I got a little carried away with my mitx build

H

Harry1969

Gawd
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
565
I intended on building a small inexpensive low power HTPC using spare parts and a few Black Friday purchases. I went with the Asus M4A88T-I Deluxe motherboard over the 1156 motherboards since I already had a couple of compatable processors I could use.
The first mistake I made was buying the Lian Li P6-Q06 case which alloweed me to use just about any CPU cooler on the market. Anyways to make a long story short I originally planned on using an AMD X4 620 and undervolting it since energy efficiency was the main point of the build.. I used the 620 for a few days and it worked great, but I got bored and replaced the 620 with a 1055T just to experiment for a little while. Then I started overclocking it and totally going off track ending up with a little red headed step child computer. My wife says it's ugly, messy and looks stupid, she doesn't want it in the den and made me put it in the basement. I like it though and that's all that matters, these are the specs

Asus m4A88T-I Deluxe
AMD X6 1055T, 3.6GHz-4.176GHz Turbo, 1.362v, 1.1v at idle with CnQ
Noctua NC12-UP with Scythe Ultra Kaze and slot fan controller
8GB Gskill DDR3 1376MHz 9-9-9-24 1.5v,
MSI LP 5670
Antec Earthwatts 380 Green edition
OCZ Agility 2 60GB SSD
Samsung 500GB 5400 RPM HDD
Sony BR reader

I know these pics suck... they were taken with an iphone
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I'm kinda torn between this case and an SG05 for my upcoming build. Only reservation about this case ive got is that everything is out in the open. No way to filter the air. And there is a lot of dust around here. I have to clean out the filters in my Antec 902 every month or 2.

This case is nicely inexpensive though and allows the use of a nifty full size PSU and optical drive. So points all around.

I can't decide!
 
I got a kick out of the contrast between your mutant Mitx beast and that old, Dell CRT monitor. :p
 
Haha, I have one of those monitors dell m991? or something like that. It was a good one.
 
Nice setup. My wife would have told me the same thing :D
 
So much wood paneling! Has to be out in the mid-west somewhere!

Nice rig. Never understood the idea of a case JUST for the HDD and CD Drive. Two things that already come in their own little boxes.
 
Haha it's like a child who's looks only a mother could love. I think it looks great and a bit adorable!
 
These are pictures I took of the original setup with an OCZ Vendetta heatsink and Saphire 5570 video card along with a shot of the back.

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Which 1055T is that? a 95W or a full 125W? and did you use any additional mobo cooling?
 
It's the 125W version, I couldn't find a 95W 1055t at the time. I know I'm taking a chance, but I'm a big boy and if it takes a dump I'll live. The only motherboard cooling comes from the CPU fan (130 CFM ultra Kaze) which is turned up when gaming or compressing videos. The VRM's and heatsinks are cool to the touch even under the heaviest loads. I thought about adding those little heatsinks, but they weren't really necessary. I've been running at 3.5GHz (4.126GHz turbo) at 1.35v for a couple of weeks now. Cool n quit is working great idleing at 1GHz 1.100v.
 
Yeah, ASUS throttles based on VRM temps, so there is little issue if you have a decent aircooler.
 
Harry1969 said:
It's the 125W version, I couldn't find a 95W 1055t at the time. I know I'm taking a chance, but I'm a big boy and if it takes a dump I'll live. The only motherboard cooling comes from the CPU fan (130 CFM ultra Kaze) which is turned up when gaming or compressing videos. The VRM's and heatsinks are cool to the touch even under the heaviest loads. I thought about adding those little heatsinks, but they weren't really necessary. I've been running at 3.5GHz (4.126GHz turbo) at 1.35v for a couple of weeks now. Cool n quit is working great idleing at 1GHz 1.100v.
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did the bios spit anything at you saying incompatibility or anything?

i'm kinda thinking between getting a 95W 1055T or a 125W 1090T for this board to replace my i7 setup
 
If 90% of the computer is on the outside already, what is the point of the case?

