My ITX bluray build

So I wanted to build an ITX sized computer, just to see how small silent a normal computer could be, fancied joining the bluray bandwagon and building something practical and powerful enough to use everyday.

Components
Case: Thermaltake element Q £35
Looked good, cheap, ability to have desktop size HDD and optical drive.

Motherboard:asus m4a88t-I £93
Seemed the most fully featured ITX motherboard, fancied going AMD to benefit from the onboard graphics.

CPU:Sempron 140 £24
Bargain if you can unlock/overclock, low power requirements.

HDD:500gb Samsung S3 £29
Saw decent reviews

Optical Drive :Samsung SH-B083L BLURAY DRIVE £45
CHeapeset BDROM and DVD recorder with lightscribe.

RAM:2GB samsung so dim 1066 £20(ebay)

Fans
Nexus 120mm case fan £10
Silverstone nitrogon nt-07 am2 cpu fan £15

Total: £271 (plus 2.5 hdd I had spare)



Started by adding the CPU, RAM and the Silverstone cpu cooler to the motherboard. The Asus ITX motherboard seems pretty fully featured, including USB 3.0.
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4027/71727587.jpg

The cpu fan and heatsink (Nitrogon nt-07) needs to be really short to fit in the case – you can see the fan does not protrude above the fins of the heatsink, which is almost exactly the height of the SO-DIMM.

I added the Nexus 120mm case fan, Thermaltake offer this position on the side of the case as a potential position for a HDD, however it is a perfect fit for this fan and really helps the cooling in the case. The fan is really quiet. (fitted the wrong way round in the picture)
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2512/17050041.jpg
I have suspended the 3.5 HDD hard drive below the traditional fixing point for the hard drive in a horizontal orientation. I have secured the drive using elastic with the aim to reduce noise as far as possible.
It was a bit fiddly to secure the elastic
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6486/41947579.jpg



I then secured a 2.5 HDD which I had been using as external storage in the bay normally used by a 3.5 HD. Again I secured with elastic. So now I have 2 HDD fitted in this case which is a bonus.
There is a fairly small clearance between the 2 drives.
The elastic is secured tightly giving the drives little scope for movement.

The PSU has been removed at this stage for easier access.
http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/7248/13522109.jpg




I then fitted the motherboard to the case and connected the chassis cables. The front cables (HD AUDIO and USB) cables had to be fed between the 2 HDD’s.
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9756/46260463.jpg
The Blueray drive was then fitted along with the PSU and the power and connecting cables were fitted
I used a right angled SATA connection due to the really small clearance between blueray and the PSU.
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2985/54608497.jpg

With all the components fitted the case is very busy. At the bottom of the case, above the motherboard there is a small amount of clearance for airflow. All excess cable is kept in the upper part of the case between PSU and blueray secured with elastic, would like this to be neater though.
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8519/64540461.jpg


Lid fitted on the chassis, beer consumed.
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/213/49645214.jpg

Windows 7 64 bit installed.
BIOS changed to enable the 2nd core on the Sempron.
Asus overclocking used to up the speed of the processor to just over 3000 mhz. System now records the cpu as being a AMD ATHLON II X2440OE.
The board and cpu runs at between 35-55 and seems to be very solid. 12 hours with both cores at 100% the temp stays at 55.

Connected to a BENQ 22 LED monitor via DVI

Issues
The PSU fan which comes with the case is relatively noisy, by taking apart the PSU I could see that there was some
plastic covering a 1/4 of the fan. I removed this and the fan was quietened somewhat, although it remains the noisy part of this quiet system.
I may replace this with an aftermarket fan at a later date.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6389/46630121.jpg


The front audio connection is picking up some interference, probably due to routing the cable between the 2 HDD’s. I might look at shielding the cable at some point if I ever use the front audio connections (there are loads of audio connection on the back).

Seems the image uploader you're using doesn't seem to work nicely with the image forum tags, perhaps try Photobucket or Imageshack as I'd love to see your build with pictures!

Thanks for the tip, photos re-uploaded.

Update:
Couldn't easily find a replacement fan for the noisy psu so decided to lower the voltage on the current fan.

I had to open the PSU, remove the 2 pin (black and red) wire connecting the fan to the PSU and feed this wire into the main body of the case.

I took the end off the floppy drive connector.
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7025/floppy.jpg
Then joined the fan red cable to the floppy yellow, the fan black to the floppy red cable using a bit of twisting and a bit of insulation tape.
I taped off the final 2 black cables from the floppy.
This I think gives me 7v to the fan instead of 12V, which in theory should make the fan turn slower and therefore quieter. It originally had a speed of 2500 rpm.

I decided to turn the side of the case fan into an exhaust to aid airflow through the case -

15 minutes work, case back together and now Thermaltake element Q is :)definitely quieter.