# Mini IIX all purpose rig (With a proper video card!)



## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

*Mini ITX all purpose rig  (With a proper video card!)*

I named this rig Q8200-Mice.

The purpose of this rig is to run WCG primarily. I am adding an old 8800GTS I had in case I decide to fold. OCing is not an option since the case will come with a mere 300w PSU and I doubt Zotac mobo will support any good OCing.

Even without ocing, the power usage is tight. It will probably reach 240w on full load on both CPU and video card.

I am waiting for Silverstone Sugo SG05B to arrive today.

Meanwhile, all other parts have arrived.

















Q8200. It came with the low profile heatsink which Intel uses for dual core 45nm parts. I guess it's good enough and I am actually glad since it won't case any height issue.

Zotac GF9300-D-E MINI-ITX

Slime line DVD drive along with proper SATA adapter.

As for RAM, I am using my old pair, which is 2 sticks of 1GB. I wanted to go 4gb, but my budget fell a little short due to an unexpected spending. I will probably upgrade 4gb later.

I also wanted Q8400, but it wasn't on the motherboard's compatibility list. I didn't want to risk returning.

I am also using my old 8800GTS.

The motherboard comes with a wifi adapter.

I will update this thread when the case arrives.






This is the adapter. You need this in order to make any laptop size DVD drive to use on regular port.


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## Mussels (May 8, 2009)

nice pics.

Cant wait to see how it turns out. Btw, you said low profit instead of low profile.

Thread title is also IIX... typo for ITX?


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## Fitseries3 (May 8, 2009)

actually that board OCs very well. 

i was thinking of doing a similar build for my main rig but i need more sata.


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## Skywalker12345 (May 8, 2009)

i was thinking of a itx build but why when i can just keep my current rig and upgrade?


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Test boot successful. Case arrived.


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Nice! Subscribed!


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

i really don't see that 8800GTS running on yoru 300w PSU, i'm assuming your giong to upgrade the PSU if you use the GTS? i'm surprised the psu will power all that even with the quad, and even oc'ing it. i'll be a watchin your progress as i am brooksyX's. If his PSU runs the GTS(i dout) then brooksyX you could def put an HD 4650 or so in yours.


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

The PSU is designed for up to 8800GTS or 4850.

Here are pictures of the case and size.


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## Mussels (May 8, 2009)

you have a lot of small cases there man!


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## mlee49 (May 8, 2009)

I love your media case's.  What make and models are they?


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## Skywalker12345 (May 8, 2009)

i wanna see some benches


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

A few more pictures before assembly.


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## Mussels (May 8, 2009)

ah the PSU's an FSP  should all be good then. i ran an FX62 off a 200W fortron for almost a year in a media PC.


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Gotta go out to have lunch with someone. 
I will be back in an hour or two and complete assembly.

Meanwhile, enjoy these shots.


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## Skywalker12345 (May 8, 2009)

you think that psu will run a 4830,e8500,4gb ddr2 800, and 2 fans, 1 hdd?

a psu calc told me 280W full load do i think it would im thinking of getting that case and that board and throwin my cpu and hdd in there. and do you have to have a small form factor cd rom?


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

I think the psu will be fine. I would plan on running that as a long term setup. But until he can get a card that uses less power (but still performs better) he should be fine.

That silverston case is sick! Must admitt I am kinda jealous but it looks like the case I got for my mini-itx build should be fine.


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Ok, a small problem. The motheboard is not accepting my 2gb OCZ DDR2-5400 RAM. It's a working set. I tried another DDR2-5400 set. It wouldn't work, either.
My last set, which is DDR2-5300 512mb, works.

Now, the problem is that the rig will have only 1gb RAM.

I will have to order 2 x 2gb set.



lucasweir said:


> you think that psu will run a 4830,e8500,4gb ddr2 800, and 2 fans, 1 hdd?
> 
> a psu calc told me 280W full load do i think it would im thinking of getting that case and that board and throwin my cpu and hdd in there. and do you have to have a small form factor cd rom?



I will refer you to : http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=SG05&area=


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## BrooksyX (May 8, 2009)

Dang that sucks to hear man. At least it gives you an excuse to get a new set of ram.


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## sapetto (May 8, 2009)

Nice rig man i like it  
sexy pics too


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

All assembled. It has only 1gb RAM, but I will try to install Windows 7 RC I downloaded off MS site.


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## Geofrancis (May 8, 2009)

try upping the ram voltage with the stick that works then reboot, then shutdown and try the new ram i have had probems like that with my ocz reaper pc9200. i have to start up with one stick of ram then up the voltage .

damn thats a tight fit with that 8800gt


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Well, the rig hasn't exploded. lol.

It completed installation of Windows 7 RC. This is my first time using Windows 7. Darn, Windows 7 looks nicer than Vista and running smooth on even 1gb. Vista would choke on mere 1gb.


