Chunk - A Fractal Design Torrent Nano Build

23RO_UK

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Firstly, why the name Chunk?

When the Nano arrived and I unpacked it, I received the comment “OMG, it’s a chunky little thing isn’t it…” Normally I'm not one for pet names for PC's but the name has kinda stuck ever since :D

Moving on, it has become readily apparent since I revamped my Meshify Compact rig that a second PC was needed, as a home workstation principally, general household use and legacy gaming (there are a fair few games I still play that require a workaround to work on 12th Gen Intel CPU’s in the here and now, some titles just won’t work period unfortunately).

The brief, I wanted to reutilise as much existing hardware as possible to keep down the cost, this meant finding a case that would accommodate an ATX power supply, my Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black cooler, that it be high airflow and have a small footprint as ideally I intended to use an ITX motherboard; ultimately Fractal’s Torrent Nano Ticked all the boxes.


First up the new kit -

  • Fractal Design Torrent Nano Black Case
  • WD_BLACK SN770 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe (to use as an OS drive)


And now from the collection of existing kit -

  • AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU
  • Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black CPU cooler
  • Gigabyte AMD B550 AORUS PRO AX Mini-ITX Motherboard
  • ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 AMP Holo GPU
  • Patriot Viper Steel 32Gb (2x16Gb) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS432G360C8K)
  • Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500GB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe
  • Two Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD’s
  • Fractal Design ION+ 2 80+ PLATINUM 860 Watt PSU
  • A Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax fan (mounted as an exhaust)

(Yes, I know what you're thinking, let’s just say I still have more unused kit kicking about and yes, I really should think about getting rid of some of it lol).


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So, build wise, it was an absolute pleasure to work with, cable routing was an absolute breeze as there is a ton of room behind the motherboard tray; the one exception being you need to remember to attach the EPS cable prior to installing the motherboard, you'll also need to route this under the PSU before installing it.

In terms of the build quality of the case, it’s a Fractal, say no more, in short, I absolutely love it.
 
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Here's a couple of benchmarks I ran after dialling in the memory to 16 21 22 42 1T timings @1.35V, it's a Hynix kit so I wasn't expecting B die miracles.


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Not bad for a B550 ITX board, It's no record breaker by any means, on the flipside it's certainly no slouch either.
 
Very nice build, Love the Fractal Nano, reminds me of back in the day with the NZXT MANTA.
Snug as a bug in a rug :)
 
Very nice build, Love the Fractal Nano, reminds me of back in the day with the NZXT MANTA.
Snug as a bug in a rug :)

Thank you dude, I have both a Torrent Nano and a Compact in the arsenal now, I love them both equally.
 
Just got me one as well in white ... if i need some advice i'll hit you up if that's ok ? so amuse i will be :unsure:


doubt its gona look as good as yours but i think its gona be a challenge for my fat fingers and the tiny space :lol:
 
Just got me one as well in white ... if i need some advice i'll hit you up if that's ok ? so amuse i will be :unsure:


doubt its gona look as good as yours but i think its gona be a challenge for my fat fingers and the tiny space :lol:

Nice, and feel free to, I basically did a dry run to establish where I wanted wires to be routed before securing everything in place; of my many builds over the years achieving such a tidy build in such a confined space was actually quite rewarding to be honest.

The one thing I will mention that are a credit to Fractal, the dust filters no less, easy to access/clean and really really effective in operation.
 
in the case doses it come with a splitter to connect the thin light at the top of the case the addressable led i think it would be, and one for the front fan, cos it looks like the mobo i got has only one i can connect them both to, or will the fan light up with just the 4pin ?
B660I Aorus pro DDR4 thats what im putting in it
 
in the case doses it come with a splitter to connect the thin light at the top of the case the addressable led i think it would be, and one for the front fan, cos it looks like the mobo i got has only one i can connect them both to, or will the fan light up with just the 4pin ?
B660I Aorus pro DDR4 thats what im putting in it

You've got me on that one, the Nano comes in three different flavours, the one you have with both the RGB strip and RGB fan, the one I have which just has the RGB strip and non RGB fan and the Black Solid which has none of the above.

From past experience with LED fans I'd say the fan will illuminate yes but will remain a fixed colour if no RGB splitter is included, good choice in motherboard by the way ;)
 
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in the case doses it come with a splitter to connect the thin light at the top of the case the addressable led i think it would be, and one for the front fan, cos it looks like the mobo i got has only one i can connect them both to, or will the fan light up with just the 4pin ?
B660I Aorus pro DDR4 thats what im putting in it

The light strip comes with a small 4 pin ARGB connector that you need to connect to an RGB header on your motherboard. If the Nano is the same as the Torrent Compact, which I have, the RGB version.
 
The light strip comes with a small 4 pin ARGB connector that you need to connect to an RGB header on your motherboard. If the Nano is the same as the Torrent Compact, which I have, the RGB version.


the 3pin one tho yer not on the 4 pin RGB header ? cos if the light strip is 5v and i put it on the 12v im guessing it might damage it ?


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the 3pin one tho yer not on the 4 pin RGB header ? cos if the light strip is 5v and i put it on the 12v im guessing it might damage it ?


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Can't quite remember, but think if it's an 3 pin connector, it has a solid blank spot between the pins. Ie, you can't put an 3 pin connector into an 4 pin and damage it. It's physically incompatible.
 
It won't fit. Argb has 4 pins and drgb only has three. You'd have to drill another hole in it to make it fit and then you'd release the magic smoke.
 
BTW. There are quite a few different connectors.

DRGB 3 pin with one missing.
ARGB with all four. 12v.
Gigabyte Aorus, which is their own proprietary 3 pin that looks like a fan header.
Lian Li has their own.
Phanteks has their own.
Corsair has their own.

ARGB is antiquated and dying out slowly, as it cant produce white properly due to it not being dimmable and thus you get a pinkish white.

The others are all DRGB. 5v, Data and Ground. However all of those custom proprietary connectors have the pins different. So, you either need to buy expensive adapters, or, if they were kind enough use one that came with it (which is rare, why just get paid once?) Or you cut the dumb f*****g things off and solder your own normal ones on.
 
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