New quiet ITX build advice

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Bradshaw
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 am

New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Bradshaw » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:50 am

I'm looking at getting a new computer soon and would like to get some input for what I would like to get. Here's the hardware I find most interesting:


Case: Lian Li PC-Q18B (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1272-page1.html,
http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-q18/).

CPU: Intel Core i3-4340 3.6 GHz (54W TDP).

Cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken II Rev.B.

Motherboard: Asus Z87I-Pro (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z87IPRO) or
ASRock Z87E-ITX (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87E-ITX/). Will these mobos fit the cooler above?

Fans (front/bottom): 2x Antec TrueQuiet 140 (http://www.silentpcreview.com/140mm_Fan_Roundup2).

Graphics Card:
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II OC
ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB DirectCU II
ASUS GeForce GTX 670 2GB DirectCU II


Memory: 1x8GB 1600 MHz. (Currently looking at the following low profile RAM:
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartsp ... 1AA5CA7304).


I already have the following hardware:
A 500GB 3.5" HDD and a 1TB 3.5" HDD (SSD will come later on).
And a 500W Enermax Modu87+ PSU.


I want to have dust filters for all three fan placements in the case even if I'm currently not planning on using the top one. The top however doesn't seem to have a dust filter or am I missing something? If that's true shouldn't it be easy to get a dust filter for a 140mm fan and place it at the top?

Also what is your input on GFX cards? The Direct CU II versions of the GeForce GTX 670 and GeForce GTX 680 have both gotten the Editor's Choice Award here on SPCR (http://www.silentpcreview.com/ASUS_GeForce_GTX_670, http://www.silentpcreview.com/ASUS_GeForce_GTX_680).

The GTX 660 Ti is the cheapest card and I'm not a hardcore gamer like I was some ~10+ years ago but some recent upcoming games makes it interesting enough to get something good. Star Citizen is something I could see myself playing but I'm mostly interested in Elite Dangerous. Other then that it won't be any graphics heavy games, perhaps The Sims 4, Torchlight II and possibly Civilization IV. One big reason to get a good card however is that I have such a large screen - a 27" 2560x1440 monitor. I would however mostly like to play at 1920x1080 res with a black border on the screen for the space sims to make the screen size smaller so playing will be easier on the eyes.

Any input on the hardware choices?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Abula » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:18 am

My thoughts,
Solid choice, Lian Li quiality is imo above average, their finishes are top notch, for aluminium lovers Lian Li is simily the best imo. I find my self not using it that much anymore mostly out of their design of fan filters, in Q08 i need to take off the side panel (6 small screws) and i have to take off the fan to reach the filter... to much imo when other manufacturers are designing their cases with very little effort requered to remove them, like Silverstone n Fractal,
Bradshaw wrote:CPU: Intel Core i3-4340 3.6 GHz (54W TDP).
Cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken II Rev.B.
I like the combo, the Big shuriken should be enough to cool the i3, just crosscheck there is enough clearance with the PSU installed.
Bradshaw wrote:Motherboard: Asus Z87I-Pro (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z87IPRO) or
ASRock Z87E-ITX (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87E-ITX/). Will these mobos fit the cooler above?
I would go with Z87Pro, but check if the big shuriken will fit with the extra motherboard side.
Bradshaw wrote:Fans (front/bottom): 2x Antec TrueQuiet 140 (http://www.silentpcreview.com/140mm_Fan_Roundup2).
Should be a great fan for the Lian Li, i really didnt like the Q08 frontal fans, not bad, but not quiet.
Bradshaw wrote:Graphics Card:
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II OC
ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB DirectCU II
ASUS GeForce GTX 670 2GB DirectCU II


