thin itx motherboards

D

Diverge

Gawd
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
542
I just figured I would change the title of this thread and use it for my little project. I'll post pics of how I'm modding it throughout the process :)

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Does anyone know of any thin itx motherboards, for example like the DH61AG, that have their own psu on board (just needs a power brick), and has 4 sata ports? Intel 1155 socket (i3/i5/i7)

I'm looking to convert my Lian Li PC-Q16 case into a NAS w/ 4 x 3.5" HD's, and going for a low profile ITX system will make it that much more easier to fit the drives in all in one stack w/ cooling provided by the 140mm from fan. I could use a non-thin itx, but then i'd be forced to put the drives in stacks of 2 along the top, which would take them mostly out of the airflow. Along with using a PicoPSU.
 
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fr500 said:
Logic Supply has the Atom thin itx board
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I guess I should have mentioned preferably an intel 1155 socket. Atom's not up to the tasks for which I am building this. HD transcoding / multipurpose NAS. I already have a synology DS-411+ and it struggles to transcode w/ Plex server. Where as any of my intel i3/i5 systems have no problems. The synology DS-411+ has an Intel Atom D510 Dualcore (2C/4T) 1.67GHz x86 Processor.
 
Diverge said:
Thanks again! Just ordered one. $148.87 shipped :) http://www.shopblt.com/partnum/intel_boxdq77kbh~bpf5627.html

edit: just wanted to say that my HTPC is built around a DH61AG, and that they added a bunch more stuff to the its replacement (DQ77KB) is a welcome surprise. I didn't even know it had dual NICs. This is a perfect NAS board :)
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yeah the addition of the second pair of sata headers and the second NIC are very impressive. what else have they added?
 
ekuest said:
yeah the addition of the second pair of sata headers and the second NIC are very impressive. what else have they added?
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The extra sata ports. The DH61AG only has 2 internal w/ 1 external esata

Edit: you said that. Reading and posting from my phone isn't working for me today:eek:
 
This board is pretty rock solid too, I have done some testing on it and the biggest feature if you can take advantage of it is the vpro and dual nics. Both nics are manageable and intel 82579 chipset based. With a 3550S 8GB 1600 sodimms intel 520 and intel 311 msata the board was pulling 87W from the wall, very energy efficient and stable board.
 
Here's are some pics of me brainstorming how to mount 4 x 3.5" HD in my Lian Li PC-Q16


IMG_20120613_135914.jpg


IMG_20120613_135940.jpg


IMG_20120613_135957.jpg


IMG_20120613_135929.jpg


My DQ77KB should be here in the next day or 2. And there should be more space between the hard drive cage once I actually mount it to the top plate that was used to hold the stock hard drive mount cage. the pics are of the case upside down (since nothing is hard mounted yet). The stock PSU mounting hole will be mess to let airflow out of the case.
 
Any well known cases that can take advantage of this thin mini-itx board? I've been watching the DH61AG with interest for awhile, I may join you guys on building one of these down the road.

LC
 
There's the Habey series of mini-ITX cases, especially the EMC-600B

Really taking advantage would mean using Intel's thin profile cooling and I have not been able to buy one for some time now. Hence I ended up mounting the DH61AG in a 600B

Also, the DQ77KB has 5 SATA ports, not 4. One of the SATA ports is via the mini PCIe slot, using an mSATA device. The other 4 SATA ports are independent of this. Perfect for a 4 bay NAS cum HTPC. I'm running WHS 2011 currently on a 4 bay NAS using an E-350 based motherboard. And it's slow for normal media. But I intend to get the DQ77KB, figure out where to get a Samsung 830 or Crucial C400 based mSATA SSD and then replace my NAS and the HTPC with just one device.

Dell has a 210W power brick - the PA-7E, that can be used to power a 45W quad core CPU as well as 4 green HDDs :)
 
harshw said:
There's the Habey series of mini-ITX cases, especially the EMC-600B

Really taking advantage would mean using Intel's thin profile cooling and I have not been able to buy one for some time now. Hence I ended up mounting the DH61AG in a 600B

Also, the DQ77KB has 5 SATA ports, not 4. One of the SATA ports is via the mini PCIe slot, using an mSATA device. The other 4 SATA ports are independent of this. Perfect for a 4 bay NAS cum HTPC. I'm running WHS 2011 currently on a 4 bay NAS using an E-350 based motherboard. And it's slow for normal media. But I intend to get the DQ77KB, figure out where to get a Samsung 830 or Crucial C400 based mSATA SSD and then replace my NAS and the HTPC with just one device.

Dell has a 210W power brick - the PA-7E, that can be used to power a 45W quad core CPU as well as 4 green HDDs :)
Click to expand...

Alternately, you can get a MyDigitalSSD 256gb mSATA w/ toggle NAND & Sandforce for $310 on ebay ;) (that's the route I'm exploring ATM). I'm probably going to go custom case for my build (only need 2x 3TB drives next to the mITX drive, so maybe 405mm wide, 205mm deep, and 30mm tall)

I'll be interested to see your build progress!

210W is way overkill for a 45w proc and 4 greens (they're maybe 15w/ea at most at spool up)
 
Machupo said:
Alternately, you can get a MyDigitalSSD 256gb mSATA w/ toggle NAND & Sandforce for $310 on ebay ;) (that's the route I'm exploring ATM). I'm probably going to go custom case for my build (only need 2x 3TB drives next to the mITX drive, so maybe 405mm wide, 205mm deep, and 30mm tall)

I'll be interested to see your build progress!

