- Have you ever gotten a delivery
you totally weren't expecting?
Well, that happens here too.
This was supposed to be a video
about an unusual motherboard that we ordered from China
and had been eagerly tracking
as it made its way across the ocean.
Imagine our surprise when instead of this,
we got this.
Surely this level of packaging
makes no sense whatsoever for a motherboard,
but for a full system?
Where did this come from?
What is inside it?
Can it play doom?
Can you get one of your very own?
We're gonna answer all these questions and more
after this word from our sponsor.
- Build Redux.
Imagine building your dream gaming rig
and then actually buying it.
Customize your build any way you want
and let Build Redux do the heavy lifting,
all at a price competitive
to building a PC yourself.
Check out Build Redux at the link below.
- Step one is to not slice myself open
on this packing crate.
This is frickin' dangerous, (chuckles).
Actually, before we do that though,
our first clue is on the lid.
This was sent to us by XiKii,
a maker and BiliBili creator
who started his own design studio in China
to make mechanical keyboards back in 2019.
XiKii was inspired by a small,
custom form-factor motherboard
that another BiliBili creator,
whose name translates to something like "Ancient Ape,"
made in partnership with Maxon,
which moves many of the internal connections
to the back of the motherboard.
Kind of like we saw with that concept from Gigabyte,
that was cool in theory,
but in practice left a lot to be desired.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, (hitting sound)
- [Jordan] It should pry off!
- Oh yeah, it's gonna pry off.
- [Jordan] Don't hit yourself on the head, please!
- You can't tell me what to do.
You're not my real dad.
The main innovation here then,
is that they sought to build
a more cohesive version of that product,
and they're calling it DIYAPE,
because you see on previous iterations,
we'd seen that even though the cables
could no longer be seen it would take up extra space.
Whereas this, (sighs loudly)
it's amazing.
Whoa, this side panel has no side panel.
This is sick.
This is the perfect marriage
of an open air test bench style case and a case case.
No way.
Look at this.
They even have machining on the case itself
that matches the machining on the...
So this is a completely custom motherboard then.
What else is in here?
Not a PC power cable, I'm familiar with.
I'm familiar with the connector
we use it for our lights in the studio.
I've just never seen it used for a computer, (chuckles).
The benefits of this are clear
compared to the standard C13 power cable that we use,
it has a lock which means it'll never accidentally
become unplugged but because the other end is,
(clears throat) for China
and because I don't have studio lights at home
the odds of me actually having of this are zero.
Just kidding.
We got this, but before we plug it in
I wanna talk a little bit more about how this came to be
because there are two things that make the motherboard
in particular different from others on the market.
There's the fact that connectors are on the back.
We talked about that, but what we haven't talked about
is that this shape of motherboard
is when you have probably never seen before.
It has the same number of PCIE slots that's one as many ITX,
but it's as wide as a full-sized ATX board
giving it a ton of room for...
Well what?
(laughing gently) Let's find out, shall we?
lttstore.com.
A calls this form factor YTX
and in the absence of any official explanation
we've got two theories as to why that would be.
First of all is why TX?
'Cause it's really weird and different
and second is that in pinion Ape's name apparently sounds
like Yuan or something pretty close to Y
so it could just be his name.
Anyhow, whatever it is, I've got this open now
giving us a look at what's going on inside.
We've got two M.2 slots,
one of which is populated with a one terabyte SSD, I assume
and the second one, ooh, this is cool
can accommodate up to 110-millimeter M.2 drives.
So you could put an octane drive in here
or something, for example, if you really wanted to.
We've also got an M.2 for a Wi-Fi module
it's nice that you can swap that out
even if it's only in the event of a failure.
And that's about it.
I mean, it seems like the sort of thing that
could have been put on the back of the board
unless the back of the board is already full.
We're gonna have to keep going.
Before we do that though, I wanna fire it up.
Let's put this heat sink back on, man.
Just (thudding sound)
everything about this thing just feels so good.
You know it's small, but it's thick.
Oh, I like it.
Man this thing is wild.
To give you a proper idea of how small it is
the entire back is taken up by just our power input.
Love that.
Our GPU I/O and then our motherboard I/O
which I would describe as not extravagant
but certainly adequate.
You've got five USB two ports,
one of which is USBC, DPHDMI, 4 USB 3s
two and a half gig land, nice Wi-Fi and audio
and I haven't even talked about the front I/O yet.
We get another USBC this time, USB 3
more audio, two more USB 2s and two more USB 3 types As.
Okay, ready?
This is really cool.
Obviously it's not cheap thermal, right?