The GTX 660 Ti is the cheapest card and I'm not a hardcore gamer like I was some ~10+ years ago but some recent upcoming games makes it interesting enough to get something good. Star Citizen is something I could see myself playing but I'm mostly interested in Elite Dangerous. Other then that it won't be any graphics heavy games, perhaps The Sims 4, Torchlight II and possibly Civilization IV. One big reason to get a good card however is that I have such a large screen - a 27" 2560x1440 monitor. I would however mostly like to play at 1920x1080 res with a black border on the screen for the space sims to make the screen size smaller so playing will be easier on the eyes.
Asus had some of the quietest GPU on the Geforce 6 series, i believe the Asus GTX760 DCUII and GTX670 DCUII uses the same cooler, so if the fan profiles and settings are the same, should be a solid choice, but there is a better imo see the bottom of the post.
Bradshaw wrote:I already have the following hardware:
A 500GB 3.5" HDD and a 1TB 3.5" HDD (SSD will come later on).
And a 500W Enermax Modu87+ PSU.
Get the ssd as soon as you can, it will make it much quieter not accesing the hdds as much, in the past i couldnt tollerate much of hdds noise, now with ssd + mechanical i dont hear the hdd much. The PSU is a solid one, i would keep it, if for some reason you swap it, consider Seasonic G550.
Bradshaw wrote:I want to have dust filters for all three fan placements in the case even if I'm currently not planning on using the top one. The top however doesn't seem to have a dust filter or am I missing something? If that's true shouldn't it be easy to get a dust filter for a 140mm fan and place it at the top?
If you want aftermarket filters easy to take off look into DEMCi Flex Fan Filters, you can buy them standard like for 120/140mm fan holes or they also do custom sizes like for example DEMCiflex Lian Li PC-Q08B Magnetic Dust / Fan Filter Set - 6 Piece.... damn you making want to buy that kit for mine =(

To end the post, im just going to suggest an alternative,

Case: Fractal Design Node 304
It will allow you to use tower cooler while still allowing to have 6 hdds a standard ATX PSU and dedicated GPU (if you use a gpu it will lower the hdds to 4). Test the included fans first, they are decent. If you were to be curious into reading more and checking some finished builds, check OCN [Official] Fractal Design Node 304 Owners Club.

GPU: MSI GTX760 (N760)
Its gotten very good reviews and seem to be quietest of all, check CA_Steve GTX760 review compliation. There are spcr forums users already posting their experiences and seems to be good for all that i have read. The GTX760 should be more than enough for 1080p and even most of the games at 1440p, so its a good choice imo.

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U14S Slim 140mm Tower Cooler
Very good cooler, just the price is high, but the fan can be droped to 200rpm easily with FanXpert. This cpu should clear fine the side card of the motherboard on Z87i pro, and it should fit with the gpu installed, and asus mobos is very nice as it has the cpu centered ideal for the airflow on node 304.

Ill leave you couple of pictures of a build that should be similar to what im suggesting, just he is using U12S instead of the U14S, but it should fit and he even has a NF-A15 PWM on the back that imo is a good choice to create a very quiet pull push on the CPU cooler, the fan can be droped off to 200rpm via FanXpert2.

Image

Image

Bradshaw
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 am

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Bradshaw » Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:57 am

To end the post, im just going to suggest an alternative,

Case: Fractal Design Node 304
It will allow you to use tower cooler while still allowing to have 6 hdds a standard ATX PSU and dedicated GPU (if you use a gpu it will lower the hdds to 4). Test the included fans first, they are decent. If you were to be curious into reading more and checking some finished builds, check OCN [Official] Fractal Design Node 304 Owners Club.

GPU: MSI GTX760 (N760)
Its gotten very good reviews and seem to be quietest of all, check CA_Steve GTX760 review compliation. There are spcr forums users already posting their experiences and seems to be good for all that i have read. The GTX760 should be more than enough for 1080p and even most of the games at 1440p, so its a good choice imo.
Thanks for suggesting this graphics card, after reading more about it I'd rather have the MSI card. Especially since the Techpowerup sound tests show the MSI card to be more silent.

When it comes to the case however, I actually need a DVD burner (forgot to include that info). I've looked at the Node 304 before and liked four things about it: the large open vent /w dust filter for the GFX card to pull in cool air, the 140mm exhaust fan, standard PSU will fit and draws in cool air that has a dust filter and the fact that you can use such a large CPU cooler. I could use an external DVD burner with this case, but still think the Lian Li case is better for what I'm looking for. It can be configured to have a large fan (with a dust filter) blowing at the GFX card and with the low power CPU - the Big Shuriken fan and the others will probably be enough to cool the setup. The thing that worries me is wheather it will be cool enough or if it will overheat with such a small case (also considering the air path for the two fans will be restricted with either the MSI card or the two HDDs).