210W is way overkill for a 45w proc and 4 greens (they're maybe 15w/ea at most at spool up)
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You can see the current E350 based build here... and my HTPC is here. With 2 Samsung F4EGs and the E350, it doesn't go beyond 55W at boot up and idles at 17W. This is with 8GB of DDR3 and 2 big fans - by the way. So 210W might be overkill but it would need around 120W ~ 150W anyways. Add in + 10% for safety's sake. So if you know of any super efficient ( esp Dell ) adapters that can do 175W let us know ...

You're spot-on with the custom chassis. I'd love it if Wesena decided to do more of these http://www.wesena.co.uk/product.php/11/3/ehdd ... perfect for a mini-ITX NAS/HTPC ...
 
there was a 160 watter on mini-box.com, but you can get the PA-7E for $45 shipped (if you have prime) on amazon, so I guess it's better to go with the big one :)

that Wesena is about the size of the Lian-Li PC-05... a bit deep for my tastes, but I'll probably use the custom front panel place that was linked in one of the threads in this sub-forum and just slap it on the front of a black acrylic case (it's what I have laying around). I've got a pair of ITX7-2's I'm happy with, but ready to move down to something a bit more svelte ;)
 
I just created (modded the existing HD mount point) the bracket to mount my 4x 3.5" HD's to.
IMG_20120616_131017.jpg


Here's what I used as my template:
IMG_20120616_131036.jpg


Here's the bracket with all the grommets in:
IMG_20120616_131308.jpg


Here's the bracket with the drives mounted:
IMG_20120616_131919.jpg


Here it is mounted in the case:
IMG_20120616_132645.jpg

IMG_20120616_132635.jpg


Here's with the motherboard mounted and a new 140mm PWM fan:
IMG_20120616_140252.jpg


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Now for the question, does anyone know of any this socket 1155 heat sink (passive or active) that will fit in here? I am going to attempt to modify my HTS1155LP, removing the fins and trying to form the heat pipes so I can mount them to the bottom of the case if I can't find any other solutions.

This is a stock intel i3 2120T heatsink without the fan just laying on top:
IMG_20120616_141733.jpg
 
Gelid slim silence is what I use for my 65w chips in my htpcs, it is the same height as ram sticks w/o spreaders.
 
Machupo said:
Gelid slim silence is what I use for my 65w chips in my htpcs, it is the same height as ram sticks w/o spreaders.
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I think that is too thick.

The space from the top of the motherboard to my harddrives is about 25-26mm, so i need something to fit in that range. I think most HSF's just spec the thickness of the heatsink and fan, not taking into consideration the height it is off the motherboard.
 
Took my HTS1155LP apart, now to try some pipe bending tools to reform the heatpipes.

IMG_20120616_155325.jpg
 
hmm, ballsy. im excited! i was just about to suggest you start a new thread for your build log and then noticed you did change the title, it just hasnt changed in my user CP. :)
 
Getting there :) Now I just need to find/make a block to mount the heatpipes to the case (preferably something with fins to be cooled by the fan there).

IMG_20120616_204113.jpg


Edit: Update picture to after I cleaned up heat pipes, and mounted them with paste (they were soldered, but paste will do for me). Running prime 95 on my i3 2120T and the temp stabilized around 75C on cores in coretemp. That's setup as shown in the picture above with nothing really dissipating the heat yet. I need to make a block for the other end of the heat pipes to mount it to the case, and add some heatsinks to it so the fan cools it as well.
 
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While looking through my junk box of heatsinks, I found an old AMD Opteron HSF that looked like it would be perfect for what I was trying to do.

In process of cutting:
IMG_20120616_223719.jpg


Finished cutting:
IMG_20120616_225814.jpg


Pre-drilling 6mm holes test fit:
IMG_20120616_225654.jpg


Next up is drilling 6mm holes through it for each heatpipe, then grind it down until the bottom of the holes are exposing the heatpipes. Then bolting it to the bottom of the case :)

Marked up block for 6mm holes. Need to do the rest on a drill press to get the hole straight.

IMG_20120616_232504.jpg
 
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Very cool build. From your first post, it sounds like you will be using an external power brick. How are you planning on powering the drives?
 
negaprion said:
Very cool build. From your first post, it sounds like you will be using an external power brick. How are you planning on powering the drives?
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The motherboard has one sata power connector and comes with an sata power cable to power 4 sata drives and one mini sata power connector. Everything will be powered off the boards built in psu w/ the power brick.
 
I like the way to hang your hard drives - screws on only one side.

I hang mine from a piece of 1/8" plywood.
 
GeorgeHR said:
I like the way to hang your hard drives - screws on only one side.

I hang mine from a piece of 1/8" plywood.
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Yeah, they are screwed to the top mounting plate using thumb screws and grommets (that I hope will reduce some vibrations). Along the bottom of the drives they are all strapped together by a strip of aluminum w/o grommets - to add some firmness.
 
Can one of you DQ77KB owners confirm if there are any undervolt or underclock options in the BIOS? The 3475S isnt out and I might need to get a 3570K instead and undervolt it with this board (if I can)
 
Methanoid said:
Can one of you DQ77KB owners confirm if there are any undervolt or underclock options in the BIOS? The 3475S isnt out and I might need to get a 3570K instead and undervolt it with this board (if I can)
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It does have options to change multipliers, and voltage. I didn't mess with any CPU related options, but did manually set my DDR3 to 1.35V, since it was low voltage ram but was defaulting to 1.5V
 
Bump because I've ordered a HTS1155LP and I'm wondering, how did you get the heat pipes separated from the original heatsink? Did I miss it?
 
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