Need Help Choosing Parts - Small Form Factor Gaming

Scytes

So, I've been wanting to build essentially a gaming PC that is comparable in portability to a console, so that as I travel for work I can have the portability of a console yet the power house performance of a PC. I feel pretty good about the setup below minus two things. Soon as I know I can keep it cool, I'm going to be pulling the trigger on it so I can pick it up ASAP. (I know windows wasn't on the build, our company has unlimited licenses for Windows 10 and I'll just get a license key from them.)

1.) Any thoughts on a way to add water cooling in such a small form case? 
2.) I'm not sure if it is possible to have the two extra Noctua fans in the case as well to help with airflow and heat. 

Budget is 2,000, and the main purpose of the rig is to be running games such as Apex, Fault, possibly WoW, Space Engineers, Dual Universe - things of that nature. 

  https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=89c03960-e6b9-4009-8891-cd93efd6906a

TSTonyV

I'm not sure you'd be able fit water cooling into a case like this, it just doesn't seem designed for it, but I'll tag @TSMichaelB to see if he has any possible ideas because he's good with water loops and he's familiar with small form factor cases like these. 

The build overall seems solid, and it doesn't look like there should be any clearance issues based on the specs from silverstone as far as I can see. The only thing I might chance would be switching to a SATA M.2 SSD instead to save a little bit of heat, as the NVMe drives tend to get a little warmer than the SATA drives, though it probably won't be hugely different. You shouldn't have any issues running the games you listed with those specs. 

Scytes

Thanks for your reply, the builder says it does have compatible water coolers for the CPU but again, I'm not wholeheartedly confident it would fit. 

I'd like to stick with the NVMe, but if heat could be an issue perhaps I should try to squeeze in one more fan or upgrade them to produce more airflow and exhaust?

TSTonyV

The NVMe is probably fine. It's the PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives that can get hot, the PCIe 3.0 ones can get little warm but nothing crazy so I wouldn't worry about it too much. 

Scytes

Hopefully I have time tomorrow to drop by a store and get the build finalized and bought/built.

It's unfortunate you guys don't offer many other small form cases, there's some others I could fit water cooling in but I think with enough air flow I'll be fine really.

Scytes

Is there any chance you guys would be able to source this case https://pcpartpicker.com/product/34QfrH/silverstone-rvz03b-argb-mini-itx-desktop-case-rvz03b-argb?

TSTonyV

We don't do special orders like that unfortunately, so we wouldn't be able to source it. And I understand what you mean, cases that are genuinely small form factor just aren't something we have a whole lot of. I think the smallest case we have otherwise besides that Silverstone is the Lian Li TU150. 

Scytes

Played around some, swapped to a new mobo and swapped the cpu cooler to a water cooler that it says should be compatible. Unfortunately that case isn't as robust on offering air flow options as some of its cousins. 

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=513168b8-73e4-4c6a-9c98-04761d02cff5

TSTonyV

Are you basing the compatibility on our compatibility filter or what Silverstone says for the case?

Our compatibility filter is generally accurate but there are still some things it doesn't catch. A 360mm AIO liquid cooler is not going to fit in this case, and based on Silverstone's product page for that case it's really only designed for low-profile coolers like the Noctua you originally had on there. 

Scytes

Yea I was basing it on the compatibility filter but I believe it's just missing it because the cooler is in a different category. 

I think the first build is probably the best I can get unless I upgrade to an GTX 2060/70 super, I've been burned in the past by AMD driver issues and I'm still not sure if they have them ironed out. 

TSTonyV

I've heard the drivers are better now than before. Some people have never had any issues even from the beginning, and some do. Unfortunately it's one of hose things you have to deal with in tech. Sometimes stuff just doesn't work. The 5700XT is otherwise an excellent card with great value for its performance. 

PowerSpec_MichaelB

TSTonyV said:

I'm not sure you'd be able fit water cooling into a case like this, it just doesn't seem designed for it, but I'll tag @TSMichaelB to see if he has any possible ideas because he's good with water loops and he's familiar with small form factor cases like these. 

