Moved the TV PC into my first ITX build

[Kalm_Traveler]

This was a huge pain in the butt, but it is exactly what I envisioned for a TV gaming setup. 

 

 

[Firewrath9]

Node 202 yes? well done.

[Kalm_Traveler]

Just now, Firewrath9 said:

Node 202 yes?

yes sir, I've never made an ITX build but had been wanting to try something in this case for years. It was on sale for about $50 on Newegg last week so decided to give it a go. Also got a used Asus Z270i ROG Strix ITX motherboard for $75 on ebay, so all that remained were the PSU and cpu cooler. Picked up a Corsair 600w SFX unit, and the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev B. cooler, just swapped the fan with a Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM tonight for a little bit better thermals and lower noise (the stock Scythe fan was pretty quiet already but on paper this Noctua should move more air and make even less noise while doing it).

[Alikhanizadeh]

Very nice. I do fancy giving a HTPC/TV gaming setup in this form factor a go one day. What do you use it for aside from gaming? 

[Kalm_Traveler]

39 minutes ago, Alikhanizadeh said:

Very nice. I do fancy giving a HTPC/TV gaming setup in this form factor a go one day. What do you use it for aside from gaming? 

So far (aside from normal PC games) I'm using it for emulators, Amazon video streaming, and local video streaming from my server. Also finding that if i want to just do some light stuff like catching up on YouTube, email, etc it is very nice to be able to sit down on the couch rather than at a desk. 

[Zandvliet]

Nice one, I have the same case for HTPC and love it. It´s compact, although sometimes the temps aren´t that great. At idle mine is about 40-45 for a i6400 and about 40 for 970. How are your temps?

 

[Kalm_Traveler]

2 hours ago, Zandvliet said:

Nice one, I have the same case for HTPC and love it. It´s compact, although sometimes the temps aren´t that great. At idle mine is about 40-45 for a i6400 and about 40 for 970. How are your temps?

 

thanks! I really like the size of it - though like you the temps are a little scary. Right now with light use/idle the CPU is around 38-40c (24-25c ambient) but under load I've seen the cpu hit upwards of 70c and graphics card hit 83c during a 2 hour gaming session last night. 

 

oh I have an i7 7700 in there (non-k, so the 65w TDP chip).

[Zandvliet]

7 hours ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

thanks! I really like the size of it - though like you the temps are a little scary. Right now with light use/idle the CPU is around 38-40c (24-25c ambient) but under load I've seen the cpu hit upwards of 70c and graphics card hit 83c during a 2 hour gaming session last night. 

 

oh I have an i7 7700 in there (non-k, so the 65w TDP chip).

Idle's are a bit high, but nothing to worry about imo. I don't really gaming on  it, only using it for movies and youtube. Yeah that 7700 can get pretty high, though I have it in my main system and it's the -k version. 

[MaratM]

use something like case feet to lift it from the glass so you can get better airflow for you GPU.

[Kalm_Traveler]

5 hours ago, MaratM said:

use something like case feet to lift it from the glass so you can get better airflow for you GPU.

It comes with some rubber feet, so with them installed there is about 1 cm gap on the bottom

[MaratM]

22 minutes ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

It comes with some rubber feet, so with them installed there is about 1 cm gap on the bottom

Just try to lift it a bit more) you’ll see the difference, node 202 performs best in vertical orientation.

[Kalm_Traveler]

2 hours ago, MaratM said:

Just try to lift it a bit more) you’ll see the difference, node 202 performs best in vertical orientation.

Should I try having the cpu fan exhaust instead of intake too?