# BrooksyX Mini-Itx Rig



## BrooksyX (May 1, 2009)

So ive been kinda bored lately and wanted to build a new since that is always fun.
Sadly I don't have tons of extra funds (about $110 in paypal) and I don't want to part out my current rig either.

So I thought of a great idea. Why not build a lower power mini-itx rig for under $200!

I thought about picking up an atom 330 setup but the atom is just to slow in my opinion so I am going with a low power celeron 775 and 775 mini itx board. I now have about $80 left in paypal and I could probably part with another $50~75 of my own cash.

Here is what I have:
-35w Celeron 440 on the way (thanks dark2099)
-2x 1gb of cheap ddr2 ram (thanks dark2099)
-Stock intel heatsink

What I need:
-Case
-PSU
-HDD
-Motherboard

For the motherboard I was thinking Zotac NF630I-D-E for $47.99 shipped after MIR:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NGP6EU/?tag=tec06d-20

For the case I want to go as small as possible. Don't even need dvd drive.
I was liking this one but it is a little spendy compared to other psu/case combos:
http://cgi.ebay.com/M350-Mini-ITX-F...2|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

HDD doesn't really matter. Any 80gb+ Sata laptop drive will do.

And then probably windows 7 for the OS.

What do you guys think? And of course I will post pics.


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## BrooksyX (May 1, 2009)

Reserved


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## Geofrancis (May 2, 2009)

i dont think that power supply with the itx case will power that that motherboard+cpu i had a 70w dc psu hooked up to my dualcore intel atom board and that wouldnt start up with it and that was with no hard drives/cd drives hooked up i think you should get a 120w psu to make sure it will power everything.


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## BrooksyX (May 2, 2009)

I think I am gonna go with this case and psu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121090

Its $55 shipped at derictron. The psu is 120w. Also looks like i'm gonna get a sweet deal on a 630i.


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## Geofrancis (May 2, 2009)

thats a nice case i was going to get that for my server but i ended up getting a morex 669 cube case with a 200w psu 

see here http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1337651&postcount=66


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## BrooksyX (May 2, 2009)

Looks like a pretty sweet rig. I wanna go as small as possible. If this rig turns out nice I might just sell my main rig and use this. I am going of to WSU in the fall and I am going to be living in the dorm the first year. So having a tiny pc would be an advantage. The only downside is the lack of graphics power but I am not really a huge gamer. I mainly use my pc for web browsing/schoolwork/ and as a media center.

Right now I am just waiting on a deal to go through on that motherboard. Once it does I will probably order everything else.


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## Pinchy (May 3, 2009)

For my mini itx, I have an EPIA mini ITX motherboard, with a 1GHz VIA CPU. Got a 1GB SODIMM PC2700 RAM stick in there.

I have paired it up with a 500GB WD HDD and 120mm fan to cool it, 60mm fan to exhaust hot air from the case and for a power supply, the motherboard has an onboard DC-DC converter...so I just plug a 60W AC adapter into it and off she goes. There is also a gigabit LAN card.

I mean, its not slow for what it is. Its currently running apache, file transfer software, eset secuirty suite, ventrilo server, php, mysql, filezila and the printer - and there isnt that much lag.


Recently as well, I added a DVD burner. But to keep it small, I got a laptop burner and IDE converter, so it didnt take all that much room .

The case was made of a cut out motherboard tray and some acrylic.


Now to keep stuff small, I would say you should get:

1.8 or 2.5" hard drive...or if you dont need storage a 16GB CF card with CF --> IDE adapter.
Slim DVD burner
DC-DC converter (so the power supply is an AC adapter)


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## BrooksyX (May 3, 2009)

Well right now I can't decide between these two cases:

http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=179

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121090&Tpk=hec mini-itx

They are both about the same price. However the Apex is about twice as tall but less wide and bigger psu. The Hec is a lot thinner but only has 120w and is wider.

