Hofy's mITX CM Elite 120 build

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I have been wanting to build a new system for over a year now. I actually bought a PSU, and memory last year and they have just sat there begging me to build. Last month I came into some extra cash so I figured what the heck, let's get busy!

The first pic shows the majority components. Cooler Master Elite 120 case, Asus mITX P8H77-I mobo, Intel core i3 2120 SandyBridge CPU, Corsair H60 water cooling, XFX 6770 video card, Seasonic G550 PSU (replaces new year old PC Power & Cooling 750), LG BluRay and Seagate 500GB HDD, GSkill Ripjaws 8GB.

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the first thing I had to do is remove the HDD cage to make way for the water cooler radiator. This involved drilling out 7 rivets. 3 in the optical drive bay and 4 on the under side of the case. They are the little silver areas in the pics.

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The last pic shows the removed drive cage. I really did not need it as I only run a single drive in my main system with a majority of my files stored on a server.

One concern was if the water cooling block would clear the caps near the CPU socket. Looks like there is plenty of room.

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There was one surprise that kinda pissed me off. All but one of the SATA jacks run the same way. I really wanted to use both of the white ones as the are SATA 6gb/s. I also wanted to use 90 deg cables for better wire management. Guess I just have to live with it.

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Here is the system with the PC P&C PSU 750 stuffed into it. Yikes, what a mess and restricted air flow. Luckily I was able to snag a Seasonic G550 off Newegg for $70 with a $15 rebate. $55 and I have the PC P&C on fleabay with a bid of $61 so far. If all I do is break even I will be happy.

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Now that the Seasonic is in place you can see the difference in wiring. All the cables bundle real nice between the PSU and BRdrive.

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I have already had questions about how I mounted the HDD. I used one of the plastic adapter trays that come with the case. I cut part of it down and was able to mount it to one of the horizontal frames. It works for now. (The first pic is of my first attempt. I cut in the wrong place.)

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I am thinking of opening up the front for better air flow. I will be doing some temp readings to see if this is needed.

Thanks for visiting and leave your comments and suggestions.

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Great setup! :)

I just ordered the same board to use in my build--and I think I have the same RAM. I have a slightly slower i3--the 2100. Just curious--why did you get a WC kit for an unable-to-overclock i3?
 
Nice build Hofy!

I think he probably chose the H60 for its decent reputation for CPU cooling in general. These days wcing isn't just for the overclockers. Plus, this is the [H]. If you have to ask... ;)
 
[Ion];1039376827 said:
Great setup! :)

I just ordered the same board to use in my build--and I think I have the same RAM. I have a slightly slower i3--the 2100. Just curious--why did you get a WC kit for an unable-to-overclock i3?
Click to expand...

#1. Because I could. Hehe
#2. There is such low clearance between the CPU and PSU that it only made sense. In the future I may move up to a better CPU/Mobo so I will already have it.
#3. Did I mention I got it for $40?
 
Awesome looking build, great wiring job - glad you got the other PSU ;)

I often tempted the idea of replacing the faceplate of this case or modifying the stock one for better airflow but while doing prime95 on my 3570k and also my 2700k OC'd I didn't notice any real gains from running with or without the front face plate so I let everything as is as I liked the faceplate - especially with the Di-noc I stuck on there.

You'll have to let me know if you have the same results from testing you do.

Anyways, great job and lots of room for upgrades in the future, did you leave the stock side fan in the case, didn't look like you did but was just curious.
 
I really like the price point on this case but scared of the wiring with my AX 850W PSU unless I could get some custom made cables. Looks like its not too bad with your new psu.
 
xyexz, I am still testing temps with and without the faceplate and will post results here. I am using the stock case fan in front with the H60 radiator. I also do not have the 80mm side fan in there.

Volkswagen, I am glad I was able to sell the P&C 750 and go with the G550. I would have went smaller if I could have gotten modular cables. I ran this system through 3 different PSU calculators and came up with ratings of 216 watts to 300 watts.
 
I have run some tests on my own Elite 120 with and without the faceplate. There is definitely a difference.

I am running a Xeon E3-1230 V2 (4 cores, 8 threads total) with a Thermalright AXP-140 (power supply is an external power brick to make this happen).

At the moment, I am running with only two fans total. One on the CPU, the other at the front running as intake. Both of them are Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1400 RPM fans.

Here is how I tested: I set the fans to run at maximum speed to keep things consistent. I ran Prime95 for an hour with the faceplate and then recorded temperatures. Then I removed the faceplate and let it run for another hour. Results in 22.5C ambient temperature:

Faceplate on:

System: 57C
HD: 29C
Core 0: 81C
Core 1: 81C
Core 2: 82C
Core 3: 80C

Faceplate off:

System: 47C
HD: 26C
Core 0: 70C
Core 1: 70C
Core 2: 69C
Core 3: 69C
 
Sounds like the fans you're using aren't able to bring in air under pressure, I'm using sp120s and they are able to pull through.
 
Well, they are Scythe Gentle Typhoon fans. I chose them specifically for their static pressure ability.
 
Hmm odd, do you have any fans other than the front one and psu fan? I just added some cross breeze fans to my elite 120 and it made a huge difference with getting some heatsoak on my rad in the front.

I've found that flipping the psu in these cases to suck cool air out is a help but it's just not enough I think because the PSU fan is so far away from my heat source which is now the rad in the stock bay area of elite 120.
 
Those are the only two fans I had running.

I have successfully modded my Elite 120's faceplate with black hex modmesh. It turned out great! I'll try and get some pictures posted within a week.
 
josephclemente said:
Those are the only two fans I had running.

I have successfully modded my Elite 120's faceplate with black hex modmesh. It turned out great! I'll try and get some pictures posted within a week.
Click to expand...


Looking forward to it :)
 
josephclemente said:
Those are the only two fans I had running.

I have successfully modded my Elite 120's faceplate with black hex modmesh. It turned out great! I'll try and get some pictures posted within a week.
Click to expand...

Do keep us posted, I think between removing the HDD cage and putting mesh in the front the airflow could be improved drastically.
 
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