Great review. Also great to see a focus on the fan controller, something that I feel has been missing from previous reviews and contains details that are otherwise hard to come by (particularly the ability to be controlled using SpeedFan as well as the ability / inability to use PWM / voltage contro...

Hi SPCR, Thanks for the constant stream of superb reviews! I would like express one wish for all those heat sink tests that look like they might be a good fit for a mini-ITX build: If possible, please try fitting them on one of the more recent LGA1155 mini-ITX mainboards, the ones that have their PC...

Hi ntavlas, Thanks for your suggestion. Lacking a resistor to try for the moment, I have taken an old PC speaker (same build as the one soldered to the mainboard) and connected it to the appropriate socket. From what I can tell both speakers are now beeping, but I cannot say for sure at the moment. ...

Okay, I have a small system with the MSI H61M-E33 now up and running. The BIOS allows me to control the PWM speed between 0% and 100% (needs a BIOS update for that, otherwise 25% is the lowest) and both case fan headers can be controlled between 50% and 100% in 25% steps. Plugging a 3-pin fan into t...

Alright, going for the MSI board, fingers crossed that it does voltage control via SpeedFan properly for at least two of the fan three headers. Hoping to report back in about a week when things have arrived and I find the time to set it up.

Gundy

I have inspected the circuitry of the MSI H61M-E33 using Google image search. The main-board has 1x 4-pin and 2x 3-pin headers. Both 3-pin headers seem to have the needed circuitry around them to allow for fan speed control and a stab at the manual showed these to be controllable. The 4-pin connecto...

Well, from what I remember (though this might be wrong), a fan header that can be controlled via the BIOS does not necessarily allow control via SpeedFan. Further more, a fan header that allows PWM control might not be able to do voltage control if used with a standard non-PWM 3-pin fan. On my old G...

Hi all,

I am looking for an mATX H61 motherboard that allows me to control the CPU and chassis 3-pin fans seperatly using SpeedFan. Do you guys know of any? Just can't seem to find good information regarding this topic. I am not too worried about any other features.

Thanks & Best Regards,
Gundy

If you want really small, go mini-ITX.

These guys have a selection of mini-ITX cases, all nicely presented. Have a look:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=3

And if you are looking for quality finish, have a look at Lian Li:
PC-Q07
PC-Q09

To keep it with SPCR reviews, Antec ISK300:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Antec_ISK300-65

Let me throw the ever so popular Silverstone SUGO SG05/SG06 into the mix, SPCR has a review on it here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silverstone_SG05_SG06

Rughly 11 liters, quite large for a mini-ITX though.

The SG01 and SG02 cases are even larger, they are mATX.

Running a Samsung F1 1TB for 18 months, no problems (multiple hours per day). Before that a Samsung HD501LJ for one year, no problems, now serves as external storage.

Had personal experience with a build in an Antec NSK 3480, good solid case, cannot go wrong with it, very good value.

I found this uATX build done by Per128 in a Silverstone SG02 quite inspiring:
SG02 3d graphics design build (image heavy)

Is it possible to bend the heatpipes so that your heatsink doesn't interfere with case? It's the fins that stick out, not the heatpipes. I have seen it mounted with the heatpipes towards the side, but then they extend 19mm over the edge of the Zotac. See this post: http://www.silentpcreview.com/for...

Gundy could you give me the adress of the website you saw the same configuration functioning? I would like to know how they manage the problem and if we are talking about a significant problem (vibration...etc). Thank you. No problem: http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/showpost.php?p=12909562&pos...

!OOPS! I assumed from your post that the Big Shuriken would fit. Well, there are people (and from the posts I have found it's more than one) that use the Big Shuriken with the Zotac and SG05/06. And they seem to have no problem with the bit of pressure applied to the cooler. But I can also understa...

Here is the picture that really shows the tight fit:

Found a picture, though it's not good for judging the tight fit.


Here is a better one:

From what I have read in German forums, the big shuriken will fit your configuration. But it's fins will touch the side of the case cover and apply slight pressure.

The J&W MINIX 780G is quite pricey at ~140€, the Zotac GeForce 9300 is a lot more competitively priced. So as of now this is what I am looking at: Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi ~100€ Intel E5200 boxed ~50€ SilverStone Sugo SG05 ~80€ Shipping 20€ ------ ~250€ Stealing from my Antec Solo: 38...

Found a post by leifeinar on another forum, including some pictures of a S1 in a SG05 case.

I have an Arctic Accelero S1 on my 4850 with a case fan blowing over it, using an air channel to force the air out the back slots. With proper positioning I'm thinking you could create an air tunnel in these cases that would include that VGA cooler and a tower heatsink on the cpu, and feed it with ...

Again thanks for your input. I will take the InWin Matrix into consideration. Always liked Lian-Li (had the PC-60 when they first started) and at 23.6 liters the PC-A01 is small for the features it has, but I fear too big for this project. According to this post by leifeinar the S1 fits the SG05 cas...

Thanks so much for your input. Will keep http://www.mini-itx.com/store/ bookmarked. Going Atom/Via is not really an option performance wise. And going C2D Mobile is pricey. The In Win BK623 case looks very interesting, though one will probably not get a GPU with S1 fitted in there. 12.5 liters for a...

Thanks for the quick reply. Any suggestions on a very small mATX cases that could still fit the 3830, perhaps on a raiser? The SG05 is roughly 10.8 liters. The only mATX case I have worked with so far is the Antec NSK3480 at 25.2 liters. Looking at Antecs offerings, the NSK1380 comes in at 18.2 lite...

Hi SPCR! I currently have a nice, silent Antec Solo build, with an ATI 3870 + Accelero S1. Last year I moved from Germany to the UK and in December I have my annual gaming weekend coming up.... in Germany. Taking the Solo along by plane, with all its components + other stuff, seems quite impractical...

Here is an Update of what I am currently looking at: - 2x MDT 2048MB (2x1024MB) Kit DDR2-800 CL5 i'm not sure how much that RAM is, but i'd definitely get in on the Crucial rebate at newegg that ends tomorrow. Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) BL2KIT12864AA804 $...

By the way, does anyone of you know the difference of the GA-P35-DS3 Rev 1 to the Rev 2? I could only see the ATX bracket having 6 USB ports instead of 4? It seems that Rev 2 is hardly available yet and its about 10€ more than the Rev 1 for now. If it is just being the USB ports, I can not justify...

Hello fellas,

The time to buy this thing is coming up, any ideas on the question of "additions", or ideas in general? I really do appreciate your input.

Thanks,
Gundy