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Aio vs custom cooling

Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
7,762 (2.75/day)
Location
Back in Norway
System Name Hotbox
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 110/95/110, PBO +150Mhz, CO -7,-7,-20(x6),
Motherboard ASRock Phantom Gaming B550 ITX/ax
Cooling LOBO + Laing DDC 1T Plus PWM + Corsair XR5 280mm + 2x Arctic P14
Memory 32GB G.Skill FlareX 3200c14 @3800c15
Video Card(s) PowerColor Radeon 6900XT Liquid Devil Ultimate, UC@2250MHz max @~200W
Storage 2TB Adata SX8200 Pro
Display(s) Dell U2711 main, AOC 24P2C secondary
Case SSUPD Meshlicious
Audio Device(s) Optoma Nuforce μDAC 3
Power Supply Corsair SF750 Platinum
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Keychron K3/Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro M w/DSA profile caps
Software Windows 10 Pro
My main rig for a few years was ITX... Silverstone RVZ01, really nicely sized case with very good GPU cooling, could easily go in a small suitcase for when I travelled between my parents place and college. Unfortunately the CPU cooling side for most ITX cases of that size is difficult, the 120mm AIO I initially used dried enough to be unusable in around 18 month since I had twisted the tubes a bit too tight to make it fit. The air cooler alternatives were unsatisfactory for the 4790k with the overclock I wanted to run, so I ended up just tossing it in an ATX case once I settled down at my own place. If you need the portability or don't have the space though, there are quite a lot of interesting ITX options around nowadays, especially the last year I finally found some that I felt offered enough space advantage to actually be relevant without sacrificing too much cooling.
Yeah, ITX cases have developed massively since 2016 or so. The Ncase and Dan A4 kicked off a wave of innovative and well cooled designs, and today there are dozens, though most are low volume and relatively expensive. The NR200 is an excellent cheap option though, and the PCIe 3.0 version of the Meshlicious is just barely more expensive. And that's a really nice premium case. I don't see those really compromising on anything.
this msi z87i gaming ac is my first real look at itx. i like the small size, but the positioning of the connectors is tbh shit. I could go for a nice itx as a main rig.
Yeah, that board has a weird layout. Don't think there has been anything like that in recent generations.
 
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