GHOST S1 - When both size & performance matters

[Nanook]

Updated the fans on my Ghost, I have a 34mm radiator so was unable to use 25mm fans. I was using Deepcool Gamer Storm 120 x 20mm but there were two problems with them, first was the funky blue color that did not go with my build and second the grill was sitting nearly on top of the fans and I was getting turbulence at load.

What I really wanted was Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM Chromax, but I am tired of waiting for Noctua to release slim chromax fans. So I went with Scythe KAZE FLEX 120 SLIM, these are the same fans that come with the Big Shuriken 3 and they work very well and look a hell of a lot better.

View attachment 178036

How do you like the performance of the Scythe fans?

 

[rfarmer]

How do you like the performance of the Scythe fans?

They are actually very good, even at load they are very quiet. The Noctua are better, 94,2 m³/h vs 86,29 m³/h and 23,9 dB(A) vs 30,4 dB(A) but until the slim chromax are released these will work fine.

 

[Nanook]

They are actually very good, even at load they are very quiet. The Noctua are better, 94,2 m³/h vs 86,29 m³/h and 23,9 dB(A) vs 30,4 dB(A) but until the slim chromax are released these will work fine.

Well, the Chromax will be a nice upgrade when /if they come out. Silver lining is that you have something to look forward to.

 

[irebel]

Ghost S1 tweaks inspired by the new Mac Pro

 

[irebel]

Ghost S1 tweaks inspired by the new Mac Pro

This is how I made the Ghost S1 looks like a mini Mac Pro...

• two of these -> Liberty 4 in. (102mm) Center-to-Center Matte Black Wire Drawer Pull - these use M4 screws that are slightly too big for the grill. I could have drilled bigger holes however I did not want to damage the grill too much
  
• instead, I purchased a set of M3 screws
• to make M3 screws work with Liberty handles I have used threaded inserts
• to use threaded inserts I had to drill the liberty pulls as these inserts are M5 to M3
  
• for feet, I used a set of Dynavox with nylon spacers and M3 screws with some washers I had on hand

If someone comes across a more elegant way of achieving the desired effect please let me know.

 

[Nanook]

This is how I made the Ghost S1 looks like a mini Mac Pro...

• two of these -> Liberty 4 in. (102mm) Center-to-Center Matte Black Wire Drawer Pull - these use M4 screws that are slightly too big for the grill. I could have drilled bigger holes however I did not want to damage the grill too much View attachment 179122
• instead, I purchased a set of M3 screws
• to make M3 screws work with Liberty handles I have used threaded inserts
• to use threaded inserts I had to drill the liberty pulls as these inserts are M5 to M3 View attachment 179121
• for feet, I used a set of Dynavox with nylon spacers and M3 screws with some washers I had on hand

If someone comes across a more elegant way of achieving the desired effect please let me know.

I love the look, and the fact that all your components are off the shelf. Very clever!

 

[Blorgon]

Finally got this guy built up!

Having done the Ncase M1 and been happy with everything maybe aside from the noise at full load, this Ghost build is based on an external 480 radiator.
Temps are just silly. Delta's are in the 2-3 degree range with fans at 1000rpm.

Most components were just moved over but I couldn't help but switch from an SFX PSU to the HDPlex combo. So far so good, although the AC/DC adapter does run warm. 45 degrees C feels subjectively warmer than I'd like, although this is well within the comfort zone.
The Aquaero is overkill but it does allow the DDC to be driven off a fan header! Plus it was left over from my M1 build so no extra expense incurred.

Can you go into detail on how you mounted the HDPlex?

 

[illram]

AXP-100 Copper is back at Amazon as of right now.

 

[DJSnotBoogie]

Finally got this guy built up!

Having done the Ncase M1 and been happy with everything maybe aside from the noise at full load, this Ghost build is based on an external 480 radiator.
Temps are just silly. Delta's are in the 2-3 degree range with fans at 1000rpm.

Most components were just moved over but I couldn't help but switch from an SFX PSU to the HDPlex combo. So far so good, although the AC/DC adapter does run warm. 45 degrees C feels subjectively warmer than I'd like, although this is well within the comfort zone.
The Aquaero is overkill but it does allow the DDC to be driven off a fan header! Plus it was left over from my M1 build so no extra expense incurred.



View attachment 157235

View attachment 157236 View attachment 157237 View attachment 157238

Godaaaamn that’s incredible. I’ve been wanting to build a ghost but worried about temps. I hadn’t really considered an externally radiated water cooled system until seeing this build. After using it for sometime would you say it’s worthwhile? Any tips or lessons learned you can offer? I’m super interested in a similar build.

 

[Chapeau]

Can you go into detail on how you mounted the HDPlex?

It's mounted with 3M dual lock tape - Sorry for the uber delayed reply!

