The mini Larsinator

[LarsReviews]

After I have been to my first real lan and I had to sit in the back of the car squeezed in by 2 ATX builds, I started to like the idea of small mITX systems. So here we go.

 

The Parts:

 

For a case I went with the Cougar QBX mini-itx. I is quite new, very compact and offers a really great value for its low price. The build quality is really sturdy and the plastic brushed top and front peaces look really sleek. Now we got a case, so lets start filling it with parts.

 

The Motherboard choice was pretty easy. I wanted something with great onboard Fan controll, so I went with the Asus Z97 Impact, which I got for a really awesome price. Then for the CPU I went with the 4790k, which is cooled by a Corsair H90, which I bought of a friend. The CPU choice was made because I want to play around more with video editing and virtual machines.

 

I already owned the 16 GB of Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz Ram, the Asus Strix GTX 980, Samsung 840 EVO and the LTT Super Awesome Noctua Fans, which I preordered.

 

The last Part I got was the PSU, a Cooler Master G550. It was reduced and I really needed a 140mm PSU to go in the case. It is going to be replaced, as soon as I can affort a good silent 140mm PSU. 

 

The Build:

 

After dryfitting the Parts, I found out that the Strix 980 is to wide to the case, which meant dremel time. (No, I will not dremel the GPU ) In the Pic you can see the strip of metal that was in the way. In the Spoiler is the Case after I dremeled

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Here is the PC running with the Intel Stock Cooler. I redid the cable management after putting in the Aio, but forgot to take a picture.

 

 

And here is a top view of the Aio. Looks tight, but guess it should be fine, as long as I don´t open the case. 

 

 

Now you might be asking yourself, why is that SSD glued to the PSU. I can explain...

 

 

The Case came with a SSD holder and after trying to open it again, the cable got stuck and then it was already to late.

 

More Pictures. Also you may now feel free to ask questions. Thanks for reading

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AHaskin14]

yoooo i like that case a lot. nice build!

 

-ive been looking at the ncase m1 and this simply seems like the $60 version as far as my wallet is concerned.

[LarsReviews]

2 minutes ago, AHaskin14 said:

yoooo i like that case a lot. nice build!

Thx. The case is still the best itx formfaktor imo. I also looked at the Bitenix, Fractal and Corsair but none of them have something this compact. Also I looked at other brands with smaller or equal sized cases, but they wouldn´t fit a 30 cm GPU. 

[Theguywhobea]

3 hours ago, LarsReviews said:

Thx. The case is still the best itx formfaktor imo. I also looked at the Bitenix, Fractal and Corsair but none of them have something this compact. Also I looked at other brands with smaller or equal sized cases, but they wouldn´t fit a 30 cm GPU. 

I actually just recently switched to a Cougar QBX, holy shit I need to step up my cable management game though I guess. But really though it's nice to see someone else with this case, most of the stuff I had found online before buying it was all foreign. 

[LarsReviews]

3 hours ago, Theguywhobea said:

I actually just recently switched to a Cougar QBX, holy shit I need to step up my cable management game though I guess. But really though it's nice to see someone else with this case, most of the stuff I had found online before buying it was all foreign. 

Yeah, finding a review for it was hard too. On the other hand it is pretty cool to have a case that only a few people have. 

 

May I ask what psu you are using? 

[Theguywhobea]

4 hours ago, LarsReviews said:

Yeah, finding a review for it was hard too. On the other hand it is pretty cool to have a case that only a few people have. 

 

May I ask what psu you are using? 

Yeah finding the right PSU was horrible. I'm using the Cougar A500. It seems nice a quiet.

[DJ46]

I actually thought about getting this case but then I realized it didn't fit my cooler or my PSU.

 

This one from Silverstone seems like a really nice unit http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=593 but it wasn't out yet and my wallet would probably cry at the thought of buying it. I ended up with an RVZ01 on a sale for half the price and I stuffed a SilentPro M600 into it.

[LarsReviews]

26 minutes ago, DJ46 said:

I actually thought about getting this case but then I realized it didn't fit my cooler or my PSU.

 

This one from Silverstone seems like a really nice unit http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=593 but it wasn't out yet and my wallet would probably cry at the thought of buying it. I ended up with an RVZ01 on a sale for half the price and I stuffed a SilentPro M600 into it.

I also wanted to get that Silverstone PSU, I really hope I can get it next month.

[cluelessgenius]

that blue led fan doesnt suite the case imo. to everything else id say awesome job.