One plus if I go with the Apex case is I could probably keep my q6600 or go with an e7xxx/e8xxx cpu. I could also use one of my PCs HDDs and DVD-Drive.
With the HEC case i would have to go with the celeron 440 I have on the way.
But I do love how small the HEC case is.


edit: I noticed a local pc shop has the Apex case but the color shown is different. I might call and ask if they have the all black one:
http://enuinc.com/cas-ape-itx-001.html


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## Geofrancis (May 3, 2009)

the apex case will let you have some room to upgrade and install a pci-e card so you can add a graphics card if you wanted. as for putting a quad in it or a dual core the zotac motherboard it does support it but its only single channel ram so you would lose 10-20% performance on most applications. even tho the board only has a pci-e x1 slot a cheap 8400gs or hd4350 chopped down to fit into the slot would work perfect and give you hd video acceleration.

see http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1273232&postcount=1


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## SystemViper (May 3, 2009)

I have the Mozart TX case, I have been wondering if it was worth it to add a mini itx,  the case has spots for a regular MB and the mini itx, 

so i'll be subscribed to see what these boards can doo..

subscribed


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## Mussels (May 3, 2009)

i swear i made a post in this thread, and then it just disappeared... i wonder where the hell it ended up


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## Geofrancis (May 3, 2009)

any case will take an itx board


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## BrooksyX (May 3, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> any case will take an itx board



The mozart tx can fit a regular full size atx motherboard and a 2nd mini-itx motheboard in the same case. Thats why system viper was wondering if it would be worth it.


I still haven't officially closed this deal on the mini-itx motherboard that I have pending on. The guy says he still needs to calculate the shipping on it. I hope we can finish it by tonight so he can get it shipped out tomorrow. I'm waiting to close the deal on the board before I buy anything else because I don't wanna get stuck with a bunch of parts and no motherboard.

I am starting to think I am going to go with the Apex case, I love the all black version. Also with that I can fit a full size hdd and dvd drive. Hopefully the local pc shop that I shop at in portland has the all black one. I'm gonna call them tomorrow (closed today).


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## BrooksyX (May 4, 2009)

Alright so I just purchased the zotac board. Should get here by Wednesday hopefully. I am thinking about ordering this case tonight:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154093
http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=179

What do you guys think of it? Any better suggestions?


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## MKmods (May 5, 2009)

I say use Legos!

amazing deal on the mobo....when I first bought my Epia PD I paid around $300

If there is any way use a full size DVD as the laptop ones are really slow. (I have a few of the laptop ones, if you need just PM me)

for a case (if you dont use Legos)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811153099


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## SystemViper (May 5, 2009)

I guess it depends on how u r gonna place he case, if your looking for 
a tower or a desk top,  

so which did u order?


WOW the more i look into the Mini-Itx, the more
interesting it looks, i though they had no power but they
could pack a punch if built correctly.

very cool~


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

I ordered the all black apex case. The one I linked to above. 

I did get an amazing deal on the board. Cost me $49 shipped. So far I have spent about $160 and all I have left to get is a usb wifi adapter to shove in there and I need a digital tv tuner or two. Which I may steal the one from my computer. We shall see. So in the end the rig is going to cost under $200. Not bad for a HTPC with hdmi out, 250gb HDD, 2gb of ram, dvd burner, etc.


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## MKmods (May 6, 2009)

will the stock intel cooler fit in that case?


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

MKmods said:


> will the stock intel cooler fit in that case?



I hear its a tight fit for the smaller intel heatsink. I have a bigger copper core stock intel heatsink that I am gong to be using without the fan. Its going to right next to the 120mm intake fan i plan on running at 5v.

I'm about to post some pics.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

All my cooling supplies. Will be doing some cooling mods 






Here is the cooler ill be using:


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## dark2099 (May 6, 2009)

quite a collection of fans you have going there.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

dark2099 said:


> quite a collection of fans you have going there.



lol thanks. Two 92mm, an 80mm, a 70mm, a 60mm, and the intel one. Also got a few blue 80mm led ones somewhere.

Ill probably use as many as I can. Gonna run them at 5v so they are almost silent. Don't need tons of airflow. Just enough to move a little air.


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## craigo (May 6, 2009)

Great budget cooler going with stock/passive, Is it built yet?...can you post some benches when done (everest please)..good luck with the project
Cheers,
Craig0.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

craigo said:


> Great budget cooler going with stock/passive, Is it built yet?...can you post some benches when done (everest please)..good luck with the project
> Cheers,
> Craig0.



No I am still waiting on the motherboard, case w/ psu, and dvd buner.

I will post some benches.


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## SystemViper (May 6, 2009)

Sweet, looks like it's coming together,


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## Scrizz (May 6, 2009)

can't w8 to see results


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## alucasa (May 6, 2009)

I have the case you bought. The Intel default heatsink will fit. Personally though, I didn't like the case. It's alright though.
You have to detach the PSU when installing mobo.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

What didn't you like about the case?


