- May 19, 2011
- 20,378
- 15,071
- 136
It really surprised me when spec'ing out this build just how much the ITX selection has dropped over the years; the last time I did one was a Haswell build and I don't remember having this much difficulty particularly with board choice. No Asus boards whatsoever so I had the choice of Gigabyte or ASRock and IIRC three boards to choose from. Case choice was a little limited too, despite searching specifically for ITX it's like my suppliers wanted to sell me a case that was basically mATX half the time!
I watched a couple of Youtube videos reviewing the case and I'm glad I did because otherwise I wouldn't have gone with a SFX form factor PSU to grab a bit of extra room.
The final spec:
AMD 4300G, stock cooler (AMD Wraith Stealth)
8GB RAM
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB SSD
Be Quiet! SFX L 500W PSU (fully modular)
Be Quiet! Shadow Wings 2, 12cm fan
The last time I tried to do an ITX build with a non-modular PSU was a tedious experience and a case filled with useless cables so this modular PSU was definitely a good idea (though it was double the cost I'd normally pay for an ATX PSU for basic use). The SFX form factor gives at least an inch of clearance between the CPU HSF and the PSU. CPU idle temps are what I would expect from my normal AM4 ATX builds so no concerns there, a CPU-Z stress test suggests that the CPU is being held at about 69C with the fan going at ~2600RPM (probably 22C ambient), by the time it got to 65C then the temperature very slowly crept up.
Something that surprises me a bit is the SSD idle temp. The 970 Evo Plus doesn't have an integrated heatsink option and I've often used them with no extra cooling without issue. This board has a really chunky M.2 heatsink on a heat pipe going around towards the VRMs and yet the SSD temp is a few degrees higher on idle than I expected, even in an ATX system with no system cooling other than what the PSU is gently sucking in. With some time to cool after doing Windows updates, SSD idle temp is 41C (compared to the usual 37C I'd expect with my ATX builds and no extra cooling). I haven't stress-tested the SSD so maybe the SSD HS helps keep the temp down under load? I'll probably give it a try after this memory test.
Board accessibility inside the case isn't bad once you (unscrew) remove a couple of brackets, you can basically see the entire board from above as well as decent access from each side. Connecting the CPU power connectors wasn't much fun though even for my skinny fingers. I took the precaution of connecting up motherboard and CPU power cables first then I attempted to secure the PSU inside the case after connecting those cables up to the PSU.
The PSU comes with a SFX-to-ATX bracket even though I had bought one made by Silverstone. I used the Silverstone one because I felt that it was more likely to be a 100% proper fit for the case (for example, I've seen cases that don't line up well with ATX PSUs). No problems in that department.
The case isn't at all cramped and I secured the case to board cables to ensure maximum airflow from the chassis fan (mounted at the front, pulling airflow towards the board). I think if any extra storage was in there in the form of SATA drives then it would very quickly start to become a cramped mess. I wonder if a graphics card plus power connectors would be a pain or simply a challenge.
One notable point is that with the stock heatsink, one RAM slot can't be used. If you orient the heatsink with the AMD logo towards the back panel IO then it conflicts with the block around back panel IO. I think if the customer ever needs RAM upgrading then either low profile DIMMs are needing to come into fashion or I'm going to have to change the CPU HSF that doesn't block slots.
Noise level - very little difference to my normal basic ATX builds, that is to say very quiet and unobtrusive. I could make it quieter still with a decent CPU HSF and a PSU that is basically fanless until it reaches significant load. I'd say 99% of the noise I hear on idle is the CPU HSF.
I watched a couple of Youtube videos reviewing the case and I'm glad I did because otherwise I wouldn't have gone with a SFX form factor PSU to grab a bit of extra room.
The final spec:
AMD 4300G, stock cooler (AMD Wraith Stealth)
8GB RAM
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB SSD
Be Quiet! SFX L 500W PSU (fully modular)
Be Quiet! Shadow Wings 2, 12cm fan
The last time I tried to do an ITX build with a non-modular PSU was a tedious experience and a case filled with useless cables so this modular PSU was definitely a good idea (though it was double the cost I'd normally pay for an ATX PSU for basic use). The SFX form factor gives at least an inch of clearance between the CPU HSF and the PSU. CPU idle temps are what I would expect from my normal AM4 ATX builds so no concerns there, a CPU-Z stress test suggests that the CPU is being held at about 69C with the fan going at ~2600RPM (probably 22C ambient), by the time it got to 65C then the temperature very slowly crept up.
Something that surprises me a bit is the SSD idle temp. The 970 Evo Plus doesn't have an integrated heatsink option and I've often used them with no extra cooling without issue. This board has a really chunky M.2 heatsink on a heat pipe going around towards the VRMs and yet the SSD temp is a few degrees higher on idle than I expected, even in an ATX system with no system cooling other than what the PSU is gently sucking in. With some time to cool after doing Windows updates, SSD idle temp is 41C (compared to the usual 37C I'd expect with my ATX builds and no extra cooling). I haven't stress-tested the SSD so maybe the SSD HS helps keep the temp down under load? I'll probably give it a try after this memory test.
Board accessibility inside the case isn't bad once you (unscrew) remove a couple of brackets, you can basically see the entire board from above as well as decent access from each side. Connecting the CPU power connectors wasn't much fun though even for my skinny fingers. I took the precaution of connecting up motherboard and CPU power cables first then I attempted to secure the PSU inside the case after connecting those cables up to the PSU.
The PSU comes with a SFX-to-ATX bracket even though I had bought one made by Silverstone. I used the Silverstone one because I felt that it was more likely to be a 100% proper fit for the case (for example, I've seen cases that don't line up well with ATX PSUs). No problems in that department.
The case isn't at all cramped and I secured the case to board cables to ensure maximum airflow from the chassis fan (mounted at the front, pulling airflow towards the board). I think if any extra storage was in there in the form of SATA drives then it would very quickly start to become a cramped mess. I wonder if a graphics card plus power connectors would be a pain or simply a challenge.
One notable point is that with the stock heatsink, one RAM slot can't be used. If you orient the heatsink with the AMD logo towards the back panel IO then it conflicts with the block around back panel IO. I think if the customer ever needs RAM upgrading then either low profile DIMMs are needing to come into fashion or I'm going to have to change the CPU HSF that doesn't block slots.
Noise level - very little difference to my normal basic ATX builds, that is to say very quiet and unobtrusive. I could make it quieter still with a decent CPU HSF and a PSU that is basically fanless until it reaches significant load. I'd say 99% of the noise I hear on idle is the CPU HSF.
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