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Sizegrade advice

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:09 pm
by kevin1981
Good evening!

I'm putting pen to paper towards a sizegrade of my desktop pc.
Currently it's sitting in a large Corsair 600T case, but I'd really like to trim it down and move it into a Hadron Air case.

I'm keeping as many current components as possible, except for my stock Intel CPU fan which turned out to be fairly loud.
Obviously I also need a new mini-itx motherboard.

There seems to be a shortage of Ivy bridge Mini-ITX motherboards at most online Canadian vendors.
I'm looking at either:
the ASUS P8Z77-I deluxe (180$) with a cpu socket above the north bridge in a more standard cooling spot,
the GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI (120$) with the cpu socket cornered between the pcie slot and the ram slots.

I'm running a stock Xeon E3-1240 v2 (LGA 1155 Ivy), I'm looking for some cpu cooling suggestions.

With the Asus, I could use something larger, like a big shuriken, and benefit from extra collateral air flow across the board.
This is the more expensive overkill option.

With the Gigabyte, I'm kind of scratching my head. I don't know which cooler to use that would be more effective and quiet than the stock. My stock cooler is definitely NOT quiet, which is why I want to chuck it. Perhaps if the Zamlan CNPS 8900 is good enough for a valve steam box, it might work out for me? But online reviews of it vary quite a bit towards both it's efficiency and audibility.

Either case, the end results would be a small form factor PC that I can move around from desktop to living room depending on my mood.
Any thoughts on the subject would be very appreciated!

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 10:53 pm
by quest_for_silence
kevin1981 wrote:Any thoughts on the subject would be very appreciated!

If I were you, I would check with Noctua Tech Support whether or not their NH-C14 will fit any of the proposed mobo: in case, that would be the one to go.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:20 am
by boost
Don't worry about the CPU cooler. The case uses a 1U server PSU, if the PC draws enough power, i.e. gaming the PSU fan 40mm probably 3000RPM-5000RPM will drown out EVERYTHING.
This case will not make a SPCR recommended list.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:31 am
by quest_for_silence
boost wrote:This case will not make a SPCR recommended list.
Have you ever heard it, boost? It can be *silent*.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:50 am
by Pappnaas
For the late 1155 Z77 itx boards, you could fit something like a Coolermaster TX3 (92mm fan) without blocking the pciE slot. Might be possible with the Gigabyte also.

The Hadron Air can be made running quiet, but you shouldn't expect it to cool an oc'd i7 and a 770 noiseless. As long as you do not use a powerful VGA card, i think the Hadron be made pretty quiet.

Main disadvantage is restricted airflow. And i have not heard about tests with vibrating HDDs inside.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:54 am
by kevin1981
Pappnaas wrote:For the late 1155 Z77 itx boards, you could fit something like a Coolermaster TX3 (92mm fan) without blocking the pciE slot. Might be possible with the Gigabyte also.

The Hadron Air can be made running quiet, but you shouldn't expect it to cool an oc'd i7 and a 770 noiseless. As long as you do not use a powerful VGA card, i think the Hadron be made pretty quiet.

Main disadvantage is restricted airflow. And i have not heard about tests with vibrating HDDs inside.
Ya, the weakest point in that case imo is the drive cage. Far too big and bulky than it has to be. Fortunately, I have an ssd and a dremel.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:04 am
by kevin1981
Pappnaas wrote:For the late 1155 Z77 itx boards, you could fit something like a Coolermaster TX3 (92mm fan) without blocking the pciE slot. Might be possible with the Gigabyte also.

The Hadron Air can be made running quiet, but you shouldn't expect it to cool an oc'd i7 and a 770 noiseless. As long as you do not use a powerful VGA card, i think the Hadron be made pretty quiet.

Main disadvantage is restricted airflow. And i have not heard about tests with vibrating HDDs inside.
Thanks, but like I said I'm running a stock xeon e3, which is basically a stock i7 3760. I dont intend on overclocking the cpu, but i like giving ample cooling to stretch the life of my parts (within reason).

That said, I don't like the idea of a tower cooler in that specific case. It would have to be exhausting towards the top which would suck the gpu/psu air right through it.
In my mind i'm the thinking the better setup would be to have the 120mm case fans pull air in and forced the exhaust through the bottom of the case. It' kind of goes againt the whole hot air goes up thing, but because the case is so small relative to the airflow, it shouldn't be a problem. The cpu top down coolers would also work better at circulating the fresher air getting sucked in around the case.

If the internals on this case were flipped around 180', it would be ideal.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:07 am
by kevin1981
Heck, if the internals were upside down, and the cpu heatsink was large enough (and the gpu humble enough)... the flow from the case 120's might be enough to forgo a cpu fan.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:50 am
by quest_for_silence
quest_for_silence wrote:I would check with Noctua Tech Support whether or not their NH-C14 will fit any of the proposed mobo


On the ASUS it works:

Image

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:22 pm
by kevin1981
quest_for_silence wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:I would check with Noctua Tech Support whether or not their NH-C14 will fit any of the proposed mobo


On the ASUS it works:
Nice twist ties =)

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:54 pm
by quest_for_silence
kevin1981 wrote:Nice twist ties =)

You may use different colours, if any.

Re: Sizegrade advice

Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:00 pm
by quest_for_silence
kevin1981 wrote:With the Gigabyte, I'm kind of scratching my head


Scythe Shuriken Rev. B (SCSK-1100) : http://www.scytheus.com/product/shuriken-revb/
DeepCool Gabriel : http://global.gamerstorm.cn/Product/Gabriel/