Gaming in Tight Spaces…..mini-ITX (not quiet)

[miahallen]

featuring Gigabyte, Silverstone, and Prolimatech

I recently built a mini-ITX gaming rig...check out my story:
http://www.techreaction.net/2010/08/13/ ... olimatech/

This computer is quite loud in the configuration shown, but it would be very quiet with lower overclocks, different fan selection, and softer GPU fan profile. My goal was performance, not low noise.

However, I thought it still a decent fit for this community due to the popularity of the SFF market at SPCR Just keep in mind that some tweaks would be required for low noise operation.

[neon joe]

Very cool.

[miahallen]

Thanks

I'm planning to rebuild this with some proper modding in the next few months to turn it into the ultimate mini-ITX rig....what do you guys think of the following upgrades?

Intel i5 750 CPU - Which I'd hope to run at 4.2GHz or more, plus it has a good IMC and 4 real cores. I'm not going to pursue an i7 because I'd turn off HT anyhow.

Corsair H70 CPU cooler - all internal. I'll have to replace the 3.5" HDD with a 2.5" and then relocate both it and the SSD.

Corsair Dominator GTX3 memory - rated at DDR3-2400 9-11-9-27, but I'll probably try to run DDR3-2000 CAS6 or DDR3-2200 CAS7.

Gigabyte Radeon HD 5870 SOC - stock clocks of 950 core and 1250 memory should give a noticable boost in GPU limited games. I'll have to mod the case a little for this to fit.

500GB Momentus XT - to replace the 1TB Green drive I'm running now.

And last but not least, I think I'd be pushing this 300W PSU a bit too hard, so I'll plan on upgrading to the new 450W SFX unit by Silverstone.

[aztec]

very nice!

i've been thinking about moving to a m-ITX board as well for gaming, but 2 things are roadblocks for me...onboard sound and the price of 4Gb sticks.

[miahallen]

Getting ready for the next upgrade. Playing around with some modling to verify my measurements. Looks like everything is going to fit perfect

My mini-ITX v2.0 parts list:
case - Silverstone SUGO SG05 (interior will be painted)
PSU - Silverstone 450W SFX (cables will be recut for fit and sleeved)
mobo - Gigabyte H55N-USB3
CPU - Intel i5 750 (aiming for 4.2GHz or more)
CPU cooling - Corsair H70 (with one 120x38mm 118CFM San-Ace)
memory - 2x2GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
graphics card - Gigabyte 5870 SOC (undervolted to 1.1V)
OS storage - 80GB Intel X25M SSD
games/media storage - 500GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive

Just waiting for the last few parts to arrive

[Parappaman]

Will the 5870 fit in there, and have enough power fed?

[miahallen]

Yes

[quote=miahallen]Getting ready for the next upgrade. Playing around with some modling to verify my measurements. Looks like everything is going to fit perfect

My mini-ITX v2.0 parts list:
case - Silverstone SUGO SG05 (interior will be painted)
PSU - Silverstone 450W SFX (cables will be recut for fit and sleeved)
mobo - Gigabyte H55N-USB3
CPU - Intel i5 750 (aiming for 4.2GHz or more)
CPU cooling - Corsair H70 (with one 120x38mm 118CFM San-Ace)
memory - 2x2GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
graphics card - Gigabyte 5870 SOC (undervolted to 1.1V)
OS storage - 80GB Intel X25M SSD
games/media storage - 500GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive[/quote]

OK, Almost all the parts have arrived, and I've done the cutting mods on the case today for a test fitting.......EVERYTHING FIT

teaser


I ordered the wrong molex connectors and I'm waiting on the correct ones to arrive....then I'll strip down again and paint, and sleeve, and post my article....so it'll still be a couple more weeks. H70 testing under-way

[Parappaman]

Distilled and concentrated awesomeness.

[ntavlas]

Looks great but please don`t paint it. Paint peels off after a while, especially if you`re adding/removing component often. Even factory paint is prone to that. The only method of coloring metal in my book is passivation

[miahallen]

Thanks Parappaman

Looks great but please don`t paint it. Paint peels off after a while, especially if you`re adding/removing component often. Even factory paint is prone to that. The only method of coloring metal in my book is passivation

I was planning to do a proper job sanding/cleaning/priming/sanding/priming/sanding/painting.......bad idea?

