Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Show off your quiet rig.

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LongJan
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:06 am
Location: Sweden

Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:10 pm

Mainly used for desktop job, photo editing and casual gaming

Corsair Obsidian 250D mITX
Asus Z87I-PRO WiFi Socket 1150 miITX
Intel Core I5-4770S TDP 65W
Noctua NH-L9i LP
Seasonic Platinum 660W Modular
Corsair Vengeance low profile DDR3 2x4GB
Sandisk Ultra Plus 2 x 250GB
XFX Radeon R7 250 GDDR5 Passive
Windows 8.1 64bit

VGA-card can easily cope with World of Warcraft 1900x1200 high settings

Image

Corsair Obsidian 250D - More pictures --->>>

capecodbackup
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Location: Cape Cod

Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by capecodbackup » Mon May 19, 2014 9:52 pm

Congrats. That is one seriously awesome build. One of the few that meets all my criteria. Small. Cool. Silent. Powerful.

Nicely done.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon May 19, 2014 10:03 pm

capecodbackup wrote:One of the few that meets all my criteria. Small. Cool. Silent. Powerful.


"Small"?

capecodbackup
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by capecodbackup » Mon May 19, 2014 11:10 pm

quest_for_silence wrote:
capecodbackup wrote:One of the few that meets all my criteria. Small. Cool. Silent. Powerful.


"Small"?
Well, kind of small :) Definitely not micro sized, like say the Intel NUC.

LongJan
Posts: 163
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Location: Sweden

Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Tue May 20, 2014 7:50 am

capecodbackup:
Thanks!

quest_for_silence:
Depends what you compare with. It sure is smaller than a Fractal R4 and can still house a rather powerfull system :)
Speaking mITX, depth (important for me) is a bit less compared with Fractal Node 304 and in this case you can use almost any combination of PSU / VGA-card.

rotor
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by rotor » Wed May 21, 2014 7:23 am

Wow that is absolutely beautiful.

Jackal5
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by Jackal5 » Wed May 21, 2014 8:45 am

Very nice! I've seen this case before and I just read over some Newegg reviews one person was talking about mobo warping. Have you had any issues? And in your completed shot with the OS running, what is that little device on top of the rig? Wifi?

LongJan
Posts: 163
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Location: Sweden

Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Wed May 21, 2014 3:44 pm

Jackal5 wrote: Very nice! I've seen this case before and I just read over some Newegg reviews one person was talking about mobo warping. Have you had any issues? And in your completed shot with the OS running, what is that little device on top of the rig? Wifi?
Then you mentioned warping I got a bit worried, because seen from the back my motherboard isn't completely in line with the case as you can see in the picture below.
However, I found another picture showing mobo before mounted in the case and it is a bit bent there too, and everything works fine, so I can't say I had any issues.

Yes, the little device is the antenna for the build in WiFi.

Image

Image

quest_for_silence
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu May 22, 2014 12:21 am

LongJan wrote:quest_for_silence:
Depends what you compare with. It sure is smaller than a Fractal R4 and can still house a rather powerfull system :)
Speaking mITX, depth (important for me) is a bit less compared with Fractal Node 304 and in this case you can use almost any combination of PSU / VGA-card.

I use the overall volume as main parameter and the relevant footprint as a secondary one: and at more than 28 litres, that otherwise gorgeous looking 250D isn't small at all, even if it's aimed at mITX boards (even better, like several similar cases, such as either the Bitfenix Prodigy/Phenom or the Jonsbo W1, it's actually "larger" than some mATX tower enclosures).

Anyway, if depth was your main requirement, I agree that there aren't shorter than 290mm quality "compact" enclosures in the market: at least, I'm not aware of, so enjoy it!

Abula
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by Abula » Thu May 22, 2014 5:41 am

I like the build, congrats, the only thing that i would have changed is a bigger CPU cooler since the case allows it.

Jackal5
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by Jackal5 » Thu May 22, 2014 8:36 am

Thanks for the info. I'm guessing that you had no need for an optical drive.

LongJan
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Thu May 22, 2014 4:50 pm

Abula:
I have used the big boys in my previous builds, usually Noctua NH-U12P fanless, but that one didn't fit in this case, so after reading SPCR review of Noctua NH-L9i LP I decided to give it a try. So far I have no reason to regret that, because at practically inaudible fanspeed it keps my CPU well below 50C, even then playing (light) games. And it is so easy to work in the case with all that space :D

Jackal5
During last years I have only used optical drive to install Windows and I have an external device for that purpose.

alvarocaceres
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by alvarocaceres » Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:16 am

Do you think it would be possible to maintain your configuration but inside a BitFenix Prodigy? Maybe plus some noise isolation...?

