Mini Monster

[deleted account33]

hi guys,

 

just recently finished up my mini itx rig and thought i would see what people think, i need something small to put in a suitcase when i need to travel but i also wanted alot of power for gaming etc.

 

the specs are:

 

- CPU: Intel i7-4770K @4.4Ghz 1.2v
- GPU: MSI GTX 780 3GB OC Twin Frozr IV
- RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP @1866Mhz CAS 10
- Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus VI Impact Z87

​- Storage: 960GB Crucial M500 SSD + 4TB WD RED
- CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-S12P SE14
- Fans: Noctua NF-A15 140mm Case Fan + NF-P14 140mm CPU Fan
- PSU: Silverstone 80 Plus Bronze 600W
- Case: Silverstone SG08B
 

this is the case and with most of the cable management done already

 

 

here is the biggest cpu cooler i could find that would actually fit in the case

 

 

here it is with the cpu cooler in and top case fan above pushing in cool air

 

 

heres a view on the other side 

 

 

finally running to test it all works

 

 

showing the size of it and the rather large tv i use

 

 

final setup with my other monitor 

[Thecrazyswede]

Looks nice, personally i am more into the node 304 for mITX rigs but this one looks very functional.

[deleted account33]

yea i thought about the node 304 but its quite a bit wider and taller and has to use smaller fans for airflow etc which put me off aswell because i find them louder at higher rpms.

 

it fits more 3.5inch drives but i mainly use ssds now and just have one 4tb hdd for backup / storage.

 

plus you have to use a non-modular psu if you want to use a long graphics card and there isnt much room to take all of the included cables, the sg08 comes with a silverstone powersupply that has custom cables that are shorter and there is nothing leftover when everythings plugged in

[Antibull]

yea i thought about the node 304 but its quite a bit wider and taller and has to use smaller fans for airflow etc which put me off aswell because i find them louder at higher rpms.

 

it fits more 3.5inch drives but i mainly use ssds now and just have one 4tb hdd for backup / storage.

 

plus you have to use a non-modular psu if you want to use a long graphics card and there isnt much room to take all of the included cables, the sg08 comes with a silverstone powersupply that has custom cables that are shorter and there is nothing leftover when everythings plugged in

 

Well the fans included in the node 304 are only noticeable on high, but you wont need to go higher then medium if you are gaming a whole day. (I don't hear my system, The only thing I hear is when my HDD is turning on)

 

Ontopic:

 

I love M-itx  this one looks very compact tho, what are the temps ?

[deleted account33]

 

I love M-itx  this one looks very compact tho, what are the temps ?

 

Yea it really is basically the smallest i could find that would take a full length gtx 780 and an ATX power supply with good airflow

 

The temps of the cpu are great under 100% load barely above 60c, the gpu actually gets up to about 77-79c under 100% load but i think this is just down to this particular gpu, because i didnt mention it but i previously had a Gtx 680 in there before i swapped out for a 780 and that is a similar card with similar cooler but would always be about 65-68c under 100% load. 

 

The airflow is actually really good though because theres a 140mm intake fan pushing cool air from outside straight down onto the 140mm cpu fan and into the case creating positive pressure forcing warm air out the side vents, the gpu uses a similar method to the node 304 of just being directly next to vents to pull cool air in and theres a vent underneath for the exhaust.

 

i know what you mean about hdd noise tho i have mine to turn off after 1min of not using it because its the loudest thing in my system haha and yea i guess you wouldnt hear those 120mm fans unless their ramped up high i just really wanted the smallest case i could find without having to have a sfx psu or a mitx style gpu

 

I did actually have a water cooling closed loop system installed in it before but i always had quite bad pump noise so eventually i switched back to air cooling and just tried to find the biggest i could

 

heres a pic of the old version attached to the 140mm fan

 

and the internals of the old setup

 

and heres the old 680 i had in it which ran alot cooler in the same environment for some reason

 

 

 

[Antibull]

-snip-

 

How did you run the pump, mines make noise at 12 volts but not on 7 volts and it cools as good on 7 volts as on 12 volts (I assume that it is a h60)

[deleted account33]

How did you run the pump, mines make noise at 12 volts but not on 7 volts and it cools as good on 7 volts as on 12 volts (I assume that it is a h60)

 

 

Yea it was a h60 they are pretty good, i did run it on 12 at the start but noise was quite noticeable and after lowering it it was almost silent in the end i think. i dont know if reducing the pump speed lowered temps but i was getting quite high cpu temps in the end after long periods of high usage up to high 80s because i run my 4770k overclocked i think it was 4.2 at the time. but now with my current setup i have a really big heatsink with basically two 14cm fans blasting air into it from outside the case it stays really cool even at 4.4 so im probably going to stay with this setup now, the only thing that actually gets hot is the gpu and like i said it seems to be down to the gpu itself, ive noticed the fan speed rarely goes above 50% which is down to msi's firmware settings i presume as the card is stock.

 

 Its hot but wont be doing any damage so im not too fussed, i may eventually swap it out for the generation of gpus after the gtx 9** series if they are good / cooler, maybe a 1080?! if thats what nvidia ends up calling it haha.