# Gaming in Tight Spaces…..mini-ITX (featuring Gigabyte, Silverstone, and Prolimatech)



## miahallen (Aug 14, 2010)

*I recently built a mini-ITX gaming rig...check out my story:
http://www.techreaction.net/2010/08...aturing-gigabyte-silverstone-and-prolimatech/*


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## mdsx1950 (Aug 14, 2010)

I read the whole thing. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.


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## aCid888* (Aug 14, 2010)

Very nice.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 14, 2010)

Brilliantly done, I've been wanting to do a mini ITX build for a while now, just because it's more challenging I would say.  This not only looks great, but it's very convenient I am sure   Good job!


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## Mussels (Aug 14, 2010)

i've been pondering something like this for a while now, but i lack the funds to have two gaming systems.


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## miahallen (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it


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## jcgeny (Aug 14, 2010)

for the fan case i would have tried a 120 mm with half size of what you use : 12 mm 
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=36_408

great computer and cool page of blog where you give all , may be more links for the hardwares could be useful 8]


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## ERazer (Aug 14, 2010)

about to build one and ur review really helpfull, im definitely gonna grab samuel 17, ty bud


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## GENTLEMEN (Aug 14, 2010)

Impressive. Though, the 5850 looks like a tight fit and you're CLOSE to maxing out that PSU. Maybe I should do the same for an HTPC/backups server build I've been wanting to do.


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## wolf (Aug 14, 2010)

I too have dreamed of a mini-itx build, almost exactly identical to this one even, well done! the build came up top-shelf.


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## miahallen (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks guys


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## miahallen (Aug 17, 2010)

I'm planning to rebuild this with some proper modding in the next few months to turn it into the ultimate mini-ITX rig....what do you guys think of the following upgrades?

Intel i5 750 CPU - Which I'd hope to run at 4.2GHz or more, plus it has a good IMC and 4 real cores.  I'm not going to pursue an i7 because I'd turn off HT anyhow.

Corsair H70 CPU cooler - all internal.  I'll have to replace the 3.5" HDD with a 2.5" and then relocate both it and the SSD.

Corsair Dominator GTX3 memory - rated at DDR3-2400 9-11-9-27, but I'll probably try to run DDR3-2000 CAS6 or DDR3-2200 CAS7.

Gigabyte Radeon HD 5870 SOC - stock clocks of 950 core and 1250 memory should give a noticable boost in GPU limited games.  I'll have to mod the case a little for this to fit.

500GB Momentus XT - to replace the 1TB Green drive I'm running now.

And last but not least, I think I'd be pushing this 300W PSU a bit too hard, so I'll plan on upgrading to the new 450W SFX unit by Silverstone.


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## 3volvedcombat (Aug 17, 2010)

miahallen said:


> I'm planning to rebuild this with some proper modding in the next few months to turn it into the ultimate mini-ITX rig....what do you guys think of the following upgrades?
> 
> Intel i5 750 CPU - Which I'd hope to run at 4.2GHz or more, plus it has a good IMC and 4 real cores.  I'm not going to pursue an i7 because I'd turn off HT anyhow.
> 
> ...



IF that 450watt from silverstone can do it.

Thats my only concern 

Sounds good

Would grab a i7 860
undervolt it
while overclocking it
but i7 750 is enough for sure


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## DonInKansas (Aug 17, 2010)

Momentus would give you better performance (after a couple rounds of course) with less heat.


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## miahallen (Aug 17, 2010)

3volvedcombat said:


> IF that 450watt from silverstone can do it.
> 
> Thats my only concern


Based on my experience with the 300W that it came with (see the article for more details) the 450W unit will be more than enough 



DonInKansas said:


> Momentus would give you better performance (after a couple rounds of course) with less heat.


Hey, I could even put two in a RAID0 for about the same price as the VR, maintaining my 1TB size....hummmmmmm


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## miahallen (Aug 28, 2010)

Getting ready for the next upgrade.  Playing around with some modling to verify my measurements.  Looks like everything is going to fit perfect 

My mini-ITX v2.0 parts list:
case - Silverstone SUGO SG05 (interior will be painted)
PSU - Silverstone 450W SFX (cables will be recut for fit and sleeved)
mobo - Gigabyte H55N-USB3
CPU - Intel i5 750 (aiming for 4.2GHz or more)
CPU cooling - Corsair H70 (with one 120x38mm 118CFM San-Ace)
memory - 2x2GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
graphics card - Gigabyte 5870 SOC (undervolted to 1.1V)
OS storage - 80GB Intel X25M SSD
games/media storage - 500GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive

Just waiting for the last few parts to arrive


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## overclocking101 (Aug 28, 2010)

now thats badass


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## copenhagen69 (Aug 28, 2010)

heh this thread is everywhere ... still a fun read ... cant wait for the upgrades and updates...