LongJan
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Wed Jun 04, 2014 8:53 am

Not quite, but I think noise and temperatures would be about the same if you mount one exhaust fan at the back and one at the top.

However, there might be a problem with the power supply. AnandTech speaks better english than me, so I will let them explain the issue:
Our testbed power supply is 160mm, but the modular connectors make it impossible to actually fit inside the power supply bay, and I suspect even a non-modular 160mm PSU would be a tight fit at best. As a result I wound up re-using the SFX power supply from the SilverStone FT03 Mini with an adapter plate, and the much smaller power supply made cabling worlds easier. I feel like if anything about the Prodigy is going to hang up end users, this will be it, so buyer beware: if you're planning a build in this case, get a 140mm power supply. Honestly even going the route I did and using an SFX power supply with an adaptor couldn't be a bad idea.
Picture from LegitReviews:
Image

Fractal Node 304 has a similar problem. This was the main reason I ended up with the Corsair case.

Jackal5
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by Jackal5 » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:20 am

I have this case arriving today so I came back to see this. I started adding parts over at Newegg and man, this is a pretty pricey build! :shock:

I was going to build a simple PC and of course you just keep piling on the parts. Are the case fans that you used the NF-S12A-FLX? Was the onboard video not suitable for what you needed? This will be a general everyday PC. I may play some Eve Online on it. I'll play around with parts to try to cut the cost. Maybe one SSD and a 4tb storage drive.

Also, what did you use to block the front and rear vents?

LongJan
Posts: 163
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:11 pm

Yes, it's pricey I suppose. I build a new one every third year or so and then I don't care about price -just picking what I like :oops:

Yes, it's the NF-S12A-FLX but you could consider the Redux version to save a few bucks. And you can save much on the PSU (Cooler Master G550M, Corsair RM-series...) there is a lot info about PSU:s in this forum.

I play some World of Warcraft at 1920x1200 and high settings. I doubt that on board video can handle that but maybe with lower res and settings.

Vents are blocked with some thin black cardboard. Front held in place by the supplied dustfilter (easy to open up then working inside). For the backvent I modified the superfluous right side dustfilter and glued a piece of cardboard on the right half.

Jackal5
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by Jackal5 » Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:07 am

Thanks for the response.

I'll look at the fans over on the Newegg site and some different PSU options. Oh! Have you had any issues yet with the passive setting of the PSU with game loads? This isn't a new HTPC build so it doesn't have to be too quiet but I don't want to have that jet plane sound either. :lol:

I may keep the video card choice too. You didn't think the the front fan would have offered addition and a better cooling solution? The blocked vent setup is better for controlling the flow and forcing it through the case?

LongJan
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:49 am

The PSU fan is mostly off, even then gaming, but sometimes I can hear it spinning for a short while, not loud but noticeable. Since I never hear anything from the other three fans I don't consider these Seasonics as the most silent ones out there.

I doubt I would gain anything from the front fan, want as much cold air as possible to pass over the VGA-card. Actually, the cooling couldn't be much better, around 45C for both CPU and GPU then gaming (I never run torture tests because such loads will never occur on my computers).

Jackal5
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by Jackal5 » Fri Sep 12, 2014 9:22 am

Thanks for the info! :D

quest_for_silence
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:34 am

LongJan wrote:I don't consider these Seasonics as the most silent ones out there.
+1

bbalex
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Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by bbalex » Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:28 am

LongJan wrote:
Jackal5 wrote: Very nice! I've seen this case before and I just read over some Newegg reviews one person was talking about mobo warping. Have you had any issues? And in your completed shot with the OS running, what is that little device on top of the rig? Wifi?
Then you mentioned warping I got a bit worried, because seen from the back my motherboard isn't completely in line with the case as you can see in the picture below.
The warping, if it happens, is on the other side, and is because of the pressure applied by the GPU card on the PCIe slot. It happens because Corsair (or the OEM manufacturer) was not careful and made the support of the PCIe card brackets shorter than they should have been. You can see examples in this thread.

But it's corrected on recent units, and if your unit is not recent, you can ask to have some spacers sent by mail (or you can use something similar by yourself). I found the details here.

LongJan
Posts: 163
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Location: Sweden

Re: Corsair 250D MiniITX - Spacious - Silent

Post by LongJan » Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:48 pm

After reading those links I got worried and had to open the case and take a look :shock:

I can se some warping but I don't think it's enough to be worried about. And everything still works fine after 6 months.
Nothing changes if I remove the screws so it seems meaningless to add spacers at this moment.

Image

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