New Prodigy Build

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gofasterplease

n00b
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
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Core i5-4670K
Gigabyte Windforce R9-290X
Asus Maximus Impact VI Mobo
BitFenix Prodigy M
16GB G.Skill Sniper RAM
Silverstone ST65F-G PSU
Noctua NH-D14
2x Samsung 840 Evo 250GB RAID 0

I've built a lot of machines with nary a problem, but this one was a toughie.

I had at least one or two bad components that caused every problem imaginable:
random power cycling
boot loops
smoking data cables

Upgraded to a micro-ATX case, abandoned water cooling, and RMA'd literally every single part (except the RAM and CPU). Now the machine runs like a champ, and is the fastest beast I've ever owned, bar none.

gfp
 
That's why you didn't want to post any pics! :D Seriously though, I would do something against that cable salad.
 
Even w/ a short cable kit, fitting stuff around other stuff (the oversized cooler and full length GPU aren't making it easy) ain't easy.

I need to find a local geek with small hands and OCD to clean it up...
 
honestly, I really detest the fact that the front mounted ports and buttons are on a side panel... disconnecting wires to remove side panels isn't cool. The Fractal Node 304 case was better designed in that respect.
 
milkcow said:
how is the prodigy still allowed to be in the SFF forum :p
Click to expand...

I know, right? Who does the OP think this place is? Overclock.net SFF board? Where 83.7% of members own a Prodigy. :p

I'm ashamed to say that I'm actually using a Prodigy as my main build right now. Picked it up for maybe $30 or $40 brand new out the door, and I removed the top/bottom handle thingies. It can swallow almost a dozen of my ISK 300-150 in volume.
 
WiSK said:
... and people post ATX mid-tower cases in the "beastly thread" because they've got a mITX board installed :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Oh wow, really? I know there are some mATX builds that are inside ATX cases from people that didn't read the first post, but I haven't seen the mITX in ATX case build. Or was that just exaggeration?
 
iFreilicht said:
Oh wow, really? I know there are some mATX builds that are inside ATX cases from people that didn't read the first post, but I haven't seen the mITX in ATX case build. Or was that just exaggeration?
Click to expand...

No exaggeration, happened many times - most recently Qu1ckset posted his RV05 (64 litres) with an Asus M7 Gene.
 
iFreilicht said:
Holy crap. Link for the lazy: http://www.overclock.net/t/541767/club-for-those-with-beastly-matx-itx-rigs/10610
Click to expand...

Aaaand, that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

Still, respect for those dudes because they're at the crazy high end of the spectrum when it comes to performance and cooling. It's just that a lot of them probably had huge full towers in the past, so even an ATX mid-tower seems crazy small to them.

I started dabbling in mATX for my gaming rig almost 13 years ago, back in the early P4 days, and my natural progression dipped down to ITX with those Zotac socket 775 boards. I now have some small non-standard stuff too (not for gaming though) such as Asus VIVOPC, Lenovo Q190, etc. You can say that I'm highly evolved when it comes to SFF. :p
 
It depends on how you can put things in perspective. I once had a Cooler Master ATC-310 and went to a Shuttle SG35G5, all it takes is to realise you are almost never utilizing an ATX motherboard to it's full potential, it doesn't take much to switch from thinking "more is better" to "efficient is better", it just takes some reflection.

And then it became a desire...
 
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this system was originally inside of a fractal design node 304, with a corsair h80i, but it never ran "right." intermittent crashes, boot loops, etc. I RMA'd basically all the parts and couldn't debug, so I rebuilt it in a prodigy M with air cooling... runs like a champ.

I'll trade a few liters of volume for rock-like stability :)
 
Pre-RAID0
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1b6QjGN.png
 
But stability doesn't have anything to do with your case size. If anything, my 12L SFF system is the most stable I've ever had, but that's because of improved quality in consumer PC parts over the years and luck for not having any lemons.
 
RAID0 up in this mug:
r7TDNPS.jpg


Technically true, case size doesn't matter for stability, however, SFF means airflow and cooling become paramount concerns. If one part on the motherboard isn't getting adequate cooling, that might cause stability issues.

What got me last time was a lemon(s)...
 
gofasterplease said:
Technically true, case size doesn't matter for stability, however, SFF means airflow and cooling become paramount concerns. If one part on the motherboard isn't getting adequate cooling, that might cause stability issues.
Click to expand...

Did you test that theory? You could have run it with the case open and a fan blowing into it, or even run it on an open bench (on top of mobo box works).

It's like all the enthusiasts that think replacing the TIM is the bees knees. Consider this all-too-common scenario I see posted in forums:
Problem: X year old system has too high CPU/GPU temperatures.
Solution: Blow out dust and replace TIM.
Results: Temperatures magically lower.
Conclusion: Replacing the TIM made temperatures lower.

How many of you guys have seen this exact type of thread in enthusiast forums? It couldn't possibly be the blowing out of dust that reduced temperatures, could it? Nah, of COURSE it was replacing the TIM.

:rolleyes:
 
As I said in my last post, in my case it was most likely a lemon part rather than being a cooling issue. However, "SFF means airflow and cooling become paramount concerns" this part is just physics. If you are dissipating 650 watts, its going to be easier (ALL ELSE EQUAL) to do that in a 36 liter case than in a 20 liter case. That's all I'm saying.
 
"just physics"

The reason small cases can be hotter is radiation, not convection. Airflow is actually better in a smaller volume - less fans needed.
 
And this highly depends on what case we're talking about. With SFF, the options rise to cool every component on their own, while larger cases (from what I've seen in the past years), always have one airflow for everything, and you can do so much wrong there as well.

Recent examples of small cases with stellar airflow are the A4 by dondan, the LRPC by Necere and the steambox thingy by SaperPL. All have their components cooled individually, getting cold air from the outside directly and exhausting it directly.

I wouldn't say airflow and cooling are concerns limited to SFF at all, they are a concern in every build. And I don't think it would've been hard to fit the performance of your build into an M1 at all, the CPU cooler is nothing but overkill, nothing in this build justifies the size. (Except noise, but I'm not too knowledgeable in that domain)
 
Radiative cooling is effectively nil at the sort of temperatures and power levels you find in computers.

A large case can simply fit more and larger fans than a small case, so will move more air. That's really the big difference. Whether you need more air to achieve adequate cooling and/or the desired noise level is another matter entirely.
If a radial GPU cooler acting alone can cool a GPU sufficiently at 2500RPM, but a larger case allows the use of a 120mm fan at 1000RPM on the GPU with a big open heatsink, and another 120mm at 1000RPM to provide case airflow, then the larger case with the bigger slower fans will be quieter. If you put the blower cooler in the large case, then it would be just as load as in the small case.
 
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