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## kyle2020 (May 8, 2009)

That looks a lovely little build. Very nice 

It sits very well on your desk, I wouldnt mind doing something similar but temperature wise I dont think I could.

Still, very impressive.


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Here are likely last pictures of this build.

First of all, the desktop screenshot.






And where it is sitting now.






The temp on the screenshot is stable at that level. It's been crunching for about 15 minutes now.

GPU-Z shows that the PCI-E is at 16x. I was afraid it might have been 8x or even 4x, the worst case being 1x.

Because the 8800GTS is sitting right next to case vent, video card temp is amazingly low, idling at 45c. It used to idle at 65c in my main rig.

It's drawing 160w according to my kill-a-watt at all 4 cores 100% load.


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## mlee49 (May 8, 2009)

Temps are nice for a stock cooler. What voltage are you running for the Vcore?  You should be able to under volt it if you plan on staying at stock clocks. I personally havn't heard much of the Q8 series clocking well vs voltages.

Total cost?  WCG points?


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

very nice.


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## kyle2020 (May 8, 2009)

Is your GPU-Z screenshot glitched or is your card on the fritz?


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

mlee49 said:


> Total cost?  WCG points?



Case : 100USD. It comes with PSU.
Slime line DVD : 40 USD. 10 USD for adapter
Q8200 : 165 USD
Mobo : 150USD
RAM : 40USD for 4gb (2x2)
GPU : 130USD (or around that)
Total : 635 USD for everything.

I am expecting around 13000 WCG points a day. This is coming from experience with Q6600. I will run at stock. I don't want to blow up the PSU.



kyle2020 said:


> Is your GPU-Z screenshot glitched or is your card on the fritz?



What do you mean ?


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## kyle2020 (May 8, 2009)

This:







Shows your GPU clocks as 0? Hope Im looking at it right haha.


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

fillrates and bandwidth are also blank....lol strange


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## kyle2020 (May 8, 2009)

Must be the driver - have you updated to the latest? I did last night, nothing noticeable performance wise though.


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

I am running everything on Windows 7 default drivers. I will update it with Nvidia one. I didn't update it since I had no reason to.


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## alucasa (May 8, 2009)

Updating driver worked.


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## a_ump (May 8, 2009)

just curious, how does my 7800GTX have more bandwidth than your 8800GTS? well actually more than most cards, almost 8800GTX bandwidth somehow





EDIT: nvm i googled how to calculate it, and GPU-Z is multiplying my effective memory speed(1340) by 2 instead of the actual speed(670). weird lol but it makes it look like i got tons of bandwidth


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## alucasa (May 10, 2009)

Just an update. The rig is now using 120w at full load while 8800GTS is idling.

I've been able to crunch with just 1gb so far, but ram usage is high. I hope the 2x2gb set will work. I will know on Monday.

The silverstone case is the best enthusiast (Gaming class) mini-itx case I've seen so far. I think I will buy a few more of this case and set up a neat farm.
I am even thinking of getting rid of my mid tower and go with this case in near future when mini-itx gets AMD 790x chipset.


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## ascstinger (May 10, 2009)

oh? when is itx getting the 790x?

I'm running the 8200 zotac board in my SG-05 and was planning to move up to the 9300 and a quad and just eliminate my tower alltogether


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## alucasa (May 10, 2009)

Well, currently, it has up to 780 chipset, and there is a mini-itx that has pci-e 16x (runs at 4x) with 780 chipset as well. I suppose 790 will come in a year or so. I just hope there will be one with pci-e 16.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

alucasa said:


> Well, currently, it has up to 780 chipset, and there is a mini-itx that has pci-e 16x (runs at 4x) with 780 chipset as well. I suppose 790 will come in a year or so. I just hope there will be one with pci-e 16.



doesnt the MINIX have a true 16x slot? i was looking at that for my ITX build. (which is still months away)


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## BrooksyX (May 11, 2009)

Mussels said:


> doesnt the MINIX have a true 16x slot? i was looking at that for my ITX build. (which is still months away)



I am pretty sure the Zotac 9300 board has a true 16x slot. Here it is on the egg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022


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## alucasa (May 11, 2009)

Mussels said:


> doesnt the MINIX have a true 16x slot? i was looking at that for my ITX build. (which is still months away)



The Zotac one has a true 16x. If you look at one of my desktop screenshot which includes GPU-Z, it does show that it has full 16x. What's more, its gen-2 (I found out from the manual).

The AMD mini-ITX I am talking about has 4x in 16x form though. Here is a link. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=32760&vpn=MINIX780G-SP128MB&manufacture=J&W Technology

And a review of it. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2008/09/17/j-w-minix-780g-mini-itx-htpc-motherboard/1


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

alucasa said:


> The Zotac one has a true 16x. If you look at one of my desktop screenshot which includes GPU-Z, it does show that it has full 16x. What's more, its gen-2 (I found out from the manual).
> 
> The AMD mini-ITX I am talking about has 4x in 16x form though. Here is a link. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=32760&vpn=MINIX780G-SP128MB&manufacture=J&W Technology
> 
> And a review of it. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2008/09/17/j-w-minix-780g-mini-itx-htpc-motherboard/1



all 780G boards will be in PCI-E 2.0, so even a 4x slot will be overkill for the kind of cards you run on an itx board.

and thats the minix, the one i'm talking about! i thought it was 16x, but 4x 2.0 works for me.


