Windowed P180 Mini [Q6600 + R5770 + 2.6TB storage]

[BlackWhizz]

Well, i thought i would show you guys how i am silencing my rig right now. Dutch is my main language so my English is not that good.

Specs of my PC:
- P180 Mini
- Asus P5Q VM
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (G0 -> 105W TDP)
- MSI Radeon 5770 1GB
- 4 1 gig sticks of Corsair XMS2 PC6400
- WD Blue 640GB (WD6400AAKS)
- WD Green 2TB (WD20EARS)
- OCZ ModXStream 500w (Was a Corsair CX400w)

What i did for cooling:
First my definition of a silent/quiet computer. Its quite easy. It needs to be inaudible/nearly inaudible at night when im trying to sleep (PC is 3metres away from bed ).

What i already did
- Replace the stock TriCool 120mm fan with a Nexus Real Silent 1000RPM
- Add a Nexus Real Silent 1000RPM in front of the case to get some airflow over my GPU

The system is audible when im trying to sleep now, mostly because of the CPU fan. When that one is replaced with a Scythe Ninja 2 (Ninja 3 is butt-ugly with that painting on the top fins) that problem is tackled.

Now comes some modding
Because i want to put a window in my PC (im going to lans twice or thrice in a year ) my system needs to look good from the inside and outside. The first thing what i noticed was the Nexus Real Silent fans have a molex and 3pin. Thats ok, but you cant remove the molex without soldering wires together.

I went from this:


With some solder and heatshrink:


To this:


See, a Real Silent without molex

Then i sleeved my front panel headers:


After that i removed the label stickers of the front connectors:


These are the steps i did to make it look good

Future plans
- HDD's in quiet boxes

Finished (for now) pics


Ill keep ya'll updated!

[JamieG]

Because i want to put a window in my PC (im going to lans twice or thrice in a year ) my system needs to look good from the inside and outside.

You might get some tips or ideas here on cutting a window, which is apparently pretty hard to do on the P18x series cases due to the composition of the side panels.

After you install the Ninja or some other large tower heatsink, you might find that the top 200mm fan is the loudest thing. Try feeding the top fan 7V instead of 12V via the molex connector using the 7V trick.

You might want to do a fan swap on that Corsair PSU for an even quieter PSU after that.

Nice looking system to this point though!

[BlackWhizz]

Because i want to put a window in my PC (im going to lans twice or thrice in a year ) my system needs to look good from the inside and outside.

You might get some tips or ideas here on cutting a window, which is apparently pretty hard to do on the P18x series cases due to the composition of the side panels.

After you install the Ninja or some other large tower heatsink, you might find that the top 200mm fan is the loudest thing. Try feeding the top fan 7V instead of 12V via the molex connector using the 7V trick.

You might want to do a fan swap on that Corsair PSU for an even quieter PSU after that.

Nice looking system to this point though!

Thank you.

Will the fan start on 7V when the tricool controller is also on low? Cool trick!

In my opinion the Corsair PSU is not the loudest thing on my system, but if i get to that point. What fan has enough airflow to cool this PSU? Because the stock fan can run up to 2200 RPM to keep my PSU cool.

In the future i might upgrade to a HD5770 when my wallet has enough money so that means i load the power supply more than by using the 8600GT.

And father of a mate of mine has a CNC router so that baby will shave the plastic and insulation material off Its more that i dont have the monies for it.

[coweater58]

Looking very nice.

I have under volted the top fan in my mini 180 to 7v and it does not start up on low. but you cant hear it when it's set on high.

[JamieG]

I think you have to set the speed switch on the top 200mm fan to either high or medium when feeding it 7v to make it start up.

If you were looking to replace the PSU fan, go with a Scythe S-Flex F 1,600rpm fan. I swapped one into my 600w Zalman PSU replacing a 2,000rpm fan and it is great.

[BlackWhizz]

I think you have to set the speed switch on the top 200mm fan to either high or medium when feeding it 7v to make it start up.

If you were looking to replace the PSU fan, go with a Scythe S-Flex F 1,600rpm fan. I swapped one into my 600w Zalman PSU replacing a 2,000rpm fan and it is great.

Thans for the reccommendation! Those fans are really affordable!

[Lawrence Lee]

Do you have problems with hard drive vibration? In my brother's Mini P180 I had to put foam in the corners below and above the hard drive cage to dampen it.

