According to the standard that size is the original sin, the machine I will share today is indeed a bit confusing. After all, as an ITX host, it is indeed a bit not “mini”. Of course, there are actually some similar positioning cases on the market, such as the H200.When I wrote the article, I thought there would be a bunch of ITX purists protesting and denouncing it, but this is really a genuine ITX host, from the chassis to the motherboard.
This time, the case I installed is from Antec’s “锋芒”. I remember the first time I saw the related introduction was at COMPUTEX 2019 in the first half of the year. Although I have seen various cases from various brands, “锋芒” still amazed me. I personally think it is one of the best-looking two rack-style cases this year.
Aside from the size, I know that this kind of rack + glass case will also be disliked by another wave of dust prevention enthusiasts. Every time I post similar case examples, someone will ask how to dust it off. In fact, compared to traditional cases, this type of case is much simpler and more straightforward to dust off. Just use a hair dryer or compressed air to blow it off.Of course, I also want to thank the owner who customized this machine, allowing me to experience this case that I have wanted to install this year. After all, not everyone can accept such an appearance style setting.
Preferences vary from person to person. I personally really like the design of “锋芒”, although its size is even more exaggerated than its predecessor, the cube. However, the overall proportions of the machine are very harmonious. After it is installed, the internal space is more compact compared to ATX rack cases, coupled with the asymmetrical design, it feels very mechanical.The architecture and layout can really be described as “innovative” because this layout structure will bring a lot of trouble. But since you spent thousands on the graphics card, don’t you want to let others see it properly?This reminds me that I also installed a similar machine this year, which is the Cooler Master “Tearer”. It also showcases the graphics card from the front, but it is not as extreme.
The effect of the assembled physical object is as follows. The best solution for this case is actually split water cooling, followed by all-in-one water cooling, while air cooling can be completely abandoned. Considering transportation and time, I could only use an all-in-one water cooling solution for it, and the final appearance effect is as follows, which is quite eye-catching when placed on the desktop.
The configuration of this machine should not be shabby. The CPU part chose the R9 3900X after the price drop, and the graphics card was bought at a good price during Double 11 for the RTX 2080 SUPER. The overall positioning should be considered an all-round application. The owner plans to replace the graphics card in the future, but try to keep other components unchanged, after all, disassembling is troublesome.
For cooling, I initially bought the Deepcool Captain 240 white version, but it backfired. The reason for the backfire was unexpected: the height of the water cooling head exceeded the limit, making it impossible to install. So later I temporarily changed to this model from Silverstone, whose cold head thickness does not exceed.
The entire machine has certain lighting requirements, so the fan part has some targeted choices, such as choosing the latest “RGB” power supply from ZOTAC, the LEADEX ARGB 750, and adding two Deepcool 12cm fans. Here, it is important to note that when building the lighting scheme, you should try to ensure that the components either support 5V RGB or unify 12V RGB; otherwise, it will be very troublesome to assemble.In addition, because the power supply is equipped with conventional black + crystal head wires, I later customized a set of white wires from YULAI.
The final configuration of the whole machine was originally not intended to overclock much except for the memory. After all, I wasn’t sure if the 240 water cooling could suppress the R9 3900X, especially considering the #factory ashes version# bonus.
CPU: AMD R9 3900X
Motherboard:ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3
Memory:G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 3600 16GX2
SSD:Kingston KC2000 500G
Graphics Card:ZOTAC RTX 2080 SUPER AMP OC
Case:Antec “锋芒”
Power Supply:Super Flower LEADEX ARGB 750 Gold Certified Power Supply
Accessories:YULAI Custom Wires
Cooling:Silverstone PF240
Deepcool 12cm RGB fans
As a rack-style host, it should not be too difficult to assemble, especially in terms of component compatibility. With this thought, I ended up having issues.
1. Component Compatibility:In this case, special attention should be paid to the compatibility of the graphics card and CPU cooler.
The main thing to note about the graphics card is the thickness; length is not a requirement. It supports dual-slot graphics cards, and the thickness can be slightly thicker, but it is best not to exceed 2.5 slots in thickness. Currently, except for non-public cards, most cards have reached 2.5 slots, which is about 53mm. When purchasing, be careful to avoid exceeding 53mm; otherwise, even if you can fit it, it may completely block the graphics card fan from the glass panel in front, reducing airflow.After some selection, I finally chose the ZOTAC RTX 2080 SUPER AMP edition, which has just the right thickness.
For the CPU cooler, you can directly say goodbye to air coolers if you choose this case. This case is actually primarily designed for split water cooling. If you don’t use split water cooling, then the next choice is a 240mm all-in-one water cooler.Of course, don’t think that just paying attention to the 240mm specification is enough; this is also where I had issues.In addition to the 240mm specification, you also need to pay attention to the thickness of the cold head. I initially chose the Deepcool Captain (white) based on the style of the whole machine, but unexpectedly, due to the special design of the Captain’s cold head, the height was too high, making it impossible to install. So I finally changed to the Silverstone PF240, which has a relatively normal cold head thickness, and it could finally fit.In essence, it’s very simple. This case was originally designed for split water cooling, so the reserved thickness for the graphics card position is so limited.