Godaaaamn that’s incredible. I’ve been wanting to build a ghost but worried about temps. I hadn’t really considered an externally radiated water cooled system until seeing this build. After using it for sometime would you say it’s worthwhile? Any tips or lessons learned you can offer? I’m super interested in a similar build.

Noise & Temperatures: Absolutely. There's so much excess heat capacity it makes water cooling a bit boring.

Pros: It's quiet, reliable, unobtrusive.

Cons: You need a good control scheme because the wiring and power is somewhat annoying to set up. You'll need good fan hub for the radiator and the external PSU . I don't think it's feasible without an Aquaero as you really need the pump power and temp inputs it can handle. It's still difficult to bleed - I'd still recommend a dedicated fill port located at the highest point of the loop.

 

[lachdanan]

Is it possible to build one using 3990x and rtx titan with 128GB RAM? I need this for portable vfx station. Or is this impossible?

 

[jeremyshaw]

Is it possible to build one using 3990x and rtx titan with 128GB RAM? I need this for portable vfx station. Or is this impossible?

Not with a 3990x (no threadripper mITX boards exist). 3950X (AM4) or 10980x (LGA2066) are the closest two bets. The Intel one will probably get you the 128GB RAM, unless if 64GB DIMMs are readily available nowadays.

RTX Titan should be fine, given the specs and size. If you're willing to go that overkill, there is always the Quadro RTX 8000...

 

[obs]

Not with a 3990x (no threadripper mITX boards exist). 3950X (AM4) or 10980x (LGA2066) are the closest two bets. The Intel one will probably get you the 128GB RAM, unless if 64GB DIMMs are readily available nowadays.

RTX Titan should be fine, given the specs and size. If you're willing to go that overkill, there is always the Quadro RTX 8000...

Yea, not much for options with mini itx. No boards smaller than ATX that I know of that support the 3990x. Best option is likely the Asrock X299E-ITX/ac which supports Intel 2066 cpus and 128GB RAM. But this board sort of expects a custom loop with monoblock so it would be difficult. Not sure if any x570 mini itx boards support 128GB ram.

 

[lachdanan]

Thanks guys but even 3950x supports 128GB no? I know of people who use 128GB with it but not mITX.

I also read some people had SFF builds with 2990wx? Are they very different from 3990x?

Not with a 3990x (no threadripper mITX boards exist). 3950X (AM4) or 10980x (LGA2066) are the closest two bets. The Intel one will probably get you the 128GB RAM, unless if 64GB DIMMs are readily available nowadays.

RTX Titan should be fine, given the specs and size. If you're willing to go that overkill, there is always the Quadro RTX 8000...

I would love that but the price is so much higher so that sucks pretty bad.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Thanks guys but even 3950x supports 128GB no? I know of people who use 128GB with it but not mITX.

I also read some people had SFF builds with 2990wx? Are they very different from 3990x?



I would love that but the price is so much higher so that sucks pretty bad.

2990wx had the option of a mATX board from ASRock. The 3td gen Treadripper requires a "different" socket, and no such mATX option has appeared on the market for the 3000 series threadrippers. mATX isn't tiny, but there are a few cases that really minimize the mATX footprint and use space efficiently. The Ghost S1 cannot fit a mATX motherboard.

With x570, there is technically one ITX server board that supports 4 SODIMM slots (laptop memory cards, instead of desktop DIMM), and the reason I am still harping on 4 slots is most (nearly all) mITX boards only have 2 memory slots. With two slots, 64GB memory DIMMs are required, and I know very little about those, their compatibility, whether or not they need special server boards, etc. With 32GB, almost all of the current DIMM/SODIMM are general consumer pieces that generally work. But to get 128GB out of 32GB memory cards requires 4 slots.

Either way, it's an interesting question, but not one I readily have an answer for.

 

[lachdanan]

Thanks a lot, I am still new in the SFF but I have to say these mATX vs mini atx micro atx is very confusing to me often times, I have to look up charts but it confuses me if m is mini or micro, and itx I thought was another category.

I will look into small mATX ones to see how big they are. If they are too big then maybe just using a 3950x laptop is good enough for now.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Thanks a lot, I am still new in the SFF but I have to say these mATX vs mini atx micro atx is very confusing to me often times, I have to look up charts but it confuses me if m is mini or micro, and itx I thought was another category.

I will look into small mATX ones to see how big they are. If they are too big then maybe just using a 3950x laptop is good enough for now.

Ah, for MB sizes, there is Intel's original ATX spec (itself codifying a derivative of the original IBM AT) and its derivative micro ATX (mATX, μATX; the μ being the greek letter "mu," often used for measurements in the millionths, i.e, micro, 10^-6, 1/1000000, etc. Sometimes, people will use uATX instead of μATX, since μ is often hard to type). There is also mini ITX and the less common mini DTX. There was a semi-official/unofficial early variation of ATX called "mini" ATX, but once micro ATX was made spec, "mini ATX" was purged and basically doesn't exist at all. If you say mini ATX, people will rightly assume you mean micro ATX.

