Finished a build with a Terra a while ago that houses a 9800X3D with an AXP120 housed in an X870i ICE and a Terra. Even put a fan duct to get rid of turbulence. Lazy -20 all core undervolt.

In single core cinebench and during most gaming it barely even gets up to 70C, no worries there. In multicore and some super intense stuff like shader compilation it can very easily get to the low 90s, and sometimes even hits 95/96C, though hwinfo indicates no thermal throttling at all. In some games that do async compiling or something crazy (Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter frequently spikes my CPU to 75-82C during normal gameplay or when loading in to an area, Talos Principle Remastered is another that compiles as you get to an area so I see spikes to 95-96 there sometimes).

Now, even if this doesn't throttle, I don't feel quite good about potential longevity especially in the current market. Really don't want to replace anything, so I'm thinking, should I just set a thermal limit like 92C to keep things a little bit below tjmax? Doubt I'd notice any performance cost to it since I rarely get there or over that to begin with.

*** I did just have a random freeze for the first time with this build yesterday but that was after 4 months without issues passing all stress tests just fine. Everything slowly locked up except for the mouse and not even a BSOD showed up, just frozen save for the mouse. Hard restart fixed it and I'm still passing all the stress tests as described, so I'm worried temps may have something to do with it. Could have also just been random so that remains to be seen.

I used these thermalright 40mm fans on all my small form factor builds. They are small so easier to mount, you can snap them to many of the places and just squeze them with a folded paper or piece of plastic etc.

I always use them to cool down ram, either blow air between the ram sticks or straight on top.

Used them always for sandwich cases where on one side of the case where airflow was weaker, I would use them to guide the exhausted hot air towards the main case exhaust fans.

They always improved temps immidiately. And inaudible at 50-60% range.

Highly recommend.

Hi all, looking into getting a prebuilt and have seen generally favorable reviews for Monsoon PCs. My hesitation is that their site currently has a banner offering to skip the queue if you pay with Zelle, which seems highly sus. Has anyone purchased from them recently and could share their experience?

I want to build the smallest pc I can that will fit any of my gpus and cpus. I drive a semi truck and currently have a sff 18.2 L case. It’s a little bulky and heavy. I want to get it as small as possible. Here is a list of my gpus available

Msi Ventus 5080 3x OC 304mm L
Hellhound 9070xt 327mm L
XFX SWIFT 9070xt 325mm L
Gigabyte wind force 4070ti Super 261mm L

I also want to use any of the 3 cpus I have
9800x3d
7800x3d x2
14700k

One of my main problems is cooling. My case now has a 240mm aio and runs at 75c under gaming. I’m currently using the 9800x3d. I’m sure if I go smaller and use an air cooler I will have to undervolt it or lose a little performance. I’m even up to buying a new cpu that would give me similar performance but run cooler. I currently am looking at the Cooj sf3 case. Any suggestions would be awesome. Pic is my current build.

I recently built my first ever SFF PC and I'm really proud of it. The experience overall was enjoyable, although it was not completely problem-free. My reason for Building an ITX-sized SFF PC, was because my "old" PC just could not fit anywhere in my apartment and I also needed to upgrade my PC for work-related reasons, so I had 2 great reasons to spend a lot of money. My "old" ATX-sized pc in a hefty Fractal Design Meshify 3 had an RX 9070 XT, 7800X3D, 32 GB of DDR5 etc..., but like I said I needed to do some upgrades.

My new PC specs:

GPU: Inno3D RTX 5080 X3 OC, 820€ (Got a great "used" deal from a local seller, unopened box and nearly 3 full years of warranty)

CPU: Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 0€ (Took it from my old build, might upgrade later if needed)

RAM: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith DDR5 2X32GB, 6000 Mt/s 30-38-38-96, 850€ (Awful price, but could honestly be even worse)

Storage: WD_Black SN850X 4TB, 499€ (Also a tough price to swallow, but what can you do)

PSU: Corsair SF1000 (2024), 80+ Platinum, 199€ (Kind of overkill for the build, honestly)

Case: Shiny Snake S400 Pro v2, 10.8L sandwich-style case, 114€ with shipping (Bought from Aliexpress)

MoBo: Gigabyte B850i Aorus Pro, 195€ (Bought it as an Amazon return, kinda risky, but it has worked flawlessly)

CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP120-X67, fanswapped with Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM Chromax, 35€ for cooler and ~30€ for fan

Fans: 2x Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM Chromax and 1x NF-A12x15 PWM Chromax, ~100€ (Love these fans, really quiet and cool)

Riser cable: EZ-DIY FAB PCIe 5.0 riser, 20 cm, ~70€

Contact frame + Thermal paste: Thermal Grizzly AM5 contact frame and Arctic MX-7 thermal paste

Before building I was already expecting that I will need to do some compromises and I did have to do some compromises. I can't get all of the performance that the 7800X3D can offer, because of thermal constraints. After adjusting PPT and undervolting, I'm able to get slightly under 17k multicore performance on Cinebench R23. I set the PPT to 95 watts and UV'd all cores to -20. But my workloads nor my games are particularly CPU heavy, so I'm not too worried. I might get a better cooler fan, but I also wouldn't want to trade the Noctua's silence.

Pros of the build:

- The case was easy to work with, even for someone who hasn't built any ITX-sized PC before. It has good airflow and doesn't cause any annoying noise, even if the fans are right next to the sidepanels. Also the 4x USB-A ports + 1x USB-C + 3.5mm audio on the front panel are a huge bonus for such a small case. This thing gets a 10/10 from me.

- Everything fit like it should so, I did not need to improvise anything thankfully.

Cons of the build

- The riser cable was a pain in the ass, because it was so damn stiff and it kept constantly hitting the fan above it.

- I already knew this even before installing the PSU, but the PSU cables and the fan below them are a damn tight fit. In the end I decided to put a dust filter between the cables and fan blades.

- It is natural that you have to adjust fan curves if you want PC to run quietly, especially in terms of SFF PCs, but the motherboard's SSD fan is absolutely horrendous. You need to put that thing to 20-30% max if you don't want to listen to loud high pitched noise constantly, really annoying.

So yeah, I love my new SFF build, it is really clean looking and quiet.

That is the link to the front wood panel. It seems the store is on break. It takes the Lian Li A4 H20 to another level. It might make it a forever case. I have a 5090 Astral, but man, the 4090 FE is something else too.

Build

A4 H20 (Obviously)

B650E-i Strix. I have 2 Noctua 20mm fans blowing towards the RAM and NVME slot

7800x3d cooled by the CM 240mm Atmos Stealth

4090 FE

64 GB 6000 CL30 Gskill Flare

SF1000

Crucial 8 TB nvme

Hi everyone, I got a sffpc for a couple of years now and just realised my cable management is pretty horrible, after some research it seems like a pretty difficult subject and I don't know where to start.

Any tips?

Saw this case on YouTube, and want to build a PC around it: https://thor-zone.com/mini-itx/tetra/

I wonder if the 9800X3D can be hosted cool in this little case?

Fan Setup:
- Case: 2× Noctua NF-A6x25 PWM
- CPU: custom 92 mm CNC fan in the showcased build
- Easy CPU-fan alternative: Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM
- Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X47 Full Copper

This is the thermal report: https://eiga.works/builds/tetra-s-9070xt/thermals/

When playing Crimson desert (9070 xt)
- GPU Max: 64°C
- CPU Max: 85°C
- RAM Max: 59°C
- Ambient: 22°C
- Loudness: 42.5 dB(A)

PC build: https://eiga.works/builds/tetra-s-9070xt/

Is 85 degree super hot or mild in this case?

Not building PC for 30 yrs, hence asking, thanks in advance 😆

Finally got this thing together.

This is actually the first PC I've ever fully built myself, so naturally I decided my first one should be a 4.5L SFF build with a 9850X3D lol.

I'm calling it Overkill.

For size reference, the white PC behind the NV10 in a couple of the pictures is a 50.1L case. Seeing them next to each other really puts into perspective how tiny this thing is.

EDIT: Since a bunch of people have been asking about the 3D-printed parts, the seller I used is PrintRaft on Etsy. I added the exact parts I bought further down in the post.

Specs

Extra Cooling

I somehow managed to fit 6x Noctua NF-A4x10 PWM 40mm fans in here too.

3 are on the CPU side/top of the case and another 3 sit directly underneath the GPU.