2. Installation Order
This is also where I had issues. Generally speaking, this type of rack case should not have strict installation order requirements. However, you need to note that the installation of the all-in-one water cooler should be done before the motherboard; otherwise, you won’t be able to fix the radiator later.Even the wiring should be done before fixing the motherboard, cooler, and fans because once the motherboard, cooler, and fans are installed, it will be more difficult to route the relevant power cables.So I personally suggest installing the power supply, graphics card, power cable routing, case I/O cable, all-in-one water cooler, motherboard, and exhaust fan in that order. I had to redo it twice.
3. Strange I/O Port Layout
In a conventional case, the motherboard I/O ports are at the rear, while in vertical airflow cases, the I/O ports are at the top. This case is unique; the I/O ports are in the middle of the case and also at the bottom of the front panel.As such, you should be prepared for the length of your data cables, such as 2 meters long. If there are users using wireless networks, you should also consider whether the antenna should be a direct plug or an extension.
4. Cable Management
Due to the unique structural layout, there is a significant difference from conventional cases. Especially since the style of this case, whether viewed from the front or back, is designed for display, the back has a hidden cable area primarily in the middle layer. However, you should also be careful not to obstruct the cooling airflow of the radiator.If it is a non-lighting scheme, it will be simpler to organize. If it is similar to mine with RGB lighting, it will be particularly troublesome.
To match the overall machine color scheme, I added customized wires from YULAI. Compared to TB Studio’s cables, the quality is relatively reliable, as they come from a custom wire brand under Weiya Electronics, which has a complete quality inspection and control process, and the custom price is even cheaper than the studio’s.However, be aware that their cables are relatively stiff, so be careful when organizing the cables.
5. Lighting
As a common topic, this case is indeed more suitable for creating lighting schemes. If you want to create a lighting scheme, in addition to the troublesome wiring, you should also pay attention to the unification of the lighting control scheme; otherwise, connecting various adapters will be painful.Generally speaking, it is better to keep it to 5V RGB; there are also relevant converters on the market, such as Deepcool’s RGB converter.
I tried several lighting color schemes, including the rainbow mode. Considering that winter is approaching and Christmas is coming soon, I chose ice blue as the main color scheme.
The power supply is placed here because this edge is particularly special as an RGB power supply, the Super Flower LEADEX ARGB 750W. First of all, the body is white, which matches the color scheme of this machine. Additionally, it is one of the few RGB power supplies on the market, supporting 5V RGB color modes, and the fan and port lights can be controlled.This is mainly for the lighting at the bottom of the entire machine.
However, when buying, the 850W is slightly more expensive than the 750W; now it is only a few dozen yuan difference, so I personally recommend going directly for the 850W.
5. Airflow
This case seems to make airflow unimportant, as it is a semi-open rack. However, I still feel that hot air is effectively expelled from the rear with a conventional intake-exhaust airflow design.Many solutions on the market for this case are designed for visual appeal, so the fans are often displayed without supports. Therefore, when assembling, it is best to consider this carefully.
In summary, if we take the highest difficulty of assembly as 10 points, I would say that even for the installation of an all-in-one water cooler, this case would be a difficulty level of 7-8 points. Newbies need to be well-prepared and have the patience to disassemble and reassemble several times.
Performance Testing – Should the 3900X be Overclocked?
Considering the 12 cores and 24 threads, considering the “factory ashes”, and considering the cooling specification is only a 240mm all-in-one water cooler, I initially refused to overclock. I felt that enabling PBO or even auto mode, and lowering the memory would basically be the best performance release, but ultimately, the urge to tinker got to me, so why not give it a try?
The motherboard + CPU + RAM combo is ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 + 3900X + G.Skill Trident Z, which can be considered a typical AMD setup.Perhaps due to the launch and availability of the 3950X, the 3900X is not only easy to buy but also significantly cheaper. Therefore, the configuration of this machine has changed from 3700X to 3900X.For AMD’s ITX motherboards, the options are quite extreme; either B450I or X570 ITX. In the end, I chose this ASRock board mainly considering the price. Additionally, this motherboard has Thunderbolt 3 support and PCIe 4.0, making it truly future-proof.
Aside from Thunderbolt 3, another “controversial point” of this motherboard is the CPU cooler mounting hole layout. As an AMD motherboard, it adopts Intel 1155 mounting holes. As a long-time ASRock user, I am accustomed to this design, as it has been retained since the 1156 era.However, ASRock’s design is not for compatibility or gimmicks; you can tell from the motherboard layout that it is mainly because the ITX layout is too crowded. Adopting the 1155 hole layout allows for more space for CPU coolers and other components.
The memory is G.Skill’s Trident Z, specifically designed for AMD platforms. If you have certain overclocking requirements but do not want to spend too much time researching various chips, especially lottery chips, then G.Skill’s Trident Z 3600 offers great value for money, and you basically don’t have to worry about not being able to reach 3800 or having poor performance.
For capacity, since this is an ITX platform, considering future-proofing, I went directly with 16×2.
