Time for an overdue update.
Things did not go so well with the DFI rig. I decided to build it as I wanted it out of the way before my wedding and had a couple of accidents. Firstly the cooler did fit, so that was nice. I had ordered a 8 pin PCIE - 2 8 pin PCIE and braided it. This turned out to be in the wrong packet and wasn't actually a 8 pin PCIE but a 8 pin EPS.
I was given an immediate refund and sent a replacement as a gesture but I just don't have the patience at the moment to redo it. It wasn't just a braid job, the plugs were replaced with yellow ones so they will also need to be fully removed, ugh.
Also, when fitting the GPU it snagged somewhere and I tore off a piece of the cover carbon so that needs to be replaced. A real pig if I'm honest, and the chip refuses to overclock at all, the rig fails to post, then gives me a warning about a bad overclock. Nightmare.
So any way, I decided to go back to X8 and update it a little. When I built X8 it was mostly built from womble parts and thus wasn't overly fantastic when it came to fit and finish. I did my best on a £18 case but obviously there were short comings. I don't regret it though, because had the OS installation failed I would have been left with a Windows rig I simply did not need nor want.
So, I decided to buy a new case for X8 because it had nowhere to install a 3.5" drive (for some reason the hot swap bay part refused to show any drives) and I wanted to install some serious storage, now that it was my daily rig.
So the hardware I chose was as follows. First up, a Silverstone Raven RV05. I got this for £81. It's small, compact, neat, and offers absolutely sublime cooling. Here it is here.
And a shot of the internals.
OK. So the main thing that I hated about X8 was the noise the 60mm fan made on the cooler. This was another womble part, as was the cooler itself, so it cost me nothing. It was more than up to the job with the hottest of 8 cores only reaching a paltry 53c but the noise did get quite unbearable at times. It made the most horrid whirring sound. So, I decided to replace it with a liquid cooler as I could tune this down to silence. Overkill? totally, but it would allow for great temps with absolutely no noise. Come in the H55, @ £29 inc refurb. I also like the mount on this with 2011, it's painfully easy to build and install.
And then for the fans. I chose Noiseblocker Bionic fans that run at a mere 800 RPM. I could probably even run the loop passive, but I wanted these for their quietness and the gorgeous look of them.
Quite expensive at £29 inc for a pair, but still cheaper than anywhere else I could find them
OK, so on with the rebuild. First up I stripped X8 and in my infinite wisdom decided to de-badge and de-sticker the parts.
Amazing just how much crap I had managed to shoe horn into that tiny little case !
Remove the old cooler.
And fit the H55 and two fans in push-pull
In went that and the board.
And the GPU (apologies for the flash, it was awfully dark yesterday !)
Man, that Quadro is a fine looking card..
It took me two days in all to rebuild the rig, but here are the final shots. I decided to keep the Intel panel as a PSU cover as I don't really like the XFX. It's quite ugly.
With the window fitted.
And finished, with the removable top on
And, a mini review for those considering this case.....
Pros.
For an ATX case it's incredibly compact. It literally wraps itself around your components.
It's nicely made and the internals are super solid.
The cooling is pretty much about as good as it gets. There are two 180mm Air Penetrators fitted in the floor which push the air upwards and out. So basically it's a wind tunnel.
If you can get it together it's incredibly neat.
You can fit a 120mm water cooler if you wish.
The white LED light on the front looks absolutely lovely.
Every fan has a removable filter and you don't need to take the case apart to remove and wash them.
Fan controller works very well.
Cons.
God, where do I start? DO NOT try building this case with a non modular PSU. I have had to cut off a SATA and MOLEX run just to get the cables squashed in to get the side on, and how the side ever fitted on is a mystery.
It's very, very small. Probably about the smallest full ATX case I've ever seen. This can be good and bad, but the bad is you're constantly smashing your knuckles trying to work in it.
The rear air filter for the PSU is magnetic and IMO a bit of an afterthought. I have seen reviews where it wasn't included so I guess Silverstone forgot.
No air filter for the top, meaning when you shut it down dust can fall in. I will have to make one with some netting.
The plastic finish looks OK, but, would have been incredible had Silverstone used that soft touch stuff (though admittedly that stuff does smear with dust and looks a bit nasty.
Cable management is for experts only. If you take this case on with little experience it will bite you on the ass. You need lots of cable ties and lots of patience, and, don't be surprised when you are cutting them all loose again to revamp the layout. It seriously is an absolute nightmare.
The fans are connected up in a very strange fashion. Basically they run to the front for the fan controller. It's incredibly easy to accidentally disconnect one, then, a crapshoot to get it back in the right way and get all of the fans running.
I had a fan wire snap off and had to break out the solder iron, so an amateur would be setting up an RMA right about now...
Edit on the cons.
I didn't realise that the optical laptop bay was removable, so I wired around it. Removing this would drastically improve the cable management but, hinder it even more should you decide to fit a drive. I recommend against using a non modular PSU in this case however...