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## alucasa (May 6, 2009)

Well, I will give you my  subjective options.

The case housing, its glossy painting leaves a lot of traces for finger prints. Because the surface was glossy, when dust settled, I had to use dry cloth to clean. Slightly wet cloth would simply leave dust on it.

The interior, it was alright, neither good nor bad. PSU cable length was perfect.

The front panel looked really cheap. It looks awesome in the newegg photo though.

The overall case quality was a little cheap.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

Okay well if the case is garbage I can return it i guess. But I shall wait to pass judgment on it. I do like the way it looks on the egg.


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## alucasa (May 6, 2009)

It isn't a garbage, it just didn't meet my standards.


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## cdawall (May 6, 2009)

my mini itx build used a atom, 2GB DDR2, 1.5TB HDD, 8400GS ran great off the 250w my case came with


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## Geofrancis (May 6, 2009)

it will be like all gloss black finishes it will show finger prints like nothing else my case is bad for it.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

Thanks for the input.

Honestly if this rig is good enough for my standards ill probably sell my main rig and just use this and my laptop at college. (I will probably upgrade the cpu though).

If I am not too impressed with it then ill probably just sell it or give it to my parents.

I am really looking forward to building it though.


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## BrooksyX (May 6, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> it will be like all gloss black finishes it will show finger prints like nothing else my case is bad for it.
> 
> http://i39.tinypic.com/107ltma.jpg



Yeah I know how glossy finishes work. I am not too worried about that.


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Got the board today. I should get the case tomorrow so I should be able to test it out tomorrow. Anyways, here are some pics:









Also picked up this usb wifi adapter on my way home from school - got it for $10 on craigslist:


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

yikes! plugged everything in and turned it on. Smelled like burning and I swear I saw some smoke!!!

But inxpected and smelled the board. I couldn't see or smelly any burn marks...


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## Geofrancis (May 7, 2009)

very nice


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> very nice



No! Not nice I plugged everything in and it was smoking!

I think the cpu may be bad as I turned on the board without the cpu and it was fine.

edit: fine as in no burning smell. Obviously it didn't post without the cpu.


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## Scrizz (May 7, 2009)

you check psu?
edit: nvm


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Scrizz said:


> you check psu?
> edit: nvm



its not the psu. I used the psu in my brothers rig. It was working fine 5 mins with his rig before I tested the board. I'm gonna test it with my q6600. Just really don't wanna take my rig apart to test it out


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## a_ump (May 7, 2009)

ah dam that CPU, how big is that PSU? lol i hope you won't be strainin the PSU with the q6600. I'm very very interested to see the horsepower behind this build and what ITX builds are capable of as i build PC's for some of my friends or their parents and course most just use the internet, IM's, and media so if this is a capable rig of those 3 then i may look at building one of those next time. goodluck


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

his psu is a 250w. Im gonna use my psu with the q66, its a 550w.


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Well good news. Board posted just fine with q6600. Bad news looks like the celeron 440 is no good. Gonna try it in my p35 board just incase.


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Yep, celeron 440 is no good. Well that certanly is gonna hurt how my build is going. I don't have cpu for it now and I can't really spend anymore money on the build...


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## a_ump (May 7, 2009)

dam that blows, i was looking forward to seeing performance. don't give up, you may be able to look around or ask fits if he can help you find a chip for real cheap, like 20 bucks or so. shit you _may_ get lucky and someone give you a chip.


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## Cheeseball (May 7, 2009)

E2xxx series maybe?


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

a_ump said:


> dam that blows, i was looking forward to seeing performance. don't give up, you may be able to look around or ask fits if he can help you find a chip for real cheap, like 20 bucks or so. shit you _may_ get lucky and someone give you a chip.





Cheeseball said:


> E2xxx series maybe?



Shoot any 775 chip would work. Waiting to hear back from dark2099, he is the one I bought the cpu from.


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## a_ump (May 7, 2009)

if i wasn't 17 i'd send you a lil cash to help out with getting a CPU, though this still does not good  lol. I have faith in ya, hopefully dark2099 will help you or refund you, then you can search around again for a CPU. if it comes down to it, insert your q6600 downclock to 1.6ghz, and disable all but 1 core


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Well looks like now now I am either getting $20 back or an intel pentium d 930. So basically looking for the best 65w or less cpu for $25. I will go with the pentium d if I have to but it uses a little to much power and produces a little more heat than I am comfortable with for this build.

