My new AMD Llano APU mITX build (ASRock + A8-3850 + Antec ISK 310-150)

S

s0rce

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
495
Just got some of the parts in. Here are some teaser shots until I get all the parts in.

Got most of the parts so far:

MB: ASRock A75M-ITX
CPU: AMD A8-3850
HSF: Scythe Big Shuriken (hope it will fit, still waiting for it from UPS)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 9-9-9-12 2x4GB
GPU: integrated!
SSD: Crucial M4 64GB
Case: Antec ISK 310-150
PSU: flex-ATX 150W, came with the case, 80mm fan

no hdd, all my stuff is on my 8TB ZFS NAS

NdbAw.jpg


Put the CPU and the RAM in the motherboard. Hopefully the shuriken clears the memory, tried to find some with small heat spreaders.

iGQDv.jpg


Popped in the little port thing into the back of the case. I wish the back of the case matched the black, maybe I'll spray paint it and the little port insert. Note the neat little switch to adjust the fan speed. I hope the 80mm isn't too noisy.

0qtxZ.jpg


Here is the little PSU and the single 80mm case fan.

9JV9m.jpg


A few of the rivets were loose. Nothing a vice grip couldn't fix.

SfCfE.jpg


Stay tuned.
-s0rce
 
Nice parts list. No optical drive? If you are thinking to paint the chassis (even just the back) do it before putting parts in it.

SPCR didn't think the included fan was that quiet but they have, ahem, more exacting demands. If you determine it isn't quiet enough for you, look for SPCR fan recommendations (they have a page listing different sizes).
 
s0rce said:
Put the CPU and the RAM in the motherboard. Hopefully the shuriken clears the memory, tried to find some with small heat spreaders.
Click to expand...

The Big Shuriken should fit. I've used the Big Shuriken with a i3-540 on the Gigabyte H55N-USB3 mobo with similar Corsair XMS ram.
 
That's very lovely. :)
I do have an i3/gts450 build that's looking for something much quieter... may you please input additional info on overal tonal quality?
Thank you very much!
 
Zap said:
Nice parts list. No optical drive? If you are thinking to paint the chassis (even just the back) do it before putting parts in it.

SPCR didn't think the included fan was that quiet but they have, ahem, more exacting demands. If you determine it isn't quiet enough for you, look for SPCR fan recommendations (they have a page listing different sizes).
Click to expand...

nope, no optical drive, I haven't used one in years. I wish the case didn't have a cutout in front.

I'll see how the fan is and if its bad I'll grab a Nexus SP802512L-03 80mm, maybe try and replace the PSU fan but I don't really want to void the warranty on that.
 
s0rce said:
nope, no optical drive, I haven't used one in years. I wish the case didn't have a cutout in front.

I'll see how the fan is and if its bad I'll grab a Nexus SP802512L-03 80mm, maybe try and replace the PSU fan but I don't really want to void the warranty on that.
Click to expand...

i really think you could have gone isk-300-65, which has no psu fan. anyway good luck with your project. antec rocks. :)
 
bendit said:
i really think you could have gone isk-300-65, which has no psu fan. anyway good luck with your project. antec rocks. :)
Click to expand...

I wish I could have done away with a PSU fan but the APU just draws too much power for the 65W PSU. I could have avoided the PSU fan by going with a 150/160W pico PSU but this would have added $70 to the cost and I just couldn't justify that for the minimal improvement. If there was a good small cheap mITX w/o-PSU case with decent ventilation that might make it possible. If the fan is still really objectionable I'll get the pico-PSU, the 150W version of the case is almost the same price as the 65W.

For reference here are the numbers I used to decide on the 150W PSU:

Anandtech: 126W http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-review/9

Guru3D: 161W http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-a8-3850-apu-review/10

Tech Report: 145W http://techreport.com/articles.x/21208/14

Bit-tech: 92W http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/06/30/amd-a8-3850-review/8

Legit Reviews: 157W http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1649/16/

Hardware Canucks: 153W

Hot Hardware: 148-161W http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-A83850-Llano-APU-and-Lynx-Platform-Preview/?page=14

Tom's Hardware: 95W http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-a8-3850-llano,2975-18.html

I figured the mITX board and no optical/HDD would shave a little off most of these numbers so 150W is basically the minimum power to be safe under load.

Also, I think the Antec ISK 300-65 is not as nice looking as the 310 but I might replace the front panel anyways with a custom Al panel.
 