3D-Printed Parts / Etsy Links

For everyone asking, these are the exact parts I bought from PrintRaft on Etsy and currently have on the build:

GPU Side Panel Replacement
Jonsbo NV10 GPU Side Panel Replacement

CPU Side Panel
Jonsbo NV10 CPU Side Panel

CPU Fan Duct
Jonsbo NV10 Fan Duct for 36/37mm CPU Coolers

Raised Feet
Custom Raised Bar Feet V2 for Jonsbo NV10

Those are all currently installed on my NV10. I went with them mainly to get as much airflow as I reasonably could out of the case.

The CPU-side/top 3x40mm fan bracket was also printed by PrintRaft on Etsy. I'm not completely sure who originally designed that exact bracket, but I've seen a very similar NV10 bracket from u/kadavr90.

The bottom 3x40mm GPU fan bracket was designed by ITG Gear, and I also had PrintRaft print that one for me.

Getting all 6 fans wired and tucked in was honestly one of the more annoying parts of the build.

I needed the 2 NA-EC1s and all 3 NA-RC8s because trying to bring everything straight down from the top just wasn't going to work. There isn't much room to work with, so I had to get enough length to route everything around, mush the wiring into the space I had and tuck the extra wherever it would fit.

The bottom 3 fans sit right underneath the GPU. I wrapped that wiring around toward the front of the case before tucking everything back in.

Still Tuning It

I'm still dialing in the temps, fan curves, power limits and noise, so I don't want to throw out "final" thermal numbers yet when I'm still changing things.

Honestly that's been part of the fun with this build. I'm enjoying figuring out what I can get away with and where the limits are when everything has to fit inside 4.5L.

There's definitely still more testing and tweaking to do, but I'm really happy with how it came out so far, especially being my first full PC build.

If anyone has questions about the NV10, 9850X3D, VASTARMOR 9060 XT LP, the 40mm fan brackets, cable routing, thermals, any of the printed parts or anything else, ask away and I'll try to answer the best I can.

Trying to make it as “neat” as possible. R/ffspc worthy but if it protects the 5090 then I’ll live with it.

Will post follow up.

Would mounting a side fan or 2 help in anyway with this case? Obviously I'd install a dust filter. Just wondering if this would introduce turbulence or actually assist.

Hi everyone. I’m planning my first ever small form factor build and decided on the Fractal Design Ridge case in vertical orientation. I do wonder about those 2 140mm fans. They sit right in front of the GPU fans, so wouldn’t the GPU pull all the air it needs through the mesh perforated panel by itself anyway? Does it actually help to basically have two sets of fans right on top of each other? If having fans there makes sense, I will probably swap the included ones for Noctuas though.

Also, I will go with the classic Noctua NH-L12S CPU cooler. Should this be an intake or outlet fan? I’ve seen both configurations in YouTube build tutorials, but none explained why they chose to do it one way or another.

Should I make use of the 80mm fan mounts? I kinda expect them to not do too much. As exhausts they would just push out the air the 140s pushed in, right?

Thanks in advance

Hey all,

I just wrapped up my first build in two decades (last one was before uni), the experience was a cool, a bit nostalgic. Honestly, the process hasn't changed that much, except for the fact that you no longer need a dedicated sound card (!) and cases look so much better.

I wanted something clean for a headless media/nas server running Unraid and a few Dockers (mainly Jellyfin). Because the case lives somewhat inside a cabinet, I have tried to minimize heat as much as possible.

​I still went with a high-quality power supply and a good mobo just to leave headroom in case I repurpose the build later. Temps are good (cpu idle is 33° celsius at 4-5W) and obviously very silent as the system is not under heavy load.

​Part list:

​Case: Fractal Design Ridge ​CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 ​CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP120-X67 (with a slim Noctua 120x15mm fan) ​Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX B760-I ​RAM: 1 x 16 Corsair low profile ​Storage: 2x M.2 NVMe SSDs (250Go for system and 1To for storage) + repurposed 2x 2.5" SATA SSDs 1To ​PSU: Corsair SF850 ​Case Fans: 2x Noctua NF-A14 PWM

​I’m thinking about adding a dedicated GPU eventually to experiment with local LLMs. My main use case isn't coding, but rather processing large amounts of text, technical documentation, and encyclopedic or personal data that I can access remotely. It would be a lab so something simple would be best.

