N00b mITX Gamer build

GJM

GJM

GJM

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Joined
31 Oct 2011
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216
Location
Cheshire
A big box arrived for me yesterday.

It containted this lot!

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Silverstone SG05 B 450w
Zotac Z68 WiFi
i5 2500k
Shuriken Scythe Rev. B
Zotac GTX 560ti '448'
8 GB ram
1 TB Seagate Barracuda
60 GB OCZ SSD
Slim Blu-Ray drive
Iilyama Prolite PLE2473HDS 24" Monitor
Windows 7
BF3

Very excited! :D

So the story.

I'm a PC gamer from 3-4 years ago. Current rig is getting on for 6 years old now and when I saw the first shots of BF3, i knew i needed a new rig!

But I wanted to do something a little different. From a few years ago I remember seeing cool mITX builds. Small, neat builds but with as much punch as full ATX rigs.

I knew I wanted one.

So from about August I started researching ITX gaming builds.
The thing with these us you cannot just buy a load of components and hope they will fit. In a SFF build you really need to do your research to make sure everyting will fit.
Will your heatsink block your PCI x16 and RAM?
Will your chosen GPU fit in the case?
Will your chosen case cool your intended build?
etc etc etc etc

So after months of procrastination I finaly decided on a build.

And here it is!

I should point out I've been out of the PC / building ring for some years now and so im a little rusty to say the least. So this could be.... interesting!

Anyhow heres some photos...

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I wanted a powerful rig but as small as possible, hence the Silverstone SG05B 450w case.

I looked into mATX but decided that for a supposed SFF, the cases were huge! The thought the same with other mITX cases.

Eventualy found the SG05. The smallest case that still fits 9-10" GPU. Its literaly only as big as it needs to be. Also seems to be a big following for these little power houses.

This model has painted innards and a 450w PSU. More than enough to power what I want.

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Its tiny!

So to the mobo.

Wanted the build to last me 3-4 years if not more. So a Z68 board to OC seemed sensible. I also rely on WiFi. Currently using a wifi dongle on current rig. Wanted to keep this rig neat with mininal wires hanging around so Zotac's Z68 with inbuilt WiFi seemed ideal.

i5 2500k seems best bang for buck currently so that was an easy choice.

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CPU cooler was more of an issue.

Needs to be small to fit the case. And its dimensions were also critical in order to not block / cover to PCI slot and RAM. After a LOT of searching around I found several sources which indicated the Shuriken Scythe Rev. B might fit the board and allow for GPU although I was ready to do some modification if needed.

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Its a little tight against to GPU but should just clear it.

On Zotac's own youtube build vid they use some foam wedged between the Rev. B and their GPU :p So might end up doing that.

More later!
 
I do love those SG05s. As much as I love having a big case under the desk (or a Skeleton if I could get one), I find the idea of a neat little box very appealing.

I can't wait to see how you get on with this. Are you going to run the 2500K at stock or try and get some oc'ing done?
 
I dont intend on OCing just yet. Need to make sure temps are stable as standard before kicking it up a notch.

Been at it most of the day. As i say im very rusty so going by the ethos of 'measure twice, cut once' and making sure its all right.

Tried the 448 for size.

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Its very, very close to the heatsink. In fact it touches, but i feel happy putting a little tab of foam between where the card just touches the heatsink.

Started stripping down the SG05.

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The space I have to play with....is limited.

Seriously fiddly business this. I had heard ITX builds can take a bit of planning and many dry runs. I can see why. Putting cables and components into the case in the right order is trying.

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Now came the chance to start unboxing gadgets of lovliness :)

OCZ Vertex 2 60GB

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I think the box may have cost more than the SSD itself!

Nicely packaged, quality feel to it. Whether the product itself is up to the standards of the packaging is another matter!

When i started to look into PCs again last summer I had no idea what an SSD was, totaly passed me by in the last few years away from PC gaming.

Liked the idea of having OS on a nice quick SSD so went for it.

Started to get ready for a dry run. Mobo in place but everything else attached outside the size. I just wanted to get into the BIOs and check the temps as fitting the heatsink in the first place was a bit of a faff.

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Also hooked up new Sony Blu-Ray slim drive, ready for Win7.

Fitting all the power cables and front header gumph to the board was challenging. Very fiddly in such a tight space.


Now... what do i need next..... AH!

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Iilyama Prolite PLE2473HDS 24" Monitor will do just nicely.

Wanted to really show off games and HD movies so a 24" was called for me thinks.

Seems nice at a first glance. A 'budget' TN monitor but gets good reviews. 2x HDMI, 1x DVI, inbuilt speakers for hooking up a PS3 to it one day.

Stand is a bit wobbly and not very robust, but the picture is great. More on that later.

