My first SFF build

[DreXeL]

I decided that my watercooled Q9550 rig was big, ugly, and not needed seeing as I don't game any more, so I decided to build a SFF system to replace it. Having said that, being based around an i5 760 it is actually a bit of an upgrade in the CPU department.

Anyway, specs for now are:

- Gigabyte H55N-USB3
- Core i5 760
- 4gb OCZ Gold DDR3
- ATI HD4350, just a cheapo card to get me going. May upgrade this to a proper card at some point, but as I don't game on my PC any more I may just stick with it.
- Samsung SN-T083C Slimline Slot-loading DVD/RW (not installed yet, still waiting on it's arrival).

I have recycled my 3.5" HDD for now, but will be getting an SSD before long.

Some pics of the build:

Loving it so far, I have mildly o/c the CPU by running the base-clock at 152mhz, I've left turbo enabled so get 3.6-3.8gz under load. Stable so far, but load temps are a bit toasty so will invest in some better cooling.

It's a lovely little system though, very pleased

 

[DreXeL]

Looks a nice build - not too cramped

What sort of temps?

Idles nice and cool, around 35-40c across all four cores (I have speedstep enabled), but under load (running LinX) it gets up to around 85c across all four cores. The stock cooler isn't brilliant, so I'll be upgrading it asap.

 

[DreXeL]

Nice build. What CPU Heatsink are you thinking of buying? Also, is the PC noisey on the desk?

Not sure yet, I am thinking of sqeezing a H50 in there. It's not noisy at all really, the loudest thing is my ancient HDD, fans are almost inaudible.

 

[DreXeL]

SSD will cure that

Indeedy, will definitely be getting one in a couple of weeks

 

[DreXeL]

I would love a system like that, are there mITX boards that game without any probs.?

Any of the s1156 boards will game no probs

 

[DreXeL]

^^ That is awesome

What PSU are you using?

 

[DreXeL]

A couple of new toys arrived yesterday:

Corsair H50 and 60gb OCZ Vertex 2E SSD.

I stripped the machine down and installed the rad/fan:

Re-installed the motherboard, then installed the cooler:

With the rad/fan in place the standard 2.5" drive cage fouled the rad, so I removed it. Of course, this left me with nowhere to mount the SSD. In the end I used sticky pads and stuck it to the bottom of the case in front of the mobo:

Everything installed:

As you can see, cable management needs to be addressed, but I've tried to keep it all over to one side of the case so none of the cables are disrupting airflow.

Hugely impressed so far, in fact I'd go as far to say the SSD is the single most impressive upgrade I've ever made, it's amazing. The H50 is working a treat too, idle temps are 30-34c across all 4 cores, load temps haven't gone above 65c

 

[DreXeL]

Not sure, the case will take up to a 9" card and the edge of the rad just about lines up with the edge of the pci-e slot, so it *should* still fit.

 

[DreXeL]

That's a great idea

 

[DreXeL]

No probs, here it is with a DVD:

 

[DreXeL]

Little update, despite earlier saying that I wont be needing a decent GPU, I have changed my mind and will soon be installing a GTX460 (or possibly one of the ATI 6xxx cards if I can wait), so I decided to upgrade the PSU to a 450w Silverstone ST45SF item. Whilst I had the machine apart I realised that the H50's rad would actually foul a GFX card longer than around 7". This was easily solved by swapping the fan to the other side of the rad so it operates in 'pull' configuration, I then screwed the rad directly to the chassis thus:

There is now just under 8.5" to the back of the rad, so an 8" card should fit without a problem, and running in pull configuration hasn't effected temps at all, in fact they are couple of degrees cooler if anything

 

[DreXeL]

Does the H5O completely remove any chance of fitting a slot loading drive in as well?

It doesn't effect the slimline drive bay at all if you mount the rad sideways like I have done. I have a samsung slot-loading drive in mine, you can see it in the DVD comparison shots a few posts up

 

[DreXeL]

So what about the bracket that holds the ODD in place?

What about it?

The bracket fits back in it's original place (I hadn't yet re-fitted it in the pic above), but you have to remove the HDD cage from underneath it. The optical drive bracket/plate itself is unaffected by the rad.

 

[DreXeL]

You are correct, I had to dremel the rivets out.

 

[DreXeL]

Do you think it would be possible to squeeze another 2.5 inch hdd in there somewhere?

Yeah, you could stick it to the side/back of the PSU.

 

[DreXeL]

Hows the temps drexel?

25-35c idle, 55-65c under heavy load (LinX). That's with the i5 760 at 3.4ghz (stock volts) with speedstep and turbo enabled (hits 3.87ghz in single threaded apps).

I'll soon be installing a GTX 460 1gb too

 

[DreXeL]

Another new toy:

I took a risk with this card as I measured that it would *just* fit, but wasn't sure I'd be able to get the PCI-E power connectors in.

Card unboxed, it's a great looking card:

Luckily, it just about went in. As predicted, the PCI-E connectors were tight, but I was just about able to fit them in:

Case back on:

First impressions are great card, virtually silent. Just need to put it through it's paces now

 

[DreXeL]

I have almost the exact same build after reading this drexel!

I will be following you an getting a h50 and a 260 in there, do you know if the cyclone version would be much better than that card? As in temps/noise?

Have you experemented replacing the stock H50 with something else?

Did the GFX increase temps much? What are they like now?

thanks

Can't comment weather the Cyclone would be cooler/quieter but TBH the Gigabyte runs virtually silently, and nice and cool. You can just hear it under load, but the loudest thing in my case is the H50 fan. It's almost silent most of the time, but it does get relatively loud when the CPU is under load and the fan ramps up. It's not massively loud or unpleasant, just a kind of 'wind' rushing noise under load. If you want total silence all the time then you might want to run a different fan on the H50.

 

[DreXeL]

Bit of an update, I've been getting frustrated with the over-current protection kicking in and not allowing an overclock much higher than 3.6, a bit of research shows that these boards can trip the OCP when overclocking with LLC enabled. So I disabled it, and started my OC from scratch and the result so far is 4.0ghz

As you can see I have also overclocked the 460 to 800 core and 2000 mem. So far so good. Ran through cinebench and vantage a few times, and have been playing Crysis (maxed out ) for the last hour and a half and it's been flawless, seems stable and temps are good. The GPU fans and H50 fan can get a little noisy under load, but nothing too bad. Loving this little system

 

[DreXeL]

Hi,

When you say the system gets a little noisy, just how bad is it?

Basically I have smart fan control enabled in the bios, so when the CPU is idle/light usage the fan on the H50 is almost silent, however when under load the fan ramps up and there is an audible 'whooshing' sound. It's not particularly loud or offensive, but it's not exactly silent. The same goes for the fans on the GTX 460, they are almost silent when idle and light load, but after a bit of gaming they become audible with a similar (but slightly higher pitched) 'whooshing' sound.

On the whole though it's a very quiet system most of the time, and bear in mind that I'm using a Corsair H50 with the fan that came with it, the stock SG05B intake fan is virtually silent.