Project H20-Micro a Watercooled 3 Liter system with GTX970

[qwerkus]

t seems the GPU has given up on me.

Sorry to read that. Hopefully it will get sorted out. Keep up the good work!

One question though: don't most motherboard manufacturers expect at least a minimum airflow over their components ?

 

[QinX]

Sorry to read that. Hopefully it will get sorted out. Keep up the good work!

One question though: don't most motherboard manufacturers expect at least a minimum airflow over their components ?

I believe that it is a combination of not needing airflow at normal ambient temperatures or needing airflow when ambient is high.

Motherboard need to work not only between 15C and 25C but often even higher ambients during the summer.

One benefit of using a Thin M-ITX motherboard is that the board itself should be able to run passive. Why?
Look at how Intel suggests CPU cooling should be implemented:
http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4394/DSC_3507.jpg

Big PDF: Look around page 53 and down
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww...-itx-based-pc-system-design-guide-rev-1-2.pdf

Not all suggestion be some done implement motherboard cooling.

 

[kooki]

QinX, have you checked the GPU yet?

You stated you implemented the second diagram in this picture (http://abload.de/img/drawinghmcz4.jpg) which the GPU gets powered by the internal 2pin molex.

Now I do think the Gigabyte board is more robust overall, but I've just found this document about the conga-IC97 thin itx which says the maximum supported power through the 2pin molex is 120w (page 18/93 from in the "DC Power Jack picture http://www.congatec.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/Manual/IU87_IU97m01.pdf).

I'm blind guessing here, as I don't have much knowledge on this, but maybe you have "fried" something related to the internal 2pin so the GPU wouldn't be getting the power to work.

I do hope you have some clear answer to refute this guess of mine, though...

 

[QinX]

QinX, have you checked the GPU yet?

You stated you implemented the second diagram in this picture (http://abload.de/img/drawinghmcz4.jpg) which the GPU gets powered by the internal 2pin molex.

Now I do think the Gigabyte board is more robust overall, but I've just found this document about the conga-IC97 thin itx which says the maximum supported power through the 2pin molex is 120w (page 18/93 from in the "DC Power Jack picture http://www.congatec.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/Manual/IU87_IU97m01.pdf).

I'm blind guessing here, as I don't have much knowledge on this, but maybe you have "fried" something related to the internal 2pin so the GPU wouldn't be getting the power to work.

I do hope you have some clear answer to refute this guess of mine, though...

That is some good info, however the ASUS Q87T is still working fine with the CPU. so I don't believe the DC jack is fried.
It is only the GPU and I haven't disassembled it yet. So we can keep guessing until I have done that
Also your document says it can handle 12V-24V with max 120W. so it can handle 12V*10A but not 24V*10A?

Also the external power supply is 20V*17.5A=350W and it has the mating plug, note these were used for HP Voodoo PCs

I need to bring the system to work with me, so I can empty the waterloop and dry it.
The connection between the GPU and CPU to the reservoir are above the motherboard so I'll have to be careful when disassembling it .

 

[Canyouseeitnow]

Unless you caused a short or something, the power used depends on the load device. In the same way that a 100w bulb uses 100w when the source it is plugged into can handle 18000w. Only thing that can cause an over use of power is not having the right voltage. So if you accidentally plugged 12v into 5v, the 5v would use 12/5 times the amount of power it is designed to. If it can accept variable voltage it would be fine, since it can regulate the incoming voltage.

 

[iFreilicht]

Very nice to see everything on one picture.

Bad luck with the waterblock and the GPU, I hope you'll get it sorted out soon.

 

[QinX]

Stop! Update time.

So as mentioned before the GPU stopped working, I thought the GPU itself might have died but after I disassembled the system I found the cause.
It was my own fault, I hadn't checked my sources enough.
One of the purposes of the Riser was to disconnect the 12V from the motherboard and only supply 12V via the HD-Plex 250W Board.
I used http://pinouts.ru/Slots/pci_express_pinout.shtml as my guide, but Pin A3 is stated as reserved.
However according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express Pin A3 is a +12V line.

Sooooooo... upon inspection the trace got vaporized, causing the 12V to be disconnected and the GPU to stay off, apparently the GPU requires a 12V supply via the PCIe slot. So after connecting the the 12V from the HD-Plex to the PCIe RIser, as I had foreseen in my design but had not done yet, everything worked like a charm again.

