Main rig and NAS up and running, a DAN case A4 pending till the end of the year, I was looking for a little challenge (and experience) without having to spend an arm and a leg. So how about stuffing the tech of my gaming rig into the NAS enclosure and see what happens?
Main rig: ASUS Z-170A; 6700K; NH-U14S; MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X; 2x Samsung SSD; StraightPower E10 500W; Define R5
NAS: MSI H110I pro; G4400; NH-L9i; 1x SSD, 2x HDD 2TB; SST-ST30SF; Node 304
The original idea was to keep mainboards, coolers and PSU in their respective enclosures and swap everything else.
First step was to dismantle both rigs and get the NAS up and running, which took about 1 hour. No problems there. After testing the Node-304 gaming rig (more on that later) I decided to also change the CPU cooler and the PSU. My luxury NAS now looks loke this, the cables of the SST-ST30SF just fit, not a single millimeter to spare.
I was surprised how well the HDD dampening works with this case (never had tried it actually). Especially the Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 is actually quite a noisy beast and clearly audible inside the Node-304 (that's why it is used for weekly backups only and is sleeping the rest of the time). The R5 dampens both vibration and airborne noise to inaudible levels. Temps are no issue, power consumption is ~4W higher, due to the ATX Z-170 mainboard, I guess.
Now for the gaming rig. The first try looked like this. Still easy to work inside the case and get the cabling out of the way. Looks almost the same, just add a GPU.
Noise and temps are a different story, it's not the GPU, though.
A few numbers:
idle ~ 30W, P95 ~ 130W, Valley ~ 220W, Fire Strike ~ 250W, Furmark ~ 270W.
CPU temps do get high quickly. The NH-L9i clearly is not cut for a 95W CPU. The CPU fan and the case exhaust fan (NF-S12A PWM) are running off the same fan header and get a bit hysterical under load, as do the front intake fans.
Running StarCitizen (200W system load), the CPU reaches 75°C, GPU 65°C (!), the CPU fan runs at 1600RPM with the back fan @ 800RPM, the front fans @ 1000RPM, creating some weird tonality. GPU fans @ ~1000RPM. Tried some different fan curves for both headers, but did not manage to get the system balanced.
The most audible fan though is the PSU fan, which really gets serious at 200W or higher.
All this is accompanied by an unbearably screaching of electronic noises, coming from the PSU (and partly GPU). Now I know, that this GPU can behave quite well, when fed with juice from the DarkPower E10.
I did some testing and gaming for one evening and decided to swap CPU cooler and PSU as well.
To put in the NH-U14S is the easiest step to take, it fits well and does an admirable job cooling the CPU. Really like this cooler.
Put a low-noise-adapter on the CPU fan, ramp up the fan curve a bit to get the exhaust fan working a bit more and fan noise is not an issue any more.
The PSU is a different story. It's a 160mm unit with cable management. I use it, because I have it and this is just some fun testing. I do not recommend putting it into this case in combination with a long graphics card.
What you can not see is, that the top edge of the GPU is pushed away from the center. It is not in a proper right angle with the mobo.
I took out the PSU bracket, pushed the PSU to the side and set it a little bit askwew, kinked all the cables coming from the PSU to an unhealthy angle and finally managed to get 2-3mm distance between the cables and the backplate of the GPU (which does get hot).
Keep all the cables up, or down, or to the sides, but keep them out of the middle, otherweise the front intake fans work for nothing. This was actually the hardest part of the build, took me a lot of time and a lot of patience.
Before I forget: Don't even try to use the HDD cage with all that cabling and this cooler. I tried it for you. Does not work. Just tape them SSDs to the PSU, they like it.
The small gaming rig is sitting on top of the desk, 50cm from my head, GPU side facing me.
So how does it work out?
In the end, admirably well. The PSU keeps the screaching in check and I never hear its fan.
During gaming the case and CPU fans are all running below 800RPM, the GPU at around 1000RPM. As long as the GPU fans stay below 1100RPM it is not annoying (and I do get annoyed easily). The general fan whoosh is pleasant and silent enough not to cover the slight electronic buzzing coming from the GPU and PSU. At idle the fans are inaudible, so I can hear some tiny buzzing coming from the SSDs, or their controller, or from the mobo. It is completely in sync with the HDD activity LED. The system makes the same noises inside the R5, you only never hear it, once the case is closed. My bet is on the SSDs.
So what did I learn?
The R5 is just an amazing case, which can handle a single GPU rig with ease.
The Node 304 can handle a gaming rig at satisfying audible levels (though not as dead silent as the R5). You have to work a bit harder to get there. Take your time. Get a short PSU.
A good CPU cooler is a good CPU cooler is a good CPU cooler - as long as it fits.
Cable management in a small case just sucks.
MSI did a good job with this GPU, it is only 2 slots but still pretty silent in most situations.
As long as you don't OC the CPU, there is practically no difference in performance between H110 and Z170 chipsets.
Thanks for reading!
