Going smaller...

Azza

Azza

Azza

Caporegime
Joined
6 Dec 2005
Posts
37,790
Location
Birmingham
Right my current PC is this

i3 530
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H
2 x 2GB Corsair
2 x 2GB Kingston HyperX
MSI GTX 460 Cyclone
Corsair H50
Corsair HX 650W

I've got in my PC a 250GB hard drive for the OS, a 500GB for games and then a 1TB & 1.5TB for movies and TV that I just swap in and our of my external caddie.

Case wise I've got a V350 but because of the stupid cooler on the Cyclone it doesn't fit inside the case, so since coming home I've housed everything inside a my Lian Li PC7.

I want to go down to Mini-ITX and my preferred case would be the SG05, but the problem is making use of my existing components.

What I was thinking was getting an SG05, putting in an SSD and my 1TB hard drive into the case. Use the 250/500GBs as backups / other storage. And getting a 2TB to use for movies etc with the 1.5TB.

What's the deal with the optical drive and graphics cards, I've read that some long ones means you can't have an optical drive in the case?

Will I be able to fit in the H-50 to cool what ever CPU I use?

Motherboard wise the Zotac H67ITX-C-E, seems like the best choice?


Ideas people please! :)


Thanks.
 
You wont be able to use that motherboard with your existing CPU. For that CPU the best motherboard is the Gigabyte H55N-USB3.

The SG05 only has space for 1 x 3.5" and 1 x 2.5" HDDs and a slimline optical drive. You can get cases that take full 5.25" drives but they are bigger (Lian-li PC-Q11 or Q08). What size are your drives? The Silverstone SG07/08 can fit 1 x 3.5" and 2 x 2.5" HDDs whereas the Q11 can take 2 x 3.5" and 2 x 2.5" (also it has the 5.25 bay and Lian-li do a very good 5.25 to slimline + 3.5"/2 x 2.5" adapter) and the Q08 can take 4 x 3.5" 1 x 2.5" and has the 5.25" bay as well.

The advantage of the Silverstone cases is that they come with PSUs so you can recoup some money by selling your old PSU.

Also what is the length of the graphics card? If it is longer than 9" then you need to look at the SG07/08 or Lian-li PC-Q08.

The H50 will fit in the SG05 but requires some light modding and you have to move the HDDs around and lose the optical drive. It will fit in the the SG07/08 easily or the PC-Q08.

Also remember you can only have 2 sticks of RAM on an ITX motherboard.

Basically it all comes down to how much you are willing to buy new stuff to get smaller. If you go with the Q08 you would only need to buy the case and motherboard but that case is much bigger than the Silverstones.
 
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Hi Azza,

Some links that might give you more ideas.

My build in the sig doesn't solve your graphics problem but maybe this thread could give you ideas....

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18258853

Also there are external PCI-e enclosures for GPUs but they're not cheap

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/05/11/netstor-external-pcie-caddy-for-notebooks/1

I too have 2 x 2tb drives connected to my HTPC for tmp storage / torrents. Powered via an additional power brick and sit there bare next to the HTPC - The SATA cables are taken from inside the case to the outside directly - If that looks too raw and unsightly, you can purchase a silicon case for the HDDs
 
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bugeyewrx case is amazing, would love something like that! :D


How have you done your extra hard drive Subliminal Aura? Like what's the power brick & connectors etc? I've been toying with the idea of making my own hard drive enclosure for ages.


Thanks for the reply gropingmantis. :)
 
Yeah love bugeyewrx's work ... Will probably use that for a gaming htpc in the future.

With regards to the HDDs what I did was to use an old external usb hdd kit that was laying around doing nothing. I took the power brick for that which has a 4 pin connector and split the 4pin using a y-cable to drive the HDDs. The power brick itself is rated at 30W and so is enough to power both drives.

Disk 1 (torrents/nzb/sickbeard) - spins down if idle for 15 minutes
Disk 2 - Sorted storage from disk 1 - spins down if idle for 2 minutes

I'm in split minds as to whether I should have an external 4/5 bay caddie over eSata as I've got the feeling that I might run into sata port multiplier issues ? Also there is the noise issue.
 
Okay thanks for the info. :)

Any idea if you can get the motherboard mount etc on the cheap from any where? Or at least a template for mini-ITX formfactor? Wouldn't mind having a go at making a similar case to bugeyewrx out of that Dibond stuff.
 
Hi Azza.

The following quote is from Tute as I asked him the same question about the H50 in an SG05.

Tute said:
Right, it's a bit complicated. Best if I take each separately. You have the Corsair H5O, H6O, and the Antec Kuhler H2O-620 as all-in-one watercooling solutions that have a 1" thick radiator. You then have the Corsair H7O, H8O, and the Antec Kuhler H2O-920 as the solutions with the 2" thick radiator. All the pump/CPU blocks should clear the 300/450W PSU fine, and don't seem to interfere with board components in my experience.

All the radiators can be mounted in three different ways.

a) With the rad mounted horizontally in the front of the case. This will allow you to mount an optical drive in the front (you will need to dremel off the HDD bracket) but it will stray into the space for the graphics card, and you will lose the equivalent length of the rad - as you can get away with a total of 10.25" in the SG05, mounting a rad this way will leave you with either 9.25" or 8.25" depending on your choice.

b) Mount the rad vertically. This doesn't interfere with the graphics card choice (you get the full 10.25") but you won't be able to fit an optical drive - the bracket that holds it will NOT fit in the case with this method.

c) Drill holes yourself to mount the rad slightly off-centre. This allows you to get away with both an optical drive and the full 10.25" of graphics card, but it means you will have to drill your lovely new case.

Either way, you will have to lose the HDD mount on the bracket, so I used sticky velcro to mount it to the bottom of the case. It holds it fine.
Click to expand...

I've gone with the standard CPU heatsink (my NT06E wouldn't fit due to the graphics card) and it's fine, but I haven't tried to OC it. The standard heatsink has enabled me to have a slimline DVD drive and a big graphics card.
 
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Thanks for that Gepetto. :)

So you can't have any hard drive in the hard drive bays at all, if you fit one? Reading his other posts it seems like that. :/

I'm not to bothered about the optical drive, I wouldn't mind an external one at all, makes things looks smarter I suppose.
 
Just opened it and had a look. The 2.5" bay will only hold one drive but there is plenty space on the floor of the case between the fan and MB to put another 2,5" drive. Obviously you always have the option of retaining the 3,5" drive as well.

Here's my one, seeing I had the cover off. Theres still room between the GPU and the front, but I did struggle to get it to fit. Please pardon the blue SATA cable. Awaiting round black ones of the perfect length!

052.jpg
 
Azza said:
Okay thanks for the info. :)

Any idea if you can get the motherboard mount etc on the cheap from any where? Or at least a template for mini-ITX formfactor? Wouldn't mind having a go at making a similar case to bugeyewrx out of that Dibond stuff.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by motherboard mount :confused: My build was simple in comparison to bugeyewrx's work - maybe he has the answers you're looking for ;)
 
Didn't get it, silly shop said it was an error in their system. :(


Any way, what £150 card should I get... that'll fit inside a V350 / SG05?
 
Azza said:
Didn't get it, silly shop said it was an error in their system. :(


Any way, what £150 card should I get... that'll fit inside a V350 / SG05?
Click to expand...

You have to tell us what it was now!

I would say go for the 6870 that will fit in the SG05 and is a pretty damn good card. Nice and cool too which is a bonus in tiny cases.

But surely your 460 will fit in the SG05?
 
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