So I finally got the case. This is just the 2mm bare Aluminium. I have 1 more of each and they should be coming back from anodizing late next week. I will transfer to the new case and send the other 2 out for powder coating.




So next up is the BIG Squeeze. It all fits nicely. Only the HD-Plex board is not the way I had intended but works fine as it is now.





Having it up and running


System is running nicely with decent temperatures, running Unigine Valley at 1920x1200 8xAA.


But I do have a room ambient of only 15C so add at least 10 for the summer and the system can be classified as running toasty but stable, the fans are running at about 50%-60%.

The pump is rather noisy but I think I damaged it when I was drilling a hole, so I will be replacing it.

And as a final image at least for now, when drawing in CAD you sometimes forget to put things in perspective in terms of size. So when I received the O-rings I needed for the build I had a chuckle about the smallest one.


I wasn't quite expecting this small

What is on the ToDo list?
1) new GPU waterblock
2) anodized cases
3) Powerder coated cases
4) new reservoir and pump
5) more stress testing and finetuning the fans

If I can gather enough interest, say 10-20 people, I will look into a small batch production and a revision 2 that takes what I learned and make it easier to assemble and maintain, so I would appriacte some feedback about the design and "featureset". Pricing for the kit would depend on the amount of people, I can't give a real estimate, 5 or 15 people will make a big difference.

Hope you enjoyed the update!

 

[medeyer]

I have to appreciate the level of R&D you're putting into this project, especially with all the additional hiccups you've dealt with. Comes with the territory, I guess. Hope it all works out soon.

 

[iFreilicht]

Again, congratulations on the first boot. I'm starting to think whether this would make sense as a commercial product. It would be a pretty amazing Steambox, I reckon.

 

[Kaos_Drem]

Why are there so many cool case projects on the [H]Forums...My wallet can only get so erect...

 

[SaperPL]

Congrats, it looks interesting.

Sorry for my tl:dr attitude - how are you cooling all other stuff on the motherboard beside the cpu - is your custom water block cooling chipset and VRM too?

This can be an awesome product if you can fix two things about it:
1) Design waterblocks the way they can be used with as much as possible cards and motherboards and list those parts.
2) Fit the front and rear to the side and top panels to make it look better.

 

[fusionxr]

It looks so cute! And yet so powerful.

Kinda bothers me that the gpu io doesnt line up properly with the holes lol

Its a shame that the temps aren't the best but it's a small compromise for something this small with so much performance crammed in.

 

[Ulti]

Once again, simply amazing. Well done on getting the prototype up and running!

 

[Lakai129]

What was the total cost of this build??

 

[iFreilicht]

Congrats, it looks interesting.

Sorry for my tl:dr attitude - how are you cooling all other stuff on the motherboard beside the cpu - is your custom water block cooling chipset and VRM too?

This can be an awesome product if you can fix two things about it:
1) Design waterblocks the way they can be used with as much as possible cards and motherboards and list those parts.
2) Fit the front and rear to the side and top panels to make it look better.

To be frank, a lot of people don't care about upgradability that much. I would sell this as a complete system like the alienware alpha, just more powerful.
What's wrong with the front and back?

 

[SaperPL]

The front/back panels going outside the main body outline looks to me a little crappy - remind me of stuff made of boxes with fronts trying to be something more than that if you know what I mean. Some school props etc.

As for the upgrade'ability - you're maybe right, but consider this: most of ITX motherboards have either one of two configurations depending on chipset location and manufacturers tend to keep to their configs. So figuring out what's the most common config and trying to make it support slightly different boards might be good for the future use.

 

[dondan]

Very cool pictures.

Thinitx has a standard layout. The main problem is the gpu. The actual layout was used for the most gtx 670/760/960 and some 970 serie. I think for pascal they will made new pcbs and gpu i/o layout. But if you make a upgradekit for the gpu and a variable gpu i/o cutout in the backplate, there will be no problem for using this system over years.

 

[iFreilicht]

The front/back panels going outside the main body outline looks to me a little crappy - remind me of stuff made of boxes with fronts trying to be something more than that if you know what I mean. Some school props etc.

As for the upgrade'ability - you're maybe right, but consider this: most of ITX motherboards have either one of two configurations depending on chipset location and manufacturers tend to keep to their configs. So figuring out what's the most common config and trying to make it support slightly different boards might be good for the future use.

I personally really like the front and back that way, the way they act as the stand and feet is pretty nice.

Very cool pictures.