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## miahallen (Aug 28, 2010)

Yeah....hahaha, I've got 9 threads going around the net 
Probably a bit overkill, but it seems to be these smaller systems are gaining popularity, and I wanted to show as many people as possible how simple a basic setup is to build


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## GENTLEMEN (Aug 28, 2010)

Although it is possible to squeeze a relatively powerful setup into a very small build, a few things which I see might be a problem in mini-itx gaming builds (or any mini-itx for that matter) are PSU choice (unless you choose low voltage parts) and cable management (I wanna see a 500+ watt psu that will fit, be fully/semi-modular). And it would be nice to see other brands go into mini-itx boards.


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## jcgeny (Aug 28, 2010)

the article about latest mini-itx mainboard from intel having latest chipset :
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/intel-dh57jg.html
have a lot of tests using your choice of mainboard , may be you should wait next release from giga-byte which will use it


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## TheMailMan78 (Aug 28, 2010)

Ok......Thats it. I'm building one!


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## miahallen (Aug 28, 2010)

jcgeny said:


> the article about latest mini-itx mainboard from intel having latest chipset :
> http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/intel-dh57jg.html
> have a lot of tests using your choice of mainboard , may be you should wait next release from giga-byte which will use it



The difference between the H55 and H57 is minimal


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## MilkyWay (Aug 28, 2010)

looks really nifty seeing it all condensed into a small package i am really impressed, true that the mini itx has come along far


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## miahallen (Sep 4, 2010)

miahallen said:


> Getting ready for the next upgrade.  Playing around with some modling to verify my measurements.  Looks like everything is going to fit perfect
> 
> My mini-ITX v2.0 parts list:
> case - Silverstone SUGO SG05 (interior will be painted)
> ...



OK, Almost all the parts have arrived, and I've done the cutting mods on the case today for a test fitting.......EVERYTHING FIT 

 teaser 





I ordered the wrong molex connectors and I'm waiting on the correct ones to arrive....then I'll strip down again and paint, and sleeve, and post my article....so it'll still be a couple more weeks.  H70 testing under-way


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## HammerON (Sep 4, 2010)

Sweet looking rig


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## Animalpak (Sep 4, 2010)

good for the space and the compact looking, but the hell for temps and noise.

temps and noise just concentrate and grow up in that little cases.


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## Nick89 (Sep 4, 2010)

So a Core i5 and a 5850 were powered by a 300W PSU? and over clocked?


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## miahallen (Sep 4, 2010)

Animalpak said:


> good for the space and the compact looking, but the hell for temps and noise.
> 
> temps and noise just concentrate and grow up in that little cases.



Temps are pretty good, as long as you don't mind the noise....is that what you ment 



Nick89 said:


> So a Core i5 and a 5850 were powered by a 300W PSU? and over clocked?



I did a full assesment of the power consumption in the article linked in the OP...300W WAS PLENTY for general use and gaming


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## miahallen (Sep 15, 2010)

I've got a full project log on the update if anyone is interested 
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=654048


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 15, 2010)

Nick89 said:


> So a Core i5 and a 5850 were powered by a 300W PSU? and over clocked?



I agree. Thats WAY to low for that combo.


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## miahallen (Sep 16, 2010)

Read the article man....it's plenty


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 16, 2010)

miahallen said:


> Read the article man....it's plenty



You are running at the peak limit now. I mean the PEAK! Over time PSUs and components degrade. You know this man. A 300w PSU might be fine for now but in a few months time you know what will happen. 

Anyway other then your PSU choice its an awesome build man! I would love to build one. I'm jealous!


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## Tatty_One (Sep 16, 2010)

This thread is very useful as I am shortly about to embark on selling off most of my current system (less PSU and 5850) and go down in my case the matx route with a P55 mobo and probably an i5 760, your CPU cooler selection has done me a huge favour already as I was pondering between 3 or 4 low profile units, I assume you are happy with it's performance?

