Replacement backup rig brainstorm build

[Voodoo Rufus]

Now that I got my 4770K ITX HTPC running nicely, it's kind of serving duty replacing my old 2600K retired 'backup rig' in my Phanteks Pro M case.

With Alder Lake on the horizon, not sure I want to do anything crazy right now, because those will be cool toys to play with this winter. But I have some 115X waterblocks sitting here unused, 3 pumps and 3 radiators (thin 240, thick 240, thin 360) and the itch to build a solid project room build for funsies using cooling hardware I have right now, in a case that would readily take a custom water loop.

I like the ITX option even if it's in an ATX case because it can be swapped to the HTPC when that ages out. Both boards have very similar feature sets overall for my purposes. The Extreme board does have a nice layout though. Haven't settled on a CPU, so I'm throwing the 11600KF on there because it's a good price/perf option.

So, pick a poll option to encourage my insanity, or pop my bubble with reason and logic.

I hope the 115x/20xx blocks can be used on the Alder Lake platform as Intel has been pretty good about compatibility the last decade or so for cooling mounts.

 

[EarthDog]

Wait for Alder Lake.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

WATERBLOCKS MUST BE USED!

 

[EarthDog]

Hopefully whatever blocks you have will make mounting kits for that socket.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Heatkiller IV Pro is all new and shiny sitting here. And an Optimus V1, but that thing is bloody restrictive.

 

[Woomack]

If you really have to and want some overclocking/tweaking fun then 11600K/KF + MSI Z590I Unify. Mentioned ASRocks are fine but are rather standard. If you don't want to spend too much money then ASRock will be fine.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I do like the MSI boards lately. It sure feels like there's more OC fun to be had on the cheaper chip side of the spectrum as long as there's some temp/thermal headroom. The high core count mainstream CPUs seem better left alone. Engage XMP and leave them be.

 

[Woomack]

I was testing all mentioned motherboards and MSI Z590I Unify is clearly the best and also the best equipped (it doesn't matter much I guess). Now it runs with 11700K and RX6800XT in this build - click.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Beautiful paint job on that case, Woomack.

 

[Woomack]

Thanks, took me 2 weeks of cutting, painting, and polishing ... and now I have mixed feelings looking at how it's already dusty and some spots inside are hard to reach On the other hand, it works 24/7 since I made it, gaming/mining. I just don't like to see when my hardware does nothing.