So if any you guys got an extra cpu for cheap let me know. Thanks.


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## Geofrancis (May 7, 2009)

dont go the pentium 4 dualcore  route they put out more heat than a nuclear reactor. look into one of the celeron dualcores or a e2140 or e2160 on ebay. or if its jsut any cheap 775 cpu you are after you can get 3ghz p4 based celerons for $20 but i wouldnt use it for anything more than a temporary cpu as they are shit.


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## mlee49 (May 7, 2009)

Whats the IGP on that Zotac?  Does it support HD encoding?


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## BrooksyX (May 7, 2009)

Its a geforce 7100.


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## mlee49 (May 7, 2009)

Will that do HD support?


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## n-ster (May 7, 2009)

What if you sell your rig parted out and use your Q66 underclocked? or just wait like 2 weeks so you can get 15$ more so you can buy a 430 NIB at the egg


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## a_ump (May 7, 2009)

he's not sure if he's going to part out his rig yet, as he doesn't know if the performance of the ITX build will be satifying lol


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## Geofrancis (May 7, 2009)

theres no point running a quad in that motherboard as its only single channel ram it will kill performance by 10-20%

and the gforce 7100 doesnt do hd decoding so you need a gforce 8200 or above or a fast enough cpu to do it on.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Looks like the build is still on thanks to bogmali! 

I got the case today. Will be uploading some pics soon.


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

fuck yea, what CPU did you get? that's awesome, happy for ya, and me as it may help me on builds ....though i went to newegg and tried to put a rig together around ITX and i can build a budget system for 300 that is much better performing but i suppose i'll just be asking if they care for desktop space and whatnot should performance be acceptable.


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## SystemViper (May 8, 2009)

BrooksyX said:


> Looks like the build is still on thanks to bogmali!
> 
> I got the case today. Will be uploading some pics soon.



super


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Looks like ill be getting an e5200, so looks its a step up from the celeron! Case is a little bigger than I was expecting but still pretty small. The base is a little larger than a standard peice of printer paper and its about 5" tall. PSU looks like decent quality. 24 pin cable looks a little too long though lol. Wish I had everything so I could do the entire build tonight.


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

dam dude, that's one hell of a step up, i recon you got a good deal so kuddos to bogmali. that ITX will definitely satisfy you if your just looking for a media/homework/light gaming rig.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Lol, well very light gaming. Nvidia geforce 7100 is a pretty weak gpu. Won't play any newer games but should have no problems with older games and emulators.

I am tempted to cut the back of the pci-e 1x and throw a low 16x card in there so I could game with it. But then I couldn't use my pci-e 1x tv tuner.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Pics:


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

so how are you planning on getting a fan on that heatsink? it looks like your going to need a low profile heasink/fan.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> so how are you planning on getting a fan on that heatsink? it looks like your going to need a low profile heasink.



I'm gonna have a 120mm intake fan right next to it on the other side. Ill take a picture and show you. I don't have an extra 120mm fan right now so ill show it with a 92mm one. Give me a sec.


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

lol that was fast

are you going to run the fan from the motherboard header? if you are u should get a pwm fan so its controlled by the cpu temperature.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

That should keep the cpu nice and cool, right?


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

yea those 45nm core2's run cold pretty much. but i would advise on a pwm fan so you dont have to run it at full power all the time. so it throttles up with increasing cpu load rather than full speed all the time

what about one of the intel heatsink/fans from a newer cpu all the new quads and core2duos come with a much lower profile hsf than that one you are using its probibly about half the hight and should leave enough clearence for the stock fan or a 15mm 80mm or 92mm fan

you should get one with your e5200 if your buyingh it retail.


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## mlee49 (May 8, 2009)

more pics= Thanks

What modding are you doing to the case? Anything fun?


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> yea those 45nm core2's run cold pretty much. but i would advise on a pwm fan so you dont have to run it at full power all the time. so it throttles up with increasing cpu load rather than full speed all the time
> 
> what about one of the intel heatsink/fans from a newer cpu all the new quads and core2duos come with a much lower profile hsf than that one you are using its probibly about half the hight and should leave enough clearence for the stock fan or a 15mm 80mm or 92mm fan
> 
> you should get one with your e5200 if your buyingh it retail.



Well I plan on running the 120mm on 5v so it should be pretty quite but still move lots of air. I like the heatsink I have because it does use the copper core, many of the lower end intel cpus have all aluminum heatsinks. Might have to try both out.



mlee49 said:


> more pics= Thanks
> 
> What modding are you doing to the case? Anything fun?



