• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Define Nano S build help

arashn.wili

New Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Messages
2 (0.00/day)
Hey guys this is my first time building my own pc, and i really loved the Nano S.
Tho i need to fit 3 3.5inch HDDs and 1 SSD in there, and i've only seen builds with 1HDD on the back and 1 on the bottom, so i was wondering if its possible to install the other one on the top with the fan setup like this picture.

AquY5M5 - Copy.jpg
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.59/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
Hey guys this is my first time building my own pc, and i really loved the Nano S.
Tho i need to fit 3 3.5inch HDDs and 1 SSD in there, and i've only seen builds with 1HDD on the back and 1 on the bottom, so i was wondering if its possible to install the other one on the top with the fan setup like this picture.

View attachment 112227

Why so many HDDs

In that small of a case average and max thermals would drastically increase due to HDDs producing heat and obstructing front air cooling fans.

The only HDDs I would suggest are 2.5 max of 2
 

arashn.wili

New Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Messages
2 (0.00/day)
Why so many HDDs

In that small of a case average and max thermals would drastically increase due to HDDs producing heat and obstructing front air cooling fans.

The only HDDs I would suggest are 2.5 max of 2

I've come to horde a lot of stuff on my pc over the last 8 years so i just slapped on HDDs as i went on :\
I've seen a lot of builds with a 1 Front and 1 Back configuration so worst case scenario i'd imagine it would run like those right ? or maybe an intake of 2 120mm fans instead ?
and i didn't know HDDs would produce heat, is it really gonna be that bad ?
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.59/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
I've come to horde a lot of stuff on my pc over the last 8 years so i just slapped on HDDs as i went on :\
I've seen a lot of builds with a 1 Front and 1 Back configuration so worst case scenario i'd imagine it would run like those right ? or maybe an intake of 2 120mm fans instead ?
and i didn't know HDDs would produce heat, is it really gonna be that bad ?

In that size of case with 3 of them, yes.

Bigger cases tend to have better air flow due to the ability of drives to be further from CPU, GPU and spacing between them. 3.5s do produce way more heat than 2.5s

You could always hook those other drives up via usb or esata HDD dock
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.24/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
I'm sure it can be done, though the case is obviously not designed to mount a hard drive there. There isn't a way to put a mounting plate there for the 3.5" hard drive, so you'll have to improvise. Luckily the top has that vent cut in it, so you will probably get lucky and get a few of the screw holes to line up, allowing you to mount the HDD to the top of the case.

And don't worry about the heat. Yes, hard drives produce heat, but they don't produce a lot of it. A typical 7200RPM 3.5" HDD puts out about 15w of power when in use, that's really not a lot when you consider the whole computer. And if you have them set to spin down when idle, they put out next to no heat in that state. So, one extra 3.5" HDD is not going to be an issue. Especially not in a case with as good of airflow as the Nano S.

But, being your first time building a PC, I hope you understand some of the limitations that come with building a Mini-ITX system.
 
Top