Thinitx has a standard layout. The main problem is the gpu. The actual layout was used for the most gtx 670/760/960 and some 970 serie. I think for pascal they will made new pcbs and gpu i/o layout. But if you make a upgradekit for the gpu and a variable gpu i/o cutout in the backplate, there will be no problem for using this system over years.

Jup, the position of the CPU socket is specified in the Thin-mITX standard, so swapping the mainboard is the least of all problems.

For GPUs I see the main issue that all dual slot GPUs have the dual slot bracket in one piece, so just removing the top one requires you to cut them off.

And the waterblock really can only work for GPUs that have their mounting holes in the exact same location as the 970. There may be some ways to increase compatibility here and there, but that's about it.

 

[hoggy]

Remember it's not been anodised yet, think it will look a lot sharper then.

Personally I think this is excellent and shows what some smart thinking can achieve!

This is a case obviously designed around a specific board, hence no rectangular IO cutout, so not sure the point of upgradeability is relevant as I assume it'll ship with a mb anyway?

 

[Urelure]

Congratulations. This is by far the coolest project I've seen in here so far.
I really like the design with the front/back panels as stands. Can't wait to see it powder coated. Before actually seeing pictures I think that will be the best finish for this design.

I don't think you would have trouble selling a few of these, though being such a niche within a niche product, there is probably not a market for bigger volumes.

 

[QinX]

So I have been running some tests to check out the stabillity of the system.
It is nice and quiet when idle, gets a bit louder when running Unigine Valley and Heaven.
Running Furmark (1920x1080 0xAA) and 3 threads of Prime95 small FFT, puts the highest possible stress on the system, it keeps then fans at max RPM (2900) and maximum power consumption at the wall is 295W.
Though because of the extreme torture test it will be loud this kind of load is not even remotely realistic when playing games.
Also because I want to make this a fair as possible I have not undervolted the CPU and have give the GPU a OC of +125MHz.
Undervolting the CPU should reduce those extreme Furmark temperatures by 10 degrees easily.

Here are some screenshots:
Furmark 1920x1080 0xAA with Prime95 3 threads small FFT's in the background running for 11 hours and 30 minutes


Heaven 4.0 1920x1200 8xAA running for 1 hour

I have to appreciate the level of R&D you're putting into this project, especially with all the additional hiccups you've dealt with. Comes with the territory, I guess. Hope it all works out soon.

Thanks for the appreciation, I'm close to finishing and I'm glad of the small problems, it reminds me there is stll much to learn.

Again, congratulations on the first boot. I'm starting to think whether this would make sense as a commercial product. It would be a pretty amazing Steambox, I reckon.

Thanks, that was the goal I set myself, the Alpha and GR8 where my inspirations.

Why are there so many cool case projects on the [H]Forums...My wallet can only get so erect...

Hahaha, yeah there have been some awesome cases lately.

Congrats, it looks interesting.

Sorry for my tl:dr attitude - how are you cooling all other stuff on the motherboard beside the cpu - is your custom water block cooling chipset and VRM too?

This can be an awesome product if you can fix two things about it:
1) Design waterblocks the way they can be used with as much as possible cards and motherboards and list those parts.
2) Fit the front and rear to the side and top panels to make it look better.

1) Motherboard is not getting any additional cooling beside some natural convection occuring. chipset and VRM aren't really needing it. There are already other cases that have the same "problems".
2) I will take your feedback and see what is possible, it might be a bit difficult because of the tight fit, but I want to improve the aesthetics of the build for rev2

It looks so cute! And yet so powerful.

Kinda bothers me that the gpu io doesnt line up properly with the holes lol

Its a shame that the temps aren't the best but it's a small compromise for something this small with so much performance crammed in.

I'm annoyed by that myself as well
Temperatures are okay, comparable to my notebook, but only MOAR powerful.

Once again, simply amazing. Well done on getting the prototype up and running!

Thanks a lot!

What was the total cost of this build??

I think my total is around €3.6k

To be frank, a lot of people don't care about upgradability that much. I would sell this as a complete system like the alienware alpha, just more powerful.
What's wrong with the front and back?

I do intend to support the system for as long as possible, as along as manufacturers release thin mITX boards and the socket hole spacing stays the same, CPU/motherboard upgrading should only involve replacing the back panel.
Gpu upgrade are also possible of Nvidia release short PCB reference cards, but I could also release a new waterblock for a short pcb GPU if enough interest is present among owners. There are still a lot of details to work out.

