Discussion Preassembly Design Review: Stanley Steampunk Pt.1

Imacflier

Distinguished
Jan 19, 2014
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  • Preface
Please forgive this being incredibly wordy, but, being a classic GOF (Grumpy Old Fart) I AM rather wordy! So, without further ado:

I don’t know about you, but I always anthropomorphize my computers and give them names based on their physical characteristics. And yes, I talk to them (well mostly scream at or beg) and on rare occasions they seem to talk back.

My current computer (the one being replaced by this build) is a huge black ATX system in a HAF XB case. It, of course, is named “The Borg”, and yes, it does whisper “Resistance is futile!” in the quiet of the early morning.

My new build will be “Stanley Steampunk” based on the copper fittings used in his custom loop and in the multi-story cooling tower he wears as a hat.

Stanley has blue blood, UV, of course, and is pretty much an all out build, although Rocket Lake instead of Aspen Lake (I got a COVID going-out-of-business deal that was just too good to pass up waiting for INTEL to release its current generation: RTX3080 Waterforce, I5-11600K, ITX MB and 32 GB RAM for $1750!!!! I swapped cash for parts and RAN!

  • System Utilization
80% Entertainment: Games, video

20% Income Producing: VERY time critical proposal work, Red Teaming, MS Office, ProgeCAD (an AutoCAD clone).

System Concept
  • Stanley will be an overclocked (CPU, GPU, RAM), water cooled, MITX system in a white Thermaltake case. He will be a Win10 Pro system and incorporate rapid on-board system and data recovery as well as flexible NAS based recovery.

  • Cooling
In terms of cooling I am of the Stroker McGurk school:

“If some is good,

More is better, and

Too much is just enough!”

From my reading, a single 360mm radiator is typically used for a CPU. But how does that compare with a 280mm or a 420mm unit? One means of comparison is to compare the volume of the fins.

A 120mm radiator typically has a fin volume of 12cm x 12cm x2.5cm for a total of 360 cu.cm.

But I had selected an MITX case specifically to accommodate a 200mm fan! And I happened to already possess not just one, but TWO, Phobya Xtreme 200 radiators.

This radiator measures 20cm x 20cm x 8.5cm. This calculates to an incredible 3400 cu.cm……EACH! More than THREE times as large as a 360mm radiator! And I have TWO!

On the downside, they are, of course, much too bulky to fit inside my case…..so, l will put them on the outside like a hat! And configure them like a Big Mac: Fan->Rad->Fan->Rad->Fan, so both Rads are cooled in push-pull by a pair of Noctua NF-A20 pwm 200mm fans!



But wait! I am of the Stroker McGurk school and I have both a CPU AND a GPU to cool….whatever will I do? I know: I will make that stack FOUR Phobya radiators high! And the parts are on the way.



And that concludes Part I of the preassembly design review.



Please make your comments and opinions known and stand by for plumbing processes, system and data storage, and, finally, the complete parts list!



Very Warm Regards, and a

Happy New Year to All!!!



Larry