[BlackWhizz]

Do you have problems with hard drive vibration? In my brother's Mini P180 I had to put foam in the corners below and above the hard drive cage to dampen it.

Hello Lawrence, i first had vibrations. But that was because i overtightened the screws so the antivibration rubbers didnt work. Just dont overtighten the scews and the vibration is nearly gone.

I said nearly because now i feel the HDD cage vibrating. But the rest of the case doenst vibrate. When my hdd screws were overtightened my whole case was vibrating.

I hope you get it because my English is quite weak.

[BlackWhizz]

Update: picciez
Well, i had a lamp, camera and photoshop in reach so i thought why not shoot some artsy pictures

How do you like them?

[psyopper]

I'm way to anal retentive...

Your front fan is installed with the sticker upside down.
You're gonna put a window on this with a stock heatsink to show off...
Oh - and there's not enough blue LED's and da-glo water tubes for a lan party rig!

Actually it looks really nicely done. It's too bad you cpu fan header is way over where it is, it's the only wire that really looks out of place.

[BlackWhizz]

I'm way to anal retentive...

Your front fan is installed with the sticker upside down.
You're gonna put a window on this with a stock heatsink to show off...
Oh - and there's not enough blue LED's and da-glo water tubes for a lan party rig!

Actually it looks really nicely done. It's too bad you cpu fan header is way over where it is, it's the only wire that really looks out of place.

Yup is was my intention to do that so i can hide the front fan wire in the bundle of front panel wires.

Thank you btw for the comment. I really appreciate it

Btw i dont hope i have to use that cpu fan header again Because i hope to run my Scythe Ninja fanless.

[BlackWhizz]

Update
I bought me some coolers and fan controller.

- Xigmatek HDT-S1283 (Ninja 2 is butt ugly, mugen has those ugly things covering the heatpipes so this was the choice).
- Thermalright Bolt Thru kit to bolt my cooler onto the motherboard so the board wont bend.
- Accelero S1 because my passive cooler was idling at 63 degrees celcius.
- Scythe Kaze Master Ace

Because im in a busy period (exams and driving lessons etc etc) im planning to do it step by step.

Sunday i had some time to mount the Accelero (it was the component which was in reach and easy to get out ). its cooling much better. (44c idle / 55c Furmark load after a hour).


Lookin' good!

[ntavlas]

Nice rig!

I'm way to anal retentive...

Ninja 2 is butt ugly, mugen has those ugly things covering the heatpipes so this was the choice

Indeed the xigmatek is a good match to the accelero in terms of looks. The older ninja too (bar the heatpipe caps) because it`s fins have a similar texture. In fact I was thinking of getting an extra ninja and using it`s caps on the accelero to achieve more homogenous looks inside my case.

So I believe I can join in the anal club...

[BlackWhizz]

Haha thanks. Im thinking of getting a Arctic F12 PWM fan to match looks. But im first thinking to use the fan which was in the box if its silent enough.

[capecodbackup]

Your life will get real good and real quiet when you replace that Intel Crap Cooler. They really suck bigtime.

I ended up with a Noctua 9B but there are plenty that would be fine.

[BlackWhizz]

Your life will get real good and real quiet when you replace that Intel Crap Cooler. They really suck bigtime.

I ended up with a Noctua 9B but there are plenty that would be fine.

Yup absolutely. I replaced it last thursday The fan doesnt ramp up at all! constantly about 820RPM.

Update: Replaced the Stock cooler with Xigmatek HDT-S1283 + Thermalright Bolt Thru kit

Just pictures again. The cooler is damn silent. Now my real silents (@1000RPM are the most loud things in the system). Luckily i have bought a fan controller which im going to be mounting soon



And some artsy pictures. PC was running when i made the pictures.




I just like how the system looks because its just alu + heatpipes With both coolers. They match too good!

[capecodbackup]

Oh yeah, now THAT is getting to be a super serious SILENT machine! Nice job!

[BlackWhizz]

Oh yeah, now THAT is getting to be a super serious SILENT machine! Nice job!

Thanks :$

I hope to mount my fan controller this week. Also im thinking to get a nexus real silent on the CPU cooler and control it by the fan controller. Now i just need to get some cable that just sends the RPM signal to my cpu fan.