I have an i3-2100 65w tdp. I never expected I could run my 2100 in a 65w system still I figured out how efficient the PSU is and how the 2100 doesn't use anywhere near 65w on average. I didn't realize that your chip is a 100w tdp. Your chip uses more power at load than mine does, however and that's where you would likely run into issues with the little isk 65.
 
Last edited:
Choad Namath said:
Don't know if anyone's posted this yet, but I found a review of the ASRock A75M-ITX: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4295/asrock_a75m_itx_amd_a75_motherboard_review/index.html

Edit: now that I've read it, it's not exactly the greatest review in terms of what they actually look at...
Click to expand...

I think what review sites are missing is that these are specialty items and should be reviewed as such. Who cares how it performs as long as it isn't significantly off from other FM1 boards. Really, when was the last time stock performance varied SIGNIFICANTLY from one motherboard to another, based on the same chipset? I want to know which heatsinks fit w/o interfering. I want to know about fan speed controls on all the headers. I want to know if the board has any fitment issues in any of the popular ITX cases.
 
Put together the computer!

Big Shuriken fits perfectly, clears the memory with a bit of space (don't get giant heat spreaders), even space for a PCIe card due to lots of space between the PCIe slot and the FM1 socket. Nothing in the slot for me. Maybe a low profile gfx card if I want to go dual monitor in the future.

SOWm0.jpg


Took a bit of fiddling to get the power connect to fit with the big shuriken, there are some filter capacitors soldered directly to the IEC jack in the way (stupid should be inside the PSU). I just removed the heat-shrink, bent the capacitor leads (if you do this and kill yourself with mains voltage don't blame me) then I sealed it all up with glue gun glue.

hTuq0.jpg


P9Y0q.jpg


The case fan isn't bad, I set it to low. The shuriken (w/ speedfan) runs around 900rpm and is very quiet. The power supply could be a tad quieter but not sure I feel like spending $70 for the pico PSU + AC/DC brick.

Pile of boxes magically turns into computer!

nufUt.jpg


4wXGq.jpg


Here are benchmarks as requested, let me know if you want anything else.

p7sbH.jpg


G8cP2.png


ITbEP.jpg


2j7X4.jpg


is the write a little low?

Let me know if there is anything else you want to know/see!

I'll get out my Kill-A-Watt in a bit.

-s0rce
 
Nice little system! I do have to wonder if the Big Shuriken or any other similar heatsink can be installed so that the fins are perpendicular to the direction they are going now. The reason is that there is the 80mm exhaust fan right above it (when case is in standing position) which may be able to cool the CPU without the heatsink needing a fan.

s0rce said:
is the write a little low?
Click to expand...

It's probably fine. Just understand a couple things about SSDs:

1) You will never get the numbers that reviewers get, because they are usually testing it as a secondary drive and not the drive Windows is on. Same with published numbers.

2) Bigger capacity SSDs outperform smaller capacity SSDs. Most reviewers will review bigger capacity SSDs. You can't compare say your 64GB m4 to a 128GB or 256GB m4 in performance.
 
Zap said:
Nice little system! I do have to wonder if the Big Shuriken or any other similar heatsink can be installed so that the fins are perpendicular to the direction they are going now. The reason is that there is the 80mm exhaust fan right above it (when case is in standing position) which may be able to cool the CPU without the heatsink needing a fan.


It's probably fine. Just understand a couple things about SSDs:

1) You will never get the numbers that reviewers get, because they are usually testing it as a secondary drive and not the drive Windows is on. Same with published numbers.

2) Bigger capacity SSDs outperform smaller capacity SSDs. Most reviewers will review bigger capacity SSDs. You can't compare say your 64GB m4 to a 128GB or 256GB m4 in performance.
Click to expand...

Thanks! As far as I can tell with the AM3/FM1 socket mount the shuriken cannot be rotated 90deg. You would have to mount it directly to the through holes on the MB, similiar to how it would mount on an Intel board. This would probably be possible but you might need to build a new mount and remove the little plastic doodads that it mounts to on the AMD board.
 
I just hooked up a power meter and the system uses about 40W idle and 135W under full load prime95+furmark.
 
Last edited:
prometheum said:
can you fit an ODD in there with the HSF you've got?
Click to expand...

yes, a slim one should work. I'm not sure if some are longer than other but a slim one I have lying around seems like it would fit. Might be tight with the cables, but a right-angle connector should work.
 
What are the temperatures you're getting on idle/load?

I have an almost exact build except for silverstone sg05 for a case, you can improve the score of your graphics from 5.8 to 6.7 by increasing the gpu's memory from 256mb to 512mb in the bios.
 
just curious. what makes u build this instead of buying an AMD laptop with the same specs for the same price?
 
mjz_5 said:
just curious. what makes u build this instead of buying an AMD laptop with the same specs for the same price?
Click to expand...