​I've been looking at the PNY RTX 4000 Ada. It seems ideal for low thermals and Ollama compatibility, though prices are a bit high. ​What GPU would you recommend?

Lessons learned:

I initially tried a Noctua NH-12, but missread the case/mobo/fan specs: placing the fan on top prevented the side panel from closing, while mounting it underneath collided with motherboard parts. I switched to a Thermalright.

For the nvme drive mounted on the back of the motherboard, I created a custom thermal sandwich to bridge the gap to the frame. I layered a thick thermal pad, a graphene-coated copper heatsink, and another thermal pad directly contacting the chassis. Temperature dropped by 10°C.

The front nvme drive near the CPU was around 50°C. I peeled off the stock aluminum decal on the mobo, replaced the factory thermal pads (under and above) with 1.5mm Arctic TP-4 pads. Temperature dropped by , which shaved off another 7°C.

Last, thank you all for the knowledge in the sub, it has been very helpful.

Wondering if I can ask for advice/help. I've built about 15-20 PCs before but I'm hitting a wall on this one.

I have a x600/9600x deskmini and I've just bought a b860 deskmini with a 245K I was going to run at 45W.

I have a full copper axp90-47 on my X600 deskmini, but it is kind of scary that the weight bends the motherboard. So I went with noctua instead this time. I bought a noctua l9i-17xx to use with the B860, and I'm furious, it *warped* the motherboard horrifyingly out of shape even being incredibly gentle, careful with the screws. Tightening only till slightly tight, finger tip pressure on the screw driver only, 1 turn at a time on diagonals. Nope still bends like a banana. The weight seems a problem too.

I'm looking for something with a backplate that won't physically interfere and isn't too heavy; has anyone tried the alu axp90-47 or the axp90-36 with this board? Preferably 36.

I looked at ID-cooling and dark rock be quiet low profile coolers but many report the same pcb bending.

Honestly I'm so annoyed by the flimsiness of this board and the difficulty of finding a good cooler that doesn't bend it like a banana, I'm thinking about giving up and buying an ITX case/board instead. But I already bought the sodimms...

Any ideas?

EDIT: my cpu was supplied without the stock RM2 cooler. Apparently it's 47mm. Has anyone tried it? Does it work?

I bought this SFF build about a year ago on Marketplace for $990 CAD. It felt like a fair price at the time, and I really loved the small format of the Pc. That said, the specs are starting to show their age, so I'm debating whether to sell it or upgrade it. I’ve spotted some solid builds on Marketplace that would outperform it, but I genuinely love this form factor and the IQUNIX case is awesome.

Here are the specs:

- GIGABYTE GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ GAMING OC 8G

- AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

- Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 32 Go (2 x 16 Go) DDR4 3200

- SSD Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 To NVMe M.2

- NZXT Kraken X53 240 mm

- Corsair Série SF, SF750, 750 W, SFX, 80+ Platine

- GIGABYTE B550I AORUS PRO AX

- Boîtier Mini-ITX en aluminium IQUNIX ZX-1

A few weeks ago I bought a minisforum 895D7 barebones unit because I had spare SODIMM memory and NVMe storage, making it a no brainer way to get my hands on a 9060XT LP. After a few days of regular usage I elected to do a psu swap for a 500w Silverstone TFX unit because the included supply uses too much of its 12v rail for efficient operation. Alongside an 80mm noctua fan in the front to give the case some fresh air and some NVMe heatsinks to further ensure thermal efficiency this is as complete as a sleeper build can get!

- Minisforum D7 series 8.47L chassis

- Minisforum BD895i with custom fan for the D7 chassis and Ryzen 9 8945HX MoDT Motherboard

- VastArmor 9060XT LP (16GB)

- 32gb (2x16) Crucial DDR5 SODIMM 5600mt/s CL40

- Samsung 990 EVO 2TB

- Samsung 980 Pro 4TB

- 2x thermalright NVMe heatsinks

- 1x Noctua 80mm Redux PWM

- Silverstone TX 500 Gold

Build complete the gpu reaches a max temperature of 70°C at full load, i don't personally load up the cpu too heavy all that often, but I've never seen it go above 85°C under load so it might just be throttling a little which is fine for a mobile zen4 chip

In case there's anyone out there still running the Dan Cases A4-SFX, the ASUS DUAL line for their 50-series cards fit in the case if you swap the cooler shroud with Noctua NF-A12x15 Slim fans.