[BlackWhizz]

Update: Nexus Real Silent on CPU heatsink & Fan controller installed
So, sunday i did some work on my PC. Its pretty darn quiet now (inaudible at 5m distance instead of 10m ) but its a lot quieter than my previous PC.

What i do to all my Real Silents before installing them is removing the molexes by snipping them off and resoldering the wires. But not before testing the fan



Then after some wire cutting & stripping & twisting wires with a cordless drill:


Then i installed the fan controller:

Temps its monitoring from left to right.
- CPU (sensor mounted on alu piece which is holding the heatpipes of the cpu cooler, inaccurate, cpu was according to everest 32 degrees)
- GPU (mounted on heatpipe of Accelero, inaccurate, GPU was 43 degrees)
- Northbridge (frictionfitted in NB cooler. Accurate)
- Case temp (mounted hanging free air [cable is secured to case]).

This was the thing my PC needed Now i need to replace my PSU because its the most loudest part in my system.

System is inaudible in normal in days. At nights my PSU is the most loudest part its audible within 4m.

[RoGuE]

K i gotta ask..

If your bringing this thing to lans, even only a few times a year..why didn't you go with a mATX form factor? Availability? Price? Beats me because you dont have a large array of HDD's to really use the size of a mid tower.

Otherwise, build looks nice.

I would seriously consider not cutting a window in the side. The greatness of antec cases is their quietness! and part of that is the triple layered panels to block out sound. When you add a window, you're probably gonna use some kind of poly carbonate or lexan, which will almost definitely bring up the sound signature on this bute. Now if this were posted on any other site, I wouldn't bother with my suggestion, but this is SPCR! If you want to show off your neat cable management and sexy interior, just pop off the side at ur lan party and show her off! (just be careful poking around in there while its on obviously..)

[BlackWhizz]

K i gotta ask..

If your bringing this thing to lans, even only a few times a year..why didn't you go with a mATX form factor? Availability? Price? Beats me because you dont have a large array of HDD's to really use the size of a mid tower.

Otherwise, build looks nice.

I would seriously consider not cutting a window in the side. The greatness of antec cases is their quietness! and part of that is the triple layered panels to block out sound. When you add a window, you're probably gonna use some kind of poly carbonate or lexan, which will almost definitely bring up the sound signature on this bute. Now if this were posted on any other site, I wouldn't bother with my suggestion, but this is SPCR! If you want to show off your neat cable management and sexy interior, just pop off the side at ur lan party and show her off! (just be careful poking around in there while its on obviously..)

This is officially a case for micro ATX. Tough you can fit a ATX board in it by some modding By matx cases u mean like lanboxes or so? Well, most of those cases wont fit big tower coolers, and huge gpu coolers (like accelero's, musashis setsugens etc etc). I didnt want that much restrictions so i chose this case.

Large array will be soon. Im already using my data (downloads/movies/series etc) for like 300/400GB. Im thinking to upgrade to 2x 1TB or 2x 2TB.

Also im gonna upgrade to a 5770 with a Setsugen on it. But it just takes some time.

I want to get a:
- Silent PSU (Nexus 500w i think or a modular corsair 520w)
- TFT Screen (i have the money for it, now im choosing what one)
- Little bigger storage (2 or 4TB more)
- HD5770 cooled by Setsugen

About that window. Im not worried that much. When upgrading to a silent PSU my system is definately not the most silent. But is the most silent system i've ever had and it doesnt disturb my sleep (when its on or off ).

But also that takes time. And time is scarce (exams, driving lessons, next school, friends etc etc) so my PC is on the last place

[RoGuE]

This is officially a case for micro ATX. Tough you can fit a ATX board in it by some modding By matx cases u mean like lanboxes or so? Well, most of those cases wont fit big tower coolers, and huge gpu coolers (like accelero's, musashis setsugens etc etc). I didnt want that much restrictions so i chose this case.

Large array will be soon. Im already using my data (downloads/movies/series etc) for like 300/400GB. Im thinking to upgrade to 2x 1TB or 2x 2TB.

Also im gonna upgrade to a 5770 with a Setsugen on it. But it just takes some time.

I want to get a:
- Silent PSU (Nexus 500w i think or a modular corsair 520w)
- TFT Screen (i have the money for it, now im choosing what one)
- Little bigger storage (2 or 4TB more)
- HD5770 cooled by Setsugen

About that window. Im not worried that much. When upgrading to a silent PSU my system is definately not the most silent. But is the most silent system i've ever had and it doesnt disturb my sleep (when its on or off ).

