ccokeman Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 My Core i7 920 is finally getting a bit long in the tooth showing its age and lack of raw speed. Its lost a step even though by most accounts it is still a pretty decent rig but is getting retired. So I started work on Mini-Me. This wont be a custom one off show piece. In fact it will be pretty far away from that and be just a good solid build with no windows to worry about showing how packed the chassis really is. Current specs include: Core I7 920 @3.4Ghz Noctua Cooled 12GB of DDR3 running at 2000Mhz MSI Big Bang motherboard 1.5TB disk drive HD 6990 Red Flame CM Stacker 830 Case Not bad right? That being said I wanted to put together a small form factor rig that performance wise just flat out performed it in every way. I took a look at what I wanted to build and then set out my plan. I wanted solid state drives since I had plenty of backed up storage space on my NAS and will only need to keep the basics and kick the rest to the storage system. Originally I was going to use an Intel Core i7 5775C and use the on board Iris Pro graphics in lieu of using a discrete card since I have a gaming system for gaming only and will use this again as a daily driver. After deciding on a small form factor build I needed to find a motherboard to fit into a Node 304 case. I needed a Z97 based board for this build because of the CPU I wanted to use. I visited my semi local Micro Center since they usually have a fairly good size stock of returned ITX motherboards that if you look hard enough through the pile you can find a gem. Most of the time the boards are missing the parts you really need and after about 30 minutes of roaming through the re certified section I found a Z97I Plus from ASUS. There were others to choose from but this one stood out because it had everything and the price was knocked down by almost 50%. I dont usually take a chance but it was what I needed. I walked out with it for $100 and I had the makings of my first small form factor build with the parts listed below. Specs: Node 304 case TT 750w non modular PSU Z97I Plus motherboard 16GB Corsair Vengeance 2666Mhz Core I7 5775C OCZ and Kingston SSD's Corsair H90 cooling Pretty happy with my choices I thought about trying to shove a full on water loop in the case but decided against it on this rig because really the chip runs incredibly cool even with the voltage cranked up so an AIO cooler would work just fine. That opened up the cooling possibilities but I stuck with the AIO since space is really at a premium. Realising up front that a modular PSU would work best I just used what I had laying around and would find a way to make it work. Having a basic plan I started putting the rig together. Everything went in fairly easily with some velcro and wire ties and in the end ended up with this. But wait there is a discrete card in this system....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluePanda Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 I like it. Fancy parts there. Like the small form factor...BUT, the flame!! How could you!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccokeman Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 As a finished system its not to terribly bad. It was getting there that was the challenge. The first problem was the PSU and a way to power everything without just stripping out all the cables that were not being used right now. It would have been easier to do but I decided on another route. For the cables that would not be used I pushed them up behind the front cover of the case and tie strapped them in to stick on blocks. Problem 2 was that there was just to much wire behind the front for it to sit flush against the case frame. My cheap solution was to clip off all the connections but one on each cable. That leaves bare wiring on each remaining connection that will cause a short. Electrical tape would be the easier solution but really looks like crap and unwinds over time as the glue lets loose due to heat. A trip to Lowes to pick up some liquid electric tape was the answer to cover these bare ends and not eat up more space. Easy enough! With the cables that were left I figured finding a place to put the PCIe cables would be no problem since I was not going to use a discrete video card in this build. I could strap them up and have them in the area if I did choose to go that route. As you can see the GTX 980 I used left about an inch and a half between the end of the card and where the PSU cables had to go. No problem! Wire ties are my friend. Before dropping the 5775C into the socket I flashed the latest BIOS from ASUS to make sure the chip was as compatible as it could be. And here is where it went sideways........... The BIOS flash went fine using a 4790K and I had no problems running at stock speeds or overclocked speeds with this chip. Perfect! I dropped the 5775C into the system and started to overclock the CPU. I guess the BIOS still needs some maturing to get the 5775C to overclock properly. No matter what it would not overclock. After a week of nights I pulled the 5775C and put the 4790K back in and sure enough a good solid undervolted 4.4Ghz stable clock speed was good enough for the Corsair H90 using a single fan to handle. Here is where the discrete card comes in. I wanted to use the Iris Pro graphics on the 5775C due to how much better that IGP is than the HD graphics in the 4790K. Since I did not get my way I figured I might as well throw caution to the wind and stuffed in the GTX 980. A perfect fit with room to spare. Now I need to find the time to test it in its final iteration! Stay tuned. Node 304 case TT 750w non modular PSU Z97I Plus motherboard 16GB Corsair Vengeance 2666Mhz Core I7 5775C OCZ and Kingston SSD's Corsair H90 cooling GTX 980 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccokeman Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 I like it. Fancy parts there. Like the small form factor...BUT, the flame!! How could you!! Thanks! The Flame is still here and wont be going anywhere without some serious financial persuasion. I love that case but water cooling it is a pain. So would have been this one but I wanted to try it and its a bit sporty! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluePanda Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 I like it. Fancy parts there. Like the small form factor...BUT, the flame!! How could you!! Thanks! The Flame is still here and wont be going anywhere without some serious financial persuasion. I love that case but water cooling it is a pain. So would have been this one but I wanted to try it and its a bit sporty! Sounds like my HAF932 BE. Still running strong. Only the second case I ever bought! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 Damn nice build! Too bad the 5775C doesn't play nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 I love that case. Used one as my server and it's very nice to work with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccokeman Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 It seems solid and has possibilities and keeps the chip out of trouble heat wise! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccokeman Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Had a few LEDs sent in from BitFenix. The Alchemy 2.0 Magnetic LED strips are new items that are both flexible and attach magnetically to your chassis so that you can move them at any time. Just keep them away from any mechanical drives. They are available in in lengths from 12CM to 60CM and in colors including Red, White, Green, Blue and now Purple. I wanted to try both Red and White to keep from washing out the interior color scheme on the board but actually forgot I don't have any window in the case........DOH! So I just stuck with Red. One cool thing is that you can daisy chain these LEDs with the included connector to extend out the length of the strip. To get the fullest coverage I tied a pair of strips together and wrapped them around the top framework to put a red glow over the whole interior of the case. These things are very bright and could not be any easier to work with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braegnok Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Nice looking daily driver Frank,.. great choice of motherboards, AiSuite III, an M.2 slot and USB 3.0 Boost is simply stellar Asus has quite literally been the only company to offer software with its boards that I've actually wanted to use. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccokeman Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Nice looking daily driver Frank,.. great choice of motherboards, AiSuite III, an M.2 slot and USB 3.0 Boost is simply stellar Asus has quite literally been the only company to offer software with its boards that I've actually wanted to use. Thanks, I cannot argue there. Currently working on an ASUS board and to software stack is getting deeper! I was hoping they had an ROG ITX board on the cheap but it seemed no one brought one back. This one was a return and I cannot find anything wrong with it. I am very happy with it so far. Just upgraded to Win 10 on it so I can get some benches run! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boinker Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Nice setup there Cokeman. I can appreciate the small but powerful aspect of that. How is the noise level. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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