Custom PC - UK (2020-06)

Antony Leather is Custom PC’s modding editor @antonyleather

Corsair’sXD3pumpis

idealfor smallercases

Corsair’sentranceintothecustom
water-coolingscenewentfairly
smoothly,andI’vebeenimpressed
bythequalityandflexibilityof
itsproducts,especiallytheXD5
pumpandreservoircombination.
However,whileCorsairoffers120mm
and240mmradiators,aswellas

waterblocks,whicharecompatible

withsmallercases,theXD5res/

pumpcomboisa largeproductthat

strugglestofitinmanycases.

Thankfully,thecompanyhasthis

monthlaunchedtheXD3– a compact

pumpandreservoircombination.It

canfitinto120mmfanmountsand

usesa PWM-controlledDDCpump.

Thismeansyougetthepowerand

lownoiseofa customwater-cooling

pump,aswellasa 180mlreservoir

thatcanbemountedinpracticallyany

casewitha 120mmfanmount.

Thesekindsofcontraptionsmake

buildinga smallwater-cooledPC

possible,andwithoutneedingtocut

awaylargeareasofyourcasewitha

Dremel,orspendingweeksfiguring

NZXT’sH1shows

justhowmuchR&D

isrequiredtocram

high-endhardware

intosmallspaces

Corsair’snewXD3

pumpcanfitintoa

120mmfanmount

A

think differently. Space is usually a
huge premium, and this means they
can’t approach design in the same way
as with ATX cases or motherboards.
The latter, for example, have seen
manufacturers placing M.2
ports on the rear of the PCB,
large VRM daughterboards
and, more recently with the
X570 chipset, all manner
of ways of cooling the
toasty chipset and placing
the necessary heatsinks
and heatpipes around the
motherboard. There’s so
much more innovation and
variation here than you see
between similarly priced
ATX motherboards, which
is partly why mini-ITX
motherboards cost a little
more than their equivalent
ATX counterparts.
It’s with cases that
the really interesting

ideas occur though. Again, the variation

between the current stack of mini-ITX

cases dwarfs that of ATX and micro-

ATX models. I still get a buzz looking at

them, simply because manufacturers

often start from scratch, which is rare

with their larger models. The

SilverStone LD03 and Phanteks

Evolv Shift, for example, are two

completely different examples

of tower mini-ITX cases.

This month we also looked

at NZXT’s H1 (see p24), which

is yet another very different

take on this style of mini-ITX

case and I love it. It’s even

smaller than my Phanteks

Shift but is incredibly well

thought-out and premium-

feeling. Going even smaller,

Kolink’s Rocket might not

have space for liquid cooling,

but it can house a high-end

air-cooled PC. Raijintek has

several takes on this style of

super-small case too, and the Ophion

Evo even has space for liquid cooling.

The fact is that, even though I was

tempted to go down the ATX route

again, I can’t see me ever getting there

when companies are still churning out

so much great small form factor kit.

I’m still working on a Raijintek Ophion

Evo case mod, and I can see myself

turning my attention to NZXT’s H1

before long too.

One issue is that ASRock’s X299E-

ITX/ac motherboard seems to now be

at the end of its shelf life, meaning that

using Intel’s HEDT CPUs is no longer

possible on mini-ITX boards. Thankfully,

there are numerous options for using

AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X, though, so

whether you need serious multi-

threaded grunt or fast frame rates, there

are still loads of options. So, despite me

getting a bigger place, mini-ITX is still way

more interesting to me than any other

form factor – I can’t see myself upsizing

any time soon.

out how to fit all the necessary cooling

hardware inside. I’ll be taking a look at

the XD3 soon – check out Customised

PC in our next issue to see how I get

on with it.