I am not sure what modding I'm gonna do yet. Might have to do some. I don't like how the hdd mount system is setup so for now I am gonna have to mount it in the external 3.5" bay but if I ever get a card reader i'm gonna have to find some other way to mount it.

Ill probably look at some ways to improve cooling and cable managment as well. As it seems like heat is one of the biggest problems with this mini-itx builds.

edit: also plan on mounting that usb wifi adapter I got internally. Got a mini usb bluetooth adapter I wanna mount internally, and maybe pick up a media center remote and mount the ir receiver internally as well.

Oh and got a usb tv tuner I'm thinking about mounting internally as well so probably gonna have to drill a hole for the antenna jack. Also gonna have to get a small usb hub for all this too. Gonna probably have to mod that as well lol.


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## mlee49 (May 8, 2009)

Quick question, do you want/have a low profile stock heatsink?  I have one for my Q9450 that is just sitting here and I'm not sure if you might want that vs a silent copper cored hs.

Otherwise, I would try to figure out the HDD troubles cause you dont want to have to run an external 3.5 bay, especially USB.  What about a 2.5" laptop drive?  Maybe a cheap 50GB SSD?


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

what about mounting the hard drive on the bottom of the case on some rubber feet or some foam. that will free up the 3.5" bay and stop any vibrations going through the case.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

mlee49 said:


> Quick question, do you want/have a low profile stock heatsink?  I have one for my Q9450 that is just sitting here and I'm not sure if you might want that vs a silent copper cored hs.
> 
> Otherwise, I would try to figure out the HDD troubles cause you dont want to have to run an external 3.5 bay, especially USB.  What about a 2.5" laptop drive?  Maybe a cheap 50GB SSD?



I might want it. Ill get back to you later on that. I have thought about those options for the HDD, would eventually like to get a Terabyte or bigger drive so I can store all my dvds on there. For now I am gonna steal a 250gb from my main rig as I have 4 and can easily spare one.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> what about mounting the hard drive on the bottom of the case on some rubber feet or some foam. that will free up the 3.5" bay and stop any vibrations going through the case.



Thats what I am thinking. Somewhere along the lines of that at least. There is plenty of space of front to put a full hdd.


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

see how you were wanting to mod usb devices to mount internaly i done something similer with my asus eeepc click the link on my sig to see it.

you could fit..
mobile hsdpa adapter
tv tuners
wifi
bluetooth
nuclear reactor
fm transmitter
usb IR remote sensor
only kiddin about the nuclear reactor lol


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> see how you were wanting to mod usb devices to mount internaly i done something similer with my asus eeepc click the link on my sig to see it.



will do, thanks. Should be a lot easier for me since I have so much more space to work with 


edit: wow that eee pc is pretty crazy, nice mod!


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

most usb devices once you remove all the plastic and connectors are usualy tiny pcb's  but with the space you will have you could get away with just chopping one usb port off somthing like this and connecting it to a motherboard header and just plugging it all in

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-480mps-...rs?hash=item250417699801&_trksid=p3913.c0.m22


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Ill probably just a buy a cheapo one and mod it. I am not super good at soldering but I can handle usb stuff with ease. The points are usually pretty big.
This one should work fine:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-4-PORT-HIGH...s=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1308|301:1|293:1|294:50

Alright i'm off to work. Later.


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

sounds like it's going good brooksyX, and yea i'd def jump on that low profile heatsink, i don't see that passive heatsink doin the best job cooling, especially in that small case even though you have your xig fan right beside it. but i guess we'll find out soon


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## Mussels (May 8, 2009)

the passive heatsink will work fine. 45nm chips usually come with a half height pure alu cooler, his is full height with a copper core and a 120mm fan next to it. It aint passive with that fan there!


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## Scrizz (May 8, 2009)

can't w8 to see the modded/painted case


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

a_ump said:


> sounds like it's going good brooksyX, and yea i'd def jump on that low profile heatsink, i don't see that passive heatsink doin the best job cooling, especially in that small case even though you have your xig fan right beside it. but i guess we'll find out soon



Ill probably test with both of them just see.



Mussels said:


> the passive heatsink will work fine. 45nm chips usually come with a half height pure alu cooler, his is full height with a copper core and a 120mm fan next to it. It aint passive with that fan there!



