The retirement build

[Snapshot]

I'm now getting my state pension and SWMBO who is even slightly older than me is muttering about McCarthy & Stone (or similar)! So this seemed like a good excuse for a complete new build. My main PC is based round a passively-cooled i7-3770 and, apart from minor changes like GPU and SSD instead of HDD, has been unchanged for almost five years. However, it's in a Silverstone TJ08 which occupies 30 litres so I thought I'd make the next one as small as possible. So I did a lot of research into small cases and how much I could cram in and made my purchases over the last week or so. So, I'm going to try to squeeze all this (plus a PSU)

into this

The complete list of ingredients is:

Silverstone ML-09 case
ASUS ROG Strix H370-I Gaming mobo
Intel i5-8600T CPU
Corsair 16GB Vengeance LPX 2400 DDR4
Silverstone ARGON AR11 HSF
Samsung PM981 250GB SSD M.2
Corsair MX500 2TB SSD
WD Blue 2TB 2.5" HDD
Silverstone SFX PSU (TBD)
EVGA GT 1030 LP Passive 2GB GDDR5
Akasa 80mm x 10mm fan x 2
Slim-line BluRay writer (out of the bits box)

I'm not sure what PSU I'll use. I have two Silverstones available; one is 450W fully modular but I'm not sure if the connectors will fit until I start building. If it doesn't fit I have a 300W non-modular which is still more than enough. More news as it happens.......

 

[Baron C]

Nice.
Just dusted off my Ft02 to put in all my new gear.
Go on, be inspiring!!

 

[Snapshot]

Progress (or lack of it) report. The AR11 HSF doesn't fit on the board as it's slightly too large and there are loads of little grey ferrite blocks on the board stopping it from seating properly. A rummage in the cupboard produced an unused Alpenfohn Silvretta and a Noctua fan to replace the original. So I now have the CPU & RAM installed and running plus I've updated the BIOS to the latest version. The pulsing LEDs have been disabled!

I then installed the M.2 SSD and - nothing. The mobo doesn't see that there's anything in the slot. I've tried both of 'em with the same result. So things are on hold until I get this sorted and I have a thread going in the Storage Drives section to see if we can fix it.

 

[Snapshot]

Okay, so this has taken a bit longer than expected and has split into two builds. Access to a second mobo, CPU & M.2 SSD proved that the PM981 was dead so it's on its way back for replacement.
Next, the Asus ROG etc., etc. mobo was too big for the case and the fixed I/O shield just didn't fit comfortably so I fell back to plan B which was to re-house an existing Gigabyte GA-Z97N Gaming 5 and i5-4690T. I used a Noctua NH-L9i HSF and it all went together as well as can be expected in such a cramped case. I had to use the non-modular PSU as there just isn't room to fit the modular connectors. I really don't understand why Silversone build their cases so it's impossible to use their own products. Just a few extra mm would make a huge difference. It seems like they enjoy making life difficult for their customers. Sorry, I digress.....
Anyway, here it is, ready for the GPU and optical drive to be fitted. The power cable hanging over the edge is for the optical drive. There's far too much surplus wiring as the USB3 cable in particular is way too long and the only place to stuff everything is between the front panel and the RAM.

And here it is with the GPU temporarily in place.

The final problem (and why the GPU isn't fixed yet) is that the two case fans are rubbing on the case despite me using anti-vibration fixings so I need to look at that before finishing it off.

Oh, and I have to find a suitable case for the Asus mobo, etc. Perhaps a Silverstone SG-13?

 

[alex crossland]

Nice sff build. Looks tight in there!

 

[harvey.l12]

That’s real compact

 

[JasonM]

That's a sweet build well done, i'm also a fan of black Silverstone HTPC cases, as they always look great next to Hi Fi gear or under a large TV setup.