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News Cooler Master Elite 110 mini-ITX case is its smallest ever

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Meanmotion, 10 Jan 2014.

  1. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

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  2. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    What with all the really great mini-ITX cases on the market nowadays you would think the PSU manufactures would step up and make some decent SFF PSU's
    At the moment AFAIK the choice of SFF PSU's is very small and its near nigh impossible to find one above 500W.
     
  3. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    That's about the biggest acceptable size for a mITX-case, but the layout of this one isn't especially well thought out imho.

    Having only the fan of the PSU as an exhaust for the case isn't helping to run the components silently, especially when talking about fitting a GTX760 or something like it.

    Also. Either out the front I/O ontop or in the front. What's with this I/Os in the side, where you can't reach it easily, while sitting infront of your screen. When it's sitting besides your screen the I/O is either behind the screen, or it's on the far side where you have to search for the port.

    Build a mITX like a "normal" ATX tower with 15 liters and it'll only be 310mm tall, 180mm wide (which allows for bigger CPU-coolers) and some 250 deep, which even let's you fit an AIO-watercooler for the CPU and standard-sized GTX760. Even has enough room for two 3.5" HDDs or four 2.5" SSD/HDDs and a 92mm exhaust fan in addition to the standard-sized ATX-PSU. All in 14 liters.

    I don't understand the urge to design these mITX-cases like cubes insted of "normal" towers. Cube-designs are only nice for smaller systems, maximum 200mm³, but these can't fit standard dual-slot GPUs or ATX-PSUs.

    The best SFX-PSU currently on the market is the Silverstone ST45SF-G, and a 450W PSU is totally enough for an intel i7 (95W) + a single GTX760/GTX770 (150-200W).
     
    Last edited: 10 Jan 2014
  4. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    This thing looks like a cheap and nasty speaker and would belie what could be a very nice system inside. If I want a compact Mini-ITX system there are far better cases that not only look nicer but they perform better while often being even more compact (albeit without a standard PSU).
     
  5. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    So that leaves you with around 150W for everything else in the system, while that's within range of the maximum you would expect the rest of the system to draw it doesn't leave a lot of head room.
     
  6. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    The problem is that it relies on a short graphics card like the GTX 760/670 DirectCU Mini. There's absolutely no guarantee anyone can make next gen the same length. Currently can't make Radeon series that length...
     
  7. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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    How much headroom do you need? ;) Our test systems with mid-range graphics cards such as the GTX 760 use around 250W in games, probably around 300-400W if you fully load the CPU and graphics card at the same time, which isn't going to happen in a majority of people's PCs unless they're running synthetic benchmarks or are mining bitcoins. But this it with fans, had disks and SSDs running too - we note the total system power draw, so really, 450W is plenty of headroom unless you're going for £500 graphics cards, especially as hardware is generally getting more power efficient.
     
  8. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    This is the way I approach it. I add up the maximum powerdraw of the CPU + GPU and add some 100 Watts for the rest (motherboard, 2-3 HDDs, optical drive and some 2-4 120mm fans). And as you usually don't run a system at 100% for more than a couple minutes, if at all, this should be suffcient enough.

    To this day I've never owned a PSU with more than 500 Watts actually.
     
  9. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    OK i over estimated the need for more than 450W in a SFF system :blush:, but i still think the range of SFF PSU's are rather limited compared to the amount of SFF cases. Its either go with a full ATX PSU, or a SFF one from the only two company's that seem to make them.
     
  10. MrJay

    MrJay You are always where you want to be

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    I was running an AMD ITX system for years on a 400w PSU
    Athlon II 640 CPU (95w)
    ASUS ITX board (880 chipset based)
    HD 6850 (150w)
    Blu-Ray drive
    2 x 3.5" drives
    1 x SSD
    1 x 140mm fan
    2 x 120mm fans (inc cooler)

    Lovely case though! Iid snap that up if I had the money for an ITX build.
     
  11. DBA

    DBA I do my modding with a spoon

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    Why exactly CoolerMaster won't produce an SFX PSU is beyond my guess. You would have thought that now with Steam Machines well on their way and thus a small push for smaller gaming PCs, more manufacturers would have shown some love for the SFX PSU.
     
  12. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    Problem with SFX-PSUs is the noise-level - atleast with the ones I've tested so far.

    Ive had a 180W Chieftec, the 300 and the 450W from Silverstone and a 350W from bequiet. They're all good at delivering power, but the 80x10 or 80x15mm fans are very noisy, even when the PC is idling.
    Changing the fans does help alot, but it can't be done without soldering the 2-pin connectors to the new fans and you'll loose warranty ofc.
     
  13. jhanlon303

    jhanlon303 The Keeper of History

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    My 110 case shipped Thursday for a Monday delivery. I'll see what I like about it and what we can change to fix it up.

    John
     
  14. Star*Dagger

    Star*Dagger What's a Dremel?

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    Never in a million years. And if your PSU only has 100 watts left over you are asking for serious trouble.
     
  15. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    No way. Any quality PSU should work up to its rated wattage otherwise it's not doing its job properly.
     
  16. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Well, that's just a load of bollocks, isn't it?
     
  17. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Maybe my thinking is outdated or just plain wrong, but i thought PSU's are most efficient when working at 50% load. I have to admit it sounded wrong when i read it but im no expert on the workings of PSU's
     
  18. Shirty

    Shirty W*nker! Super Moderator

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    I'm starting to wonder whether these tiny ITX cases might start to benefit from rackmount style cooling, with a single fan or fan array pushing/pulling air through all the components.

    Although it would be hard to make this compatible with the motley selection of enthusiast hardware we'd want to shove in there...

    50-75% iirc.

    I've learned to enjoy the one or two days a month that S*D chooses to grace us with is trollworthy presence. :)
     
  19. DarkFear

    DarkFear What's a Dremel?

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    I've had my eye on one of these for a while now.

    I was thinking that since the case is 280mm long/deep/whatever, you should be able to fit a full size GPU in there like with the Silverstone SG05 by cutting a hole in the front of the case and having the card protrude through the hole and into the plastic front bit.

    Only one way to find out I suppose... :dremel:
     
  20. samuraiweasel

    samuraiweasel What's a Dremel?

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    @jhanlon303
    where did you get yours from mate? and any updates? pics?
     
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