The overclocking settings are as follows.This CPU can reach about 4.4 to 4.5 on the X570 Phantom Gaming, and the FLCK frequency can reach 3800. Overall, it feels slightly better than the previously purchased 3700X. However, the final frequency retained is at 4.3, mainly due to the cooling pressure.In actual testing, for the ITX platform, the key point for overclocking the 3900X is the voltage. Once the core voltage exceeds 1.3V, the temperature tends to rise significantly, easily exceeding 100°C. Keeping the voltage below 1.3V, even with a 240mm all-in-one cooler or a dual-tower air cooler, can keep the temperature below 90°C. This result is quite acceptable for daily use, and the final CPU frequency is set at 4.3G 1.275V.
For the memory part, this is straightforward. Unless you are looking for benchmarks, the most reasonable approach for Ryzen 3 is to aim for overclocking to 3733 or 3800, with the FLCK frequency corresponding to 1866 or 1900, and then tightening the memory timings. This is the order for overclocking memory on the Ryzen 3 platform.With the CPU and memory I have, I finally stabilized at memory 3800, FLCK 1900, and C16 levels, which is a relatively high overall performance level at a reasonable cost.
The theoretical scores after overclocking are significantly better than the default settings.The 3900X and 3950X are indeed designed for benchmarking, and the test scores are quite impressive, basically refreshing the various overclocking scores of the previous 9900K and 3700X.
The storage part mainly consists of a M.2 SSD and a 2.5-inch SSD (old). The main SSD is Kingston’s KC2000.As an upgraded version, the KC2000 has a significant speed improvement. However, it is somewhat strange that an upgraded version A2000 was also launched, with not much performance difference, creating a slight overlap.
The KC2000 500GB uses Toshiba’s 96-layer stacked BiCS4 NAND and the SMI SM2262EN controller combination, and the 500GB version also has a cache size of 75G. With such specifications, the testing performance is naturally quite good.
Pure CPU rendering tests show that compared to the overclocked 5G 9900K or 3700X, it is about 20-30 seconds faster, with a significant lead.
Blender benchmark runs around 10 minutes, with the advantage almost proportional to the number of threads.
V-RAY CPU and GPU rendering speeds are as follows.
In actual Adobe application tests, both LR and PR tests are still significantly faster than the 9900K. Moreover, the prices of both are now quite close (the 3900X can be boxed for around 3600).
Looking back, I have conducted various tests, and for the sake of convenience and comparability of test results, I have been more inclined towards testing rather than actual application scenarios. In the future, I hope to provide reference results that are more aligned with actual application scenarios.Therefore, this time, the testing of the RTX 2080 SUPER will combine actual application questions, specifically whether this machine can handle 4K resolution gaming and what kind of effects can be achieved. After all, 4K resolution monitors are now very affordable, and the RTX 2080S is indeed a 5K+ card, so users can indeed have some expectations.
In the past, even the RTX 2080Ti’s performance at 4K resolution disappointed me. In a fully open scenario, it still couldn’t be said to handle it well. However, in actual cases, what kind of picture difference can be brought by turning AA and AAA on and off at 4K resolution?It’s already hard to distinguish, but the speed difference could be around 15%-30%. At this point, speed is evidently more important, so in the following actual game tests, I will try to select a balanced point between visuals and speed to ensure that the settings can be considered during actual use to see the test results.
Thinking back, the last MATX machine I built also used the ZOTAC RTX 2080 SUPER AMP OC card. However, at that time, I paired it with the 3700X. This time, I originally planned to casually buy a budget version during Double 11, but this card dropped in price by 300, and since it has lighting decorations that match the appearance requirements, I made a temporary switch. The graphics card is 53mm thick, and the installation was relatively smooth.
First, we have a series of theoretical tests from 3DMark to verify that the equipment is functioning properly.
SPECviewperf 13 professional performance testing for reference.
In actual game tests, everything is tested under 4K resolution, aiming to achieve 60 frames while increasing the quality settings.
Tomb Raider at high quality, with AA and AAA off, averaged 64 frames; if DLSS is enabled, it should be even higher;
Assassin’s Creed has a similar average frame rate of 58 frames;
Forza Horizon averages over 100 frames;
Overwatch reached an average of 116 frames at ultra-high quality, which is considered very high; while PUBG at high quality also reached an average of 83 frames.
Basically, if you want to, the RTX 2080S can handle 4K resolution with medium to high quality settings.
Cooling Effect – Focus on CPU
In fact, the maximum cooling pressure lies with the CPU, considering it has 12 cores and 24 threads.As mentioned earlier, the temperature point for the CPU is at 1.3V voltage. Once the voltage exceeds 1.3V, I have also tried it, and the 240mm all-in-one cooler easily exceeds 100°C. Therefore, after testing several frequency and voltage combinations, I settled on a setting of 4.3G 1.275V, with average temperatures around 90°C. This is quite good for a 240mm water cooler, effectively solving the temperature issue.
Of course, if you have time and are willing to tinker, the best way to use the Antec “锋芒” case is still with split water cooling. Setting up two 240mm radiators would yield a considerable cooling capacity.
This work ends here. I will continue to update two compact cases, including MATX and ITX A4. If you’re interested, please stay tuned.
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