SFFPC Gen2
After making my first SFFPC in the NCase M1 v6.1 a few years ago and really enjoying the experience, I now wanted to make another one, but this time with an emphasis on cool, quiet & efficiency. This won't be a graphics oriented machine, but something that could do 2D and internet well enough, while being completely silent and sipping power, but can perform pretty well when needed.
I had purchased two NCase M1 v6.1's on my first build (a black and silver one). This was lucky because the model was discontinued during the pandemic. I also had a spare set of Noctua fans (including a CPU cooler) and some SSDs. Although I did have a spare GPU, I wanted something a bit more efficient. All I really needed was a Motherboard, CPU, RAM and PSU. but unfortunately, due to the RAM apocolypse, this would not be as cheap as I had hoped. Since my PC is on all day, the power bill alone will save me some money.
Spec
The components that I chose for this build are very similar to my first. In fact, where I used an 8-core AMD CPU in the original, here I am using just a 6-core 5. Despite the lower tier AMD CPU, it actually performs a little better (especially in single core). My reason for choosing this is it uses around half the power. The GPU actually uses a fraction of the power that the previous one did. When doing simple tasks, the GPU should not even be needed since the CPU has integrated graphics that will be much more efficient when just using a browser or remote working.
Case:
MB:
CPU:
GPU:
RAM:
PSU:
SSD:
Cooler:
Fans:
OS:
Sound:
NCase M1 v6.1 (12.7 Litre)
Gigabyte Z870i Aurus Pro ICE (AM5)
AMD Ryzen 7 9700x (8x 5.4GHz - 65w)
Gigabyte RTX 5060 LP (8GB - 145w)
2x16GB Kingston DDR5 (5200MHz)
Corsair SF1000 ATX 3.1 (80+ Platinum)
5TB PCIe gen5
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Mini
Noctua Case (2x NF-A14)
Win 11 Pro / Linux CachyOS
Topping D90SE + Teac AX-505
With a maximum power draw of 344w the crazy 1000w power supply fan won't kick in (>400w) even when pushed. The other reason I chose that PSU is that I intend to upgrade the CPU/GPU/RAM in this case one day to much higher end components.
The main project here will be to control the airflow from the bottom of the case. The GPU won't get as hot, but it will be more difficult to get the same airflow over its heatsink and the getting good airflow over the RAM and SSDs could be tricky. My previous SFFPC build ended up with CPU temps between 43-65°c and GPU temps between 33-75°c. That wasn't bad, but I should be able to do much better this time.
The Asrock B850i motherboard is a mid-range model with a few nice features. It supports DDR5 and PCI-E 5.0, both of which I will be taking advantage of. With us being deep into the RAM aocolypse I settled for an overpriced 32GB, but I would like to put 128Gb in it one day, if the prices ever come down to reasonable levels again. There are plenty of useful USB ports on the back panel, but I should be able to use the NCase M1's front USB A & C ports with the internal connectors to make it even more useful.
Custom 3D Printing
The 3D printed shapes I made for the first NCase M1's GPU didn't need to be too big or elaborate (see below).
t
The 5060 GPU heatsink (see below) is so much smaller than the 3080Ti (above) that a different approach will be needed to direct airflow over it. We'll see how it does by just putting the GPU in as is, with its own fans on top of the case fans.
The bright rectangle you see below is the size of the 5060 heatsink. Seemingly proportionate to its deminutive power draw, it'll be fascinating to see how well it copes before I engineer any airflow routing. It could be interesting to see how well I could use the front fan (left) to supply fresh air to the CPU and then send it directly out the back of the case. Perhaps the trickiest thing will be finding a way to cool down the RAM and SSDs with the air from these bottom fans...
I will update this section as I put the components into the other NCase M1 and experiment with airflow and cable management...
t