Micro ATX gaming rig

[Geofrancis]

i have started building my micro atx gaming rig i got the idea from pro-infinity when i seen the case he had i relised it was perfect for a small-ish gaming pc. it took a fullsize powersupply, 2 hard drives, 2 dvd drives, 2 graphics cards, with room left for watercooling!

since i was upgrading i alread had most of the parts like

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33Ghz 1333fsb
arctic cooling freezer 775 with 92mm + 80mm fans
4 x 1Gb ocz reaper 1150mhz DDR2
Audigy 2 sound card
500W Antec smart power
250gb sata2
500Gb sata 2
dvd-rw sata
cd-rw/dvd-rom ide

then i went and bought

matx cube case

DFI Lanparty MATX p45 crossfire motherboard

Gainward HD 4850 512MB Golden Sample


i had to trim some metal away above the cpu to get the heatsink to fit in the case. then i cut a rectangle out the plastic under the mesh to let some air get into the case because even tho there is a 120mm fan at the back the rest if the case is pretty much airtight so the fans cant draw in cool air and it overheats. with the vent my cpu is 10-15c colder

the wiring still needs tidied up and i was also looking at silver or black paint for my power supply andd dvd-rw to get rid of some of the grey. then some uv cathodes and leds i was thinking red night rider leds along the front and possibly a 2.5" lcd screen. i have seen them go for as little as £28 on ebay.

















still to come:

watercooling
crossfire
2.5" lcd screen
painting
cathodes
LEDs

[a111087]

yeah, that's pretty tight fit
question- why? why not regular case? are you going to lan parties or is space in Scotland pretty limited? lol

[Geofrancis]

ive done the full sized pimped out watercooled lit up like a christmas tree pc thing before and then i built my itx server and thought why not do both? this is as small as i could make my pc and still fit 2 graphics cards and a full size powersupply

[EnglishLion]

I've got the same case with a slightly different front you might like to read

my review of the case
my tips & tricks for the case
my temperature display mod

I certainly recommend venting the window on the graphics card side. And I think a 3.5" fan controller looks great in the floppy drive bay next to the temperature LCD.

In my opinion it's a good little case especially for the money and you can fit a decent length graphics card in it too.

[pro-infinity]

Hi you got the case then one word of warning watch the lcd temperature display the wires break off easy so you might want to do something about that and not end up like i did with no lcd haha

[Geofrancis]

EnglishLion:
im looking at the Lian Li 3.5in LCD Thermometer and Fan Controller tr-3 for the floppy bay. and i like the temp mod that you done to get rid of those molex connectors wires really do look bad when you have windows on the case.

[pro-infinity]

yea that would look nice that floppy bay lcd

[Geofrancis]

i am going to cut more ventilation at the front of my case probibly the plastic up the sides if the dvd drives like i done with the bottom i want to try and get a wind tunnel type of effect where all the air is drawn through the case rather than circulated around it because my cpu is hitting 75c under prime 95 and a few degrees more once the graphics card is being used.

once i get the watercooling tho it should sort all that. im going to put a 120mm radiator on the back of the case on the outside of the 120mm vent and a 2x 80mm radiator at the front. i might even split the loops i.e one for cpu and one for the 4850's.

[pro-infinity]

have you thought about putting mesh at the top instead?? and getting rid of the plastic then that way seems heat rises you get rid of some i was thinking about doing that but wasnt sure if it would look messy or not

[Jizzler]

Yeah, mesh would be nice.

For my wife's machine (in a similar Apevia cube case) I reversed the 120mm fan so that it blows in for positive pressure. Keeps cool and there is so much less dust.

[MoonPig]

I'm going to be buying that case, and i'll replace the top with meshx and have the 120mm blowing in. Folding Rig

Actually, can you tell me how big the top window is?

[Geofrancis]

you wont get a 120mm fan on the top window unless you move it right forward and leave the top 5.25 bay empty.

i dont like mesh that much and i would like the extra security knowing that nothing metal falling onto it will go inside.

[MoonPig]

i could put it on the outside

[pro-infinity]

170mm x 230mm is tghe perspex on the top cover

[Geofrancis]

get a couple of 92mm 5700RPM vantec tornado fans at front with some mesh over them to stop small animals getting sucked in

you could remove most of the front cover like pro-infinity done for his screen exept put a 120mm fan in. or did u just glue it on?

[MoonPig]

I'll see when i get it.

Thanks for the help guys. And good build by the way, i'm liking the high-end hardware in such a small space. Crossfire though? that's just crazy, lol.

PS. The temp on the front, is that just one?

[pro-infinity]

lol you could get 2 120mm fans in the front side by side if you wanted lol i just checked haha

[Geofrancis]

its got the space for a couple of 4870 x2's but i couldnt afford it lol

[MoonPig]

lol, too far... haha.

What's the temps like? on everything.

[Geofrancis]

cpu fans set to 2000 rpm 71 -75c with 4x rosetta running touching 78 when running cod4 at the same time. i can kkeep it under 74 if i put the fans to 3000rpm but its far too loud

the graphics card never goes over 60c or 1500rpm

VRM's and chipset hitting about 65c

hdd's never go over 45c

it needs watercooling becaue i know my cpu/motherboard can do far more but i cant give it any more voltage without it overheating.

[MoonPig]

hmmm... That's pretty high. Hopefully i can push alot of air through it.

[Geofrancis]

because of its size the heat builds up much more than a normal pc. when i load up the cpu with prime the cpu hits about 70c in a few seconds then starts to climb slowly as the case heats up so you really need good ventalation

[MKmods]

I did a lot of work on SFF deign a while ago. I first started with the Qpack Style case than ran into all the probs you had. Here is what I did to clean up the mess inside and bring temps down.
http://www.overclock3d.net/articles....ject_crossflo_

Originally Posted by Geofrancis

because of its size the heat builds up much more than a normal pc. when i load up the cpu with prime the cpu hits about 70c in a few seconds then starts to climb slowly as the case heats up so you really need good ventalation

Nope, small is better. Basicaly the main prob with the Qpack and just about every other SFF case is keeping the PS and optical drives above the mobo (wiring, clutter blocks good airflow)

For all you packed in there good job, bet it wasent easy.

[pro-infinity]

you need to sort them cables out geofrancis lol looking a mess

[erocker]

I like the setup Geofrancis! I'm planning on getting the same case as I currently have my mATX system in a full tower case and it looks a bit goofy! Are you overall happy with that case?