The front/back panels going outside the main body outline looks to me a little crappy - remind me of stuff made of boxes with fronts trying to be something more than that if you know what I mean. Some school props etc.

As for the upgrade'ability - you're maybe right, but consider this: most of ITX motherboards have either one of two configurations depending on chipset location and manufacturers tend to keep to their configs. So figuring out what's the most common config and trying to make it support slightly different boards might be good for the future use.

See the above response, also I'm considering a regular ITX build/casemod for that same reason, give myself some more space to work with and allow for much more broad support of boards and preferably GPUs.

Very cool pictures.

Thinitx has a standard layout. The main problem is the gpu. The actual layout was used for the most gtx 670/760/960 and some 970 serie. I think for pascal they will made new pcbs and gpu i/o layout. But if you make a upgradekit for the gpu and a variable gpu i/o cutout in the backplate, there will be no problem for using this system over years.

Thanks for the appreciation dondan! As long as there are videocards that have Single slot I/o and are 17ish cm long I can keep supporting them, even if that means a new GPU waterblock.

I personally really like the front and back that way, the way they act as the stand and feet is pretty nice.

Jup, the position of the CPU socket is specified in the Thin-mITX standard, so swapping the mainboard is the least of all problems.

For GPUs I see the main issue that all dual slot GPUs have the dual slot bracket in one piece, so just removing the top one requires you to cut them off.

And the waterblock really can only work for GPUs that have their mounting holes in the exact same location as the 970. There may be some ways to increase compatibility here and there, but that's about it.

This GTX970 I have also was dual slot, but the important part is the I/O was single slot. As mentioned above I will do my best to support future GPUs. the only key features I need are, Single slot I/O, under 17cm long and a couple of people to buy the new block.

Remember it's not been anodised yet, think it will look a lot sharper then.

Personally I think this is excellent and shows what some smart thinking can achieve!

This is a case obviously designed around a specific board, hence no rectangular IO cutout, so not sure the point of upgradeability is relevant as I assume it'll ship with a mb anyway?

Yes It is designed for this specific board, but I won't ship it with any actual hardware for 2 reasons.
1) it makes no sense for me to buy the hardware and then ship it, the import duties would be to high and you could probably get it cheaper in your own country.
2) in relation to the above providing warranty is not something that I am willing to do on the hardware, it just becomes to expensive in general.

Congratulations. This is by far the coolest project I've seen in here so far.
I really like the design with the front/back panels as stands. Can't wait to see it powder coated. Before actually seeing pictures I think that will be the best finish for this design.

I don't think you would have trouble selling a few of these, though being such a niche within a niche product, there is probably not a market for bigger volumes.

I already have my mind set on a very special colour for the powder coat, I just hope the painter has it or at least something similar.
It will be really niche, but with the rise of the steam machines I might be have a higher chance at larger volumes than I originally had expected

 

[SaperPL]

Thanks for info - I didn't notice earlier u're using thin mITX so that clears out question about fitting multiple boards.

 

[QinX]

So without getting to far ahead of myself I've been spending some time looking around what Revision 2 is going to support in terms of final hardware.

So far I have been using the ASUS Q87T as my base for the build, but I do think that the Gigabyte GA-H81TN might fit the same role at a much lower cost.

you can have an mSATA SSD and a Wifi
CPUs up to the 4790 are supported
I/O is almost the same, though only 1x1Gbps on the Gigabyte, do you really need 2?
2xUSB 2.0 and 2xUSB 3.0 vs 4x USB 3.0 on the Q87T. but a mouse and keyboard should be fine with USB 2.0
2x8GB DDR3 SODIMM supported
Both have PCIe 3.0 4x

Any reasons not to use the Gigabyte GA-H81TN?

 

[rawrr]

But it's not yellow!!

/s

 

[fusionxr]

Intro

The Goals
I have 5 goals that I wish to accomplish with this build
1) Under 3 Liters in volume
2) 4K Gaming
3) Watercooled CPU and GPU
4) Clean design
5) Quiet when gaming

The Specs
CPU - Intel Core i7-4790
GPU - Palit GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard - Asus Q87T
RAM - 2x8GB SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz
Storage - SanDisk X110 128GB (might upgrade it to 256GB)
WiFi - Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth
PSU - HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and 350W External power brick

The Hurdles
In order to get under 3 Liters AND fit a complete watercooling loop in it I’m doing a lot of custom designing for it, here is the shortlist:

CPU Waterblock
Full cover GPU Waterblock
PCIe 4x to 16x Riser PCB
Custom 2x80mm Radiator
Reservoir
Case

Just noticed thats a i7 4790 - not the T or S variant if youre pulling 295w at the wall? You mentioned you might undervolt the cpu too. It's even more impressive that you're running a desktop class cpu! If you went with the S variant you could lower the temps by a few C, I think I read somewhere that those chips are binned for their efficiency and not just downclocked/undervolted to achieve lower tdp.

