Another mATX gaming machine attempt

Mousemagician

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
326
Hi guys,
The life of we Hard Gamers in the small form factor never rests!:cool::cool::cool:

After moving from a mITX LianLi PC-Q08
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to a mATX with the ThermalTake Armor A30

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...I decided to change again.:rolleyes:

Problems:

  1. The Armor A30 wasn't quiet as wanted: the 6cm fans in the back were too loud even at idle
  2. The 2x XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB in CrossfireX, with the Scythe Setsugen 2 coolers overheated when playing Batman Arkam City
Goals:

  1. I needed a more efficient cooling
  2. I wanted quietness
Thus, I found on eBay a beautiful LianLi PC-A4, silver, pre-owned, in pristine conditions, for a good price ($72.33 shipped);)

Finished01.jpg


Following, you will read the writing of this new adventure.:D

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As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thus, I went vertical:

mATXcomparison.jpg


Some pics of the empty case

Emptycase01.jpg


Emptycase02.jpg


Emptycase03.jpg


Rear.jpg


Emptycase14.jpg


The 2X 12cm in the front are a pretty good start for cooling:

Emptycase10.jpg


The 1X 12cm top fan will help cooling down CPU and the other components:
Emptycase19.jpg


Finally, there is the option to add one 8cm fan in the back:
Emptycase18.jpg


What's missing here?
The option of a side fan, or at least some vents there...
We'll see how it goes with the CrossfireX configuration...:rolleyes:
 
I had laying around 3 good Scythe 12cm Kaze-Juny PWM fans, 1,300 RPM, the perfect upgrade for the front intake and the top fan:
Fans01.jpg


Fans02.jpg


Who nowadays doesn't have 3 of these fans as a left over from former building projects?:p

These fans are pretty different compared to the original LianLi ones.
on the left, the LianLi, on the right, the Scythe:
Fans03.jpg


Fans04.jpg


The mounting screws for the front intake have rubber rings, to decrease vibration and for easy swap-in/out:
Fans05.jpg


There is the new front intake:
Fans06.jpg


Fans08.jpg


...and the top exhaust:
Fans10.jpg


Fans09.jpg


Fans11.jpg


Now, be ready... the first (unpleasant) surprise is on its way...:(
 
The MoBo is in:
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z, with a Intel i7 2600 oced @4.7GHz, the CPU cooler is a Thermaright APX-140 RT:
MoBoin02.jpg


MoBoin01.jpg


The Thermaright APX-140 RT got a Noise Blocker NB BlackSilent-PRO PK-2 14cm fan (I love it!):
CPUfan01.jpg


There it is the problem:
The top fan hits the CPU cooler!
AAAAARGH!!!!!:eek::eek::eek:
Topfan01.jpg


Topfan02.jpg


I thought that flipping the APX-140 by 90 degrees would have fixed the issue, but with this orientation it hits the first VGA:
Topfan03.jpg


Topfan04.jpg


Topfan05.jpg


...but the solution was around the corner:
I installed a 12cm Scythe SY1212SL12L SLIM fan on the top:
Topfan06.jpg


Topfan07.jpg


...and it magically fits!:p:p:p
Topfan08.jpg


Topfan09.jpg


Topfan11.jpg


Topfan10.jpg


Who, nowadays, doesn't have a 12cm Scythe slim fan laying around from a former system building?
(...oh, did I already say that?)
 
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To compete the fan upgrade, I thought to add a 8cm fan to the back, as an intake:
Exhaust01.jpg


It's a CoolerMaster 8cm, 3pin, that I purchased some day at my local MicroCenter, with 80% discount (I go there every week to find bargains like this); I believe I spent 2-3 USD for this one!:D:D:D
I don't remember the model or specs, but this fan is quiet and surprisingly moves significant air.:p

Here, how the assembling looks like:
Exhaust02.jpg


Exhaust05.jpg


Exhaust07.jpg


At the end of the day, though, I had to change fan orientation:

  • The top became INTAKE
  • The back became EXHAUST
Exhaust10.jpg



Exhaust09.jpg



Doing so, it dropped 5C on the CPU and 10C on the MoBo!:cool::cool::cool:
 
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The main HD is a 128GB Crucial C300.
There is a nice spot just below the HDD cage:
SSD03.jpg


SSD02.jpg


I got a couple of 5.25" to 3.5" adapters to move the spinning HDs from the bottom cage to where the HHDs should be:
HDadapter01.jpg


HDadapter02.jpg


HDadapter03.jpg


They fit perfectly behind the 5.25" silver covers:
HDadapter04.jpg


These brackets had to be opened
Emptycase17.jpg


...and adjusted to clip-in in the empty holes (the setting on the top is the right one):
HDadapter05.jpg


Here, the 3 HDs:
HDadapter06.jpg


Moving the HDs to the top bays, I hoped to have enough air form the intake to cool the 2 HD 6950 2GB.
As matter of fact, they are pretty sandwitched...

