Yet another HTPC build (for my dad this time) Silverstone SG

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:11 am

I upgraded the motherboard, CPU and RAM on my NSK2480, so I had some spare parts to offer my dad for a HTPC he's been wanting me to build. The cost of the entire project is going to cost him under $250, but he doesn't know that I'm adding some things that I told him I had laying around

The specs (everything in bold are parts I had as spare):

- Silverstone SG02
- C2D E4500 (lapped)
- Silverstone NT06-E
- GIGABYTE GA-945GCM-S2C
- Kingston HyperX 2 x1GB PC6400 (running at 667Mhz)
- HIS HD4650 (passive)
- WD Scorpio 120GB HDD (will add another 2.5" for movie storage)
- Hauppauge HVR-1600
- OCZ 400w modular PSU (removed grill from 140mm fan)
- Lite-On BD drive
- 3x Noctua 80mm fans (I got these for the decent sound quality and long bearing life)

So far, I do like the look and size of the case. It has the shiney black front plate that looks so great when new, but eventually turns into many fine scratches. Packaging wasn't great... I'm having Silverstone send out a new front plate as the sides of the plate aren't protected at all. The quality of both the Silverstone case and heatsink aren't what I would compare to my Antec's and Thermalrights $ Scythe products, but they're OK. The LED's for power and HDD activity are like blue flashlights!!!

The case doesn't flow air very well over the motherboard where the CPU is and it uses 80mm fans. I knew this before purchasing, but the choice of case was my parents decision. I did put my input in as far as how usable the case appeard to be.

The case isn't horribly loud with the Noctua's hooked up with the ULNA adapters. I am going to pick up some Dynamat and use some egg-crate foam I have in places to help deaden and absorb some higher frequencies.

Here are the pictures I have so far, however, I'll post more later.

relitz · Post by **relitz** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:35 am

Looks sweet judging from the pictures posted. Too bad the case isn't the best, but it seems like you will be solving this nicely with some sound-dampening material.

mattthemuppet · Post by **mattthemuppet** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:01 pm

that's an odd looking case

very tall, but with stacks of spare space around the front half. Are there any other intakes other than at the back? Did you cut out the vent for the CPU HS yourself? If you want more airflow over the motherboard it would be a good idea to block off that vent above the expansion slots and possibly even the one for the HS (as this effectively creates a short circuit, bypassing everything else). Where do the 80mm fans go?

Be interesting to see the final build and how much noise it makes!

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:45 pm

mattthemuppet wrote: Are there any other intakes other than at the back?

The intakes are really on the sides and the top.

mattthemuppet wrote:
Did you cut out the vent for the CPU HS yourself?

Yes, it was the only way I could fit the cooler. If the VRM's were just a tiny bit shorter, it would have fit so much nicers.... Here was my test fit while finding out it hit the VRM.

mattthemuppet wrote:
If you want more airflow over the motherboard it would be a good idea to block off that vent above the expansion slots

That's an intake. You can't see it as the piece isn't installed in the pics, but there are 2 80mm fans that draw from that vent and two others on top.

mattthemuppet wrote: and possibly even the one for the HS (as this effectively creates a short circuit, bypassing everything else). Where do the 80mm fans go?

Two fans on top, one on the end of the HDD bay. The hole for the heatsink will be blocked off. I just have to cut some metal out that looks 'professional' and use velcro all around so it can be removed, yet have the gap to fit the heat pipes.

mattthemuppet wrote:
Be interesting to see the final build and how much noise it makes!

It's actually not that bad now, but when I put my ear on the case, I can hear the buzzing from the fans.

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:40 pm

Got the HDD mounted. It was a PITA, but it is SILENT! I will use some dense foam around it as it seems to help with my NSK2480.

mattthemuppet · Post by **mattthemuppet** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:51 pm

it would be really useful to see where the intakes are on the top and sides, as the airflow pattern doesn't make a huge amount of sense at the moment.

Nice job on the HDD mounting, but I wouldn't bother with a fan to cool it, 2.5" HDDs run exceptionally cool.

I'd be moderately worried about keeping the 4650 cool - it's not a particularly hot card, but it would need some thought about airflow (hence my Q about the gaping hole about the PCI slots, as air entering here will do little to cool the GPU) and also case exhausts. Is the PSU the only exhaust?

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:12 pm

Here's how it sits now as I'm waiting for some parts...

There is plenty of air flow across all the expansion cards, to include the video card. The PSU is the only exuast and it pulls air directly through the CPU heatsink. Some of the air blowing down at the cards does make it to where the NB and RAM is, but I would like a little more.

The fan on the HDD isn't really even audible. I may block the holes on the opposite side of the HDD fan so that the air is circulated through the case more. Without a fan, there is absolutely NO air circulation around the HDD, so there needs to be something. I run laptop HDD's in two of my computers and have found they still need some air.

Here is what the case looks like on the outside.

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ntavlas · Post by **ntavlas** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:46 pm

Nice, this is a strange but interesting little case.

Maybe you could rig a fan to pull air through the hdd. It might be quieter than mounting it directly on the case and would provide some airflow near the ram.

The opening at the back of the case make me think you had clearance issues.

mattthemuppet · Post by **mattthemuppet** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:52 pm

ah, that's interesting, makes a lot more sense too.

Plenty of different options - I'd personally consider running both of those 80mm fans as exhausts, using the PCI slot covers and right side (looking at front of case) vents as intakes. If you block off the left side vents, that should draw air over the GPU (from the PCI covers) and RAM/ HDD (from the side vent). Also stop and dust getting sucked in from the top.

Or you could have the top fan as an intake and the back fan as an exhaust.

Or forget block off the top and back fan grills, stick all the fans exhausting out of the left grill (not quite sure how though) and use the PCI covers and right side grill as intakes. That would give you good cross flow, but you may end up fighting the PSU fan.

As you may have guessed, I'm not a big proponent of intake fans

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:00 pm

I might try the idea of reversing the two top fans to be exhaust fans and then blocking off the left side vents... I'll give it a shot and see how it does. I'll try a before and after once I have everything. This way I can monitor temps in a 'real world' situation and go from there.

relitz · Post by **relitz** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:21 am

Are those fans on the top intake fans? Doesn't seem logical to have intakefans at the top, I'd try reversing them and blocking of some vents to experiment with the airflow, like yamahaSHO said, because that doesn't seem optimal.

Jackal5 · Post by **Jackal5** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:56 am

Try playing around with some of these "Slim" fans. I have attached to my 3.5" 1TB storage HDD in my Antec NSK2480 case. They might be of use to you.

Scythe Kaze Jyu Slim 100mm 1,000RPM Case Fan They also come in a 2,000RPM model.

I like the video card heat sink. How heavy is that thing?

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 9:50 am

I'm not sure why you're suggesting a slim fan for the HDD. The current one is pretty dang quiet.

The video card is pretty light. The cooler is a Zalman and it's pretty much all aluminum, so it's not adding much weight. It came stock on this HIS card.

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:23 pm

I just reversed the flow of the upper fans to be exhaust, taped off most of that side and everthing seems to run cooler around the CPU and RAM. I'm going to do some more testing and then complete the build when my Dynamat comes in. I'm thinking of adding a fan controller for him...

mattthemuppet · Post by **mattthemuppet** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:53 pm

neat, it's not often I'm right

are the GPU temps reasonable?

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:10 pm

GPU idles at 44C. I haven't stressed it really yet, but I'll see if I can play a game on it soon.