Ulti's Final Build - Mini ITX! [Beware: Many pictures]

[PC4Free]

Thanks. I love looking at build logs. Looks fantastic - makes me want to go ITX

[Pob255]

I've checked the PWM settings in the BIOS, it's pretty poor. Just has "on" or "off" pretty much, can't control the speed/temp etc.

it makes you wonder why they bother.
There's probably a utility on the cd so you can tweak the PWM settings, probably with a nice pretty gui and a graph.

modding psu cables is not that hard at all, most annoying thing is getting pins, pin removal tools and a crimp tool
mdpc-x sell a crimp tool, the cost is about £30 which is quite a bit for a tool you'll rarely use.
All you do is cut the wire to length, strip the end (which is easy with 18-22awg wire on psu's) put an uncrimped pin in the tool, insert the stripped wire and press down.
or if you can use a soldering iron well enough then you can just cut a section out, splice the ends and solder them.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 330W Seasonic is powering both a Core i3 540 and an HD6850 1GB. It would be nice to know what power draw reading you are getting at the socket.

[Ulti]

it makes you wonder why they bother.
There's probably a utility on the cd so you can tweak the PWM settings, probably with a nice pretty gui and a graph.

modding psu cables is not that hard at all, most annoying thing is getting pins, pin removal tools and a crimp tool
mdpc-x sell a crimp tool, the cost is about £30 which is quite a bit for a tool you'll rarely use.
All you do is cut the wire to length, strip the end (which is easy with 18-22awg wire on psu's) put an uncrimped pin in the tool, insert the stripped wire and press down.
or if you can use a soldering iron well enough then you can just cut a section out, splice the ends and solder them.

Tried EasyTune 6 and SmartFan but no help from either of them Guess I'll have to wait it out or folk out £50 for the AXP-140

As you said it yourself, £30 for a tool that I'll hardly use isn't exactly cheap, although it would be really easy for me to sleeve the PSU at the same time if I were to make the cables though.

I do have a soldering iron but it's a pretty bad one so I don't really trust it. But I would much rather prefer that option though but cutting through wires doesn't exactly sound that nice to me haha.

The 330W Seasonic is powering both a Core i3 540 and an HD6850 1GB. It would be nice to know what power draw reading you are getting at the socket.

I did measure the power but can't really remember the exact figures, I know it's around 70W idle, 100W CPU load (Prime95) and perhaps 200W for Furmark on or perhaps 200W for Furmark + Prime95, gotta check again with the power meter.

[Pob255]

damb quick post, I was composing a big old post for you on psu cable modding when I clicked a link instead of opening it in a new tab, go back and the text box is now empty
it's too late to retype that now.

I'll just say @the heat sinks, I remember when the big selling point of ddr3 was that it was lower voltage and lower heat so didn't need heatsinks like ddr2 did.

If you still want heat sinks I can fully suggest these http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...-%28crc-u02%29 note that's one heat sink not a pair, so you need to buy two of them, they are not massive, clip on tightly and work very well.

[Consfearacy]

Sweet looking build

[Ulti]

damb quick post, I was composing a big old post for you on psu cable modding when I clicked a link instead of opening it in a new tab, go back and the text box is now empty
it's too late to retype that now.

I'll just say @the heat sinks, I remember when the big selling point of ddr3 was that it was lower voltage and lower heat so didn't need heatsinks like ddr2 did.

If you still want heat sinks I can fully suggest these http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...-%28crc-u02%29 note that's one heat sink not a pair, so you need to buy two of them, they are not massive, clip on tightly and work very well.

Ah that's a shame, thanks for the effort though!

Haha, I remember my crucial ballistix tracers got quite warm in my mATX build, IIRC it should have been getting some airflow too. Perhaps it's due to the added heat from the LEDs, either way yup I don't think I will need the heatsinks on this RAM, not a fan of green PCBs though but saving pennies is more important now

As they run cool anyway I won't be needing the heatsinks.

The Seasonic S12II 330W is on Scan's Today Only for £23.99! I'm so tempted to get another one just incase I screw my PSU up. I don't think I will though, as I'm not thinking of modding the cables. Should I be safe or risk being sorry?

[nibbler]

So how many hundreds of £s worth of kit do you keep for comparative photography purposes?

[Ulti]

So how many hundreds of £s worth of kit do you keep for comparative photography purposes?

Haha, they were sold on ebay in less than 3 days after using them for "comparative photography purposes" Mind you I've got a 6870 here that I've not listed on ebay yet and I would like to use it for "comparative photography purposes". Unfortunately it's all packaged up so I'm too lazy to unpackage (is that even a word?) it.

