Cases Silverstone FT03 build (now turning into post your pics of FT03 builds thread)

I just built a PC in the Lian Li PC-A04 last night: micro-ATX too. Fitted a triple slot Asus GTX 580 + Titan Fenrir in there. Works like a charm. Only downside is the case lacks a few features.

The Silver FT03 has a nasty white plastic side panel. Personally I think it ruins it. Get the black!

RE: Vengeance memory: remember it's 63mm PLUS the height of the socket it goes into, which is about 0.5cm.

 

That's a lot of graphics power per cubic inch Are you water cooling the GPU's or how did you fit 3 in there?

Agree with the nasty white side panel, a bit of a shame.

I was actually talking about the width of the heatsink. Lankius' photo shows his heatsink (74mm) plus intake fan covers the first ram slot. But with the Venomous-X being 11mm thinner, I think it'll stay clear of the ram slots all together.

 

Yup. Sony slot loading BD-ROM and DVD-RW. £80. I was looking for a decent external enclosure I could put my full size Blu-Ray drive in but all the ones I could find looked hideous and once you added £20 for a slot loading DVD drive it was near the price of the Sony.

If it wasn't so damn expensive I would be really tempted by the Thermalright HR-02 fanless heatsink. With the layout of the FT03 the heatsink is directly between two 120mm fans and it leaves your RAM slots uncovered. If you check out the photo's in this Chiphell thread it looks great and has some remarkable temps!

 

Did you see this video of a completely fanless FT03 system?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiJzo89eayg
Thought you might be interested...

 

Fanless is what I had in mind as well.. Or probably a single fan just so there would also be room for a GFX-card Choose the parts right, slap something big and passive on the CPU and AC Accelero on the graphic card, throw in a passive PSU and hide a single 140 mm fan somewhere in there and I promise it will still be silent in real life.

 

Regarding PSUs, the design of the FT03 means that it is kept thermally isolated from the rest of the case, pulling air in and pushing it out through its own dedicated vents. You don't need to worry about the PSU pushing heat towards the other components at all.

@AHeilemann: Could you repost that in a separate thread please? We can discuss your build better there so we don't take this thread off-topic.

 

Sounds like a nice quite but powerful setup.

I'm not too worried about some noise, basically aiming for the highest cpu clock I can get. Think the motherboard is the bottleneck with it's only 4 power phases. Hoping someone releases a more powerful mATX board soon, like the Asus gene and Gigabyte UD4 for lga1366 .

Haha just saw your Domoblaster at allthemods. Nice

 

I'm not talking about pushing air directly towards the other components. The PSU takes in air from below the case and exhausts it through the plastic grill, right below the intake fan for the CPU. Some of that air is bound to be sucked back into the case towards the CPU cooler. Depending on the PSU and it's load, that air could easily be 15 degrees hotter than room temperature.
Makes sense? or not at all?

 

Finally! Been waiting for a review of the FT03 for ages. Good old bit-tech!

I was really hoping for some input from you guys on the build below. A quick note, the FT03 is NOT my gaming rig but the study computer; it will be used for web browsing, MS Office, downloading, synching music/video and (lots) of video encoding. Cool and quiet is the name of the game - no overclock, no discrete GPU (monitor is a pretty standard Samsung 22", 1680x1050).

These are the components I have picked out so far, with a quick explanation:

CPU: 2500K or 2600K (Important thing is the HD Graphics 3000 with the 'K' series)
Mobo: H67 definitely as outlined above; no need for discrete graphics, every need for Quick Sync Video encoding. Asus P8H67-M EVO I think.
PSU:500W Silverstone ST50F-P. Modular, low-rated noise(18db), lowest wattage Strider PSU compatible with the PP-05 short cable set.
SSD: Been using a OCZ Vertex on my gaming rig for a while now. Love OCZ, particularly their firmware & support. So probably an OCZ Vertex 2 or 2E. Will have a look at equivalent Corsairs too though.
Slim slot-loading optical drive: Anyone got any thoughts on the merits of the SOD02 over the SOD01 (except that the former is both newer & cheaper, and a Tosh rather than Panasonic?!)