I can't imagine it would be the same price. If those exist that would be pretty cool, though, links?. I have a (somewhat old) Sony Vaio Z (Core 2 Duo) that works for what I need. Mostly my work computer and for presenting at conferences.

My desktop is very small, very quiet and I can upgrade it if I need in the future with 10G ethernet, discrete graphics, etc.


edit: I could be wrong but the best llano laptop I can find is a A8-3510MX which is not as good as the 3850.
 
You may have missed my post:

"What are the temperatures you're getting on idle/load?

I have an almost exact build except for silverstone sg05 for a case, you can improve the score of your graphics from 5.8 to 6.7 by increasing the gpu's memory from 256mb to 512mb in the bios."

Sorry for reposting, I am interested because I would like to purchase the Big Shuriken tomorrow.
 
quietsy said:
You may have missed my post:

"What are the temperatures you're getting on idle/load?

I have an almost exact build except for silverstone sg05 for a case, you can improve the score of your graphics from 5.8 to 6.7 by increasing the gpu's memory from 256mb to 512mb in the bios."

Sorry for reposting, I am interested because I would like to purchase the Big Shuriken tomorrow.
Click to expand...

@quietsy, sorry about that, I did miss your post. My idle temp (with the case closed) is CPU 37C, System 41C, this is with the FAN at ~800RPM (using speedfan). If I use hardware monitor to read the CPU (from the on-die sensor?) idle temp I get unrealistic temps below ambient ex. 9C.

Load temp with the case closed (prime95 4 cores + furmark) is around 60C, the CPU fan spins up to ~1600 rpm. Its still very quiet

With the case open the temps are lower the ISK310 is quite cramped. I'm going to replace the useless antec case fan with 2x 80mm PWM fans and add a 120mm intake hole for the Big Shuriken. I might see about switching the 12mm thick fan on the shuriken to a 25mm thick since there is space. I think I should be able to improve it a bit and keep it quieter.

Thanks for the note on the gfx memory, I'll check that out.
 
quietsy said:
What are the temperatures you're getting on idle/load?

I have an almost exact build except for silverstone sg05 for a case, you can improve the score of your graphics from 5.8 to 6.7 by increasing the gpu's memory from 256mb to 512mb in the bios.
Click to expand...

haha, I only got 6.6, maybe my memory is slower I'm using 1866mhz.
 
I have kingston hyper-x 2x4GB 1600mhz so yours is obviously much better.
And my memory's score is 7.5 where yours got 7.3 so something is not right.
The default configuration of the memory speed is to run at 1333, did you change it in the bios to 1866?

If you'll buy the 25mm fan and make a hole in the case it will be a big improvement to the airflow, all you will need to add is an anti-dust filter, just consider that it will increase the noise of the fan.

Thanks for sharing!
 
The isk-3xx series with the 150w power supply are very quiet with 2 fans, one pulling air from the cpu area and one pulling through the psu.

At my company we've built about half a dozen demo machines from these cases with 1156 socket i7 870s and a passively cooled radeon 5450. They tend to get quite warm under load in this configuration (6 core prime95 for constant ~75% load), we see some throttling of the cpu at times due to temperature but this is with the stock intel cooler.

My main concern has been pushing the PSU too much but they have all been fine over the course of about a year so far.
 
prometheum said:
how loud is the stock fan on that case?
Click to expand...

The stock fan has three manual settings, L-M-H, low is very quiet, medium is decent and high is very loud.

I have replaced the fan with a PWM Nexus fan as I like it to be controlled automatically under load.

The PSU fan is quiet but mine make a bit of a little annoying clicky noise.
 
Thanks s0rce! I was inspired by this build. I'm a newbie to HTPC's. I wanted a budget rig that is small and capable of playing HD media and do light tasks.

Here's what I got today:

MB: ASRock A75M-ITX
APU: AMD A8-3850
HSF: Scythe Big Shuriken
RAM: 4GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile Blue CML4GX3M2A1600C9B
HDD: 500GB WD Blue SATA3
Case: Lian Li PC-Q11
PSU: Gigabyte 400W
KB: Logitech K400
Ext HDD: 1TB Samsung S2 Portable USB3

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60732709@N06/

Total cost was $735 (Parts are pricey here in the Philippines). Everything went together perfectly. I wanted to ask some advice on how to set it up. Would you mind sharing settings like BIOS, OS, Media Players, Codecs, etc? :)

Marteen
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top