# Ion goes ITX



## [Ion] (Nov 27, 2012)

Hey guys!

I'm back with a new build!  I'm building a ITX system--hopefully more powerful and more successful than my last one.  Here's what I'm looking at using:
- Cooler Master Elite 120 Case [on the way]
- Antec 350w PSU (might use a Thermaltake TR-2 modular instead) [have both]
- Core i3-2100 [*ordered!*]
- WD Caviar 1TB [have]
- EVGA 8800GTS 512MB [on the way]
- 2x4GB G.SKILL DDR3 [on the way]
- Probably a Foxconn H67 motherboard [not sure, need to decide and order]

My goal is to build a small but still reasonably potent gaming rig that I can take to friends' dorms for LAN parties and the like.  The i7s are just too big and heavy, and I don't want to take them off of WCG.  I'll probably add a small SSD later, but I can't afford one ATM.  As far as modding goes, I'm planning to remove the HDD cage to improve air flow and make a bit more interior space.  I'll update with pictures when parts start to arrive


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## manofthem (Nov 27, 2012)

Can't wait to see this "beast" come to life (yes, I called it beast )   I want to see pics!  If its just for gaming, why not skip the 1TB hdd and just go with a 256gb ssd?

 for the


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## [Ion] (Nov 27, 2012)

manofthem said:


> Can't wait to see this "beast" come to life (yes, I called it beast )   I want to see pics!  If its just for gaming, why not skip the 1TB hdd and just go with a 256gb ssd?
> 
> for the



A 256GB SSD is wicked expensive ($120+).  I got the 1TB HDD for $30 

A SSD will come (probably a 64GB, as that's enough with a dedicated HDD) probably in January when I have more money to spend.

Pics will definitely be provided--but all I have ATM is the HDD, and it's in one of my HPs keeping it crunching.  That an the PSU, which is just and old Antec.  Might get a pic tomorrow.


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## manofthem (Nov 27, 2012)

That's a nice deal for a 1tb  
The suggestion of a 256 ssd was more about size reduction anyway, not do much speed though the speed is a nice plus. Either way, can't wait.


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## cdawall (Nov 27, 2012)

Should be different get an A10-5800K!


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## [Ion] (Nov 27, 2012)

cdawall said:


> Should be different get an A10-5800K!



An A10 and mobo was going to cost me $60 more than the i3/8800GTS...and this way I can go with an i5/i7 later if I want.

But what mobo would you suggest for the A10?


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## cdawall (Nov 27, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> An A10 and mobo was going to cost me $60 more than the i3/8800GTS...and this way I can go with an i5/i7 later if I want.
> 
> But what mobo would you suggest for the A10?



Asrock has an A75 series board floating around that looked pretty nice. Looks like the egg is sold out of it ATM however. It was the setup I was looking at for swapping my i7 Xeon mini ITX for. Honestly the onboard on the A10 should beat the 8800GTS...


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## [Ion] (Nov 27, 2012)

cdawall said:


> Asrock has an A75 series board floating around that looked pretty nice. Looks like the egg is sold out of it ATM however. It was the setup I was looking at for swapping my i7 Xeon mini ITX for. Honestly the onboard on the A10 should beat the 8800GTS...



That's the board I was looking at.  However, with the A10, it would be $225 for that.  I'm getting an i3 for $75 shipped, the board is $65, and the GPU was $30.  So it's not quite the difference, but still.  I think this will be fine--and if I find the GPU inadequate (I don't expect to) I can always throw it in one of my sales systems, sell it for an unreasonable mark-up on Craigslist, and get a GTX460


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## mlee49 (Nov 27, 2012)

Just curious, why the 8800GTS? Couldn't a more powerful, less power hungry card do?

Nice LAN build though


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## [Ion] (Nov 27, 2012)

mlee49 said:


> Just curious, why the 8800GTS? Couldn't a more powerful, less power hungry card do?
> 
> Nice LAN build though



Thanks 

I could have pulled one of the GTX460s, GTX470s, or HD7770s out of my i7.  I'm going with the 8800GTS G92 because, (1), it's a card I've always wanted to own, (2), it was cheap, and (3) I _think_ it will be a plenty for everything I do.  I could be wrong about that last point, in which case I'll throw it in one of my C2Ds and sell it and get something faster.


