Project Downsize - 700D -> Raijintek Thetis

Soldato
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Following on from my thread

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/threads/small-atx-case-suggestions.18899139/

I went ahead and ordered the Raijintek Thetis as the smaller case to downsize into from my Corsair 700D

The kit included :

Mobo : Asus Sabretooth x79
CPU : i7 3920k
RAM : 32 GB (8x4GB sticks) Corsair Vengeance
GPU : MSI Twiz Frorz III 7900
PSU : Corsair CX850M
Cooling : Custom Loop - Thermochill PA 120.3 rad, XSPC Laing 18w Pump, EK Res, EK CPU Block
Drives : 6 x SSD (2 in RAID0 for OS)
Audio Asus Xonar

As you can see a pretty old spec and I haven't really used the PC for quite some time apart from general browsing and admin. It's a perfectly good machine for what I need but is HUGE and in need of an overhaul as sounded like a bag of hammers.

I am also mid mancave decoration and wanted something a bit smarter to sit at the end of / under the desk.

I made the decision to go as small as possible and ditch the watercooling, ICY dock and 2xfan controllers and strip it back to basics.

For the new cooler I went for the Noctua NH-D15 - it's going to be a bit of a squeeze ....

Started off disconnecting the of hulk of a rig and stripping her down

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As you can see a tad neglected and a smidge dusty

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Yes, there was "some" dust :D

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Finally cleared

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The new case arrived from OCUK (no Haribo :( )

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I must admit I was, especially for the price, very pleasantly surprised not only at the aesthetics of the case, but the quality too, very nice indeed

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As a comparison against the 700D

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It was only once I had the case on the desk and put the cooler box against it that I reaslised this may not go fully to plan

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Anyway, too late now, and on we pushed

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Second realisation of just slinging everything in was not going to work with all the bits laid out and the sheer tininess of the case - some level of planning (which I should have done before now) was going to be needed.

The spec says it holds 4 HDDs - the instructions are not very clear and although rubber mounts are provided (and not necessarily needed for SSDs) I was at a bit of a loss where to put them and how

After much placing, umming and ahhing I mounted the first two at the rear of the tray

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Then two on the floor of the case (wasn't going to put a fan in there anyway)

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And finally, (look away anyone with OCD) two on the side wall

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Once id tested routes for SATA ad power cables I dropped (well carefully placed) the mobo into the case




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Then two fans into the roof

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In with the CPU

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The CUP is in an unusual orientation with an extender cable to the power lead but seemed to go in just fine

Dropped in the RAM , sussed the orientation of the mounting bracket for the cooler and eased thta big hunk of metal in there as well

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Was then a case of popping the GPU and Soundcards in

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Bit of cable tiding

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And all done !

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Don't know what I was worried about, acres of space :D
 
Soldato
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Is your PC kept in a dark, dusty cave? :o:p

Looks way smarter, pretty small now considering it's atx, temps are probably better than when it was under water with all that dust :D
 
Soldato
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Ha ha thanks. It's been on the floor in the dumping ground (aka my work in progress study) for three years including about 6 months of heavy building work around the house. Probably hasn't had a clean for a good few years prior to that :eek:

Yes happy with the new and the temps, which will certainly be better as the Res was about dry :p
 
Associate
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I see you have the top fans as exhausts, I was thinking to have the bottom/ top fans as intakes with one exhaust at the rear. What do you think? My card is not a blower card, rather two 120mm's strapped onto my GPU.
 
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I was reading somewhere that while heat naturally rises, in a PC case, with all the fans, that notion simply does not apply. You can move air wherever you want. (How true this is, I have no idea).

Have you tried the top two as a intake? Purely out of speculation rather than anything else.
 
Soldato
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Nope I just put them straight on extract

I can't fit a bottom fan due to the cooler and 2 of the drives so air will, through displacement, be naturally drawn through the holes in the bottom of the case, be pulled up as the air is extracted from the top. There will be some towards the rear extract fan from the rear fan and the CPU cooler

To my mind that gives (or should give) decent airflow through the case and over the components

I've spent too long on previous builds obsessing about airflow and temperatures, this build is more about the reduction is case size and an opportunity to step away from watercooling (and give everything a good clean :p)
 
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Understood! I'm doing/ done the same about obsessing around airflow haha so I completely understand. Beautiful build by the way, I love the new trend of downsizing.
 
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Nope I just put them straight on extract

I can't fit a bottom fan due to the cooler and 2 of the drives so air will, through displacement, be naturally drawn through the holes in the bottom of the case, be pulled up as the air is extracted from the top. There will be some towards the rear extract fan from the rear fan and the CPU cooler
I'm sure it works well in this setup.
Still I would put top fans on intake, mainly for GPU to get cool air. And then everything gets exhausted by PSU and rear fan.
 
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