The build overall seems solid, and it doesn't look like there should be any clearance issues based on the specs from silverstone as far as I can see. The only thing I might chance would be switching to a SATA M.2 SSD instead to save a little bit of heat, as the NVMe drives tend to get a little warmer than the SATA drives, though it probably won't be hugely different. You shouldn't have any issues running the games you listed with those specs. 

Scytes said:

So, I've been wanting to build essentially a gaming PC that is comparable in portability to a console, so that as I travel for work I can have the portability of a console yet the power house performance of a PC. I feel pretty good about the setup below minus two things. Soon as I know I can keep it cool, I'm going to be pulling the trigger on it so I can pick it up ASAP. (I know windows wasn't on the build, our company has unlimited licenses for Windows 10 and I'll just get a license key from them.)

1.) Any thoughts on a way to add water cooling in such a small form case? 
2.) I'm not sure if it is possible to have the two extra Noctua fans in the case as well to help with airflow and heat. 

Budget is 2,000, and the main purpose of the rig is to be running games such as Apex, Fault, possibly WoW, Space Engineers, Dual Universe - things of that nature. 

  https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=89c03960-e6b9-4009-8891-cd93efd6906a

Water cooling in 12L volume can be pretty tricky depending on the actual layout and thickness of the chassis. I am very familiar with the RVZ03 as I've owned both the black original version as well as the white ARGB version. They do not support any water cooling by default, though I am a firm believer that anything fits if you have a Dremel. It would require some heavy modification and the use of custom water cooling components (apogee drive ii pump/block combo, 20mm thin radiator with 15mm thin fan, no reservoir whatsoever) and some clever component selection to pull off.

Scytes said:

Played around some, swapped to a new mobo and swapped the cpu cooler to a water cooler that it says should be compatible. Unfortunately that case isn't as robust on offering air flow options as some of its cousins. 

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=513168b8-73e4-4c6a-9c98-04761d02cff5

Unfortunately the ML08B doesn't support any water cooling, especially not a 360mm radiator. In fact, I do not believe any ITX chassis would support a 360mm radiator. 120mm is probably going to be your only option for ITX systems, maybe a 240mm if you can source a very thin radiator and fan combo.

Is there a particular reason you are looking to utilize water cooling for your ITX build? If the desire is to overclock, you won't see much of a difference at all between your cooling solutions when overclocking AMD's Matisse architecture. If your concerns are acoustics, Noctua makes some very quiet ITX cooling solutions, such as the NH-L9i: https://www.microcenter.com/product/617825/noctua-nh-l9i-low-profile-cpu-cooler. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it's one of the best in its class. Another great option would be the Cryorig C7. http://www.cryorig.com/c7_us.php. We don't carry it ourselves, but I imagine you could source it online. I had one for a while and really enjoyed it. 

My favorite ITX cooler was a 45mm vapor chamber from ID Cooling called the IS-VC45, however it's only compatible with Intel and is extremely difficult to find these days. 

I would personally lean towards the Noctua NH-L9i or Cryorig C7 if I were doing another ITX build. Both would be fantastic options for cooling a Ryzen 5 3600 and you shouldn't run into any performance issues as long as you don't crank the voltages beyond the original specifications.

Scytes

TSMichaelB said:

TSTonyV said:

I'm not sure you'd be able fit water cooling into a case like this, it just doesn't seem designed for it, but I'll tag @TSMichaelB to see if he has any possible ideas because he's good with water loops and he's familiar with small form factor cases like these. 

The build overall seems solid, and it doesn't look like there should be any clearance issues based on the specs from silverstone as far as I can see. The only thing I might chance would be switching to a SATA M.2 SSD instead to save a little bit of heat, as the NVMe drives tend to get a little warmer than the SATA drives, though it probably won't be hugely different. You shouldn't have any issues running the games you listed with those specs. 