[nibbler]

unpack I reckon
I'm a bit jealous of all your humongous e-peen in the pictures

[Iron Sights]

forget that I'm still puzzled how he STILL is a poor student

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does the twin fan HD6850 1GB vent the exhaust out of the case??

[Antagram]

A bit late spotting this, but do you regret not going for a smaller case now you've had the system for a while?

I ask because the size comparing of a ATX, m-ATX, m-ITX motherboard very noticeable, but the choice of case seems to be counterproductive to the downsizing as the PC-Q11 isn't much smaller than a Sugo SG03 (micro ATX).

The PC-Q11 does allow for flexibility with quieter component choice compared to a Sugo SG05, for example.

[kag8]

^ I too am thinking of a mini itx build, right now thinking of getting the sugo sg05 with 450w psu...

@Ulti, I see you have the same monitor as me...and I too am just a poor student lol

[kmac]

Sweet build Ulti, those Lian Li cases are the dogs b*ll*cks

[Ulti]

unpack I reckon
I'm a bit jealous of all your humongous e-peen in the pictures

I sold it pretty soon after you posted that unfortunately I'd rather have cash than e-peen now haha.

forget that I'm still puzzled how he STILL is a poor student

Well student loans do exist thankfully I guess this year is much nicer now that I'm in uni instead of A levels. However, the student loans do drop amazingly fast though... *Sigh*

Does the twin fan HD6850 1GB vent the exhaust out of the case??

I thought it did but after putting my hand behind the case where the "exhaust grill" for the graphics card seems to be with the fan at 25%, 50% and 100%, I think it doesn't really. At 25% and 50% I feel next to no air being exhausted at the back whilst at 100% I feel a little air so I'm guessing most of it is being dumped back into the case. That's a shame really as I always thought it exhausted most of the air out of the back but it only exhausts a little bit of it it seems.

Also, as I plugged in my power meter I'll quickly run some tests.

My PC has RAM at 1.65V, CPU at 1.060V and the rest at stock (inc graphics).
For those too lazy to click the left, system specs as follows:
CPU: i3 540 3.22ghz
RAM: 4GB RAM 1400mhz CL8
Motherboard: Gigabyte H55N-USB3
Graphics: XFX HD6850 stock,
Storage: 80GB Intel X25-M SSD, 640GB WD Caviar Black
PSU: Seasonic S12II 330W
1x 140mm case fan

Idle: 70W-75W
CPU Load (Prime95 Small FTTs): 100W
GPU Load (MSI Kombustor): ~230W (starts going up from 220W and gradually increases to about 230W and caps there but sometimes jumps to 235W but goes back down in a split second)
CPU + GPU Load (Prime95 Small FTT + MSI Kombustor): 245W
Real world gaming (League of Legends 1920x1080 Max settings): 180W roughly.

Unfortunately I don't have any other games installed so those are the only readings I can give.

Whilst doing the graphics test, I realised that the CPU temp went up quite a bit too so I can only guess that the graphics card does not exhaust much of the air at all, hence the CPU temp goes up a lot.

A bit late spotting this, but do you regret not going for a smaller case now you've had the system for a while?

I ask because the size comparing of a ATX, m-ATX, m-ITX motherboard very noticeable, but the choice of case seems to be counterproductive to the downsizing as the PC-Q11 isn't much smaller than a Sugo SG03 (micro ATX).

The PC-Q11 does allow for flexibility with quieter component choice compared to a Sugo SG05, for example.

Personally I love the PC-Q11 as it's not very deep or wide which gives me a lot of deskspace, it's as deep as the front of my monitor to my keyboard and I have my keyboard right under my monitor. Some of you may find it high though but as my desk technically won't run out of height space it does not matter to me as it is lower than my monitor in height anyway.

^ I too am thinking of a mini itx build, right now thinking of getting the sugo sg05 with 450w psu...

@Ulti, I see you have the same monitor as me...and I too am just a poor student lol

The SG05 has been mentioned quite a lot and it's internal space is definitely smaller than the PC-Q11, I think it was something like 9.7L in the SG05 as opposed to 11 or 12L in the PC-Q11. However, as I said, for me I valued depth and width more and also I liked the look of the Lian Li more, I reckon the SG05 would be easier to work with though as they include a good PSU and allow for more choice with the CPU coolers.

Sweet build Ulti, those Lian Li cases are the dogs b*ll*cks

Yup I love Lian Li cases, although sometimes they are a hassle to build in due to poor design.