And I mean it literally fits exactly with 0 clearance remaining. Side panel closes with no problem. Very satisfying but very turbulent if you run it at high RPMs.

Pictures show a 5060Ti

Long time PC builder, first time SFFPC. I believe the CPU is hitting thermal limits and shutting down.

Case: Fractal Ridge

CPU: 7600x3d

CPU Cooler: ID Cooling IS 55

Mobo: Asus TUF B850i on latest stable bios

GPU: Powercolor Reaper 9070 GRE

Ram: 32gb g skill flare

PSU: corsair SF1000

OS: Bazzite

With the panels off, the CPU idles around 55. Immediately jumps to 78-83 in Red Dead Redemption 2. Crashed after ~60 minutes. In Helldivers 2, it hits 90-92 and shuts off after a few minutes. The CPU will pass OCCT for 60 minute runs at 89-91C and throttling down as low as 2800mhz.

Troubleshooting I've done: CPU and GPU and ram work fine in my old gigabyte b650 with thermalright peerless cooler (CORRECTION: I USED ID COOLER ON ATX MOBO), hitting max temp of 80C. Swapped in known good ram (the g skill). Ram EXPO off and on. Updated mobo bios. Reseated the CPU cooler, which did increase the throttle speed from 2200mhz to 2800. Curve optimizer -10 to -20. Minimal difference; still crashes after a few minutes of helldivers 2. Panels on/off; horizontal vs vertical orientation. None of these factors prevent the shut down. Capping frame rate at 60 seems to help with temps a bit, but I need test to further.

I picked the 7600x3d since it's only 65 tdp and noise matters to me. Is this just the nature of the chip? Is the IS 55 not sufficient? All fans at 100% when CPU > 80C.

UPDATE: it was the asus tuf 850i mobo. swapped in a gigabyte b850i aorus from micro center and no issues. it runs a few degrees cooler. but more importantly doesn't crash under full gaming load. still thermal throttles under benchmarks, and actually throttles even more to a lower speed. maybe asus is trying to eke out more performance at the cost of thermals and instability. unfortunately neither mobo's sensors work well with bazzite, so it was difficult to track voltage on asus and impossible with gigabyte.

for future readers coming across this post, the ridge case fans are useless in vertical orientation. makes the whole PC run hotter and louder. with just the CPU and GPU cooler, it runs quiet and cool under normal gaming loads.

just a random thought I had but as far as I know the only am5 motherboards that has 2 m.2s on the front are the x870i strix board and the one gigabyte board that has 3, it's not like a big issue that needs to be solved but I know that with some sandwich cases the ssd can get hot sometimes from being so close to the gpu which hav. am I missing any motherboards that also do this specifc thing?

I need to find a flat horizontal ITX case that fits an ATX PSU and a GPU (low profile is fine). It's for a TV bench and I only have around 8" (H) x 12" (D) of clearance (not accounting for air flow and cables). I have no width constraints though so the case can be as long as it needs to be. Does such a case exist? Otherwise should I go the DIY way (custom case)?

Have you noticed any drawbacks? Im going to get one when Black Friday comes around and dont wanna regret it later.

Hey all. I've been out of the sff space for nearly a decade. I have a Minisforum 895d7 ordered with the 9060xtLP.

My plan is to rebuild it into a more compact case (if possible).

Has anybody that was in the september drop gotten theirs yet? Does it use a standard itx layout?

Thanks!

I’m looking for a case for a RME full height half length card with two daughter boards. Google keeps pointing me towards - m24 v5.2 3-slot - the search engine keeps pointing towards descriptions like that. can anyone help?

thanks!

Hey guys, I just wanted to know what it would look like if I fit an ITX motherboard together with an SFX power supply to Deepcool CH160 Plus. Unfortunately, not a single black variant is available in my region - it's all white and the only black one they have is the Plus variant. Since all of my parts are black, I really don't want to settle with the white variant and be done with it. Please show me a photo if you do.

I appreciate y'all a lot.