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## lZKoce (Nov 27, 2012)

Wow, how did you find those parts so cheap...really  Anyway, awesome build. I think you have estimated quite right that the 8800gts will do everything you need it to do. Even for me is plenty, I only play Starcraft2, so yeah. I'd do the same.


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## [Ion] (Nov 27, 2012)

lZKoce said:


> Wow, how did you find those parts so cheap...really  Anyway, awesome build. I think you have estimated quite right that the 8800gts will do everything you need it to do. Even for me is plenty, I only play Starcraft2, so yeah. I'd do the same.



I'm buying the CPU and GPU used from people on [H]ard|Forum.  The motherboard is one sale at Newegg, and I got the RAM as part of a black-Friday sale.  I got the HDD locally.


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## [Ion] (Nov 28, 2012)

Case just got here:









It's a bit bigger than I expected, and the feet are the worst I've ever seen--but neither are big issues.  I think I'll try and throw the Atom in it tonight.  Then once I install the i3 later I can decide what I want to do to it.  I do like the side fan--some extra air over the CPU is always a good thing.


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## t_ski (Nov 29, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> Case just got here:
> http://i.imgur.com/FpWMN.jpg
> http://i.imgur.com/436qh.jpg
> It's a bit bigger than I expected, and the feet are the worst I've ever seen--but neither are big issues.  I think I'll try and throw the Atom in it tonight.  Then once I install the i3 later I can decide what I want to do to it.  I do like the side fan--some extra air over the CPU is always a good thing.



I think you should send it back - someone left a banana in it, bro


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## [Ion] (Nov 29, 2012)

t_ski said:


> I think you should send it back - someone left a banana in it, bro



a) The case was free
b) That's my banana
c) The banana isn't even in the case

Sorry bro


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## manofthem (Nov 29, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> a) The case was free
> b) That's my banana
> c) The banana isn't even in the case
> 
> Sorry bro



Haha, at first it looked like the banana was in there 
Case look nice, can't wait to see this come together!


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## cdawall (Nov 29, 2012)

Are you sure the banana isn't in the case?


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## t_ski (Nov 29, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> a) The case was free
> b) That's my banana
> c) The banana isn't even in the case
> 
> Sorry bro



Was the banana free, too?


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## XL-R8R (Nov 29, 2012)

Why no Z77 board?


Seems kinda odd to be picking H67 when they're about the same price.


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## HossHuge (Nov 29, 2012)

Is 350w going to be enough for a 8800GTS?


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## BUCK NASTY (Nov 29, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> a) *The case was free*



Where does one direct their attention in order to procure a "free case" with a bonus Banana?


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## [Ion] (Nov 29, 2012)

t_ski said:


> Was the banana free, too?


$.39 a pound from Harris Teeter


XL-R8R said:


> Why no Z77 board?
> 
> 
> Seems kinda odd to be picking H67 when they're about the same price.


I can get a H67 board for ~$65 and a Z77 would cost nearly twice that.  And the i3 doesn't support overclocking anyways


HossHuge said:


> Is 350w going to be enough for a 8800GTS?



I'd say so.  The i3 is rated at 65w, and IIRc the 8800GTS is rated at just over 100w.  So that's maybe 200w tops for everything (and even that seems a bit high).  If it's getting too warm, I'll swap it with the 450w.


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## HossHuge (Nov 29, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> I'd say so.  The i3 is rated at 65w, and IIRc the 8800GTS is rated at just over 100w.  So that's maybe 200w tops for everything (and even that seems a bit high).  If it's getting too warm, I'll swap it with the 450w.



I found this.  Looks like you'll be OK.








> While it requires an additional six-pin power connector, the 9800 GTX' consumption is actually very close to that of the 8800 GTS 512 MB, which is not surprisingly. The figures were comparable in idle state and just slightly higher under load (running Test Drive Unlimited), as its specifications indicated. Officially, Nvidia specifies 156 W for the 9800 GTX as opposed to "< 150 W" for the 8800 GTS 512 MB, and our results confirmed that.
> 
> What that means is that a brand-name 350 W power-supply will be enough to feed a system based on this card.



http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-9800gtx-review,1800-12.html


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 29, 2012)

No 350W is not good enough for a 8800GTS G80. These cards are power hogs and I lost a PSU due to this card and it was a 450W 20A antec with a Pentium D 820 65nm 2GB DDR2. I would look for a better PSU cause if it goes you may end up buying more than just a PSU.