Agreed, I think my setup will produce better results but we shall see.



Scrizz said:


> can't w8 to see the modded/painted case



Some modding, probably. Painting though, I highly doubt it. I suck at painting, thats why I ordered the all black one.


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

you could stealth your dvd drive. behind the front panel you just remove the clips from the side of the panel and stick it to the front of the drive and you press the corner of it to open and close the drive.


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## Mussels (May 8, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> you could stealth your dvd drive. behind the front panel you just remove the clips from the side of the panel and stick it to the front of the drive and you press the corner of it to open and close the drive.



its a good little trick that. you can use strong double sided adhesive to stick the panel to the tray of the DVD drive.


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

i used to use it back in the day when men were men and computers were biege lol


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## Mussels (May 8, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> i used to use it back in the day when men were men and computers were biege lol



"whats that honey? no of course i didnt buy that shiny blu ray drive, your friend who saw me at the store must be mistaken! you cant SEE it in my PC can you?"


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## bogmali (May 8, 2009)

Mason,
          Take a look at Zalman's CNPS-7000 series coolers. I think it has a smaller footprint and cools better than the stock Intel HSF (and the one that you currently have). If it fits that tight space you have, let me know cause I have 2 of them just sitting in my pile of hw and I will send one your way.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

bogmali said:


> Mason,
> Take a look at Zalman's CNPS-7000 series coolers. I think it has a smaller footprint and cools better than the stock Intel HSF (and the one that you currently have). If it fits that tight space you have, let me know cause I have 2 of them just sitting in my pile of hw and I will send one your way.



Looks like an awesome cooler but might be to big height wise. I only got about 2" of clearance between the board and psu. Is the cooler more than 2" tall?


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Get those low profilt Intel stock heatsinks. They will fit good.

Or this one as well. They are pretty much the same.

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=1623&product_id=2734


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

alucasa said:


> Get those low profilt Intel stock heatsinks. They will fit good.
> 
> Or this one as well. They are pretty much the same.
> 
> http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=1623&product_id=2734



Hmm ill look into it. I have a feeling that my current cooling solution should be fine though. I don't plan on ocing and at all and I will have intel speed step turned on. so must of the time the cpu should be running at low speeds anyways. 

I am gonna see if I can get that zalman heatsink that bogmali suggested to fit though. Its gonna be a tight fit, but if I bend/cut some of the fins it might just make it.


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## Geofrancis (May 9, 2009)

you should get it running folding@home or rosetta on Bionic and put your idle cpu to work.


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## BrooksyX (May 9, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> you should get it running folding@home or rosetta on Bionic and put your idle cpu to work.



I would but I don't think my parents would appreciate the increase in their electrical bill every month.


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## BrooksyX (May 9, 2009)

Here are a few more pics of the build. Its coming along pretty nicely. Just waiting on the cpu. It should be here on Tuesday (big thanks to bogmali!). Looks like I might have to get my hands on a right angle sata adapter for the HDD. Right now there is not enough room for the plug and the heatsink. I am pretty sure the e5200 is coming with a smaller intel heatsink so I may be able to get it work with that.


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## bogmali (May 9, 2009)

Man....Talk about squeezing something in a tight little spot Good luck with your build bro (and your school work), just glad that I could help out in any way possible


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## n-ster (May 9, 2009)

bogmali said:


> Man....Talk about squeezing something in a tight little spot Good luck with your build bro (and your school work), just glad that I could help out in any way possible



Your awesome man! 

Hood luck with the build! looks like it'll be pretty nice  oh and thxs for the pics!!!


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## BrooksyX (May 9, 2009)

bogmali said:


> Man....Talk about squeezing something in a tight little spot Good luck with your build bro (and your school work), just glad that I could help out in any way possible



Yeah when I try to finish the build up and do some of the mods I want its gonna be a super tight fit. Hopefully cooling won't be a problem with that big 120mm fan I have for intake. I am trying to do cable management as best as I can in such a small space.

Thanks, Im gonna need all the luck I can get on monday. Got a Art History midterm. I am not much of an art guy, history is okay though. I am not gonna lie I don't pay attentional at all in that class. Ill be studying the midterm review like crazy today and tomorrow.


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## Mussels (May 9, 2009)

whether you fail or pass that exam... dont stop taking pics.

I'm sure you can tell a lot of us are interested in ITX, and your collection of pics is the best we've got besides buying them ourself to see how it all fits together.