Bradshaw
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 am

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Bradshaw » Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:09 am

I can't find any info online whether the Scythe Big Shuriken will fit the Asus mobo so I'll probably go with the Asrock one instead to be on the safe side. It has "FAN-Tastic Tuning" for fan control which "will test each of the" [...] " controllable fan headers in terms of RPM against power applied." Better be on the safe side and hopefully the fans will get even better fan control.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Abula » Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:51 am

Bradshaw wrote:I can't find any info online whether the Scythe Big Shuriken will fit the Asus mobo so I'll probably go with the Asrock one instead to be on the safe side. It has "FAN-Tastic Tuning" for fan control which "will test each of the" [...] " controllable fan headers in terms of RPM against power applied." Better be on the safe side and hopefully the fans will get even better fan control.
The Asus Z87i Pro is kinda new so little builds will be out, still going to try to help, its up to you to crosscheck what im saying. Asus has a lot of success with their past mini itx ASUS P8Z77-I , the layout seems fairly similar to the ASUS Z87I-DELUXE (again crosscheck this), searching for the Z77 version + Big shuriken 2, found the following

Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe with Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev B

Silverstone FT03 Mini ITX - Time Lapse Build - P8Z77-I, Big Shuriken 2

Cooler for Asus p8z77-I deluxe - Page 2 - Post 70 by DaddyBoy (lots of pictures here)

It seems to fit fine, it up to you to crosscheck that both boards have the same layout (specially the CPU placement), my "guess" is that they are. Ill leave you a pic of both side by side,

Image

Good luck with the build,

Bradshaw
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 am

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Bradshaw » Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:32 am

It seems to fit fine, it up to you to crosscheck that both boards have the same layout (specially the CPU placement), my "guess" is that they are. Ill leave you a pic of both side by side,
On the first of your pics the USB ports on the right seem to lean towards the side so the daughter board should be leaning too on that pic so the distance between the boards and the sockets is probably the same for both mobos. The first link with the video do indicate that the Big Shuriken is very close to the daughter board. They might have the same height and they may not, I'm still not sure what to make of it.

I found the following images to compare:
ImageImage

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Abula » Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:43 am

Remember your eyes are as good as mine, so this is just my guess, on your two pics, you can see the memory latches height its the same matching the square caps, the question is weather the height after is the same or not, again my guess seems very similar.

The Z77i pro was one of the most used motherboards on OCN on the Prodigy, check the following thread, Bitfenix Prodigy Owner's Club, you wont find people talking about the Big Shuriken there, but you might find someone that had the Z77i pro deluxe that its moving to Haswell Z87i Pro deluxes that could confirm you if the daughter board is the same, if you cant find any, post there maybe someone already measure one or the other.

Good luck,

flemeister
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:42 am
Location: Australia

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by flemeister » Mon Sep 23, 2013 9:05 pm

Note the issue with the chipset heatsink's pushpin, and the Shuriken's backplate. You'll need to drill a hole in the backplate to allow that pushpin to poke through.

Bradshaw
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 am

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Bradshaw » Tue Sep 24, 2013 2:17 am

flemeister wrote:
Note the issue with the chipset heatsink's pushpin, and the Shuriken's backplate. You'll need to drill a hole in the backplate to allow that pushpin to poke through.
The rev. B version for Big Shuriken 2 is very new and most people have probably built with the first Big Shuriken or the regular Big Shuriken 2 since this motherboard is more then a year old. The rev. B has a new backplate so that should be where the problem arises. Whether the same issue is there for the haswell mobo is unknown until tested, but thanks for bringing it up.

flemeister
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:42 am
Location: Australia

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by flemeister » Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:54 pm

Abula wrote:Image
Looks like the pushpin on the Haswell board is slightly further from the CPU socket, but most likely still close enough to foul the very edge of the Shuriken 2 Rev.B's backplate. Just something to keep in mind. At least the mod is an easy one, just drilling a hole in the backplate to let the pushpin poke through. :)

Bradshaw
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 am

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Bradshaw » Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:44 am

flemeister wrote:Looks like the pushpin on the Haswell board is slightly further from the CPU socket, but most likely still close enough to foul the very edge of the Shuriken 2 Rev.B's backplate. Just something to keep in mind. At least the mod is an easy one, just drilling a hole in the backplate to let the pushpin poke through. :)
I suppose I'll go with the other motherboard then to make things easy:
http://www.scythe-eu.com/forum/shuriken ... e-itx.html

I might also go with another graphics card, one that draws a little less power and is even more quiet:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS ... II/27.html

I'll wait until the end of the year with this build though, my mother really needs my old computer as she only has a slow P4 and have been complaining about having a slow computer, but I just reinstalled Windows and it barely has any installed software so it runs much faster now.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New quiet ITX build advice

Post by Abula » Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:36 pm

Well good luck with the years end choice, personally i would still go with Asus, drilling a hole on the backplate should be pretty easy. I would prefer to have fanXpert2 for the 140s. Herei s a pic from the forum and some newegg shots to compare them side by side, so you can decide whatever you think its best for your build.

Image

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