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## 3870x2 (Nov 29, 2012)

mlee49 said:


> Just curious, why the 8800GTS? Couldn't a more powerful, less power hungry card do?
> 
> Nice LAN build though



the 8800GTS is quite power hungry, you might run into issues with a 350w, depending on the PSUs actual output.

About a month ago I had a 5750 for sale, would have gone nicely with this build.  Interestingly enough, the 8800GTS can play games quite nicely these days still, but it does have one major flaw that just does not work with games as of 2010 and newer: 512 MB Ram.

My little brother in law has my old FX4600 (8800GTX) and while it plays everything out there (even maxes some out, like CS:GO at 1080p) it struggles on certain games due to RAM, even on low settings.


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## [Ion] (Nov 29, 2012)

HossHuge said:


> I found this.  Looks like you'll be OK.
> 
> http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2008/04/01/nvidia_geforce_9800gtx_review/chart_total_consumption.png
> 
> ...


Thanks! 


brandonwh64 said:


> No 350W is not good enough for a 8800GTS G80. These cards are power hogs and I lost a PSU due to this card and it was a 450W 20A antec with a Pentium D 820 65nm 2GB DDR2. I would look for a better PSU cause if it goes you may end up buying more than just a PSU.


G92 
And this i3 will use a ton less power--and the Antec 450w I have is rated at 24(maybe 25) amps on the +12v rail 
And actually I built a system with an 8800GTS G80 and an AMD X2 on a SeaSonic 330 (maybe 380w) PSU.  Works totally fine--PSU doesn't even get warm 


3870x2 said:


> the 8800GTS is quite power hungry, you might run into issues with a 350w, depending on the PSUs actual output.
> 
> About a month ago I had a 5750 for sale, would have gone nicely with this build.



Indeed, a newer card would have been nice.  But I wasn't planning this build that long ago--and the G92 8800GTS is just fine I think.


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## 3870x2 (Nov 29, 2012)

You are probably better off with it being larger than expected, that 8800GTS is not a small card.


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## cdawall (Nov 29, 2012)

350w will be fine I run a 4.2ghz i7 and GTX 470 on my 450w without issue 1-2 years later.


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## Norton (Nov 29, 2012)

BUCK NASTY said:


> Where does one direct their attention in order to procure a "free case" with a bonus Banana?



I've bought items from sneeky before and never got any bonus misc. fruit


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## theonedub (Nov 29, 2012)

A free case? That's bananas 

Good luck with the build, ITX setups are fun.


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## cdawall (Nov 29, 2012)

Norton said:


> I've bought items from sneeky before and never got any bonus misc. fruit



I got some ram off of a Canadian counterpart and he sent me cookies with it. Need to find more people like that.


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## Norton (Nov 29, 2012)

cdawall said:


> I got some ram off of a Canadian counterpart and he sent me cookies with it. Need to find more people like that.



Buy something from AudiTuner- he throws in a neat little trinket and a snack. 

I deal with USA Bluebook regularly for parts,etc for work and they have been giving away tootsie roll pops with every order for the last 15+ years. If they forget to do it then they get nasty phone calls from their customers...


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## t_ski (Nov 30, 2012)

Norton said:


> I've bought items from sneeky before and never got any bonus misc. fruit



I got the magic trophy once:







Still waiting for someone worthy to pass it along to...


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## [Ion] (Nov 30, 2012)

While you guys do nothing but crap my thread, I have a few updates:




EVGA 8800GTS G92 and 8GB of G.SKILL DDR3


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## cdawall (Nov 30, 2012)

Those cards are awesome. My younger bro is still using a GTS250 512mb can't get it to clock like my Zotac 8800GTS to this day.


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## [Ion] (Nov 30, 2012)

cdawall said:


> Those cards are awesome. My younger bro is still using a GTS250 512mb can't get it to clock like my Zotac 8800GTS to this day.



Well, I'm not planning on anything extreme--just probably a small boost to the core clock


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 30, 2012)

Will Bionc work on the 8800?


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## [Ion] (Nov 30, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> Will Bionc work on the 8800?



I'm sure there are BOINC projects that will use a G92 GPU, but WCG won't.  So it will fold when not in use


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 30, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> I'm sure there are BOINC projects that will use a G92 GPU, but WCG won't.  So it will fold when not in use



Ahhh nice! I didn't know it was a G92 until I read your earlier posts. My first impressions were it was a G80. I had 8800GTS G80's in SLI loved them!