Yes, there was an ITX, but it failed, same with DTX. They were made via Via (Via Technologies) and AMD, respectively. Mini ITX and Mini DTX were obviously more popular, and have long outlived their donor platforms.

So, the surviving "official" board specs in order of size (largest to smallest):

ATX
micro ATX
mini DTX
mini ITX

Of the four, miniDTX is very, very uncommon outside of OEM PCs. It's basically an miniITX with one extra PCIe slot. MicroATX is falling out of favor, since mITX boards are rather full featured nowadays.

Also, when you say ITX, basically everyone will understand you mean "mini ITX."

Finally, there is E-ATX, a larger ATX, but it's somewhat unofficial and sizes may vary. Given this is about SFF PCs, I'll avoid talk of that.

 

[lightsout]

I really love this case. Looks like the best looking sff case imo. The price of entry for me right now for the car plus sff PSU feels a little high. But I will eventually go for it.

 

[lachdanan]

Ah, for MB sizes, there is Intel's original ATX spec (itself codifying a derivative of the original IBM AT) and its derivative micro ATX (mATX, μATX; the μ being the greek letter "mu," often used for measurements in the millionths, i.e, micro, 10^-6, 1/1000000, etc. Sometimes, people will use uATX instead of μATX, since μ is often hard to type). There is also mini ITX and the less common mini DTX. There was a semi-official/unofficial early variation of ATX called "mini" ATX, but once micro ATX was made spec, "mini ATX" was purged and basically doesn't exist at all. If you say mini ATX, people will rightly assume you mean micro ATX.

Yes, there was an ITX, but it failed, same with DTX. They were made via Via (Via Technologies) and AMD, respectively. Mini ITX and Mini DTX were obviously more popular, and have long outlived their donor platforms.

So, the surviving "official" board specs in order of size (largest to smallest):

ATX
micro ATX
mini DTX
mini ITX

Of the four, miniDTX is very, very uncommon outside of OEM PCs. It's basically an miniITX with one extra PCIe slot. MicroATX is falling out of favor, since mITX boards are rather full featured nowadays.

Also, when you say ITX, basically everyone will understand you mean "mini ITX."

Finally, there is E-ATX, a larger ATX, but it's somewhat unofficial and sizes may vary. Given this is about SFF PCs, I'll avoid talk of that.

Thanks a lot I understand better now

Do you think we will see mATX for TR? Also I guess the highest core for ITX is 16 core using 3950x? Coz now I see some laptops have that, and some laptops have rtx 6000 but I don't know if the latter throttles coz it comes with a small power adapter, but also comes with $10k price tag.

That's why these SFFs intrigued me.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Thanks a lot I understand better now

Do you think we will see mATX for TR? Also I guess the highest core for ITX is 16 core using 3950x? Coz now I see some laptops have that, and some laptops have rtx 6000 but I don't know if the latter throttles coz it comes with a small power adapter, but also comes with $10k price tag.

That's why these SFFs intrigued me.

Alternatively, the Intel 10980X + ASRock X299 mITX nets 18 cores. If you can even find an Intel 10980X in stock anywhere. If the 10980X is even capable of outperforming the AMD 3950X mITX setup, given how strong Zen2 has proven vs Intel.

As for TR3000 mATX, I don't know. mATX seems to be fading in popularity, so I don't expect a lot of vendor/OEM investment into that size.

 

[teo]

not sure what type of portability you're looking for, but the sliger cerberus x exists. it's twice-ish the volume of the ghost but allows atx motherboards (so TRX40/3990X viable) and atx power supplies if you liquid cool the cpu.

 

[illram]

Anyone else's top plate bow slightly in the middle? I can't figure out why, unless it is a size issue (too small) or is it because the riser if pushing on it?

 

[obs]

Got my Ghost in pieces to upgrade the GPU and clean up the loop. Hoping to fit a reservoir in their now too since the 3080 FE is quite small with a water block. Air bubbles are a huge PITA without a reservoir. Also looking to create a better loop draining system which is tough in this case. Final build will be the following with 2 large top hats:

CPU: i9-9900k
Motherboard: Asus Z390-I
GPU: 3080 FE w/Corsair or EKWB block
Radiator: Alphacool ST30 V2 240mm (x2)
Fans: Noctua NF-A12x25 x4 (all exhaust, negative pressure)
Pump/CPU block: Swiftech Apogee Drive II
PSU: Corsair SF750
Tubing: EK ZMT 10/16mm

 

[obs]

Testing going well so far. Ignore the cable management I've yet to do. Having a reservoir is going to be so much nicer.

 

[obs]

All complete: