[Build log] ZZAW C1 Build (22.1L mATX Case) - AMD Ryzen 5 3600, GTX 1070, 240mm AIO

[Ulti]

Been a while since my last build log but here we are!

Previous build log: [Build log] The year of tempered glass (and ArGeeBee) - mATX under 25L

Parts list:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - £160 (New, eBay - Aug 2019)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4 - £60 (New, Amazon - Mar 2019)
RAM: Adata XPG Spectrix D60G 32GB (4x8GB) - £136 (New, CCL - Jul 2020)
Boot Drive: Corsair Force MP510 960GB - £99 (New, Ebuyer eBay - Jun 2019)
Storage: WD Blue M.2 SATA - £86 (New, Amazon - Apr 2019)
Graphics card: Palit GTX 1070 GameRock - £375 (New, Scan - Oct 2016)
Case: ZZAW C1 (+ Captain 240 EX AM4 Backplate) - £114 (New, Taobao - Jul 2020)
PSU: SilverStone SST-SX500-LG V 2.0 - £66 (New, Amazon - Sep 2016)
Cooler: DeepCool Captain 240 EX - £20 (Used, eBay - Jul 2020)
Fans: DeepCool 3x ARGB Fans - £19 (New, eBay - Aug 2020), Noctua NF-B9 redux - £10 (New, Amazon - Aug 2020)
Total: ~£1145

You can see a lot of parts are just being reused and I already switched to Ryzen last year. Main reason to change case was because the previous case I had has pretty bad airflow.

Anyway, onto the build.

It took just under a month to get here and I ended up paying 73 USD (£58.33 via CC through PayPal) for the case + 67 USD (£55.22 direct via PayPal conversion) for shipping (including a AM4 backplate for the 240mm AIO cooler). So in total 140 USD (£113.55).

First ordered on 22th July and received 17th August so just under a month delivery.

Let's start the post with the completed build photo:


Not the tidiest cable work and I've made some changes since that photo (such as a USB 3.0 extension cable so that I can put the USB 3.0 cable under the motherboard) and I also managed to grab a B450M Steel Legend and a NZXT M52.



Case unpacked!



Apple Mac Pro 2019 Vibes



That's how it arrived. Fan filter and accessories box flying around... No protective wrap on the tempered glass side panels as you would come to expect.



Most of the parts list minus the cooler and some boxes.



Gotta love NVMe and M.2 in general. Shame the B450 chip set only supports one NVMe and one M.2 SATA otherwise I would have just gone for 2x NVMe as they're generally the same price, if not cheaper, than M.2 SATA nowadays due to their popularity. It's amazing not having to fiddle with SATA data and power cables anymore.



Case came marked on the inside. Presumably from the cables rubbing around during shipping? Or the fan filters?



Some rubbing alcohol does wonders though.



Here's how the bottom looks. PSU cable and I/O cable passthroughs, 92mm fan mount, the 4x expansion slots plus 2 big holes... One presumably for the USB 3 front headers. Wish there were some panels to cover them up for tidiness.



Here's the mATX motherboard installed with my temporary NZXT M22 (it's cooling performance is rather mediocre but it's pretty).



Next is the PSU. Case can support an ATX PSU but I have an SFX PSU already so why not. After that, the GPU goes in too. My Palit GTX 1070 GameRock still just about holds up in 1440p gaming while I wait to see what the GTX 3070 and 3060 brings. It's a triple slot oldboy and it's installed in the second slot so there is no space in the front for any fans and honestly, with the GPU so close, not sure what merit it would even bring if installed.

Forgot to mention that I also stuck the fan filter on the front. Rather crap filter if I'm honest as it's not easily removable and it doesn't even cover the whole front panel.

If you look closely you can also see I have a AX200 PCI-E card for WiFi and BT.



Here it is switched on for just some temperature testing as I wait to install my new 240 AIO and additional fans for temperature testing.



Picked up a 2nd hand Deepcool Captain 240 EX in white. The seller mentioned the cooler fit AM4 but it didn't actually come with the right backplate (although it came with the right mounting kit). Couldn't find the AM4 backplate in the UK for a reasonable price and it was only like £2 or something on Taobao so I figured I'd keep the cooler and ordered the backplate from Taobao when I ordered the case.

Also upgraded to some 3200Mhz CL16 RAM up from the 2400Mhz CL15 RAM that I previously had. Honestly prefer the look of my old RAM as it wasn't just a solid block of colour but shame it wasn't RGB plus it was quite slow.



Ready to power on.



Here it is switched on. I also popped the WiFi antenna inside and it doesn't seem to affect latency or speeds. I think I actually prefer the old red LED look but I'll mess with the RGB another time - it's currently set to a cyan and purple mix which seems a bit too much.

Temperatures (CPU load was tested with OCCT and GPU with MSI Kombustor):

• Old PC Case (Jonsbo UMX3) with NZXT M22 (Ambient: 25.1C) - CPU: 95C, GPU: 65C, CPU Speed All Core Load: 3.8Ghz
• ZZAW C1 with NZXT M22 (Ambient: 24.3C) - CPU: 95C, GPU: 68C, CPU Speed All Core Load: 3.8Ghz
• ZZAW C1 with Deepcool Captain 240 EX (Ambient: 24.3C) - CPU: 74C, GPU: 69C, CPU Speed All Core Load: 3.9Ghz
• Adding additional 120mm exhaust (Ambient: 24.8C) - CPU: 74C, GPU: 67C, CPU Speed All Core Load: 3.9Ghz
• Adding additional 92mm intake (Ambient: 24.8C) - CPU: 74C, GPU: 67C, CPU Speed All Core Load: 3.9Ghz

Doesn't seem to be much difference in adding the additional 120mm exhaust and 92mm intake fan but it did tackle the main issue of running much cooler than the Jonsbo UMX3.

I'm running all 4 (2x 120mm radiator, 1x 120mm top exhaust and 1x 92mm bottom intake) fans at around 800rpm FYI so could easily ramp them up to sacrifice noise for cooler temps.

There is definitely still wasted space and the bottom mounted I/O is a massive pain but it does look super tidy.

Pros of the case:

• Aluminium & Tempered Glass = my favourite case material
• Lovely design
• Reasonably small (not the smallest but smaller than mainstream mATX boxes)
• Smallish footprint as it's tall and not too deep or wide
• Reasonably cheap if able to source Taobao good easily and a lot cheaper than premium cases
• Vertically mounted GPU means I don't have to worry about the weight of the GPU and it sagging
• Also means if an AIO leaks, it won't be going over the GPU

Cons of the case:

• Somewhat expensive once shipping is factored in
• Only 1 fan filter is included and this doesn't even cover all of the holes
• Included fan filter is attached via 3M tape - longevity in question
• Arrived with imperfections - slight dent/scratch to top left corner of front of the case, case wobbles a little so either the feet aren't stuck on properly or there's a manufacturing defect with the bends, USB 3.0 ports upside down and difficult to switch out as the folded flaps cover the screws for the USB 3.0 ports.
• Tempered glass side mounts directly to the case without any rubber grommets or anything
• For my use case, the side panel doesn't quite close properly as my GPU is too wide with the PCI-E power cable
• Bottom mounted I/O means cables are hard to plug in and unplug and cables with big connectors like DisplayPort get bent.
• Lots of holes around PCI expansion area - should have blanking plates or mounted I/O inside of shield
• No way to easily change backplate for motherboard without taking the whole motherboard out
• Limited space for 240mm radiator means having to run the pipes through the top which, as Gamers Nexus pointed at, is not the optimal way to run an AIO cooler

All in all, I'm overall happy with what I paid but it's certainly not a perfect case and there's a lot of room for improvement.

[kompukare]

Gotta love NVMe and M.2 in general. Shame the B450 chip set only supports one NVMe and one M.2 SATA otherwise I would have just gone for 2x NVMe as they're generally the same price, if not cheaper, than M.2 SATA nowadays due to their popularity. It's amazing not having to fiddle with SATA data and power cables anymore.

There's no chipset limitation just most manufacturers chose not to have two especially on their mATX.
If you use Skinflint to show B450, mATX, and 2+ NVMe slots there are only these three hits:


https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=mbam4&x...X#gh_filterbox

[DanceswithUnix]

Heh, my first B450 uATX build was a TUF B450M so I assumed they all did 2x NVMe; not that I wanted more than one drive but I always read the documentation more carefully on the first build

[Ulti]

There's no chipset limitation just most manufacturers chose not to have two especially on their mATX.
If you use Skinflint to show B450, mATX, and 2+ NVMe slots there are only these three hits:


https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=mbam4&x...X#gh_filterbox

Thanks, I did not know that!

I guess the next time I see a good deal on a NVMe drive, I'll look at a motherboard "upgrade" too.

I have also been getting ideas about potentially downsizing to ITX as 2x16GB fast RAM is becoming really cheap and I could probably just spend a bit more on an ITX motherboard that has WiFi built in so I wouldn't need my AX200 PCI-E card.

Not sure if there are ITX motherboards with good/futureproof WiFi (Wi-Fi 6) and 2x NVMe drives with a decent number of USB ports (I have an Oculus Rift and that uses 3 USB ports alone!) at a decent price though. The reason why I like mATX is because it's such good value compared to both ATX and ITX motherboards.

Heh, my first B450 uATX build was a TUF B450M so I assumed they all did 2x NVMe; not that I wanted more than one drive but I always read the documentation more carefully on the first build

Good choice!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

ZZAW stands for Zen Zone Art World,so you have a Zen CPU to go with it. I never heard of them before,but the case you got looks decent quality,so will keep an eye out for the B2 and B6 mini-ITX cases.

[Ulti]

ZZAW stands for Zen Zone Art World,so you have a Zen CPU to go with it. I never heard of them before,but the case you got looks decent quality,so will keep an eye out for the B2 and B6 mini-ITX cases.

I think at the original China prices, they are reasonable for the price but when delivery is included, their quality is lacking but I'm not sure if that's a "fair" way to think of it. Compared to the more premium small batch ITX cases like Dan A4, Dr Zaber Sentry etc it is quite a bit cheaper though.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I think at the original China prices, they are reasonable for the price but when delivery is included, their quality is lacking but I'm not sure if that's a "fair" way to think of it. Compared to the more premium small batch ITX cases like Dan A4, Dr Zaber Sentry etc it is quite a bit cheaper though.

I want a Ghost S1,but its too much money for a case. I currently have one of these as a stop-gap case:
https://www.riotoro.com/products/cr2...itx-tower-case

Saw it on Amazon Warehouse for £14,but do want something smaller longterm. The B6 looks interesting as it has no riser,and has less cooler height restrictions than other mini-ITX cases:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfvsoEFT4BY
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comme...e_review_post/

However,the delivery and import duty seem to add a fair amount to the price!

Edit!!

You can get the B1 and B2 via Ebay UK from Chinese sellers:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...ZZAW+&_sacat=0

It seems these Thai webstore lists extra details over the Chinese webstores:
https://shopee.co.th/ZZAW-B6-ITX-Alu...632.4047357920

https://imgur.com/a/2AnUCOJ

[kompukare]

I have also been getting ideas about potentially downsizing to ITX as 2x16GB fast RAM is becoming really cheap and I could probably just spend a bit more on an ITX motherboard that has WiFi built in so I wouldn't need my AX200 PCI-E card.

I really like the idea of 4 DIMMs slots though. I'm probably going to keep my current old LGA1155 Ivy Bridge a bit longer and one of the main reasons is that I was able to upgrade recently to 32GB on the cheap by installing another 2x8GB for 4x8GB. A dual memory slot board wouldn't have given me that option.

[Ulti]

I want a Ghost S1,but its too much money for a case. I currently have one of these as a stop-gap case:
https://www.riotoro.com/products/cr2...itx-tower-case

Saw it on Amazon Warehouse for £14,but do want something smaller longterm. The B6 looks interesting as it has no riser,and has less cooler height restrictions than other mini-ITX cases:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfvsoEFT4BY
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comme...e_review_post/

However,the delivery and import duty seem to add a fair amount to the price!

Edit!!

You can get the B1 and B2 via Ebay UK from Chinese sellers:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...ZZAW+&_sacat=0

It seems these Thai webstore lists extra details over the Chinese webstores:
https://shopee.co.th/ZZAW-B6-ITX-Alu...632.4047357920

https://imgur.com/a/2AnUCOJ

Wow, £14! That's a bargain though.

There are a lot of ITX cases and I've not really seriously entertained the idea of getting one as I quite like the aesthetics of just being able to see my GPU, CPU cooler and motherboard all on one side with a tempered glass panel but with how small the ITX cases have been getting, they certainly do appeal!

It looks like ZZAW is growing if their cases are already listed on eBay. Will be interesting to see what they make in the future as they've already added 2 new cases (B3 and C6) to their range since I bought the C1, although those 2 specific new ones do not appeal to me.

I really like the idea of 4 DIMMs slots though. I'm probably going to keep my current old LGA1155 Ivy Bridge a bit longer and one of the main reasons is that I was able to upgrade recently to 32GB on the cheap by installing another 2x8GB for 4x8GB. A dual memory slot board wouldn't have given me that option.

Yeah everyone will have a different use case/upgrade path. For me - I rarely go over 16GB of RAM nowadays but sometimes I do so that's why I just decided to go with 32GB as it's not too expensive compared to other parts of the system. I can't see myself ever needing more than 32GB of RAM so I guess I don't have that option. OTOH, the main PC game I play nowadays is FFXIV and before, I was running at 60fps at 1440p but since upgrading to a 144hz 1440p monitor, I can notice the difference between the 60-80ish fps that I get and 144fps so I would want to upgrade the GPU but due to the cost (before the RTX 3000 series), I couldn't justify it - back when I last looked, I think a RTX 2060 Super was around £350-400 and offered 20% more performance than the GTX 1070 which would mean my 60-80fps would only become 70-100 fps. Even a RTX 2070 Super which was around £450-500 or so offered 40% more performance which would mean 80-110fps roughly. It's not like I am playing at 4k so I can't justify the cost of spending £350+ for a "mediocre" experience.

The thing that has stopped me from going with an ITX case is that:

• the footprint of an ITX case is mostly the same when compared with a a small mATX or slim ATX case (side story - I actually really like the Thermaltake Core G3 as it has a really small desk footprint of 140mm (width) x 371mm (depth) but it only comes with an acrylic window and those are horrible and scratch so easily hence why I didn't get one. I got one for my brother's build though a long time ago when it first came out and it's actually very decent and close to what I was looking for)
• ITX motherboards have traditionally been more expensive
• not sure if any ITX motherboards have got 2x NVMe support
• 4x RAM slots - although as just mentioned above, with how cheap 2x 16GB RAM is getting, no longer an issue
• lack of expansion slots but again, may be no longer an issue as I only use the expansion slot for PCI-E WiFi (other than the GPU of course) and more and more ITX boards have them onboard now
• cooling and noise - Ryzens seem to run pretty hot and unless you use a 120mm tower cooler or 240mm radiator, you'll either have a lot of noise to push the heat away or you'll have low noise but high temps

[cptwhite_uk]

I've not really seriously entertained the idea of getting one as I quite like the aesthetics of just being able to see my GPU, CPU cooler and motherboard all on one side with a tempered glass panel but with how small the ITX cases have been getting, they certainly do appeal!

• the footprint of an ITX case is mostly the same when compared with a a small mATX or slim ATX case (side story - I actually really like the Thermaltake Core G3 as it has a really small desk footprint of 140mm (width) x 371mm (depth) but it only comes with an acrylic window and those are horrible and scratch so easily hence why I didn't get one. I got one for my brother's build though a long time ago when it first came out and it's actually very decent and close to what I was looking for)
• ITX motherboards have traditionally been more expensive
• not sure if any ITX motherboards have got 2x NVMe support
• 4x RAM slots - although as just mentioned above, with how cheap 2x 16GB RAM is getting, no longer an issue
• lack of expansion slots but again, may be no longer an issue as I only use the expansion slot for PCI-E WiFi (other than the GPU of course) and more and more ITX boards have them onboard now
• cooling and noise - Ryzens seem to run pretty hot and unless you use a 120mm tower cooler or 240mm radiator, you'll either have a lot of noise to push the heat away or you'll have low noise but high temps

I've not really seriously entertained the idea of getting one as I quite like the aesthetics of just being able to see my GPU, CPU cooler and motherboard all on one side with a tempered glass panel but with how small the ITX cases have been getting, they certainly do appeal!

Cooler Master NR200P ticks those boxes (currently out of stock everywhere, £90 when back in stock)

More generally referring to your other points, you can also look at the NZXT H100 or Phanteks Evolv Shift Air for smaller footprint cases

ITX boards do command a premium but not much more than a decent ATX B550 board would cost. The Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX is £174 on Scan for example and is a great ITX board, it also have 2x M.2 storage slots (1x Gen4 , 1x Gen3) and also an M.2 for a Wifi module.

2xRAM is preferable for timings and latency I'm told, also tracing lines are shorter, which is actually a benefit I'm lead to believe

Expansion slots is one of those things you either need or you don't, only you can decide. There's always the Asus X570 Crosshair Impact DTX, which would fit into the NR200P for reference (very expensive though)

Airflow in a well thought out ITX case is often better than larger cases to be honest, the NR200P is a good example of a well designed case for optimal airflow.

[Ulti]

Cooler Master NR200P ticks those boxes (currently out of stock everywhere, £90 when back in stock)

More generally referring to your other points, you can also look at the NZXT H100 or Phanteks Evolv Shift Air for smaller footprint cases

ITX boards do command a premium but not much more than a decent ATX B550 board would cost. The Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX is £174 on Scan for example and is a great ITX board, it also have 2x M.2 storage slots (1x Gen4 , 1x Gen3) and also an M.2 for a Wifi module.

2xRAM is preferable for timings and latency I'm told, also tracing lines are shorter, which is actually a benefit I'm lead to believe

Expansion slots is one of those things you either need or you don't, only you can decide. There's always the Asus X570 Crosshair Impact DTX, which would fit into the NR200P for reference (very expensive though)

Airflow in a well thought out ITX case is often better than larger cases to be honest, the NR200P is a good example of a well designed case for optimal airflow.

I've always liked the look of the NZXT H1 and it appears lots of other people do too as I've heard stories about how it's constantly out of stock. At £300, I can't really justify it though as it's more than £100 more expensive than my case + PSU + cooler combo. For a premium case, a good 650W PSU and a 140mm AIO cooler I do agree it's a somewhat fair price though.

The Phanteks Evolv Shift series is a bit too big for my liking as is the CM NR200P. Not sure why the CM NR200P is so popular as it's rather massive for an ITX case.

I mean £174 for a motherboard may not be much for some people but when a mATX motherboard with the same features can be had for almost half the price with roughly the same feature set then I'd rather spend only £85 on the motherboard and £85 on the CPU or GPU.

Sorry have to disagree with the NR200P being a good example of a well designed case - I mean it would cool well but I don't see anything special about it - it's just an ATX box with the bottom expansion slots cut off really.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Wow, £14! That's a bargain though.

There are a lot of ITX cases and I've not really seriously entertained the idea of getting one as I quite like the aesthetics of just being able to see my GPU, CPU cooler and motherboard all on one side with a tempered glass panel but with how small the ITX cases have been getting, they certainly do appeal!

It looks like ZZAW is growing if their cases are already listed on eBay. Will be interesting to see what they make in the future as they've already added 2 new cases (B3 and C6) to their range since I bought the C1, although those 2 specific new ones do not appeal to me.

The B6 is the one that intrigues me,so if it I can get it for closer to £100 I might buy it. However,ATM it seems only a few Chinese resellers stock it in China.

Yeah everyone will have a different use case/upgrade path. For me - I rarely go over 16GB of RAM nowadays but sometimes I do so that's why I just decided to go with 32GB as it's not too expensive compared to other parts of the system. I can't see myself ever needing more than 32GB of RAM so I guess I don't have that option. OTOH, the main PC game I play nowadays is FFXIV and before, I was running at 60fps at 1440p but since upgrading to a 144hz 1440p monitor, I can notice the difference between the 60-80ish fps that I get and 144fps so I would want to upgrade the GPU but due to the cost (before the RTX 3000 series), I couldn't justify it - back when I last looked, I think a RTX 2060 Super was around £350-400 and offered 20% more performance than the GTX 1070 which would mean my 60-80fps would only become 70-100 fps. Even a RTX 2070 Super which was around £450-500 or so offered 40% more performance which would mean 80-110fps roughly. It's not like I am playing at 4k so I can't justify the cost of spending £350+ for a "mediocre" experience.

The thing that has stopped me from going with an ITX case is that:

• the footprint of an ITX case is mostly the same when compared with a a small mATX or slim ATX case (side story - I actually really like the Thermaltake Core G3 as it has a really small desk footprint of 140mm (width) x 371mm (depth) but it only comes with an acrylic window and those are horrible and scratch so easily hence why I didn't get one. I got one for my brother's build though a long time ago when it first came out and it's actually very decent and close to what I was looking for)
• ITX motherboards have traditionally been more expensive
• not sure if any ITX motherboards have got 2x NVMe support
• 4x RAM slots - although as just mentioned above, with how cheap 2x 16GB RAM is getting, no longer an issue
• lack of expansion slots but again, may be no longer an issue as I only use the expansion slot for PCI-E WiFi (other than the GPU of course) and more and more ITX boards have them onboard now
• cooling and noise - Ryzens seem to run pretty hot and unless you use a 120mm tower cooler or 240mm radiator, you'll either have a lot of noise to push the heat away or you'll have low noise but high temps

Its why I wished the flexATX type format Shuttle used had caught on. So 4 RAM slots,but a form factor which is smaller than mATX.

[cptwhite_uk]

I've researched the NR200P extensively, and sorry but you're just wrong with your summation of it being a reduced height ATX option. It's VERY configurable internally. Watch some in-depth reviews and you'll see why:

[cptwhite_uk]

...however I've opted for an Ncase M1 v6. Expensive, yes, but probably the best ITX case right now.

[wazzickle]

In terms of itx, the best out there is the FormD T1, honourable mentions to NCase M1 (got one arriving today or tomorrow woo), Velka 3 for sheer tininess at 3.9 litres but still managing to fit in a 175mm gpu, Skyreach 4 mini. Optimum Tech basically knows everything

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In terms of itx, the best out there is the FormD T1, honourable mentions to NCase M1 (got one arriving today or tomorrow woo), Velka 3 for sheer tininess at 3.9 litres but still managing to fit in a 175mm gpu, Skyreach 4 mini. Optimum Tech basically knows everything

One of the reasons why I want a ZZAW B6 is due to the fact it does not require a PCI-E riser,as the motherboard is vertically orientated,and the GPU is at the top. The issue is PCI-E 4.0 compatible risers are very expensive!