Scytes said:

So, I've been wanting to build essentially a gaming PC that is comparable in portability to a console, so that as I travel for work I can have the portability of a console yet the power house performance of a PC. I feel pretty good about the setup below minus two things. Soon as I know I can keep it cool, I'm going to be pulling the trigger on it so I can pick it up ASAP. (I know windows wasn't on the build, our company has unlimited licenses for Windows 10 and I'll just get a license key from them.)

1.) Any thoughts on a way to add water cooling in such a small form case? 
2.) I'm not sure if it is possible to have the two extra Noctua fans in the case as well to help with airflow and heat. 

Budget is 2,000, and the main purpose of the rig is to be running games such as Apex, Fault, possibly WoW, Space Engineers, Dual Universe - things of that nature. 

  https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=89c03960-e6b9-4009-8891-cd93efd6906a

Water cooling in 12L volume can be pretty tricky depending on the actual layout and thickness of the chassis. I am very familiar with the RVZ03 as I've owned both the black original version as well as the white ARGB version. They do not support any water cooling by default, though I am a firm believer that anything fits if you have a Dremel. It would require some heavy modification and the use of custom water cooling components (apogee drive ii pump/block combo, 20mm thin radiator with 15mm thin fan, no reservoir whatsoever) and some clever component selection to pull off.

Scytes said:

Played around some, swapped to a new mobo and swapped the cpu cooler to a water cooler that it says should be compatible. Unfortunately that case isn't as robust on offering air flow options as some of its cousins. 

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=513168b8-73e4-4c6a-9c98-04761d02cff5

Unfortunately the ML08B doesn't support any water cooling, especially not a 360mm radiator. In fact, I do not believe any ITX chassis would support a 360mm radiator. 120mm is probably going to be your only option for ITX systems, maybe a 240mm if you can source a very thin radiator and fan combo.

Is there a particular reason you are looking to utilize water cooling for your ITX build? If the desire is to overclock, you won't see much of a difference at all between your cooling solutions when overclocking AMD's Matisse architecture. If your concerns are acoustics, Noctua makes some very quiet ITX cooling solutions, such as the NH-L9i: https://www.microcenter.com/product/617825/noctua-nh-l9i-low-profile-cpu-cooler. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it's one of the best in its class. Another great option would be the Cryorig C7. http://www.cryorig.com/c7_us.php. We don't carry it ourselves, but I imagine you could source it online. I had one for a while and really enjoyed it. 

My favorite ITX cooler was a 45mm vapor chamber from ID Cooling called the IS-VC45, however it's only compatible with Intel and is extremely difficult to find these days. 

I would personally lean towards the Noctua NH-L9i or Cryorig C7 if I were doing another ITX build. Both would be fantastic options for cooling a Ryzen 5 3600 and you shouldn't run into any performance issues as long as you don't crank the voltages beyond the original specifications.

If I commissioned you to design a custom loop for the RVZ03 through microcenter what cost would I be looking at? I have seen that it can be done and I'd love to pay you guys to be up to the challenge as I love your marketing and how upfront you are. 

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Scytes said:

TSMichaelB said:

TSTonyV said:

I'm not sure you'd be able fit water cooling into a case like this, it just doesn't seem designed for it, but I'll tag @TSMichaelB to see if he has any possible ideas because he's good with water loops and he's familiar with small form factor cases like these. 

The build overall seems solid, and it doesn't look like there should be any clearance issues based on the specs from silverstone as far as I can see. The only thing I might chance would be switching to a SATA M.2 SSD instead to save a little bit of heat, as the NVMe drives tend to get a little warmer than the SATA drives, though it probably won't be hugely different. You shouldn't have any issues running the games you listed with those specs. 

Scytes said:

So, I've been wanting to build essentially a gaming PC that is comparable in portability to a console, so that as I travel for work I can have the portability of a console yet the power house performance of a PC. I feel pretty good about the setup below minus two things. Soon as I know I can keep it cool, I'm going to be pulling the trigger on it so I can pick it up ASAP. (I know windows wasn't on the build, our company has unlimited licenses for Windows 10 and I'll just get a license key from them.)