Now, where I would really appreciate some help! I guess for all of us the key decision is on the mobo + ram + cpu cooler combo, and whether it's all going to fit & play nicely together.

RAM: considering an 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance kit (I've used lots of Corsair kits before &, sadly, think the Vengeance looks cool However, I am worried about the height - these are not exactly low profile (as Bindibadgi says, "remember it's 63mm PLUS the height of the socket it goes into, which is about 0.5cm.")
CPU Cooler: The manual says 167mm tall and no more than 5mm off the end of the mobo. Also that the CPU fan should blow upwards to work with the FT03's overall airflow. I water-cool my gaming rig, so am not very up on CPU coolers.

Any help on choosing a 'good fit' low noise CPU cooler + ram would be great. Passively cooled would be even better (& yes, I've seen the youtube vid with the Scythe Orochi... not sure it's available in the UK, & a 1Kg cooler seems a little nuts! Did find it interesting that Silverstone outsourced rather than use their own NT06-E...).

In fact, would anyone object if I compiled a list of the mobo/cooler/ram combos that people have successfully used? I'd find it really useful... Also, if this is the wrong thread for this, I'm really sorry & will move it! Thanks everyone.

 

Wow, Asus writes about the P8H67-M EVO under 8+2 phase power design that "It delivers high power efficiency and supreme overclocking ability". While 8+2 is very generous for a mATX board, it's H67 chipset almost limits you from doing any overclock. Peculiar

Since you're going for a H67 board that doesn't allow overclocking I would go for passive cooling, like the Thermalright HR-02 that Da_Rude suggested. Otherwise maybe CM Hyper 212 Plus or TR Vemonous-X RT.
Would be very nice with a list of what others have found to fit in the FT03. A thread for that would be perfect.

 

Also, bear in mind that Quick Sync technology uses a fixed function pipeline of the CPU for decoding/encoding video quickly - it doesn't really depend on the graphics EUs. So you might as well save some money and get a non-K CPU

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

 

Cheers guys.

r3loaded: Point taken on Quick Sync on non-K CPUs. I will have to do a bit more research on the performance of the 2000HD Graphics core (non-K) v 3000HD core (K), and whether the extra spend here is justified/needed.

AHeilemann: The Thermalright HR-02 is a beast! Thanks for directing me to the Chiphell review. Looks like the cooler gives good clearance for the RAM.

Does anyone have experience of using this cooler with an Asus P67 or H67 mobo (the P8P67-M PRO appears to have a very similar design/layout to the P8H67-M EVO - speaking of which, Asus hyping the overclocking ability of an H67 mobo is a bit daft!)

Thanks again for the responses! I will quickly list the mobo/cooler/ram combos people have tried & post a bit later.

 

Looks like a good build!

The short cable kit for the Silverstone made a big difference when routing the cables and having a selection of lengths makes it very flexible. I would also recommend you buy some 15cm SATA cables. I bought two but three would have done the optical drive, SSD and HDD. there is no difference between SATA 2 or SATA 3 cables btw.

Remember you will need an adapter for the slimline optical drive as it uses a smaller SATA power connector. You can either buy one of these which fits both the power and data connection or a one of these power connector only converters. I have ordered one of each and will see which one looks the best.

Bit-Tech used a Gelid Tranquillo with Noctua fan in their review but I dont think they mention if it covers the first RAM slot or not.

 

Thanks Da_Rude, & for the tip on the slimline drive needing a smaller SATA power connector (I'd read that further up the thread but hadn't entirely understood - so thanks for clearing that up!) Yes, please let me know which of the two options you're trying works out best... Also, did you use right angled SATA cables or regular (I hate buying stuff twice!)

Could I ask a favour of a proud FT03 owner? I can't find specs on the supplied 120mm Silverstone fans... particularly the dimensions of the shroud. The reason I ask is that I'm leaning toward using the Thermalright HR-02 CPU cooler as detailed on the Chiphell build. From what I can gather (I should say 'from what Google Translate tells me'!), the guy has swapped out the top Silverstone 120mm for a "Chiphell Sanyo 9S 1500 custom version" (my best guess is that this refers to this, a Sanyo Denki San Ace 9S which has a depth of 25mm).

