Akihiro means "great brightness" in Japanese. The idea of a small form factor build came about when I had to lug my Corsair 700d from my university to my home and down an up a ton of stairs. I thought about going with a m-atx board but then I saw the Zotac itx and thought, why not even smaller? I've been recently taken aback by the ever more prevalent minimalist style and would like to carry this theme onto this build. I will focus on matt black with small highlights of pure white and a fusion with grey. So without further-ado, I present "Akihiro". Fractal Array R2 Zotac Z-68 ITX Intel 2600K MSI 570GTX Intel X-25 80GB SSD + Western Digital 500GB storage Patriot Viper 2 8GB 1866mhz Silverstone SFX 450W Magicool Slim 140mm rad Magicool Slim 240mm rad Scythe 120x12mm slim fans EK HF waterblock Alphacool universal block Koolance MCV-40 + 67mm heatplate Bitspower universal ram block Dual DDCs 3.25 + EK top
Yay... another ITX-mod... We're going to take over the forums lately with our tiny systems Good start amd nice choice of hardware. The Fractal Design Array is soooo clean
i agree with jrs77 the last few years having been about making cases as big as possible, now were on the downsize and it shocking what spec we get out of these itx systems, now i wonde if someone can make one that could fit in my pocket ... xD
love it , you should check out my chocolate temptation mod in a array r2 aswell , link on signature ! GJ!
Nice photos and nice hardware! Did you really have to tape the whole case to cut the fan holes ? Subbed man
SFFs are most definitely the future for hardware. What I'm hoping for is more companies to delve into high-end ITX boards! Thanks! I thought Laine's Purple Haze was the only Array R2 build. I will totally check out your log. Yup. I'm a pretty clumsy guy so I usually try to protect everything when I'm working. Cheers! This is my first foray into more "professional" looking photos. I stole my Dad's fancy camera over my iphone lol.
Okeyy. First off, sorry for the huge lack of updates. School has been kicking my butt and Skyrim has been stealing the rest of my time. Teaser! I'd like to introduce my sponsors! Lamptron has graciously offered me their connector mod kit and even a fan controller which I didn't ask for. Thanks guys! Minibox let me have the opportunity to try out their pico 160W psu. They make a large array of these pico power supplies aimed for tiny builds and would be great for any itx build. Finally, Cheesecake PC gave me some nice discounts off their products. Now onto the pictures! My mess of a workplace. This was my inital thought on placement of the various watercooling components I decided to rattlecan the case white. Protection is extremely important, especially when its winter and you can't go outside to paint. I'm sure most of you know what this means... Wasn't sure where to slot this image in... Here's Minibox's pico powersupply. This thing is tiny! First time sleeving and OMG is it tedious. If I ever go back to an ATX case I am for sure getting cable extensions instead. I sort of forgot to take pictures of painting the case but here you can see the white. Here's how I will mount the harddrive. This actually took me a while to figure out. You'd never imagine how big a harddrive is until you're building an itx. This is something I'm particularly proud off. I bent a piece of white acrylic with a heatgun and used some nice button head screws.The sata cable was a pain to make though. This was another way I was thinking of mounting everything but in the end that didn't work. Using hot and cold water and a thick flexible cord you can create bends like this. A new front mount for the 140mm rad and fan. Time to install everything! Thank the lord I have tiny hands. And the result. Black acrylic top with attempts at making counter sunk holes for the screws The 570GTX tucked in nicely. I see you! LOL random pic of LED snakes. I got bored, don't judge. This pretty much wraps up my build. I hope you enjoyed it and gave you some ideas for your future builds! Best wishes.
nice mod!!! but wiring from PSU is too big for such small case IMHO. when You sleeve that cables (=voiding warranty) You can cut'em down to more "clean" wiring. though "cable-mess" can't be seen they're still can block airflow...
Thanks! I was considering shortening the cables but TBH I like the look of a lot of cables. As for airflow you're totally right it'll block the living crap outta it but this was more of an aesthetic build if anything. Cheers! The CPU load is about 58-60C while overclocked to ~4.5ghz.