1.) Any thoughts on a way to add water cooling in such a small form case? 
2.) I'm not sure if it is possible to have the two extra Noctua fans in the case as well to help with airflow and heat. 

Budget is 2,000, and the main purpose of the rig is to be running games such as Apex, Fault, possibly WoW, Space Engineers, Dual Universe - things of that nature. 

  https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=89c03960-e6b9-4009-8891-cd93efd6906a

Water cooling in 12L volume can be pretty tricky depending on the actual layout and thickness of the chassis. I am very familiar with the RVZ03 as I've owned both the black original version as well as the white ARGB version. They do not support any water cooling by default, though I am a firm believer that anything fits if you have a Dremel. It would require some heavy modification and the use of custom water cooling components (apogee drive ii pump/block combo, 20mm thin radiator with 15mm thin fan, no reservoir whatsoever) and some clever component selection to pull off.

Scytes said:

Played around some, swapped to a new mobo and swapped the cpu cooler to a water cooler that it says should be compatible. Unfortunately that case isn't as robust on offering air flow options as some of its cousins. 

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=513168b8-73e4-4c6a-9c98-04761d02cff5

Unfortunately the ML08B doesn't support any water cooling, especially not a 360mm radiator. In fact, I do not believe any ITX chassis would support a 360mm radiator. 120mm is probably going to be your only option for ITX systems, maybe a 240mm if you can source a very thin radiator and fan combo.

Is there a particular reason you are looking to utilize water cooling for your ITX build? If the desire is to overclock, you won't see much of a difference at all between your cooling solutions when overclocking AMD's Matisse architecture. If your concerns are acoustics, Noctua makes some very quiet ITX cooling solutions, such as the NH-L9i: https://www.microcenter.com/product/617825/noctua-nh-l9i-low-profile-cpu-cooler. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it's one of the best in its class. Another great option would be the Cryorig C7. http://www.cryorig.com/c7_us.php. We don't carry it ourselves, but I imagine you could source it online. I had one for a while and really enjoyed it. 

My favorite ITX cooler was a 45mm vapor chamber from ID Cooling called the IS-VC45, however it's only compatible with Intel and is extremely difficult to find these days. 

I would personally lean towards the Noctua NH-L9i or Cryorig C7 if I were doing another ITX build. Both would be fantastic options for cooling a Ryzen 5 3600 and you shouldn't run into any performance issues as long as you don't crank the voltages beyond the original specifications.

If I commissioned you to design a custom loop for the RVZ03 through microcenter what cost would I be looking at? I have seen that it can be done and I'd love to pay you guys to be up to the challenge as I love your marketing and how upfront you are. 

I myself don't work in the retail stores, so I can't speak on whether or not any of the service departments would be able to perform such a build as it will depend entirely on the comfort level of the technician. I can say that custom loops in this form factor are not easy by any means, and require custom components that we simply do not carry. Assuming you gut all of the internals for space, you'd still need a pump/block combo like the Apogee Drive II which is nearly impossible to find in the US these days. You would also need a very thin radiator (likely custom holes drilled to mount it) and 15mm thin fans to attach to the rad. I am not entirely certain that the standard tooling of the RVZ03 would support this either, as it may take even more dremeling near the rear PCIe slot bracket to move the riser mount to facilitate the added thickness of the radiator.

I think in this form factor, you are going to have a pretty rough time achieving any kind of water cooling, let alone a custom loop. It might be worth moving up to a Micro ATX chassis or settle with air cooling. If you do still intend to do a custom loop, be prepped to do a lot of custom work to the chassis and potentially destroy it in the process. I've done my fair share of destruction to ITX cases trying to get projects like these off the ground, it's always a process.

If anything, you can always come in to your local Micro Center store and speak with a service technician for their thoughts on the build and whether they would be comfortable undertaking this kind of project. Never hurts to have more information. I wish you the best of luck.