 

[Bieberfever]

Out of curiosity, was there any decrement in performance due to the x4 slot vs. a x16? If you don't know, any chance of testing it on a motherboard with a x16 slot?

 

[SaperPL]

fusionxr has a point - I would go for a T model of cpu in production units to reduce possibility of problems and the size of a brick.

@Bieberfever
You'll loose up to 10% of performance on low quality/high fps settings and it'll get better with high resolution and ultra details because that means slower data update rate between the cpu and gpu. That's for the PCI-E x4 3.0

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/

 

[QinX]

Thanks for info - I didn't notice earlier u're using thin mITX so that clears out question about fitting multiple boards.

No problem.

Just noticed thats a i7 4790 - not the T or S variant if youre pulling 295w at the wall? You mentioned you might undervolt the cpu too. It's even more impressive that you're running a desktop class cpu! If you went with the S variant you could lower the temps by a few C, I think I read somewhere that those chips are binned for their efficiency and not just downclocked/undervolted to achieve lower tdp.

I have to update the OP, I'm running a i5-4670. But it is still a normal one not T or S.

Out of curiosity, was there any decrement in performance due to the x4 slot vs. a x16? If you don't know, any chance of testing it on a motherboard with a x16 slot?

I haven't really noticed a decrease in performance, unfortunatly there aren't a lot of reference GTX970 benchmarks, but here are my 3DMark Firestrike, Unigine Heaven, Unigine Valley and Furmark scores.

I had the GPU running at 1352MHz during all benches, expect furmark, it hit the TDP limit and was stuck around 1032Mhz.

3DMark Firestrike:
Graphics Score 11709
Physics Score 7050
Combined Score 4406
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6322703


Unigine Heaven 4.0 (1920x1080 8xAA Ultra/ Extreme Tessellation)

Unigine Valley (1920x1080 8xAA Ultra)

Furmark 1080p test:
SCORE:3922 points (65 FPS, 60000 ms)

fusionxr has a point - I would go for a T model of cpu in production units to reduce possibility of problems and the size of a brick.

@Bieberfever
You'll loose up to 10% of performance on low quality/high fps settings and it'll get better with high resolution and ultra details because that means slower data update rate between the cpu and gpu. That's for the PCI-E x4 3.0

I will be selling kit versions, so people can choose their own CPU/RAM/SSD/WiFi and Fans

I just specify which GPU SKUs and what motherboard is supported by the included waterblocks. So if someone wants a T or S CPU or bigger SSD they can buy it themselves.
Unless everyone wants a prebuilt system, then I will have to reconsider

 

[qwerkus]

A bottle of pure awesomeness for your patience and the precision of your work! Congratulations! I would love to test one of your rigs, but they will probably come wayyyy out of my price league Some feedback to your options:
-wall mounting would be nice for a case this size (maybe on the back of a screen too)
-I second the plan for a new waterblock. If you could squeeze 92mm fans, the results would certainly be mindblowing. Dust filter would certainly come handy with this type of custom rad.
-mobo with msata or m2 is a great idea. I have one here on the back of an asrock z77e-itx board, pasted with 4mm thermal pads to the case wall, and it stays nicely cool and quiet
-another "flatter" pump would surely accomodate your case better. Perhaps design one yourself ? I know a guy having modded an aquarium pump to fit his custom case. Works great, but you need to be careful with sealants. Also, a latch to check/replace the pump would make me more confortable about potential pump failures.
And finally I like the sturdy design of the case. Maybe cram some additional rubber bands here and there, and throw it twice from the table... I wouldn't bother with anodising, and just go for manual brushing. Looks great, and is very scratch-resistant. Anyone having a 2 year old daughter like mine wille probably understand what I mean...

 

[Woxys]

I don't know others but i like the design of the case!

