My first SFF PC

Skully · 11 Jul 2012 at 11:18

Bought my first SFF computer at the weekend.

Lian Li Q11B case.

It is very small.

Infact it's 5mm too small for the graphics card I have!

It's been a nice challenge getting everything to fit inside, but the real challenge comes tonight when I take a hacksaw to the heatsink shroud.

:x

gropingmantis · 11 Jul 2012 at 20:11

photos!

I am liking the spec in your sig which I assume is whats in there.
Welcome to the tiny world of SFF, I see you have had your first taste of trying to get everything to fit

Skully · 11 Jul 2012 at 21:39

I managed to get it in, had to saw part of the fan shroud off, take off the bracket and force it in whilst bending the case a little bit.

Needless to say I am pleased it boots!

Photos will come once I see if it plays a game

Skully · 11 Jul 2012 at 22:56

Here it is without the PSU in.

Such a tight fit, you can see where it's been scratching the inside of the case, and my hacksaw job!

PSU in, cables really cannot go anywhere. I didn't want to buy a modular PSU!

Final resting place

The finished project!

Hopefully there will be no temperature issues, as I do like the case.

I am still considering selling it and buying something slightly larger, but then the concern is getting the graphics card back out again!

I have been out of the PC game for years now, I think before I upgrade again a proper think is needed before buying the shiny parts.

gropingmantis · 11 Jul 2012 at 23:12

Rule 1 of SFF club: Cable management. you need to plan ahead with cable runs because you need to make sure that your airflow is as unrestricted as possible otherwise you will see some poor temperatures. As an example I'm running my i5 at 4.5 GHz with a Samuel17 cooler and idling around 40-45C all you need to do is keep cables out of the way and temps wont be an issue.

Skully · 11 Jul 2012 at 23:13

You can do it for me I'm never opening it up again!!

koolpc · 12 Jul 2012 at 09:32

Superb cable management! Can you you let me know how to get mine as good as yours please?

Stelly · 12 Jul 2012 at 09:39

Its the only thing I hate about SFF is the cable management

Stelly

Skully · 12 Jul 2012 at 09:50

koolpc said:
Superb cable management! Can you you let me know how to get mine as good as yours please?

What I did was grab the cables and a whisk, mix together for three minutes then put the side on before they had a chance to escape.

Lunatic Dreyfus · 14 Jul 2012 at 19:19

Loving the carnage inside that Q11.

I took that whacking great big fan out of mine. I don't think it's nessecary and the stock x6 1055t & 6850 that used

() to live in there were perfectly happy. The metal fan frame also provided a handy place for shoving cables out of the way.

I also invested in a modular PSU.

Skully · 16 Jul 2012 at 15:26

I've since managed to tidy it up inside, using multiple cable ties and by routing some cables underneath the motherboard!

Much better and the fan isn't blocked

.