:)

Ruahrc
 
The Q06 is a nice looking test bench, but seriously lacks in functionality for a test bench IMO. The internal drives cages and PSU are arranged in such a way that when you want to swap any one of them, you have to remove all the drives above it, and before you can do that you have to remove the mobo. Also if you have the mATX\ATX mobo tray accessory for the case you have to remove the mobo from the tray before you can unscrew the tray from the case!! Very disappointing design from Lian-Li IMO. All of these issues could have easily been avoided.

PSU: Equip the case with a classic Lian-Li PSU bracket to slide the PSU out the back.
Drives: Make the drive cage slide out a back or side panel instead of from the top
Mobo tray: Make the tray slide on rails or have brackets that screw into the upper sides of the case so you can attach the tray with a mobo already on it.

Hopefully Lian-Li will relealise these mistakes after feedback from users\reviews and make a revised edition later on.
 
They pick up monitors where you're at? They make you recycle them here as they are considered 'hazardous'. Recycle being the word for 'we put it on a barge to China where it leaks things in their landfills instead'.
 
yeah....whhhhhyyyyy the fuck is the computer on the outside...? don't feel like modding? oh wait... you already did. I don't get it.
 
sabregen said:
yeah....whhhhhyyyyy the fuck is the computer on the outside...? don't feel like modding? oh wait... you already did. I don't get it.
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He planned to have a setup that would fit in that case, then he went crazy with overclocking and cooling so that now the system won't fit in the case. He doesn't want to run slower, use lesser cooling, or buy a larger case. :)
 
Ualdayan said:
He planned to have a setup that would fit in that case, then he went crazy with overclocking and cooling so that now the system won't fit in the case. He doesn't want to run slower, use lesser cooling, or buy a larger case. :)
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Not sure if serious? That's a Lian-Li PC-Q06. It's meant for test benches, so the motherboard sits on top of the case - no room inside for it.
 
Necere said:
Not sure if serious? That's a Lian-Li PC-Q06. It's meant for test benches, so the motherboard sits on top of the case - no room inside for it.
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Yeah, I was serious, but apparently I just totally misunderstood the idea of the thread. I thought it was a 'oops, I wanted to built a mini-ITX setup but went crazy on the cooler so it wouldn't fit', but apparently that case is suppose to intentionally run the motherboard on top. :(

I could understand why somebody would use it for review purposes, but is there a benefit to it for people that aren't regularly replacing the entire motherboard?
 
I picked up a 5870 over the weekend. Prices on 5870 are so low ($200) I couldn't resist. It meant having to take the whole system apart to replace the efficient 380watt PSU with a not so efficient 650 watt PSU, but the whole green build was thrown out the window long ago. I also had to use a different fan controller since the 5870 takes up both slots. You can see the new fan controller hanging out the back. Sorry again for the quality of the pictures.

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As for the monitor it had to go, the picture was shot, I had to turn the contrast way down just to be able to read it was so blurry.I put it on the curb hoping someone who needs it would take it but some idiot came by and cut the VGA cord and left the monitor. It was a good reliable monitor.
 
Ualdayan said:
They pick up monitors where you're at? They make you recycle them here as they are considered 'hazardous'. Recycle being the word for 'we put it on a barge to China where it leaks things in their landfills instead'.
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I live in Michigan the home of Canada's garbage. They aren't very picky about what we throw away here as long as you don't put grass clippings in a garbage can. That's where they draw the line. The Canadians purchased all the dumps in the area which is something we're not too happy about. We have enough garbage in Detroit we don't need Canada's.
 
hehe that lian li case is pretty cool.. i didnt like the style of it at first but after seeing your build.. has a nice open engine look
 
haha awesome it looks like a blower on the hood of a muscle car :D
 
Harry1969 said:
I live in Michigan the home of Canada's garbage. They aren't very picky about what we throw away here as long as you don't put grass clippings in a garbage can. That's where they draw the line. The Canadians purchased all the dumps in the area which is something we're not too happy about. We have enough garbage in Detroit we don't need Canada's.
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Harry, I am glad to hear another Michigander is on here. Northern Michigan myself. But anyways nice looking build.

I put my grass clippings in other people garbage just to have some entrainment when they pick up the trash.
 
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