My Mini-ITX Gaming Build

Black Hat · 12 May 2009 at 11:16

gt_junkie said:
Looks like barrel distortion from the lens. It was taken with a K850i so if that's anything like my W810i it'll suffer a bit.

TBH my hoojum looked the same when i photographed it up close.

gt

Cant beat the K850i :rolleyes:

gt_junkie · 12 May 2009 at 12:18

Black Hat said:
Cant beat the K850i

I know!

Thanks for the pics though - nice to see the build progress! Really interested to see how you get on with the 9600gt. Should be ace!

gt

McPhee · 14 May 2009 at 17:37

Very nice setup

I was wanting to go for something similar (with the Nexus Psile case) until i chickened out and bought a SG05

Black Hat · 18 May 2009 at 18:30

Small update, my old trusty 120gb 5400.2 died today so i went down to my local computer shop and got a Seagate 7200.12 500gb

, did some cable management at the same time and also did a benchy of the new drive. Unfortunately there's a downside to its speed and that is it takes up a lot more space and i cant fit a big cooler in there so instead i bought a new case fan.

Infernum · 18 May 2009 at 19:07

Awesome! How much does it cost to do a mini itx build? They look like fun! I'd never use it tho...

Pulse · 18 May 2009 at 20:02

Just looked at one myself with the SG05B, E5200, OcUK 4GB ram, the Zotac 630i-ITX mobo and WD Black 500GB, it came to £295.

Mr Kingston · 19 May 2009 at 01:03

wow thats 1 nice build black hat, what gfx u gonna put in it ?, i was also looking for a nice stylish case like that, shame they dont make them anymore

Black Hat · 29 May 2009 at 20:36

Graphics card arriving next week - watch this space.

Black Hat · 9 Jun 2009 at 13:14

Thread update, so i bought a 9600GT and turns out Zotac have been lazy and just swapped the core from the old 9600GT meaning its a 9" card and with my case being just ove 8" theres no way it was going to fit, so after finding 0 specs on the net for the Zotac 9800GT Eco i decided to order one off a picture i saw, turns out my gamble paid off and its the correct size for the cas. I just didnt plan on running a 9800 so i think im going to have to rethink my power supply.

Pic of the card:

Finnished build pics to follow later when i get home, quad will be ordered shortly.

Does anyone have any suggestions for CPU cooling?

gt_junkie · 9 Jun 2009 at 14:09

Is the CPU cooler presently causing problems?

I'd possibly place the power connector on the underside of the HDD tray and move the whole tray up by one slot if you are able. This should allow for better airflow over the CPU cooler.

GPU looks great - hopefully the PSU will manage. Going by wattage alone i'd say it should just work - i'd worry a touch about what amp rating the 12v rail has.

gt

Black Hat · 9 Jun 2009 at 14:30

gt_junkie said:
Is the CPU cooler presently causing problems?

I'd possibly place the power connector on the underside of the HDD tray and move the whole tray up by one slot if you are able. This should allow for better airflow over the CPU cooler.

GPU looks great - hopefully the PSU will manage. Going by wattage alone i'd say it should just work - i'd worry a touch about what amp rating the 12v rail has.

gt

Yeah currently seing temps of 80 load on my Xeon with that stock cooler, i have recently changed the hard drive to a 3.5" one and moved it up one slot to allow better airflow, the case fan is 27cfm apparently which i think should be plenty for the cooling as it draws fresh air in through the cubit logo on the front.

Yes the power supply is abit concerning but i will be underclocking the cu a lot before stress testing just to make sure, ive also recently added a 60mm fan over the power supply and ram to keep everything cool as they are put under heavy load, we will se later.

misterPK · 10 Jun 2009 at 09:38

It might be an expensive option, but a laptop hard drive really would give you some more space. Could you flip the hard drive plate upside down so the drive is hanging from it instead?

And you could always get the dremel out to add some vents to the front and/or sides...

PK!

Black Hat · 18 Jun 2009 at 19:20

Bit of an update, the 9800 used far to much power so ive had to use a 9500GT insted maing my total load 112w, so muhc for the 9800 being "eco" ended up making my system draw 175w, build is satying as it is for the time being due to some unexpected outgoings.

steveo · 22 Jun 2009 at 11:09

is the Zotac 9300ITX capable of playing blu rays via the hdmi at 1080p :confused:

Black Hat · 22 Jun 2009 at 11:11

steveo said:
is the Zotac 9300ITX capable of playing blu rays via the hdmi at 1080p

Yep the onboard more than copes with 1080p

mcwildcard · 22 Jun 2009 at 12:01

Black Hat said:
Yep the onboard more than copes with 1080p

Did you get your HyperX ram running at CAS4 in the end?

Black Hat · 22 Jun 2009 at 12:02

mcwildcard said:
Did you get your HyperX ram running at CAS4 in the end?

Sorry forgot about your thread, i havent had chance to try it out yet i will give it ago later tonight when im home

Black Hat · 23 Jun 2009 at 22:29

mcwildcard said:
Did you get your HyperX ram running at CAS4 in the end?

It does indeed run at 4-4-4-12 now

mcwildcard · 24 Jun 2009 at 00:06

Ooh Super, thanks for testing it out for me, looks like I'll be investing in some of that Kingston HyperX then!

Black Hat · 24 Jun 2009 at 17:03

mcwildcard said:
Ooh Super, thanks for testing it out for me, looks like I'll be investing in some of that Kingston HyperX then!

No worries its definatly good ram and the lifetime warrenty is appealing but i will warn you its bloody hot.

Small update to the build:

The current Pico psu im using is of low quality and emiting a high pitched squel during games so after further investigation i have a proper FSP DC - DC board on the way that should cope much better.