An ITX quiet all rounder, at last :)

[Darth-san]

Hellow

 

I recently started a build in the Lian Li PC TU100B (previous topic here : http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/357635-an-itx-quiet-all-rounder/#entry4883147 )and I indeed said that i would keep a build log.

 

So, here it is

 

First things first, here goes all the stuff i'll get inside the case

 

 

After carefully studying the PCTu100 i noticed something i never saw or heard of  in the builds i saw before inside this case. that is mounting the OS drive and a ODD on to the same support, wich save me a lot of room later on at the bottom of the case for the GPU and eventually some additionnal fans intake (my Dremel is ready   B)  )

 

 

After that, I replaced the original fan sith a noctua NFA 15, yes, it DOES fit inside this case (I vas also quite surprised ) and i could even keep the dust protection

 

 

Mobo Time then, just the basics, and i placed it inside so I could plan the cable management before hand (first build log so i'm trying to be therall, tell me if it's too much) oh and the noctua LH A9 is awesome :wub: .

 

 

Here are some global and inside shots before and during the cable routing

 

 

And now time for the GPU (so small, i was overwelmed by the fact if actually could fit in my hand ) and the PSU (same story, its designed products sure are small )

 

 

Now, Phase 1 is done

 

Yep i'm calling this phase 1 because i'll not let this case as it is out of the box (the PC Tu) because even tough after a quick test i got 33° idle on the CPU and aroud 28-29° on the gpu (24-25 room temperature) I prefer to take a bit more time to optimize cable management and therefore airflow. As you can see in the picture below, cables can be routed in various places aroud the ODD bay so i'll be worling on that in a few days from now on

 

 

Cable sleeving is, after consideration, not useful, it'd only take more space and forbid some routing due to added thickness of the cables.

 

Noise wise, it was very, very silent   event though the short measuring i did were qith the side panels off.

 

BUT

 

because yes there is a "but"... four of them actually. Come on Lian Li, you provide a well build case and you put Aluminum feet under it ???????!!!!! I dig that having well polished half bulb feets can looks coll, but hey, couldn't they include rubber feets ?

 

So yeah, i am trying very hard to find a set of 4 rubber sound/vibration dampening feet to make sure this little baby does not scratch the carpet and hiss like crazy if laid on hard surface.

 

So, here it is, hope you enjoyed it and I'll keep this up to date later.

 

See ya

[MercFX]

Noice

[brob]

Nice.

[_blackknight_]

this build is very similar with the TekSyndicate build

[mrthuvi]

Awesome.

[Darth-san]

this build is very similar with the TekSyndicate build

 

Indeed, it was partly thanks to this build that i wanted to build my own, i'll add some change though so it won't be the exact, but it' in the same path yeah

[hearthofsin]

very nice build. i were surprised the noctua fan in the front actually fitted ^^ looks great! like a sick lan machine

[hawthorne]

One of the best ITX builds I have seen, would make for an awesome lan pc.

[Brandon Cassie]

Probably one of the cleanest ITX builds I've seen in a while, good stuff man!

[Darth-san]

very nice build. i were surprised the noctua fan in the front actually fitted ^^ looks great! like a sick lan machine

One of the best ITX builds I have seen, would make for an awesome lan pc.

 

Thank you both

 

 

Probably one of the cleanest ITX builds I've seen in a while, good stuff man!

 

Thank you  

I was really hung up on having a clean build, even more so since it is an ITX, i usually read that itx are a pain to cable manage but i'm sure that with a bit of patience, trial and errors, it is possible to have a fairly well ventilated case, that was my moto when setting this up

 

I will update the topic soon, since i made some minor change inside the case, mostly replacing the rivets holding the case together with standard screws

 

And, if made, the bottom ventilation grid with the two noctua NF A9x14

 

See you soon

[Darth-san]

Here it is

 

Soooo, after a few hours of drilling, this is the result

 

 

Surely this is not professionnal work and it is not entended to. I got my vents done, that's the most important, even more since it's not the visible side of the case. However, id anyone sees this, please, wear protection goggles

 

 

Placing the 2 Noctua 9mm thick fans (no screws needed   )

 

 

Aaaaaaand something I'm pretty happy about. I wanted rubber feets, but couldn't get a good size/matter at decent prices. 

So, what I i did was very cheap and easy (and actually pretty solid). I went to the DIY store and got 8 standard rubber feets for 1€40 (1$90) and used some rapid solid glue to stick those ON the existing aluminum feets

 

 

No noise, good grip and stability, and they did not move a millimeter when brutalized  :rolleyes:

 

 

And finaly, the rest of the component you already saw previously

 

 

One thing though, the rubber screws with the noctua fans actually had clearance issues with the GPU cooler, so i ziptied themflat to be sure they would not hinder it.

 

The last change i did was putting Low Noise Adaptator for the 2 bottom fans because they were too loud and kept the big 15cm front fan standard to maximize airflow.

 

It is finally build

 

I installed windows 7 on it and ran it for about 2 hours just to check every thing is ok.

 

Temps wise, in a room about 27°c the case was 29°c and the cpu 34°c ans with very decent low noise level.

 

Almmost there, the last thing needed will be to test the gpu in real world situation

 

See ya

[Nerdwall]

Cool build! Love compact SFF builds

[asusfan]

looks pretty neat and tidy small rig. do you have the dimensions, specs, temps for it please? it would be interesting to see the temps with the psu close to the gpu and cpu like that.