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## [Ion] (Dec 1, 2012)

My Core i3 is getting shipped out tomorrow, and the Asus P8H77-I came back in stock at Newegg with free shipping, an extended warranty, and a $10 discount, so I just ordered that.  I should have everything by Wednesday, so I can built it as a treat after my calculus final


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## [Ion] (Dec 4, 2012)

CPU just got here 




Unfortunately, I got the PSU used without any of the modular cables, so I have to disassemble it to make sure that the pinout is the same as for the Antec cables I have.

I'm now just waiting on the motherboard, which should be here Wednesday or Thursday.


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## Norton (Dec 4, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> CPU just got here
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121203/P1100596.jpg
> Unfortunately, I got the PSU used without any of the modular cables, so I have to disassemble it to make sure that the pinout is the same as for the Antec cables I have.
> 
> I'm now just waiting on the motherboard, which should be here Wednesday or Thursday.




I have a dead Silverstone 600w modular- you can have some/all of those cables from that if they match?


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## [Ion] (Dec 4, 2012)

Norton said:


> I have a dead Silverstone 600w modular- you can have some/all of those cables from that if they match?



The folks at Thermalcrap use a different modular cable layout than Antec (at least using one of the Antec cables with a 120mm fan resulted in the fan not spinning up).  I'm going to see if I can borrow a voltmeter from someone here, and if I can determine the layout I'll re-pin my cables (not too much trouble).

Thanks for the offer--I'll see what the layout is and then let you know


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## n3rdf1ght3r (Dec 4, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> Ahhh nice! I didn't know it was a G92 until I read your earlier posts. My first impressions were it was a G80. I had 8800GTS G80's in SLI loved them!
> 
> http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d31/brandonwh64/newfan.jpg



I have an old 9800gx2 lying around, sadly I cant use that for WCG That thing could play crysis 2 on max with like 30 fps, kinda  Its nice to look back at old graphics cards, oh the nostalgia


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## [Ion] (Dec 6, 2012)

Here we are--the build! 

The motherboard came in a very diminutive box:





Taking it out of the box, it's even smaller:





CPU & RAM installed:





At this point, I installed the motherboard setup into the case and then the GPU--not a wise step.  The GPU had to come out again so I could wire up the front panel.  Also, I had to remove the PSU twice, once to connect the CPU 4pin and once to fix the CPU fan wire.

Here's the completed product viewed from the right:





And the left:





I thought that I got a picture of it fully assembled with the cover on--apparently not.  I'll do so in the morning


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## t_ski (Dec 6, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> The motherboard came in a very diminutive box:
> http://i.imgur.com/GlxHj.jpg
> 
> Taking it out of the box, it's even smaller:
> http://i.imgur.com/FXyay.jpg



I know what you mean.  I have a mini ITX system that is my home server, and I have a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 installed on it:

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/120/scbsk2000_index.html

If you look at it from overhead, the board isn't much smaller than the 120mm fan on the CPU cooler.


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## [Ion] (Dec 6, 2012)

t_ski said:


> I know what you mean.  I have a mini ITX system that is my home server, and I have a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 installed on it:
> 
> http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/120/scbsk2000_index.html
> 
> ...



Wow--that's a lot of CPU cooler! 

It seems kinda overkill for the Sempron though, no?  

I think I'm going to leave my i3 on stock cooling--it's doing about 60C and is completely silent, so no complaints


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## t_ski (Dec 6, 2012)

[Ion] said:


> Wow--that's a lot of CPU cooler!
> 
> It seems kinda overkill for the Sempron though, no?



Right now it's sitting on a Phenom II 910 X4 chip (65W IIRC), but I have plans to downgrade that chip and cooler in the very near future.


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## [Ion] (Dec 6, 2012)

I replaced the bracket on the GPU with a single-slot bracket from an 8600GT:




I'm hoping that this will allow the card to breathe better and run cooler.  It also means that I have probably the only double-slot 8600GT 

Here's the finished system:





Ultimately, I decided to go with a 320GB disk instead because it's 7200RPM vs the 5900RPM of the WD 1TB I have.  If I run out of storage space, I still have room for two more 3.5" drives.  I also went with an Antec 430W PSU, as the 350 is currently in use on the Atom.


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