 

[QinX]

I've setup a couple of strawpolls, so if you guys would be so kind and vote on them

Poll #1:
http://strawpoll.me/3968083

Poll #2:
http://strawpoll.me/3968130

Poll #3:
http://strawpoll.me/3968139

A bottle of pure awesomeness for your patience and the precision of your work! Congratulations! I would love to test one of your rigs, but they will probably come wayyyy out of my price league Some feedback to your options:
-wall mounting would be nice for a case this size (maybe on the back of a screen too)
-I second the plan for a new waterblock. If you could squeeze 92mm fans, the results would certainly be mindblowing. Dust filter would certainly come handy with this type of custom rad.
-mobo with msata or m2 is a great idea. I have one here on the back of an asrock z77e-itx board, pasted with 4mm thermal pads to the case wall, and it stays nicely cool and quiet
-another "flatter" pump would surely accomodate your case better. Perhaps design one yourself ? I know a guy having modded an aquarium pump to fit his custom case. Works great, but you need to be careful with sealants. Also, a latch to check/replace the pump would make me more confortable about potential pump failures.
And finally I like the sturdy design of the case. Maybe cram some additional rubber bands here and there, and throw it twice from the table... I wouldn't bother with anodising, and just go for manual brushing. Looks great, and is very scratch-resistant. Anyone having a 2 year old daughter like mine wille probably understand what I mean...

1) I have been considering a VESA mount from the start, I will look into it some more, though this system might be a bit on the large side, also the weight of 3 kg might prove difficult.
2) A new waterblock for what? the chipset and VRM don't need it. In a regular AIO where this motherboard is supposed to go the temperature would be equally high. I am looking into the 2x92mm radiator, it would increase the size by 0,3 Liter and qive 15% more surface area which I think we would all give for the extra silence/lower temperatures.
Dust filters would really reduce the performance of the radiator and the amount of dust accumulated would be low, this case is meant to go on a desk or inside a well-ventilated cabinet, not on the floor. Also the radiator is easy to clean.
3) Designing my own pump would be a little too much, the only really small pump that I know is the Alphacool DC-LT, but I've had it and it is loud. Also that 2 screw mount feel flimsy.

 

[iFreilicht]

On Poll #1:

I voted Maybe, because I would really like to purchase an H2O-Micro, I just love this little thing, but I just made a build myself, and even if I didn't, it would probably be too expensive for me. I also somewhat dislike the idea that I can't just a get a new GPU, but I'd also have to get a new waterblock and void the warranty on my card by slicing off the top half of the I/O shield. This is of course quite inherent to watercooling itself and the whole idea and to be fair, I don't upgrade my own system all that often, but that doesn't really change how I feel about it.
In general, apart from the size, I dislike quite a few things about H2O-Micro. The external powerbrick, the lack of an 2.5" drive mount for data, it just feels like this isn't the right kind of PC for me.
I'd still love to have one, but my guess is that I'm never going to.

On Poll #2:

I would vote: "Whatever doesn't increase the size", so my vote would probably be "No front I/O". In the future, one USB Type-C would be nice, it's able to output USB, DP and native audio as well. I'm really looking forward to that, it will make front I/O look so much nicer in general.

 

[QinX]

On Poll #1:

I voted Maybe, because I would really like to purchase an H2O-Micro, I just love this little thing, but I just made a build myself, and even if I didn't, it would probably be too expensive for me. I also somewhat dislike the idea that I can't just a get a new GPU, but I'd also have to get a new waterblock and void the warranty on my card by slicing off the top half of the I/O shield. This is of course quite inherent to watercooling itself and the whole idea and to be fair, I don't upgrade my own system all that often, but that doesn't really change how I feel about it.
In general, apart from the size, I dislike quite a few things about H2O-Micro. The external powerbrick, the lack of an 2.5" drive mount for data, it just feels like this isn't the right kind of PC for me.
I'd still love to have one, but my guess is that I'm never going to.

On Poll #2:

I would vote: "Whatever doesn't increase the size", so my vote would probably be "No front I/O". In the future, one USB Type-C would be nice, it's able to output USB, DP and native audio as well. I'm really looking forward to that, it will make front I/O look so much nicer in general.

Thanks for your feedback
This system ofcourse will not be cheap and sacrifices will have to be made for the form factor.
The upgrade path for the GPU can prove a problem. But similar system such as the GR8 and Alpha have the same problem.
I will be providing upgraded GPU blocks when AMD or Nvidia release appropriate upgrades with similar lengths.
I should consider the size support for the ITX gpus from ASUS or Gigabyte, because those will likely continue to exist for more generations. Still looking into these kinds of things.