I don't think I have the tools/chemicals/facilities needed to passivise the case.

[ntavlas]

I was planning to do a proper job sanding/cleaning/priming/sanding/priming/sanding/painting.......bad idea?

I guess the best way to find out is do a test on a similar surface. Overall I think paint on metal peels off a bit too easily. In a pc case, the parts which touch the u-shaped cover will be the first to go, unless you never remove the cover (in which case you`ll never get to see the painted interior.. ).

[Fayd]

Looks great but please don`t paint it. Paint peels off after a while, especially if you`re adding/removing component often. Even factory paint is prone to that. The only method of coloring metal in my book is passivation

Powder Coating.

[miahallen]

I've started a full work log if anyone is interested
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/show ... ost6614327

[Parappaman]

I knew the 5870 didn't fit as-is! And yet you contradicted me.
The dual 2,5" mount is just sick. It's really meant to be there! And I've never seen such a meticulous job on cabling.
I don't like the new 480 btw. If you needed more performance, the 5870 could have been safely overclocked to much higher frequencies, matching GTX performance with a fraction of its noise and much less heat. You can't touch that GTX on a 450w PSU... I think it will also limit your eventual CPU overclock.

[Mats]

miahallen: What can you tell us about the H70 pump, is it quieter than the H50 pump?

[miahallen]

Hey Mats....I don't have any experiance witht he H50 pump...but I can say that I'm pleasently suprized that I cannot hear the H70 pump at all. Keep in mind the San Ace fan at slow spead is still audible and is covering up any noise the pump is making....but it's definitely not obnoxious.....and much quieter than the MCP350 (Laing DDC) I use in my custom loop.

[Mats]

That's good to know, thanks.

[MikeC]

Miahallen's experience tells us nothing about the relative noise of the pumps. I've been looking at H70 reviews and not one focuses on the pump noise... mostly because the new dual fans make double the noise of the H50. The noise of the H70 fans -- that everyone agrees on. Legitreviews measured 44dBA at 0.75m on idle, 49 dBA at load. Remember where our reference 120mm fans are? 16 dBA/1m. Maybe 17 at 0.75... The H70 is about 8x louder subjectively.

[Mats]

That's my experience too, not one single review actually tells me some useful info about the H70 pump noise.

I'm interested in the H70 since it''s one of the few coolers that actually fits into my plans of a future build.

MikeC: Any chance we'll see a review of the H70?

[KayDat]

MikeC: Any chance we'll see a review of the H70?

Hint: You willing to donate for one?

[MikeC]

Corsair will send us one if we ask for it, but we don't have any interest in asking because there's so little chance that it is actually quiet by our standards. We examined 2 H50 pumps and found them both unacceptable. The H70 has noisier fans -- why would they make any attempt to make the pump quieter?? Let's put it this way -- if a sample comes our way, we'll listen to the pump and report. That's about it. There are so many other products and articles for us to work on, we're always too busy anyway, so we hate wasting time on irrelevant stuff.

[miahallen]

LOL....Yeah, this was not a "quiet build" by any means. IMO the first revision definitely had potential with the Samuel 17. With proper fan selection, it could have been quite. But again, this was not build for the purpose of silent computing.

Sorry to detract from the excellent quiet content here

[minus0ne]

Corsair will send us one if we ask for it, but we don't have any interest in asking because there's so little chance that it is actually quiet by our standards. We examined 2 H50 pumps and found them both unacceptable. The H70 has noisier fans -- why would they make any attempt to make the pump quieter?? Let's put it this way -- if a sample comes our way, we'll listen to the pump and report. That's about it. There are so many other products and articles for us to work on, we're always too busy anyway, so we hate wasting time on irrelevant stuff.

It's a shame the stock fans are so bloody loud, but I must say I'm curious to see how one or two Nexus fans would cool that radiator at what noise level, and for example, how much of a difference in temps it makes if you install it to exhaust the hot air outside of the case instead of inside, like Corsair specifies, and like the hardocp review did it - which is a missed opportunity given that they were testing it inside a SS Raven R02 case which has 2 giant 180mm fans blowing cool air directly at it).