Hello all! this is my first foray into case modding, watercooling, and overclocking. Hardware: DFI P55-T36 itx mobo G.Skill Ripjaws (2x2GB) ddr3 1333 Ram Intel Xeon X3440 (to mix things up) Gigabyte SuperOverclock GTX 275 Thte project will be built in 3 stages: Initial build and air cooling watercooling and mild overclocking case modding and serious overclocking The plan is to accomplish all this in an Apex Mi-100, but the project may switch cases. Without further ado, I present: NanoTek Day 1 (December 17, 2009) "Jackson! Come open us!" Well if you insist... First up, GPU How ya like them apples? Next, we have the PSU Ironically, it isn't modular, despite what the box says. I'm too lazy to RMA it, so I get to mod that too! RAM They'll rip your jaw off! Ok. I'll stop. The cornerstone of the whole project: I'll have benches up soon The baby that made it all happen: and special guest, feet! mmmm Xeon... So I knew this awesome stuff wasn't going to fit in the case (which i seem to be lacking pics of...). I improvised! Had to load 7 ASAP! mobo in the case. ain't it cute? too bad I can't use that sfx psu. it would fit over the cooler like a glove! test of if the gpu would fit yes, there's a case behind it... somewhere... found it! man thats a tight fit. praying that I didnt have to mod the drive cages. Yo what up, Dremel! as you can see, the small side part won't let me mount that 275. close up so you can see what I mean aww shucks! they even left the bottom corner open for me! makes life much easier! after dremeling. there's some sort of gromet-type thing holding this piece on. yo what up, hand drill! gotta love the macro! after drilling, testing with my 4670 success! even with the 4670, it looks empty... somebody wishes to change that! like a glove, baby! my psu compared to the sfx well that certainly wont fit in the case!
The Apex Mi-100 is not a bad case to choose. I started with that case on H2O-C7 before I went to an all carbon fibre case. I'll watch this one. john
thanks for the replies guys! bigsharn, you forgot xeon powered micro update. i gotta move it into my Thermaltake lanbox. my psu is sitting on the desk behind the rig right now, and since its not modular, there's wires everywhere. messy messy messy. agenda for today: 1. move system to lanbox 2. mod psu 3. more benching 4. maybe some overclocking not much else i can do until i get this system under water.
Don't forget to add the lead weight to the other side of the case. That gfx card is going to make it want to fall over all the time...
what was the purpose of buying a xeon cpu, the equivalent core i5/i7 is much cheaper for equivalent performance from what i've been able to find out. the only difference i was able to determine was the cheaper xeons had hyper threading where the the core i5 does not but has a higher clock speed. other than those two differences i havent been able to find much. So is it all for the name?
blu, no its not just for the name. i did it for the e-peen. at higher clocks, this xeon is a MONSTER on crunching and benching. lol thanks barry, but this case won't be standing up on its side. 'nother micro update. well first two things on the agenda are done. (pics later) my years-old monitor died on me (no wonder i got it for free). i think its the ccfls inside it, cuz i can barely see the menu, but thats it. great. now I have to run it off one of the hdtv's.
Xeon live longer at higher temps at full load if needed. They generally run at a lower voltage at stock speeds, which makes them great overclockers as a boost in volts should yield better clock speeds.
well guys, its time for that two-day-old update. hey, its better than a three-day-old update! *cracks fingers* here we go. very nifty hdd placement: after all was said and done, i had a working rig: and oh my, it even has a Blu-Ray drive! well, i decided that the psu sticking out the back like that was a real pain. so disassembly starts! man, this poorly-placed 8pin connector made the cable a tricky thing to remove! ever see that pull-thumb-apart magic trick? apparently it works with index fingers too. now where did i put the tip...? shots of the psu: now, all those extra cables make my desk look like it was attacked by some type of squid-monster. so, i solved it! (read: cut off extra pci-e and sata power cables) will de-solder when i get a working soldering iron. mine decided to die on me. here's the rig nicely tucked away in the lanbox: STILL fills up the case. grr. can nobody make an acceptable (to me) sff case design?! well one of the main reasons i strayed from the apex is temps. so as it sat there on my table, i remembered seeing a review where someone put a 120mm fan in the side. (queue light bulb) maybe that would provide the much needed ventilation! after roughly an hour of hole drilling and modifying (what i would've given for a flex shaft or 90 degree attachment) i have this! man, thats snug as a bug in a rug! once i realized that the space between the two supports was just wide enough for my psu, i started to mod the case in order to shoehorn it in. dremeled off a horizontal bend: then i realized i forgot about the side mounted hard drive! oh my bajeebus! not even my right angle sata connectors would fit! so after fan modding, and more frame modding (the right angle sata caused clearance issues. and the psu caused even more clearance issues. and the psu plug connector caused EVEN MORE clearance issues) it finally all fit. (sans blu-ray drive) however, this setup was short lived. the psu intake and cpu cooler were fighting over what little air there was in the case. plus, that 120mm fan is WAY too noisy. i really havent had time to go and flip that psu around (and i wouldnt be comfortable with the lack of ventilation) so there's nothing left to post. just when im convinced i must go the SG05 route, a flood of ideas hits me like a freight train on steroids. truth is, this case is just so purty. gloss black finish, mirror drive covers, and its the perfect size to make other people laugh at it before i unleash the quad-core, octo-thread, xeon power. so, whats your verdict? can/should i fit a custom loop in here? or go for the sg05? (i know rad placement in either case will be an issue. currently thinking of getting a 2x2.5" to 3.5" adapter so i can have the hdd side free on the apex)
Bigsharn, I don't have the tools to fab my own case (unless I want to go through a hundred cut-off wheels) but seeing as funds are tight, that sg05 isn't looking so good.
Perhaps get a pico-psu to power the CPU/Mobo/Drives and leave the original psu to power the GPU? I'm not sure if it'd work. I agree that you should try and keep this case, there's just something so sweet about its dimensions that the sg05 doesn't have for me.
So why not design your own, and get the panels cut by a local metalworker's? That's what I'm doing when I do the rest of my cooling loop, you just need a rivet gun and you're sorted Or they should be able to put it together for another £20 (I got a quote of £100 to assemble and create a 3ftx3ftx1ft case, your SFF should be a LOT cheaper)
breach, i literally got this board the day it was available on NewEgg. i was more excited for its release than i was for the release of Halo 2! sir digby, there is no way that a picopsu will power this board. i plan on overclocking the xeon and probably further overclocking the gpu. big sharn, i dont have the funds to get the case made. and most of the time, my designs don't work out until i get my hands on them. why design and have someone else build what i'm going to modify? at least with case modding, im improving someone else's design
i need some advice. im gonna wc this thing. im gonna go with a HWLabs Stealth 240 rad. should i do the cpu and gpu in series, or parallel with a Y fitting? this thing is gonna have mega restriction because of my use of these. or should I just go dual loop? problem then is finding space for the second rad. NO I WILL NOT GO RADBOX! it must fit in/on this case.
I pronounce this build dead. It would be too expensive to go through with it, and I wouldn't end up with something i liked. however, all is not lost. I will post a new log in the very near future! thanks to everyone who had interest in this build.
aww, it's a pity. the combination of size and powah(!) was awesome. I haven't given up hope of this awesomeness yet though... I thinking of building one meself. thus... I was wondering if you could fit the PSU in front of the case - but losing the optical drive & some PSU modding (there's plenty of empty space in a PSU... hmmm... an open-frame PSU would give that DANGER look)