For the CPU cooler custom motherboard
this case has gotta be worth a fortune, but it is so cool.
Two things are as universal as Windows updates
showing up at the worst possible time.
Oh, nope.
All right, I missed it.
I guess I don't technically have to run cino bench
since you've already got scores here
but let's do it anyway.
Oh, did we actually plug in the keyword?
Well, that explains why we
didn't manage to get into the bios.
Okay, that's definitely audible.
But the good news is that these low profile coolers
can handle modern CPUs as long as you're not going
for a top tier COR I nine or something like that.
It's just that they usually operate
under such challenging conditions that they get overwhelmed
because they're in small form factor cases that are stuffy.
In this case, it's always drawing, huh?
In this case, it's always drawing completely fresh cool air
from the room around.
It just ow.
Be careful not to do that.
12490F,
what the devil is a 12490 F?
You know what?
Bang bing.
Yeah, we're gonna be, oh, Chinese bing, okay
a cherry chip, blah blah.
Still suck more power than blah, blah, blah, blah.
Hybrid architecture, blah blah, gaming chip.
What is this thing?
Intel hasn't publicly announced this chip,
but it is in their public facing database now,
turbos to 4.66 cores.
The 12490 F has the same number of cores and threads
as a 12400, but it turbos whoa, substantially higher.
It only boosts a little bit higher
but it's base clock is a lot higher.
It also has additional level three catche
which is part of what makes it a gaming chip I guess.
It's still 12th gen Alder Lake, so 12,000 points
incent bench is not gonna be, you know
breaking any records.
But in actual games, what are we looking at?
3060 TI.
Oh, that's not bad.
I don't know why, but I kind of expected it to
be something more modest, like a 1650 or 1660.
It's so small.
Oh, now we get to see our other fans kick in.
This is hilarious.
I don't know why this is so cool to me, but just the GPU
and CPU fans being case fans just tickles me.
I mean, why not, right?
Oh, we should do a duct mod.
I can't believe we've never done a duct mod.
That's where you use ducting and you just take it
and run it straight to like a either 3D printed
or just DIY duct taped shroud over top of your GPU intake
and you just run that to the front of the case.
Do the same with the CPU.
That way you're bringing fresh air to everything.
Duct mod.
Yeah, subscribe, (laughing loudly).
How surprising a micro USB port failed, (gentle music).
Like the CPU cooler, the GPU cooler is certainly audible.
However, if I'm gaming at 1080 ADP
I'm pretty stoked right now.
250 FPS I mean it's only 1080 ADP, but still, wow
I take back one of the things I said earlier.
Our CPU is sitting at anywhere
from 75 to 80% utilization in game.
Now, this is with OBS recording in the background
but that's not an entirely unrealistic use case.
It's possible that our CPU could thermal throttle
under those conditions.
Well, we're not having any such issues in doom
so that's good.
But I do have to say, sitting here gaming next to it
opener cases are one of those categories of products
that I love to love but I don't think
I would ever daily drive
because while the drawbacks of cases are pretty clear
I mean they suffocate all your heat generating components
and this enclosure, what the heck?
The benefits are also pretty clear
'cause they also suppress noise.
Another thing that's unusual about it is how hot it gets.
A lot of the heat from these components seem to be sinking
into the giant aluminum block sitting around them.
I think it's time for us to tear it down
and take a closer look.
Oh, shoot.
Oh yes, it's probably fine.
(gentle music)
I guess we start on the GPU side.
I cannot believe how tight they got
the tolerances on this case.
I mean, it looks like this GPU was made for the system.
Another thing that I'm not sure how they did
was get rid of the excess heat from the GPU.
Are these the only ventilation holes?
Got this here and this here.
That's it.
I guess that would explain how the case itself
managed to heat up so much.
This does not seem to come off without the front panel
also being removed.
Oh wow, different head screws that kind of makes sense.
Does it?
I don't know actually.
Wow
That is wild.
Okay, how do, oh, oh wow.
It's packed tight.
First things first.
No, the GPU is not designed for this system.
This is just a ASUS 3060 TI snow leopard
and the main reason that it was chosen
is apparently for the orientation of the thin stack,
it goes this way which allows the heat to more effectively
be pushed out the back of the case
and out this little vent here.
And I guess also into our power supply,
which is what is this a flex ATX?
- [Jordan] Yep.
- These are typically found in one-U rack mount machines,
so servers but I have seen them
in small form factors before.
Usually not this tightly packed, no way.
It screwed into the case through the screws
that originally attached the PCI back plate.
with the power plug here
one piece of which appears to be 3D printed.
