTX from OCUK, they increased the price some £800 - the price of a D1.
I've still got a 7970 Ghz edition, 7970 and a 7950 all boxed, left over from the crossfire days. 3GB VRAM just doesn't cut it anymore and I felt a loss not shifting them for a few quid until recent developments in VRAM efficiency appear promising. The 1070's sure are a keeper!
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Wondering if anyone will be intreasted in this Velka 7 Build i am doing, Its an AM4 build transfer from an 011 mini, a lot of the parts are from my first self build with a 1070 G1.
Hell yea, always interested
Just the start of the build, still waiting on the last parts but cant progreess much more then this untill i get them due to how the build process in to the case actully is. Just need my extension cables for the GPU now for the build.
The 1000watt psu is there as i got it for a few quid more then the 850watt a little while a go and thought why not. Way overkill for this build. I have a 750watt corsair PSU that was orginally for the O11 mini but that has gone into my server build.
This newer PSU is the up to date one with the small plugs which im hoping will make it easier to help cable manage in such a small case.
Would like to have a different drive but with costs and how many games will be on it, it wont be worth it.
Cooler choice was the Thermalright TR-AXP90 X47. Why this one, as max cooler sapce is 48mm and the axp90 x47 is as by its name 47mm. Best cooler that you can fit into this case. Could buy a noctua for this to help with temps but not much of a difference to make it worth it for temps, will see how noise is with this stock fan first.
Next updat will be the build in the case, will have lots of pics to show how complex the sandwhich style itx cases are compared to standered ATX builds with tons of space.
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Associate
- Joined
- 27 Jan 2005
- Posts
- 1,473
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- S. Yorks
Loving the little case.
Looking forward to the updates.
Looking forward to the updates.
My fingers are crossed for you that there isn't an excess of cabling lengths hindering what is shaping up to be a fantastic looking mini.
Have you considered a small cheap SATA drive for the OS installation to free up valuable fast space on the NVME for your games library?
Have you considered a small cheap SATA drive for the OS installation to free up valuable fast space on the NVME for your games library?
There is a slot to put x1 2.5 on the side of the case or a further x3 sata if you have a graphics card less then 220mm.
Dont think i need more then the 500gb currently as its for games like overcooked, gang beasts, etc. i do have a spare 1tb 980 evo which i used for the original build for extra game space but as it hasent got DRAM it might be a bit slower in the iops for an OS drive.
Will also likly get some custom cables as they are for sure going to be too long and impact the airflow trying to manage them, will measure up when the build is done with the origianl cables.
Will do a quick review of case when i can get the pics uploaded, not able to for some reason currently.
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Case is made out of 1.2mm Steel frame, has a 2mm front plate and 1mm side plates added onto it making it a hefty case even though its small. Its open air hexagenal for airflow. has space for 2x40mm fans for cooling. It needs a pcie riser card for you to use a GPU with it.
This cover on the bottom on the case is if you dont want to use the GPU display adapters you can run your cables into the case so that you can connect to your GPU.
This picture shows the back of the case. The top left is for the PSU, Top right is for the MB IO, the 4 slots on the bottom right is for the internal GPU adapters to attach to so that you dont have to run sable out that slot on the top. And the bottom left of the pic is where you can see the 2 cut out for the 2 40mm fans you can add to it if you desire. (Heard mixed result on the effectivesness of the fans there)
You get a stand that you can screw in to the bottom of the case so that if you use the slot on the bottom of the case it is able to route the cables out still. This takes the case size from 6.2 litres of space to 7 if you use it.
Pic to show the case stand off the case and where it screws in.
Pic to show the side and front panels are off. It took 18 screws of 3 differnet types to get to this stage. You need to disasemeble further to start to build in it.
Message from the currier that i will get my internal cables hopefully on Friday but not sure that il have anytime to build in it this weekend.
This cover on the bottom on the case is if you dont want to use the GPU display adapters you can run your cables into the case so that you can connect to your GPU.
This picture shows the back of the case. The top left is for the PSU, Top right is for the MB IO, the 4 slots on the bottom right is for the internal GPU adapters to attach to so that you dont have to run sable out that slot on the top. And the bottom left of the pic is where you can see the 2 cut out for the 2 40mm fans you can add to it if you desire. (Heard mixed result on the effectivesness of the fans there)
You get a stand that you can screw in to the bottom of the case so that if you use the slot on the bottom of the case it is able to route the cables out still. This takes the case size from 6.2 litres of space to 7 if you use it.
Pic to show the case stand off the case and where it screws in.
Pic to show the side and front panels are off. It took 18 screws of 3 differnet types to get to this stage. You need to disasemeble further to start to build in it.
Message from the currier that i will get my internal cables hopefully on Friday but not sure that il have anytime to build in it this weekend.
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Done some building and will upload pictures later this week, had to go with just the HDMI cable for the build, i didint account to how much a DVI port sticks out the graphics card, it blocks me from using the DP port adapter. As i went with the cheaper pcie3 flex adapter i cant do much movement in offsetting that the case can do. Just shows how little space is in the case and how tight tolerances are.