Mini ITX Gaming System

[Janesy B]

Crap build name I know I want as much power in as little space as possible so I have opted to base my build around a Silverstone SG05.



Purchased so far:

Silverstone Sugo SG05 450w

256GB Crucial M4 SSD

Corsair Hydro H60

I plan to complete using the following components:

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz
Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz

Any comments or help completing the rest of the spec before I build would be appreciated

 

[Janesy B]

I could have gotten away with 300 but I'm not feeling that brave.

 

[Janesy B]

Aren't they noisier?

 

[Janesy B]

Okay so I'm almost done:



Just need some thermal compound and little odds and ends, I can use the integrated graphics for now.

 

[Janesy B]

Made some progress today, I will reverse the rad and cooler and try the rad on it's side to see if I can clear the ram and use the proper HDD mounts, failing that I will have to velcro/sticky the HDDs to the bottom of the case.

 

[Janesy B]

After trying the rad on it's side, I soon realised it would foul on the pcb for the front of the case. I'm struggling to get my head round fitting a 3.5 inch drive along with an SSD when I have to scrap the bays to make room for the piping. Think I'm going to have to go for air cooling...

*edit, after a bit of research I'll be going for a Scythe Shuriken Rev.B, once that has arrived I can progress.

 

[Janesy B]

So after fitting the Shuriken, I had to tear everything apart again due to a shrieking capacitor on the Asus motherboard. I had to rebuild with an ASRock Z77E-ITX however now the heatpipes of the cooler protrude over the PCI-E slot! ATM running with a stock intel cooler which is coping at present however it's likely I'll swap to a Prolimatech Samuel 17 with a slip stream slim fan in the near future. More pics to follow.

 

[Janesy B]

Handles Far Cry 3 easily, hitting 60 FPS on high settings. Load temps at the moment with the stock cooler are ~ 60°C which isn't a problem at the moment but when it gets hot I can see it being a big problem.

I am going to take some time and work out a better solution so I can have something like a Antec Kúhler H2O 620 with a 3.5" drive mounted, failing that I will just have to get a caddy and have the storage drive outside and mount the SSD wherever. Dust is also a problem, I've ordered some fan filters to plug up the gaping holes in the case.

 

[Janesy B]

Greta thing about modern chips is that even if load temps are high they cool down so quickly but still, they can handle it so it's all good all things considered

Indeed, as soon as load drops off the temps drop dramatically as well as fan noise.

Nice, but what's the air flow like in there?

I have not got the patience for a build inside such a small case.

It's not the best, system temps are about 8C above ambient temp, it's aided by lots of ventilation at the rear however I wouldn't think about overclocking on air in this case. The Corsair H60 did fit but I did run out of patience with it and sold it on.

Whats total price tag for that build jansey?

About £850, if you can afford the extra space I'd go with a bitfenix prodigy - the build quality on the SG05 is below par however I can put up with it because of the limited space I have.

**edit** that amount includes a 2TB WD Red drive, don't think I mentioned it in the thread.

 

[Janesy B]

Temps after about 30 mins of general use, room is about 20C ATM.

 

[Janesy B]

Not sure really, wasn't too concerned about GPU temp. I'd rather check using the MSI utilities.

 

[Janesy B]

I've found HW monitor reliable for all my kit, so I don;t see any reason to doubt it.

Love the compact build. Those are VERY good temps, especially when you read about the horror stories of ivybridge and the thermal compound.

Please - how do the Asus m-itx boards overclock?

I should update the OP really, I had to replace the Asus board because of cap squeal and I now have an ASRock Z77E-ITX board - the downside being I'm stuck the stock cooler until I work out a better solution using something like a antec kuhler 620. ATM it's looking like I'll have to remove the front panel mesh and place the fan on the front of the case like this:



Then mount the rad where the 120mm fan is, that way I can keep all my drive bays intact if I mount the rad longways. I'll also see if I can get an 92/80mm fan inside and have a push/pull setup so I can overclock.

The Thermalright AXP-100 will be available soon however I can't see any type of air cooler being effective - especially when fighting the PSU fan. I've tried mounting the PSU upside down and the cables end up in an awkward position and swapping the fan around will just mean I'm blowing hot air from the PSU onto the CPU cooler.

 

[Janesy B]

Got a load of these cheap:



Took the material out and covered the openings in the case



Hopefully this will stop the dust from getting in, temps up by a degree or so but better than everything getting caked in dust.

Some more pics of the inside, plenty of room really!

 

[Janesy B]

*Update*

Dust filters a waste of time, increased system temps so ripped them out.

SSD had failed so I used this as a chance to rebuild and change a couple of things.

Stock cooler replaced with a Thermalright AXP-100 - a perfect fit for this board and case. Performs much better than the stock cooler and does not foul the PCI-E slot.





Got the cable management a little bit better.



Replaced the stock fan with a Xilence XPF120R Red Wing, removed the stock dust guard too.

 

[Janesy B]

Be sure to make a thread and stick some pics up!