I will prob go for this case as it will take full size Graphics cards and PSU's.......

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silv...SFF-micro-ATX-Case-and-ATX-Size-PSU!-(w-o-PSU)


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## miahallen (Sep 16, 2010)

TheMailMan78 said:


> You are running at the peak limit now. I mean the PEAK!


That's the thing....I wasn't running at peak, except while stress testing (which I didn't build the rig for)....while gaming I was pulling 250-280 at the wall.....that's like 220-250W DC and well within the comform zone for the 300W PSU.

Same thing with the new revision with the 450W PSU....while gaming I should be pulling only 350-400W at the wall, which is around 320-360W DC and right in the peak effeciency zone....it's perfect! 



Tatty_One said:


> This thread is very useful as I am shortly about to embark on selling off most of my current system (less PSU and 5850) and go down in my case the matx route with a P55 mobo and probably an i5 760, your CPU cooler selection has done me a huge favour already as I was pondering between 3 or 4 low profile units, I assume you are happy with it's performance?
> 
> I will prob go for this case as it will take full size Graphics cards and PSU's.......
> 
> http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silv...SFF-micro-ATX-Case-and-ATX-Size-PSU!-(w-o-PSU)


Sounds great man, keep us posted


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## phanbuey (Sep 16, 2010)

miahallen said:


> That's the thing....I wasn't running at peak, except while stress testing (which I didn't build the rig for)....while gaming I was pulling 250-280 at the wall.....that's like 220-250W DC and well within the comform zone for the 300W PSU.
> 
> Same thing with the new revision with the 450W PSU....while gaming I should be pulling only 350-400W at the wall, which is around 320-360W DC and right in the peak effeciency zone....it's perfect!
> 
> ...



The wattage is not going to be your problem... The amperage on the 12V rail will be.  I doubt those PSU's can put out enough amps for a i750 at 4.2Ghz and a 5870.  Just when you start OCing... it will start sucking down juice like crazy.

"The card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit at minimum if you use it in a high-end system. That power supply needs to have (in total accumulated) at least *40 Amps* available on the +12 volts rails."

Not to mention PSU's lose efficiency and output over time.  So even if there is enough now, in a year it will pop.  Then again it is an FSP unit with a single *36Amp rail* so it might be enough... but man... just barely.  Again, my bet is within a year it will have issues.

great build - wish you luck with it.


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## miahallen (Sep 16, 2010)

BTW - I've swapped the 5870 with a 480 GTX 
Check the latest updates


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 16, 2010)

miahallen said:


> BTW - I've swapped the 5870 with a 480 GTX
> Check the latest updates
> 
> http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t228/miahallen/MAX11L/MAX11L66.jpg



You just made an oven.


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## grunt_408 (Sep 17, 2010)

miahallen said:


> *I recently built a mini-ITX gaming rig...check out my story:
> http://www.techreaction.net/2010/08...aturing-gigabyte-silverstone-and-prolimatech/*
> 
> http://www.overclockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/SFF-43.jpg
> ...



Was going to simply thankyou for that post but i have lost my thankyou button.


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## Bow (Sep 17, 2010)




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## TotalChaos (Sep 17, 2010)

very nice


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## niemion (Sep 21, 2010)

miahallen, do you think I will be able to fit a 8800GT with the Accelero S1 rev. 2 (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=105&language=en) and maybe even a 120mm fan on top of the heat sink? With the case closed? The side panel will get very close I guess.


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## miahallen (Sep 24, 2010)

That would be a VERY tight squeeze with a 10mm thick fan (if you can find one)...it'd be impossible with a standard 25mm thick fan.


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## niemion (Nov 11, 2010)

Have you encountered any problems with that Geforce GTX 480 of yours combined with the 300w power supply?


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## Geofrancis (Nov 27, 2010)

i have been a fan of the itx gaming computers for a while now have a look at my sig.

the only problem i have with them is that you are stuck with onboard sound unless you go with usb.

ITX/DTX boards i have owned
fanless 533mhz VIA EPIA




Intel BOXD945GCLF2




Foxconn 'Irvine' GL6E MCP73S01 DTX




J&W MINIX 780G-SP128MB




Foxconn G41S-K


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