Converting System to SFF

[Gamingphreek]

This past year at College I brought my Desktop Computer (Housed in P180) to College. Needless to say it was a bad choice. The P180 is an incredible feat of engineering, but it weighs A TON, and it is big.

I have 2x HDD's right now (Samsung Spinpoints) that I will consolidate into one big on.

The 2x things I need are a SFF case as well as a M/B that will fit in said case. Right now I have a DFI LanParty UT Ultra-D- being full size it won't fit in the cases.

Finally I need to make sure that the case is quiet. Right now with the Video Card fan turned all the way down (Zalman FanMate), using a Nexus 92mm CPU Fan, and having turned the 2x 120mm fans down to lowest setting, my case is very quiet for me. I would like to match that. I am willing to buy some soft-mounting tools for the HDD's as well as Sound Dampening foam (As I doubt any SFF cases have the extensive dampening that the P180 already has)

-Kevin

 

[swtethan]

I have a Lian-Li A05 in silver that is much smaller than most cases out there and it will fit your regular ATX mobo. I would really recommend it if you want a full option ATX board instead of a mATX.

 

[swtethan]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2053750&enterthread=y


Thats the thread about my new case, its a lot smaller than my old p180 and mystique 632s


AND A LOT LIGHTER my back thanks me for it.

 

[wwswimming]

sometimes a bigger case is better. harder to steal.

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: wwswimming

sometimes a bigger case is better. harder to steal.

thieves will steal a 25" tv, lol

 

[Gamingphreek]

I'm not worried about the stealing anything. I got a larger dorm room this semester, and I want a little SFF PC that will sit on the desk instead of lugging around a giant thing that sits on the floor and eats dust for breakfast lunch and dinner.

-Kevin

 

[Trevante]

I'm actually getting ready to make a similar move, although I don't have a P180, I have some crappy athenatech case that's 2 years old and needs to be replaced.

My plan is to get the following:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128053

Case: Black Thermaltake Lanbox w/handle http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811133035

I already have a Zalman CNPS-7700cu which should fit in that case and keep my CPU nice and cool.

Gamingphreek, I see you have an AMD system which makes things different, but if you consider the Lanbox, you shouldn't have any trouble fitting any of your components in. Only other thing you'd need would be a MicroATX mobo.. Have a look at these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...tion=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

I tried to narrow down to something similar to your current configuratio, although you may want to do a fresh search to see if there's something else you like.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

that mb looks great

i'd chose another case tho. probably something more clean looking. and def something of higher quality than TT crap

 

[Trevante]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
that mb looks great

i'd chose another case tho. probably something more clean looking. and def something of higher quality than TT crap

I like the look of the case personally, and it looks to have been getting great reviews, except for one or two minor problems which I don't mind.

What else would you suggest? I'd prefer something that can fit my Zalman CNPS-7700cu, I don't want to have to get another CPU fan, especially something smaller.

 

[Synomenon]

If you want a small, small-form-factor PC I'd get a Shuttle. Their current top model (SD39P2) is pretty quiet when you change the settings in the BIOS to "smartfan" mode. It's expensive, but it does come with a nice case and motherboard. You only get one PCIe x16 slot and a regular PCI slot and if you get an 8800 series card it'll take up both slots unless you water cool. With SFF PCs it's all about trade-offs and compromise.

This is what I have in my SD39P2:

- e6600
- 8GB DDR2 667
- 150GB Raptor (top front hard drive tray)
- Lite-On 20x SATA DVD+/- R/RW Dual Layer Burner
- Kingwin 3.5" drive bay unit with removable card reader and removable 2.5" hard drive enclosure (with 100GB Seagate 2.5" hard drive)
- Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II on northbridge
- Cooler Master Blue ICE on southbridge
- ATI Theater 650 Pro. TV Tuner
- EVGA 7950GT KO Superclocked (stock fan / heatsink replaced with Thermalright HR-03 w/ no fan)
- 120mm fan in place of top rear hard drive tray

I've replaced the NB and SB fans with SilenX iXtrema 60mm fans and the 120mm fan up top is also a SilenX iXtrema. This system is the most quiet I've ever had.

 

[Trevante]

Islndboi show us some pics of the inside of your case! It sounds like a really interesting setup.

And I could have sworn I've seen your name on at least two other forums too. Are you on Treocentral, Howardforums, and/or Sprintusers?

 

[Synomenon]

Yeah, I am a member on some other forums with this same username (the three you mentioned are included). I could take pictures, but you wouldn't really see much since it's really compact / condensed. I'll have some pics. in a minute.

 

[Synomenon]

Pics.:

http://www.rootminus1.com/free...umbnails.php?album=210

 

[Trevante]

Wow pretty nice setup...I wish I had the money for that...do you still use the 830w or was that an old pic?

What are your temps like?

 

[Synomenon]

Yup, still using the 830 though I'd like to go back to a Treo.

Temps are pretty good in the Shuttle. I'm looking at my temps. right now with Everest and this is what it shows:

Core 1: 43C
Core 2: 43C
GPU: 41C
Raptor: 34C

The Core and GPU temps. usually go up 10C or less when under load.