Need help please - Issue with Mini ITX Motherboard on Streacom FC5 EVO case

[Harpss1ngh]

Hi,

Not sure whether this should be in the Case or Motherboard section but here goes. I just bought the following:

Streacom ST-FC5S EVO HTPC Fanless Aluminium Case - Silver
Streacom Nano 150w HTPC Power Supply/Adapter
Streacom ST-IRRC Multimedia Remote and Receiver
Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP**
Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD
Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit
ASRock H61MV-ITX Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 M-ITX Motherboard

I really want to use a mini ITX board, so that I can have more HDD options than with a Micro ATX board, hence the 2 Seagate 3TB 3.5" drives, I also want to add an 60GB SSD which is possible with an mini ITX but not with Micro ATX.

Here is the problem:
All new mini ITX mobo's for Ivy Bridge (H61, H77, etc) have the CPU socket on the other (left) side of the board. Old Mini ITX boards had the cpu much closer to the case side (center). These new boards have the SATA, CIR, Power and USB connectors on the edge and once you put the passive heat pipes in for this case, these connectors are no longer accessible and because of the new location of the CPU the heat pipes are now too short! (Streacom do sell longer pipes but the total cost of the case would become too expensive, plus I still can't use the above connectors)

I really didn't expect this case to be so complicated to use with a mini ITX board and didn't know beforehand that the passive heatsink on the case would be such a nightmare to assemble.

I chose an ASRock motherboard because I need a Mini ITX board with a CIR header and because it's small enough to fit 2 3.5" drives and one 2.5" drive in the case.

Micro ATX boards don't seem to have this issue with this case, only Mini ITX boards.

Is there anyway to use the motherboard and modify the case somehow or a way to fit another heatsink or can anyone suggest another MiniITX board which has a CIR header (for the IRRC Remote & Receiver)?

If anyone has any other suggestions or ideas please help.

Thanks

EDIT: I read on the above link for the case that there is a way to mount the heatsink on the left side of the case, this would solve the issue, but I can't find any information on how to do this!

 

[Monkeh]

If having a PCI-E 16x slot isn't important then have you thought about this MSI board?.

Seen it used on a review of that case and the pictures show the heat sink in place fine and full access to the boards headers, in fact they have an ssd and 2 3.5" drives in the case as well.

 

[Harpss1ngh]

If having a PCI-E 16x slot isn't important then have you thought about this MSI board?.

Seen it used on a review of that case and the pictures show the heat sink in place fine and full access to the boards headers, in fact they have an ssd and 2 3.5" drives in the case as well.

Hi thanks for your reply, I only need a PCI-E X1 slot so that would do, however I noticed it doesn't have a CIR header on the board. I need it to use the Streacom IR receiver and Remote, although it can technically be used in the USB port since all the CIR hearder does is allow "wake from off (S5) and hibernate (S4) in addition to standby (S3)", I.E turn the machine off and on with the power button on the remote. But I like that feature

Can anyone recommend a Mini ITX board without CIR but can still support "wake from off (S5) and hibernate (S4) in addition to standby (S3)". From my understanding the USB port just needs to be powered while the power is off for this to work, the CIR header is just a normal USB interface with power while the motherboard is off to allow the remote to wake it up.

 

[Harpss1ngh]

If having a PCI-E 16x slot isn't important then have you thought about this MSI board?.

Seen it used on a review of that case and the pictures show the heat sink in place fine and full access to the boards headers, in fact they have an ssd and 2 3.5" drives in the case as well.

Ok on 2nd's thought, I've had a look and it looks like that motherboard is the only M-ITX board that will fit in the case, and since I can still connect the IR receiver to USB and configure wake from S5, I'm going to compromise here and go for it.

Thanks mate!