But also that takes time. And time is scarce (exams, driving lessons, next school, friends etc etc) so my PC is on the last place

OH! I totally didn't see that this is a P180 Mini. I love the case! I took a quick glance and thought it was a p182. I guess your cable management makes it seem roomier than it is! Did you have to do any cutting or get creative with the board mounting to be able to mount an ATX board in this?

[LEO454]

You did a great job with the installation and the case looks great. The wire management does make the case look bigger than it is.

[BlackWhizz]

This is officially a case for micro ATX. Tough you can fit a ATX board in it by some modding By matx cases u mean like lanboxes or so? Well, most of those cases wont fit big tower coolers, and huge gpu coolers (like accelero's, musashis setsugens etc etc). I didnt want that much restrictions so i chose this case.

Large array will be soon. Im already using my data (downloads/movies/series etc) for like 300/400GB. Im thinking to upgrade to 2x 1TB or 2x 2TB.

Also im gonna upgrade to a 5770 with a Setsugen on it. But it just takes some time.

I want to get a:
- Silent PSU (Nexus 500w i think or a modular corsair 520w)
- TFT Screen (i have the money for it, now im choosing what one)
- Little bigger storage (2 or 4TB more)
- HD5770 cooled by Setsugen

About that window. Im not worried that much. When upgrading to a silent PSU my system is definately not the most silent. But is the most silent system i've ever had and it doesnt disturb my sleep (when its on or off ).

But also that takes time. And time is scarce (exams, driving lessons, next school, friends etc etc) so my PC is on the last place

OH! I totally didn't see that this is a P180 Mini. I love the case! I took a quick glance and thought it was a p182. I guess your cable management makes it seem roomier than it is! Did you have to do any cutting or get creative with the board mounting to be able to mount an ATX board in this?

Well, you can mount a ATX mobo in it but you'll need to remove the top fan and mount an ATX motherboard tray in it.

But i have a Micro ATX board so i didn't have that much trouble mounting my hardware

You did a great job with the installation and the case looks great. The wire management does make the case look bigger than it is.

haha thanks But i can tell you for a Micro ATX case it is a pretty frikkin huge case It has the size of a Midi tower. But cable management is still good to do. The hardest part is closing the case. There is a little hole in the back where all your cables from psu to mobo compartiment go. That hole is way too small. Also what i woud request to Antec, that they make another hole to both compartiments where the Front panel headers are. That way you can run the switches and usb and esata more cleaner to your motherboard.

But as you say. Cable management makes look everything big. My room is fairly big. But its a big mess so it looks quite small

[BlackWhizz]

Update.
Well, i ended up wanting a window in my system for showoff and not to disrupt the airflow. The top compartiment of this system is inaudible so window should - theorically - not make the system louder.

So went designing a window.

This is how i want the design:

(both holes in the cardboard were on the cardboard already there )

Should look pretty slick!




This project aint dead already Just moved to a lower priority (busy busy busy )

[BlackWhizz]

Update: I have cut the window
Well.. Title says it all. I cut the window and it looks hella good! These pictures are made with my new camera so i hope you guys like them (new camera = Nikon Coolpix S3000 not a DSLR).

[BlackWhizz]

Plexi arrived 2 weeks ago. Then i was 2 weeks away with mates and im going away for a few weeks with more friends

But i have some plexi. Now i need to make some nice 45 degree sides on the window because its 5mm thick

Then it should hella good. And i need to get some lights

Btw, the GPU temps went up because the P180 Mini was made for underpressure (vents everywhere), now the top fan sucks up false air (through the hole where the plexi should be in front of). But its not dramatically so im not worried Temps went up from low 40's to mid 50's in idle. At load the GPU gets about 70 degrees where it was mid 50's.

So i need to get some plexi on it so my temps will stay lower

[speedkar9]

Doesn't the composite side cover fall apart once you've cut it?

[BlackWhizz]

Doesn't the composite side cover fall apart once you've cut it?

Composite side is the layer alu on the sidepanel on the inside of the pc?

No it doesnt. Antec has used somekind of glue to hold it in place. It was fairly easy to cut. I have used a jigsaw with a fine metal blade to cut it. Just feed the material slowly and file the corners instead of going close to the corners with the saw.

[andy_d90]

Nice work there