What I'm trying to work out is whether the guy swapped out the Silverstone 120mm because it didn't fit with the HR-02. So, if someone could tell me the dimensions of the Silverstone shroud (particularly it's depth, as in how far it protrudes into the case) that would be really great.

Regarding the cooler covering the first RAM slot, I am planning on using a 2x4GB kit - so could live with that, I think (use DIMM_A2 & B_2: 8GB is overkill anyway!)

P.S. If anyone has any Han Chinese & can provide a more intelligible translation for the third para starting "The two eggs removed all the fans of light pain..." do please let me know

 

I bought straight connectors as I think they work better in this case. The motherboard came with four right angled cables but the connectors were too big to fit to the SSD and slimline optical drive (the clearance between the connector and the case is too small) and one right angled connector covers two SATA ports on the motherboard. These are the specific cables I used.

 

I don't own one yet, but I'm pretty sure they use FN121

He probably exchanged them for added airflow. I thought about upgrading to the adjustable FM121 for added performance.

FN121: 53.24CFM - 26.6dBA
FM121: Max 110CFM - 17-39.5dBA
San Ace 9S: 86.51CFM - 36 dBA
All 25mm in depth

Also FT03 manual suggests fans that spread out the air, but with a passive heatsink like the HR-02 with no dedicated fan, one would think it benefits from a intake fan that spreads less and has a higher static pressure.

 

I mentioned this in an earlier post and wondered if any one else has tried this with similar results.

I finally had a chance to run some burn in tests all day today with the Scythe Slip Stream fitted on the lower diagonal CPU bracket (above the PSU). My main issue with it is that even whilst running idle it was noticeably louder than the stock/ gelid fans.

I removed the Scythe fan from the system entirely (including the bracket). I also reapplied the thermal paste on the CPU (my Arctic Silver 5 is 4 years old and Gellid's GC2 which I replaced it with is supposed to be pretty good stuff) as I feared I may have disturbed the contact when I was messing around with my original fan set up.

I then ran Prime 95 as soon as I had booted the system up and as earlier mentioned my results with just the 3 120mm fans (compared to 4) were similar if often slightly cooler.



The only issue I have is it takes slightly longer to return to its idle temps once the session is ended.

If any one else runs or attempts a similar set up (the same fan arrangement as my initial photo of my setup earlier in the post) can you let me know how your results turn out?

 

Interesting, Lankius, very interesting... I'm half not-surprised, given the increased airflow with the CPU bracket out the way.

I've been scratching my head wondering if the Thermaltake HR-02 would ever in a month of Sundays allow for the fitting of the CPU bracket & fan. But maybe it wouldn't be needed (particularly if I haven't got a GPU dumping heat as well).

If anyone out there has the CPU fan bracket fitted, could they possibly let me know the length of the shortest point between the top 120mm fan shroud & the shroud of the CPU bracket fan? I am trying to work out how much space I have to play with. Would really help, if anyone has a few minutes.

& thanks Da_Ruud & AHeilemann. This is going to my best planned build yet, I reckon!

 

Time to post some pictures and the spec of my build.

CPU - 2500k
MB - Asus P8P67-M PRO
RAM - 8Gb Corsair Vengeance
GPU - Sapphire 5870 HD Vapour-X
PSU - Silverstone Strider SST-ST60F-P 600w with the PP-05 short cable kit
SSD - Corsair F60
HDD - Old WD 400G
Optical - Sony BC-5640H-01 Slot Blu-ray Combo drive
Cooler - Titan Skali

Other Silverstone SST-CLEARCMOS and Akasa 15cm short SATA cables.

Check out this pic from the ChipHell review as it shows the HR-02 in place in the case. The bottom fan and bracket is not fitted but it looks like you will have sufficient clearance as it leaves all the ram slots free and the fan leans away from the heat sink. It's also the same price as the Corsair H50.

 

Nice with some more photos. Could you post one from the side that shows the clearance around the heatsink?

How big a difference would you say the PP-05 cable kit made for you? Arguing whether I should choose the Corsair AX850 or choose a Strider. Guess the PP-05 doesn't work for Corsair PSU's