Mini ITX Workhorse

skaif

skaif

skaif

Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2014
Posts
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East of the Middle
OK so my parts arrived during the week and I was itching to get them together! Have now got it all together in its first incarnation. The cable management here is not the best as I am waiting for a modular silverstone psu with short cable set so will tidy it after that!
In all though pretty pleased with it!
Running windows 8.1 pro with the h80i caused some issues but they were resolved after a regedit tweak and an update to the latest firmware.
System is idling around 27 degrees after being on for 15 hours+ which I think is pretty good right?!
The installation itself was a small challenge, the radiator and fans (push > pull) were a squeeze and the psu comes down on the pipes a bit but nothing too major (I have tried to show in pics). I decided to leave the small 80mm fan in just for some extra air flow and mounted the cpu so that it was taking in the air from the case and expelling it out the back. Will monitor this and see how it gets on!
Really impressed with the z97i-plus. So much tech on such a tiny board!! Still undecided on getting a GFX card and an ODD...will see if the need arises!
Anyway, specs and pics :)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130
MoBo: Asus Z97i-Plus
Cooler: H80i
Processor: Intel 4790k
RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 2400mhz 16gb RAM
HDD: WD 6TB Green
SSD: MX100 SSD 256GB
PSU: Fractal 500w for now (Silverstone modular short cable coming!)

Thanks for looking guys
(Apologies for the quality of some of the pics, was a little excited!)
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Haha, yeah a real kick donkey system please!
In terms of video editing, its going to make basic video tutorials etc most probable using movie maker or something along those lines, nothing too fancy so again, not sure if a card would be worth it...
 
wow thanks for that spec! Looks awesome, that case?! It looks tiny! Can you even get all that to fit in?! lol
GFX card thrown in as well...hmmm think I may have to invest in one afterall...
 
Well I am a teacher by trade so its going to be setting up basic development environments, creating resources (video resources as well) and general work stuff!
 
just wanted to ask as well, considering that my usage is no gaming and just basic video editing and general work. If I was to add a 3rd monitor (another P2414h) what would be the best gfx card at the lowest price point? As far as I am aware, the mobo can support 3 displays which is a major reason for getting it. Would it suffice at 1080 or would I need an external card?
Thanks again
 
Oh Cool! Just what I needed! I don't mind allocating all the 512mb to it if it works! Can you or anyone shed any light on what daisy chaining is? My monitors support DP 1.2a which I think should be compatible?
Ok i have read what daisy chaining is, connecting the monitors to one another? Has anyone got experience of this. Does it work well in practice?
 
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Ok so I ordered the first parts for my build today!
Thanks for all the suggestions, I wanted a small case but one that is easy to work in and comes highly recommended! Also one that supports water cooling.
Here's what I went with,
Elite 130
Asus z97i-plus
4790k
HyperX Beast 2400mhz 16gb RAM
MX100 SSD 256GB
6tb WD Green
H80i water cooler
Fractal PSU - I will probably look into replacing this for a modular one with shorter cables as mentioned above but have it lying around for now so I'll use it
Still undecided on the gfx card!
Don't really need a optical drive but out of interest, what's the best bang for buck?
Thanks again
 
so my parts have arrived! I'm thinking to do a build thread as its the first time I have built a machine completely from scratch. I will update the first post with pics rather than starting a new thread :)
 
Ok trying to put pics in the first post, whats the best way? If I embed them it goes crazy big!

Aso, can anyone point me in the direction of an overclocking guide? Would love to learn about all this stuff but not really sure where to start!
Thanks
 
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Just in case anyone is checking this thread, I had a little dabble in the overclocking world and this is what I came up with so far...



Temps were hovering around the 80's before I figured out how to control the fans on the h80i!
After setting them to performance, temps then came down to around ~70 degrees on a ~15 minute run. Pretty pleased with that to be honest considering this morning I hadn't a clue!
All I did to achieve this was to set the multiplier to 46 and the vcore to 1.199 with a .050 offset. This resulted in a max vCore of 1.273. Is there anyone who can look at these numbers and tell me if im safe?
Thanks again
 
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McGraw said:
You're safe.

Easily.
Click to expand...

Hey McGraw, thanks for the input, good to know its all good!
The fans on full can get really loud so I kept it all on quiet mode and temps didn't waver around too much. Upped the multiplier to 47 and the temps reached a peak of 88 on one of the cores with everything else the same.

I am pretty pleased with it overall to be honest and I think it will do me just fine! In the future I may see how far I can push it. Will wait for my PSU to come first and maybe try and use the 80mm fan as an exhaust.

Just out of interest, if you dont mind me asking, I see you also have a 4790k, what have you set it to?
 
Ah thats fair enough, I'm thinking to keep a hold of this rig for a good few years so may dial back the multiplier and volts to prolong its life!
I think I may swap out the fans on the h80i as even on quiet it can get annoying! Would you recommend the corsair ones? Having a browse on the net to see which are the quietest 120mm fans atm...
 
Ok cool I was looking into those... Also seen some cougar fans and noctua fans which come highly recommended. Will stick with it for now tho. Thanks again
 
Some more pics of the new PSU and a little cable tidy! Have a 2 into 1 splitter coming in to sort the fan cables from the h80i. I detest corsair link so will not use it as fan expert with asus is so much better! PSU is also a little rattly and may have to get another. Lots of space for a GPU so may go with a Strix 970 if it can come down in price a bit!
Anyways, enjoy
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Yes as far as I'm aware as there is an adapter that screws onto the PSU and that then attaches to the case itself. Don't think a PSU will stay without the bracket
 
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