• Build · Graphics Card · Motherboard · CPU Upgrade · New RAM · FUCK ASUS M.2 Heatsink · Putting everything together · Completed Build · Random Notes

    • Torrent Compact Gaming Build

    Introduction

    I wanted for a long time to move my setup into a new case, that time has come, the parts will mostly stay the same, I will only change the CPU from a Ryzen 2700x to a 5700x and replace my RAM because right now I'm running 4x 8 GiB G.Skill Flare X which does not play nicely with itself but more later on this.

    Hardware

    Build

    First I needed to get everything out of the old case, this has been an Cooler Master H500P

    So let's open it up, pull everything out and clean off the components with some air.


    The H500P was (LxWxH) 544 x 242 x 542 mm compared to the Torrent Compact 450 x 222 x 467 mm now, so it is a bit smaller, which we will later see when trying to build the system, also the fact that the Torrent Compact mounts the PSU in the top removes a lot of clearance at the bottom.

    Graphics Card

    My old and trusty GTX 1080TI Jetstream from Palit, I bought this card used around 2018 for around 500 - €600 (cant find the exact amount anymore)

    Motherboard


    With the cooler removed from the motherboard, we can see that I maybe used a bit much thermal paste when building this pc in 2018, will I use too much again? Well, I will try to use a bit less this time, but applying thermal paste is such a rare occasion for me that I never really get used to it.


    These cleaning pads which were included with my new thermal paste from Noctua look like condom packaging.

    CPU Upgrade

    Going from a 2700x to a 5700x could be considered a waste, but I can feel the difference even when just starting windows and opening Firefox (could also be because of the RAM, but more on that later), I paid €250 for this one.

    New RAM

    So fuck my old RAM, I had 4x 8 GiB G.Skill Flare X sticks inside my system, they should run at around 3200 MHz without problem, that's what they are rated at... they will crash my system at random times... and it IS this RAM the problem started to appear after I added 2x 8 GiB sticks to my existing setup around 2020.
    Okay, you could now blame me, "WHY did you not buy a 4x 8 GiB Set or a new 2x 16 GiB set?"
    Well now after all the problems and random blue screens I had, yes I would now never buy individual sticks or combine these sets, because even when they should work together without problems, if they don't good luck finding the reason.
    I since then have watched many videos about RAM and specially the videos from Actually Hardcore Overclocking - YouTube I learned many things from them and will not make this error in the future, also (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ occupying all RAM slots... the memory controller on these middle class boards can't handle high MHz RAM well and just give up щ（ﾟДﾟщ).

    So what was the solution before, not buying new RAM... running the RAM at 1866 MHz yes... 1866 MHz noooo not "oh it's DDR, so he means 3732 MHz in reality" it was 1866 MHz...

    FUCK ASUS M.2 Heatsink

    While we're at it, FUCK ASUS HOLY SHIT FUCK YOU SO HARD (╬ ಠ益ಠ).

    This is the M.2 slot cooler for the primary M2. SSD, soooo the reason why i'm angry is that some cunt at ASUS thought it was a good idea to put loctite on these small PH0 screws, yeah loctite the blue stuff that you normally use in places with a lot of vibrations to make sure the bolt or screw won't come loose on its own... this worked so fucking good here that i stripped the goddammit screw trying to get them out...


    Seriously (° ͜ʖ͡°)╭∩╮ ASUS for this and NO I'm not too dumb to use the right screwdriver after going crazy over this for half an hour I started googling and found other people with the exact same problem.

    Putting everything together

    Putting the cooler back on, yeah, always crazy to see how big this thing is in comparison to the rest of the board, RAM clearance also looking good.

    When the ATX board is screwed in, you can already see that, there is not much space left around it, the worst connector was the 8 PIN for the CPU, it's really cramped in that corner.


    Speaking of space, in the Manual they show an example of an ATX build in which they added 2x 140 mm fans at the bottom.

    I claim this is not really possible if you have any kind of USB/Audio/I/O Header there because I would not be in any way comfortable bending the cables so close to the port, in my opinion that would put too much stress on them.

    Here i exemplary used only an 120 mm fan and even this will not really fit, if I had to screw it in at the specified places, not even mentioning the USB 3.0 Header to the right of it, so yeah I do not know what the idea would be here, just not connect anything?



    Besides that, the CPU cooler clearance is around 174 mm which is in my case a tight fit, but I could also lower the first fan a bit and set in on top of the RAM, so it would not even touch the side panel, so no problems here.

    Quick look with everything connected, thinking about adding an 120 mm exhaust fan just to help out the CPU cooler a bit, even though with that much positive air pressure it is not really needed, I even managed to squeeze an 140 mm fan in there, but it was only holding in there by friction also the blades were then hitting the inside of the fan frame because it got compressed sitting so tightly in there, with a bit of modification I certainly could shave a bit off the frame and get it to fit.


    The backside is really cramped, I do not know how you could add anything back here like a SSD or such in these mounts... it's really, really cramped here, even with this setup where I only used the most necessary cables the panel will pop off if not secured with a screw!


    Fitting the PSU I had no problems, I removed the optional drive cage up there and all the cables were long enough to reach their destinations, of course this is the compact version and I could see cable length problems if you get the full sized version of this case, this style of top mounted PSU cases was replaced by bottom mounting and so the cable lengths were mostly designed expecting the PSU to be on the bottom of the case in a shroud.

    Completed Build


    For now, it's done, still thinking about adding that exhaust fan, also now the software side begins, finding good fan curves, making sure that the CPU and RAM is working and maybe but only maybe upgrading to a bigger GPU in the future.

    Random Notes

    GPU fan adapter

    Would be useful if the fans on my GPU die, either trying to get the fans from AliExpress or connecting normal fans.

    What GPU to buy?

    Right now, I would settle on an 6800XT which seems to be the best compromise for me.

    GPU MHz Base Boost RAM Price techpowerup
    RX 6700 XT --- --- --- --- ---
    Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6700 XT 2457 2622 12 529€ TechPowerup
    RX 6800 XT --- --- --- --- ---
    ASRock Radeon RX 6800 XT Taichi X OC 1925 2360 16 780€ TechPowerup
    Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6800 XT 1925 2360 16 817€ TechPowerup
    ASRock Radeon RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming 1875 2310 16 890€ TechPowerup
    RX 6900 XT --- --- --- --- ---
    ASRock Radeon RX 6900 XT Phantom Gaming 1925 2340 16 895€ TechPowerup
    Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6900 XT SE 1950 2365 16 940€ TechPowerup
    PowerColor Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil 1925 2340 16 999€ TechPowerup

    Trying out Hydra OC

    Trying out Fan Control GitHub