Things did not go so well with the DFI rig. I decided to build it as I wanted it out of the way before my wedding and had a couple of accidents. Firstly the cooler did fit, so that was nice. I had ordered a 8 pin PCIE - 2 8 pin PCIE and braided it. This turned out to be in the wrong packet and wasn't actually a 8 pin PCIE but a 8 pin EPS.
I was given an immediate refund and sent a replacement as a gesture but I just don't have the patience at the moment to redo it. It wasn't just a braid job, the plugs were replaced with yellow ones so they will also need to be fully removed, ugh.
Also, when fitting the GPU it snagged somewhere and I tore off a piece of the cover carbon so that needs to be replaced. A real pig if I'm honest, and the chip refuses to overclock at all, the rig fails to post, then gives me a warning about a bad overclock. Nightmare.
So any way, I decided to go back to X8 and update it a little. When I built X8 it was mostly built from womble parts and thus wasn't overly fantastic when it came to fit and finish. I did my best on a £18 case but obviously there were short comings. I don't regret it though, because had the OS installation failed I would have been left with a Windows rig I simply did not need nor want.
So, I decided to buy a new case for X8 because it had nowhere to install a 3.5" drive (for some reason the hot swap bay part refused to show any drives) and I wanted to install some serious storage, now that it was my daily rig.
So the hardware I chose was as follows. First up, a Silverstone Raven RV05. I got this for £81. It's small, compact, neat, and offers absolutely sublime cooling. Here it is here.
And a shot of the internals.
OK. So the main thing that I hated about X8 was the noise the 60mm fan made on the cooler. This was another womble part, as was the cooler itself, so it cost me nothing. It was more than up to the job with the hottest of 8 cores only reaching a paltry 53c but the noise did get quite unbearable at times. It made the most horrid whirring sound. So, I decided to replace it with a liquid cooler as I could tune this down to silence. Overkill? totally, but it would allow for great temps with absolutely no noise. Come in the H55, @ £29 inc refurb. I also like the mount on this with 2011, it's painfully easy to build and install.
And then for the fans. I chose Noiseblocker Bionic fans that run at a mere 800 RPM. I could probably even run the loop passive, but I wanted these for their quietness and the gorgeous look of them.
Quite expensive at £29 inc for a pair, but still cheaper than anywhere else I could find them
OK, so on with the rebuild. First up I stripped X8 and in my infinite wisdom decided to de-badge and de-sticker the parts.
Amazing just how much crap I had managed to shoe horn into that tiny little case !
Remove the old cooler.
And fit the H55 and two fans in push-pull
In went that and the board.
And the GPU (apologies for the flash, it was awfully dark yesterday !)
Man, that Quadro is a fine looking card..
It took me two days in all to rebuild the rig, but here are the final shots. I decided to keep the Intel panel as a PSU cover as I don't really like the XFX. It's quite ugly.
With the window fitted.
And finished, with the removable top on
And, a mini review for those considering this case.....
Pros.
For an ATX case it's incredibly compact. It literally wraps itself around your components.
It's nicely made and the internals are super solid.
The cooling is pretty much about as good as it gets. There are two 180mm Air Penetrators fitted in the floor which push the air upwards and out. So basically it's a wind tunnel.
If you can get it together it's incredibly neat.
You can fit a 120mm water cooler if you wish.
The white LED light on the front looks absolutely lovely.
Every fan has a removable filter and you don't need to take the case apart to remove and wash them.
Fan controller works very well.
Cons.
God, where do I start? DO NOT try building this case with a non modular PSU. I have had to cut off a SATA and MOLEX run just to get the cables squashed in to get the side on, and how the side ever fitted on is a mystery.
It's very, very small. Probably about the smallest full ATX case I've ever seen. This can be good and bad, but the bad is you're constantly smashing your knuckles trying to work in it.
The rear air filter for the PSU is magnetic and IMO a bit of an afterthought. I have seen reviews where it wasn't included so I guess Silverstone forgot.
No air filter for the top, meaning when you shut it down dust can fall in. I will have to make one with some netting.
The plastic finish looks OK, but, would have been incredible had Silverstone used that soft touch stuff (though admittedly that stuff does smear with dust and looks a bit nasty.
Cable management is for experts only. If you take this case on with little experience it will bite you on the ass. You need lots of cable ties and lots of patience, and, don't be surprised when you are cutting them all loose again to revamp the layout. It seriously is an absolute nightmare.
The fans are connected up in a very strange fashion. Basically they run to the front for the fan controller. It's incredibly easy to accidentally disconnect one, then, a crapshoot to get it back in the right way and get all of the fans running.
I had a fan wire snap off and had to break out the solder iron, so an amateur would be setting up an RMA right about now...
Edit on the cons.
I didn't realise that the optical laptop bay was removable, so I wired around it. Removing this would drastically improve the cable management but, hinder it even more should you decide to fit a drive. I recommend against using a non modular PSU in this case however...
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