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Heres where we are up to currently!

I hooked SSD and BluRay up and started her up.

Booted into BIOs fine, thank god.

I was however worried by the temps shown. Started off at 20'c and rocketed to a steady 58'c. :(

A quick search on Google suggested that the BIOs runs the CPU very hard and does not allow for low power idle (or something) so it will read higher than it actualy is. This was confirmed by people who had this problem that then installed Windows and found idle temps to be 20-30'c.

So i stuck in my new fresh Win7 CD and installed on the OCZ.

It was finished in no time and was pleased to see that the Zotacs Z68 WiFi function was working like a charm and had picked up my network.

Installed RealTemp and CoreTemp to find it idling at around 26'c

YAAAAY!!!!

Was worried I cocked up the heatsink install for a moment but it seems ok. However, will have to try under load of course.... and with all the other components and casing attached...
 
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Lovely build so far. I can't wait to see what temps you get when everything is fitted. getting all those cables placed neatly out the way looks like a challenge in cable management.

A friend of mine picked up the 27" version of that monitor just before Christmas and BF3 looked fantastic on it. Much better black levels and shadow definition than my aging Samsung 20". I would be very happy with the 24" on my desk :)
 
Thanks for the interest guys :)

A friend of mine picked up the 27" version of that monitor just before Christmas and BF3 looked fantastic on it. Much better black levels and shadow definition than my aging Samsung 20". I would be very happy with the 24" on my desk
Click to expand...

Am very much looking forward to trying BF3 on it. So far the impression is great, nice looking monitor with geat colours. For the price im please with the buy.

Nice one, how much did this cost you all together if you don't mind me asking
Click to expand...

My original budget was between £600-800.

Suffice to say I blew this out of the water :D But I think its a better rig for it. Proof is in the puddin and all that. I got my heart set on the SG05 and Z68. Then you start looking into GPUs and things soon get carried away :eek: Went from ati 6850 - 560ti 1 gb - 560ti 2 gb - 560ti 448 ;)


Anyhow!

Not a lot done today, New Years Eve and all that.

Couple of things I've managed to do.

Unwrapped Seagate Barracuda 1TB. Wanted to put all my music, vids, pics etc from my two old 116 GB and 120GB IDE drives in current / old computer.

I introduce - the ancient rig!

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Brain transplant

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EEK look at that dust!

It also took 5 hours to format in XP...

So, now I have the HDD sorted all i need to try is the 448.

But before that I wanted to do a temp stress test, to reassure myself I really have fitted the heatsink correctly.

Have downloaded Prime95. Its been running for about 30 mins now.
Topped out at 77'c. Has dropped back to a stable 74'c.
Its just passed 640k self test.

Any opinions? Seems to fall within reccommended temps i've seen bounded around the net for the i5 2500k

"Self test 8K passed!" according to Prime95. 73'c
 
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The dust on that old one is unbelievable!
Going to salvage parts, or just trash it?


This is going to be one nice mITX when you're done!
 
Have an update!!

Well I was not very happy with the temps as per last post.

Got up to 74'c in Prime5 using RealTemp and CoreTemp.

So with great reluctance plucked mobo from its snug new home and removed heatsink. Refitted with fresh thermal paste. I managed to produce a better fit this time, the first install was a little messy.

Drum-roll please....

....temps are still very much the same. Ho-hum. It is a low profile cooler after all.

The only thing I can think of is that I fitted the heatsink horizontaly across the CPU, the base of the sink' being rectangular.

May make a difference?

But for now i'm happy. I am told gaming does not generaly push the CPU as hard as Prime5.


Back to business!

Now I have all the data from old rig on new Seagate 1TB HDD, all that is left to do is test GPU and then put it all together tidy one last time.

Fitted HDD and SSD into the corresponding cages.

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Now for a trail fit of Zotac GTX 560ti '448'

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Fits...just.

Getting it into the case via the side is a bit tight, but once its in there is actualy quite a lot of room to play with.

I then had a fiddle trying to get the Optic drive, SSD and HDD cages into place. Found I could not fit them with GPU in position so pulled it out.

So passed a rather frustrating hour or so trying to get it all into the case! Much cursing, sweating and wishing i'd gone for an ATX rig.

One of these has been the most worth while tool in my arsenal to tackle this build.

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I found eventualy if I put the various cages in place but not bolted down, then inserted GPU, fitted SATA and power to devices then repositioned cages again....I just managed to fit it all in.

Cable management is.... limited. There is just so little space to move anything.

But... its in!

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Just to show how little room there is in the case now.

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So, going to test her out over a couple of days, lots of monitoring of temps.

I'll continue to post with any other reports.

Cheers
 
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