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## alucasa (May 11, 2009)

It doesn't support Phenom II though.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

alucasa said:


> It doesn't support Phenom II though.



its ITX!

gawd, you'd want an athlon 64 for something like that anyway. cheapest dual core possible.


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## alucasa (May 11, 2009)

Nah, I'd go for quad core even if I am building ITX system which is exactly what I did with this build.

My next build will be an Atom 330 with the same case.


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## ascstinger (May 11, 2009)

Mussels said:


> its ITX!
> 
> gawd, you'd want an athlon 64 for something like that anyway. cheapest dual core possible.



yeah, but at the price point of that x4 minix and a fairly decent A64 X2, you could pretty much have the 9300 wifi and say and e5300 or smth. even a 4670 would have a bottleneck at 2.0 4x, and with the performance of either the 780g, 8200 or 9300 it isnt worth buying anything lower. (unless the prices of the J&W have significantly dropped

@alucasa, ok I thought it had already been announced or smth


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## alucasa (May 11, 2009)

I could find J&W MINIX at 225 CAD in Canada. Zotac 9300 was purchased at 175 CAD.

It was easy what to choose.


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## ascstinger (May 12, 2009)

alucasa said:


> I could find J&W MINIX at 225 CAD in Canada. Zotac 9300 was purchased at 175 CAD.
> 
> It was easy what to choose.



yeah exactly, I'm a bit of an AMD fanboy and I'd rather have the 9300 as well for that same reason


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## lemonadesoda (May 12, 2009)

alucasa said:


> My next build will be an Atom 330 with the same case.



Atom 330 is a GREAT basis for a micro-server, but for a desktop, you will be pushing P4 performance, not more. You may be disappointed.

Could you run some benchmarks on the Zotac please? Please see here:
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=82785


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## BrooksyX (May 12, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> Atom 330 is a GREAT basis for a micro-server, but for a desktop, you will be pushing P4 performance, not more. You may be disappointed.
> 
> Could you run some benchmarks on the Zotac please? Please see here:
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=82785



Agreed. Atom performance is just too weak. I had a netbook and I sold it and bought a laptop. I am much happier with the laptop performance wise.

My cpu is supposed to be arriving tomorrow so I should have my mini-itx rig up and running as well.


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## Braveheart (May 12, 2009)

are you selling any of those cases?


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## alucasa (May 12, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> Atom 330 is a GREAT basis for a micro-server, but for a desktop, you will be pushing P4 performance, not more. You may be disappointed.
> 
> Could you run some benchmarks on the Zotac please? Please see here:
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=82785



I am fully aware of how weak Atom is.

What benchmarks ? I didn't build it to run benchmarks though.


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## morpha (May 14, 2009)

I also am building an ITX rig, using a case that I saw in your photo's on page 1: The Anwyn Mi-100. It'll have an e5200 cpu (both already ordered), though im a little worried that the stock half-height cooler wont fit due to the psu's position.
I have found a shorter cooler though if needed.

Can you please give me a better idea of the distance between the case bottom and psu? and does the half-height intel cooler fit?


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## alucasa (May 14, 2009)

morpha said:


> I also am building an ITX rig, using a case that I saw in your photo's on page 1: The Anwyn Mi-100. It'll have an e5200 cpu (both already ordered), though im a little worried that the stock half-height cooler wont fit due to the psu's position.
> I have found a shorter cooler though if needed.
> 
> Can you please give me a better idea of the distance between the case bottom and psu? and does the half-height intel cooler fit?



The new Intel low profile cooler that comes with 45nm will fit fine. Don't worry about it, it will be pretty tight fit though.


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## morpha (May 14, 2009)

thanks. thats much more re-assuring. 
I emailed Anwyns customer service but they were unable to give me any schematic diagrams.

I also looked at a Thermlatake 5.25" bay psu that could be used INSTEAD of the psu that comes with it. allowing me to fit in a fullsize cooler even aswell as providing more power.
I could OC the thing pretty well like that i reckon


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## alucasa (May 14, 2009)

The PSU has a fan on bottom, so it will be quite good since hot air from CPU heatsink will be sucked out of the case by PSU. The case has no other fans available unless you mod it, so I don't think replacing the PSU is a visible idea.


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## morpha (May 14, 2009)

thanks for the warning.

handy... if it doesnt fit for any reason I could probably take the fan off the cpu cooler and have just the one fan... That would make it quieter aswell.

Id ask more questions but If I wait 3-4 days ill have the case anyway. 
thanks again.


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