Oh, whoops.
There goes my CPU fan.
One moment please, (gentle music).
Oh, oh and this side piece came off too.
Okay, that makes sense 'cause I took off the front panel.
Things are whoa, things are really happening now.
See the thing about small form factor is 25% of the job
is engineering a case that can fit all your stuff.
The other 75% is figuring out
how you will get all this stuff in there.
What is the build process for this thing?
You know, this is the top panel or the bottom panel?
This is the top panel.
The PCIE riser, okay?
I was looking, I'm trying to pull on this
so that I can get this GPU out of the riser
so I can get a better look at this.
But the riser itself is stretched so tight
from the PCIE slot on the motherboard over here
that I cannot remove this pedal, (chuckles).
One moment please.
Hey, hey there we go.
No way this power supply is modular
because of course it is not a lot of points
for upgradability of the system but absolutely ingenious.
The way everything is packed in here
look at how tight this is.
I believe it now
there is no room on the back to put your M.2s or whatever
and you wouldn't even want them there
because how on earth would you get at them?
But there's all your I/O 24 pin power for the motherboard,
Eight pin power for the CPUs way over.
Oh yeah, that's the top.
Okay, yeah, there's our front USB, Sada
other front USB third front USB front, power connectors.
Yeah, there's some RGB headers, none of which are used
'cause you know this is like tasteful and classy, right?
What do you need RGB for?
Front audio connector is here, which makes sense
because the audio chip on this board
would probably be right near the back panel
and it would be right here.
Let's see if we can get it a little more disassembled
for you guys, all right?
Oh, there we go.
It's all coming apart.
Apparently he's only made about a hundred of these things
so it's not quite one off
but it's certainly not mass production.
The amount of work that went into it to make so few units
is just, you gotta admire it, you know?
Oh yeah, this looks extremely challenging to mass produce
even just the fact that you have to be locked into one
only one model of GPU really tough
because GPU manufacturers just on a whim,
they just continue this stuff.
They bring out a new one that's like 0.1 millimeters bigger
because that saved them whatever won't fit anymore.
Now I don't know how much deeper we need to go here.
We've got all the pieces of the case apart.
We can see our 80 plus platinum enhanced power supply
but I'm sure you guys want a better look at this board.
Wait a second, the board isn't screwed in.
There's it just screwed in.
Screwed to what?
Nothing.
How is it in here?
Oh, shut up.
It's just slotted in Or is there like one screw...
- [Jordan] Two screws in the riser.
- Oh, I see.
Well how on earth am I supposed to take that out?
Oh, I see, I see, I see, I see.
I got this...
- [Andrew] I like how you're upside down.
- Yeah, I mean if upside down's good enough
for the computer, it's good enough for me.
Shut up.
It just slots in here.
It's not screwed in at all.
Oh, the lock for the eight pin power connector had to go.
That's been melted off, there it is, YTX.
The power supply isn't screwed in either.
No way.
Okay, I have to ask, how much does this nightmare
of an upgradeability system cost?
- [Jordan] The case MSRP is about 350 US.
- 350 US for the case.
You know what?
That's high but lower than I thought.
Given the just, I mean this thing is beautiful.
This looks like it's machined
out of a single block of aluminum here.
Wasteful, but very beautiful.
Given the shape of small form factory machines anyway
how they're typically longer in order to accommodate GPUs.
Why not just extend the motherboard this way
instead of doing what some manufacturers
have been doing these days
and you know, piling up these wild towers of M.2s
and audio chip sets and stuff like that.
It kind of makes sense.
I'm no longer asking why TX,
I'm asking why haven't I told you about our sponsor?
- Delete me in a time when companies
are constantly sharing your personal info online
without your consent, it's easy to get discouraged.
Feels like there's nothing you can do until you hear
about the sponsor of this video, Delete Me.
Delete Me will help you find hundreds of online profiles
sharing your personal information,
which could be used by scammers to hit you with a barrage
of robocalls and spam emails.
It's the worst and in more extreme cases,
it could even lead to identity theft or fraud,
which are bad.
Removing all of this information by yourself
would be a huge task and take many hours.
But with Delete Me software and team of experts
it can be done in minutes.
On average, delete me finds and removes over 2000 pieces
of data for a customer in their first two years.
So if you wanna get your personal information removed
from search results on the web
go to joindelete me.com/line as tech dips
and use code LTT for 20% off.
- If you enjoyed this video, you might enjoy the time
that we replicated a super cool water cool build
also from a Chinese YouTuber
that had I think it was four radiators
in a small form factor.