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## n-ster (May 9, 2009)

Dude I understand you.. I have French final monday, math final tuesday, English Final wednesday, Administration Final thursday, Chem Final Friday, and finally Bio final wednesday


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## BrooksyX (May 9, 2009)

Glad I can help. Ill post lots of more pics.

If anyone is interested, newegg has all of their zotac mini-itx boards on sale and with free shipping:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...x&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE

After MIR you can get the Zotac 610i board for $32! Crazy good deal.


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## BrooksyX (May 9, 2009)

I'm trying to think of a better way to mount the HDD. Anyone got any ideas?


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## alucasa (May 9, 2009)

How about using a 2.5 inch laptop drive and put it in the 3.5 inch slot ?


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## BrooksyX (May 9, 2009)

alucasa said:


> How about using a 2.5 inch laptop drive and put it in the 3.5 inch slot ?



I could but I don't have any notebook HDDs laying around right now. Just the 250gb 3.5" HDD. It fits just fine in the 3.5" bay. Its just kinda big though.


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## Geofrancis (May 10, 2009)

what about putting the drive on its side next to the 120mm fan or on the other side?


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## BrooksyX (May 10, 2009)

I was thinking something like that. I got a few other ideas. Ill have to share them later though as I am about to head out for the night to hang out with a friend.


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## Geofrancis (May 10, 2009)

You could always get a esata external caddy.


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## BrooksyX (May 11, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> You could always get a esata external caddy.



I could but wheres the fun in that .

I also want everything housed internally in the case. I think the HDD will be just fine in the external 3.5" bay. I just might have to get a right angle sata cable.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

BrooksyX said:


> I could but wheres the fun in that .
> 
> I also want everything housed internally in the case. I think the HDD will be just fine in the external 3.5" bay. I just might have to get a right angle sata cable.



my suggestion would be a single SSD (for silence) running the OS, and everything else external/networked


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## BrooksyX (May 11, 2009)

Mussels said:


> my suggestion would be a single SSD (for silence) running the OS, and everything else external/networked



That would be nice. Got any extra SSDs that you could send my way for free  ha 

Wish I could afford and SSD. Even a 30gb one would suffice.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

BrooksyX said:


> That would be nice. Got any extra SSDs that you could send my way for free  ha
> 
> Wish I could afford and SSD. Even a 30gb one would suffice.



naw, i got nada.

I'm waiting to build my ITX, til SSD's are cheaper and better boards are out. i wanna make a little ITX monster that can attach to the VESA mounts on the back of my screen, but still be LAN worthy


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## BrooksyX (May 11, 2009)

Mussels said:


> naw, i got nada.
> 
> I'm waiting to build my ITX, til SSD's are cheaper and better boards are out. i wanna make a little ITX monster that can attach to the VESA mounts on the back of my screen, but still be LAN worthy



That would be sweet. I was interested in getting a case that was vesa mount compatible but it was a little too much $$$ and a little too small.


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## BrooksyX (May 12, 2009)

Should be getting my cpu tomorrow. I can't wait! Hopefully UPS will bring it earlier in the day because I have to work at night. I picked up someone's shift so I could get some extra hours.


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## Scrizz (May 12, 2009)

cool


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## BrooksyX (May 12, 2009)

Alright got the e5200 today. Played with it a little bit but I don't have tons of time because I need to do some homework before work. Here are some pics:


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## DanishDevil (May 12, 2009)

Looks sweet.  Screw Vista, though.  Put W7 RC1 on it! 

I like the clean wall-mounting.


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## BrooksyX (May 12, 2009)

DanishDevil said:


> Looks sweet.  Screw Vista, though.  Put W7 RC1 on it!
> 
> I like the clean wall-mounting.



Thanks! I will put 7 on it. I still need to download the newest RC of it though. No time today. Ill get to it tomorrow night/thursday.

I like the wall mounting too. If I wasn't moving out in 3 months I would drill a hole in the wall to hide the cables.


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## Geofrancis (May 13, 2009)

im thinking of a similar setup for my server i found some cheap itx boards with 2 pci-e slots a 16x one and a 1x with the same gforce 7100 chipset. and those 45nm core 2's use next to no power and offer atleast 2x the speed of my atom dualcore. it will also let me put a small nvidea graphics card like a 8400gs and use cuda apps and put a decent pci-e sata raid controller.


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## Geofrancis (May 16, 2009)

how was the temp on the cpu with your cooling setup?


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