Instead, I had a freeze while playing Max Payne 3 when the top VGA card hit 100C!!!!

Guess what?
I needed more cooling...:(
 
Whatever, I put back the smaller HD cage

Disassembling10.jpg


...and prepared the top of it with some vibration dampening foam to host a fan:
VGAcooling01.jpg


I first went for a quiet queen: the 92mm Nexus DF1209SL-3
VGAcooling04.jpg


VGAcooling05.jpg


VGAcooling03.jpg


VGAcooling06.jpg


...then, I though: what the heck, I have some 14cm Noise Blocker BlackSilenPRO PK-3 in the closet!
Why not this one, instead?
VGAcooling07.jpg


VGAcooling08.jpg


VGAcooling09.jpg


VGAcooling10.jpg
 
So, I have powerful breeze blowing to the CrossFireX configuration controlled by the ASUS AI Suite Fan Expert software.
It's efficient and quite, finally!:):):)

Here, some temp readings during Prime95:
Prime95_02rearexhaust.png


Prime95_03rearexhaust.png


Prime95_04ENDrearexhaust.png


CPU MAX temp: 81C
MoBo MAX temp: 35C
GPU MAX temps: 43C on the top and 40C the bottom

Here, the system idling:
Prime95_06rearexhaustNB4idle.png


CPU: 39C
MoBo: 45C

The GPU temps of the top card, the hottest one during gaming, under stress (UNIGINE DX11):
TempsUnigine.jpg


These the benchmarks, all maxed out:
Unigine.png


Finally, the Max Payne 3 test:
TempsMaxPayne3.jpg


...with the highest setting possible with these VGAs:
MaxPayne3settings.png
 
I'm very happy with this case.

  • It is "light-years" better than the Thermal Right Armor A30 as for airflow and cable management.
  • It is elegant, the LianLi style is still unbeatable to me.
  • The front 2X 12cm fan grille screams for a decent radiator and the case could afford a water cooling solution.
I already know that for something like the Corsair H100, or the Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme, I have to cut out the HHD bays, but it is still feasible.
I'm also thinking to a custom solution, with some loops for the CrossFireX VGAs, but it can be an overkilling... I would rather do that for a newer VGA setting (GTX 680 or a next to be 700 SLI maybe?).


Anyways, this system is so far the most satisfying build that I made so far, I love it!


Thank you for reading.;)
 
Nice looking build, lots of fans, I love the slim fans too, I use some in my Thermaltake Armor A30 build.

Hi xyexz,
I read your build when you posted it, I liked how you fitted the rad inside the case.
The Armor A30 is quite a challenge for a gaming build.
I changed fans endless times until I got a good cooling, but at the expenses of the quietness.
Now, I have the Armor A30 in a corner of my bedroom and a lot of 6 cm fans everywhere.:p
These Scythe 12 cm slim fans move some air... they are also quite noisy when spinning at max.
I ended up with 2 slim PWM fans for the Setsugens, connected to the 4-pin header in the VGA through an adapter for videocard fans.
The PWM slim fans came directly from Scythe. I wrote to the customer service and Ramon Pasqua sent me 2X SY1212SL12M-P that are sold with their BIG SHURIKEN SCBSK-1000 CPU cooler.
These fans are sensibly more silent than the original 3-pin ones with rheostat that are sold with the Setsugen 2, but also less powerful.
Anyways, the 14 cm NB PK-3 fixed all the cooling issues with the CrossfireX setting, and it's perfectly silent until I push it with games.
Men this fans are an addition to me!:D
 
Hi xyexz,
I read your build when you posted it, I liked how you fitted the rad inside the case.
The Armor A30 is quite a challenge for a gaming build.
I changed fans endless times until I got a good cooling, but at the expenses of the quietness.
Now, I have the Armor A30 in a corner of my bedroom and a lot of 6 cm fans everywhere.:p
These Scythe 12 cm slim fans move some air... they are also quite noisy when spinning at max.
I ended up with 2 slim PWM fans for the Setsugens, connected to the 4-pin header in the VGA through an adapter for videocard fans.
The PWM slim fans came directly from Scythe. I wrote to the customer service and Ramon Pasqua sent me 2X SY1212SL12M-P that are sold with their BIG SHURIKEN SCBSK-1000 CPU cooler.
These fans are sensibly more silent than the original 3-pin ones with rheostat that are sold with the Setsugen 2, but also less powerful.
Anyways, the 14 cm NB PK-3 fixed all the cooling issues with the CrossfireX setting, and it's perfectly silent until I push it with games.
Men this fans are an addition to me!:D

It's definitely a challenge in stock form, if you can deal with removing the optical drive and using 2 x 3.5inch drives plus 2 x 2.5inch drives you can turn the case into a beast doing something like what I did but it's pretty extreme mod and takes some work and lots of fans.
 
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