You dont have to cut the I/O of your card, having a Single I/O slot is available from multiple vendors for the GTX970, what the future will do, who knows. I really how that DVI gets removed and we are just left with 1xHDMI and 3xDP this fits on one I/O slot.

2,5" drive support can be looked into, it would have to be beneath the motherboard or something, I will have a look. Pleasing everyone not going to be doable, but I would like to look into as much options as possible. I will not allow the system to go over 3 Liters.

 

[CknSalad]

The other thing that concerns me is how well the HD-Plex 250w copes with gaming loads after a few years especially with gpus like the GTX 970. Maybe more testing on gaming loads and take note of the avg/peak power consumption for each game would be nice. Other than that, it's really awesome what you're doing as this is really pushing the boundaries of SFF PCs!

 

[fusionxr]

You dont have to cut the I/O of your card, having a Single I/O slot is available from multiple vendors for the GTX970, what the future will do, who knows. I really how that DVI gets removed and we are just left with 1xHDMI and 3xDP this fits on one I/O slot.

2,5" drive support can be looked into, it would have to be beneath the motherboard or something, I will have a look. Pleasing everyone not going to be doable, but I would like to look into as much options as possible. I will not allow the system to go over 3 Liters.

He has the zotac 970 which has dual slot io. He'd have to void warranty by modding dvi port.

 

[qwerkus]

1. Maybe - Price!
2. Nah - come on: it's three liters. I have a 10L cube here, and plug everything without any issue directly onto mobo slots. If REALLY you have to cut a hole, USB would be the most usefull for me.
3. Definitely. The only shop I could find here in Germany selling that brick is a dutch one...

+10 to silent 92mm fans!

 

[iFreilicht]

Thanks for your feedback
This system ofcourse will not be cheap and sacrifices will have to be made for the form factor.
The upgrade path for the GPU can prove a problem. But similar system such as the GR8 and Alpha have the same problem.
I will be providing upgraded GPU blocks when AMD or Nvidia release appropriate upgrades with similar lengths.
I should consider the size support for the ITX gpus from ASUS or Gigabyte, because those will likely continue to exist for more generations. Still looking into these kinds of things.

You dont have to cut the I/O of your card, having a Single I/O slot is available from multiple vendors for the GTX970, what the future will do, who knows. I really how that DVI gets removed and we are just left with 1xHDMI and 3xDP this fits on one I/O slot.

2,5" drive support can be looked into, it would have to be beneath the motherboard or something, I will have a look. Pleasing everyone not going to be doable, but I would like to look into as much options as possible. I will not allow the system to go over 3 Liters.

Yeah in that market you are easily the king of both performance and upgradability, so I don't see a real issue there.
I don't think 2.5" support will be possible while staying below 3L. I thought there would maybe be space above the GPU waterblock if it were even slimmer, but in the end sub-3L is something not worth sacrificing for a bit of storage in my eyes. If you already carry a brick around with you, why not a USB3.0 HDD as well?

He has the zotac 970 which has dual slot io. He'd have to void warranty by modding dvi port.

Actually I don't, I have the short GALAX one, but that's not what I was talking about.

This is what the I/O shield looks like on single-slot I/O 970s. As you can see, the shield itself (the metal part) still is two slots large, so you don't only have to remove the stock air cooler, but you also have to cut that I/O shield in half, right?

 

[fusionxr]

Actually I don't, I have the short GALAX one, but that's not what I was talking about.

This is what the I/O shield looks like on single-slot I/O 970s. As you can see, the shield itself (the metal part) still is two slots large, so you don't only have to remove the stock air cooler, but you also have to cut that I/O shield in half, right?

oops. They kinda look the same.

If you look at this pic you can see he removed the io shield completely. The case IS the io shield.

 

[iFreilicht]

Ah right, I somehow forgot about that.

 

[kooki]

Qinx, how much did you end up paying on the PCI riser? You said the software estimated something around €180. (Sorry if you reported the price somewhere, I was unable to find the actual value around this thread).

Also by this picture
http://static.tweakers.net/ext/f/GD5ftlk3zfxPVbPp4Em7ZqWE/full.jpg
is seems like you are using the 12V from the HDPlex (as you stated before), but you are using the ground from the mobo's PCIe. I was just wondering whether this might cause some ssort of bad circuitry somehow. Do you know if this configuration is safe?