mITC build (H61/i3-2120T based)

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

Oops, title should say mITX, not mITC...

I was asked to build a small, fast, quiet, energy efficient office computer so...

Parts that have arrived:
- Antec ISK110 VESA: http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product3.php?id=NzA0NTE1
- Asus P8H61-I: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61I/
- Intel i3-2120T:http://ark.intel.com/products/53427/Intel-Core-i3-2120T-Processor-(3M-Cache-2_60-GHz)
- Scythe Kozuti: http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/117/ScytheUSA-Productkozuticpucooler.html
- Intel 180GB 520 SSD: http://ark.intel.com/products/66249/Intel-SSD-520-Series-(180GB-2_5in-SATA-6Gbs-25nm-MLC)
- G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3-1333 CL7 1.35V: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=321

Parts backordered or shipping:

Parts to source:
- 32" Screen (TV)

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

Antek ISK110 VESA:

Thoughts:
- Not super high end case, but well built.
- Some of the plastic pieces could fit together a bit better.
- No sharp edges.
- Solid when assembled.
- Power cable could have been a tiny bit longer for my motherboard.

Build notes:
- I ended up removing the front panel in order to get the motherboard in.

Comes in a cute little box:

Everything is well packed:

Contains the case, desk stand, VESA mount bracket, screws, power cable, power supply, manual, and insulating tape for hard drive(s):

The power supply is 100~240V (50/60hz) input, 19V 4.74A (90W) output:

The case is well ventilated. Four USB 2.0 and audio on the front:

The inside of the case is pretty straight-forward. The power circuitry is at the top:

Closeup of the power circuitry. The custom power cable plugs into the plug and gives you your 24 pin MB power, 4 pin CPU power, 1 molex power, and two SATA power plugs:

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

Asus P8H61-I:

This is an H61 based board:
- No SATA3 ports
- H61 does support AHCI, contrary to what a lot of people say.

Thoughts:
- CPU socket could be a little farther from the edge for tight builds.

Comes with the board, backplate, 2 SATA cables, manual, and driver disc:

Fairly standard mITX board layout:

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

Intel i3-2120T:

There are no 2120t reviews out there but here is one of the older, slower 2100t: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-2100t.html

Standard s1155 CPU packaging:

CPU:

The size of the heatsink hints at the power requirements of this CPU:

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

Scythe Kozuti:

Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/scythe-kozuti

Thoughts:
- The SilentPC review mentioned loose fan clips but mine are really snug.
- Yes, the fan blows down.

Standard packaging:

Interesting design with the fan under the fins:

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

Intel 180GB 520 SSD:

Review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5508/intel-ssd-520-review-cherryville-brings-reliability-to-sandforce

Standard OEM packaging:

With the OEM drive you get a sticker, but that's it:

JCLW · Mar 6, 2012

G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3-1333 CL7 1.35V:

Standard memory blister pack:

pwnmachine · Mar 6, 2012

Very nice, I love the look of that case. I can't wait to see some thermal testing on that thing, it looks like a case I would definitely consider using for similar purposes.

unijabnx2000 · Mar 6, 2012

looking forward to more pictures...

JCLW · Mar 7, 2012

Assembly:

In goes the motherboard. I ended up removing the front panel in order to squeeze the board in:

This tray on the bottom holds the drive(s) (up to two 2.5" drives). It can be mounted in either the N/S or E/W orientation. With it removed you get full access to the back of the board to mount the heatsink:

There is a fair bit of room around the edges of the case to run wires. It would be nice if the power cable was about 1cm longer to use with the P8H61-I, but it does fit:

The Scythe Kozuti heatsink fits perfectly. It is just the right height, and the right width to fit in this case:

This is before the G.Skill memory arrived, with Corsair Vengence Low Profile memory to see how it fit. The Scythe Kozuti can only be mounted in the direction it is oriented if you want to install two sticks of memory. There is about 1mm of clearance:

I might change the SSD mounting bracket the other way and move the SSD away from the CPU socket (a 12" SATA cable would be nice):

JCLW · Mar 7, 2012

General thoughts:
- I have undervolted it by 65 millivolts. I have not tried going farther.
- Everything else is stock
- It is fast and responsive. Very much so.
- Have installed Win7pro, Office 2007, Acrobat 9 pro, Act, and Quickbooks.
- It is very quiet. Completely inaudible in a quiet office except when the fan ramps up under heavy load (ie: Futuremark) and even then you can barely hear it.
- There is a very good chance you could run a similar setup passively.
- Since a lot of the case is mesh a mechanical hard drive might be noisy.
- So much of the case is mesh that temps don't really differ with the cover on or off.

Basic info:

PCMark Vantage. HWmonitor seems to read the voltages incorrectly, although everything else seems OK. The max/min values in HWmonitor show the min idling and the max while running PCMark:

JCLW · Mar 7, 2012

Anyone have any thoughts on a decent 32" TV that makes a good monitor?

Preferably looking for something 1080p, LED, IPS.

Considering the Panasonic TC-L32E3 (https://panasonic.ca/english/audiovideo/lcd/tcl32_37_42e3.asp) but it is hard to find in Canada...

JCLW · Mar 8, 2012

Power consumption measured at the wall using Kill-a-Watt type device:

(CPU undervolted by 65mv, everything else stock)

Power brick pluged in alone (not attached to computer): 6W
Power brick pluged in (computer off): 7W
Idle power: 18W
Max power running PCMark Vantage: 54W

unijabnx2000 · Mar 8, 2012

What did this miniPC set you back?

JCLW · Mar 8, 2012

$143.92 - Box Core I3 2120T 2.60GHZ 2C 4T 3M S1155 HT LP
$83.92 - ASUS P8H61-I Rev 3.0 MINI-ITX H61 LGA1155 DDR3 PCI-E16 SATA2 USB3.0 HDMI DVI VGA Audio Motherboard
$58.05 - G.SKILL F3-10666CL7D-8GBECO Eco PC3-10666 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL7-7-7-21 1.35V Memory Kit
$367.98 - Intel 520 Series 180GB 2.5IN SSD MLC 25nm SATA3 Solid State Disk Flash Drive OEM
$82.13 - ISK110-VESA DESKTOP CASE MINI
$34.99 - Scythe Kozuti Low Profile CPU Cooler LGA1155 1156 1366 775 AM2 AM2+ AM3 W/ 80MM Fan
$19.99 - Arctic Silver 5 HIGH-DENSITY Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound 12 Gram
$12.24 - Shipping & Handling
$0.05 - Electronics Recycling Fee
--------
CAD$803.27 - SUBTOTAL
$104.43 - HST(13%)
--------
CAD$907.70 - TOTAL

The SSD is as much as everything else combined.

pwnmachine · Mar 9, 2012

Wow, that is pretty impressive!

Have you tried running intel burn test? That is definitely my favorite test for thermal control.

JCLW · Mar 10, 2012

raident30 · Mar 10, 2012

awesome build. very cool and very quite and i really like the looks of the case!

pwnmachine · Mar 10, 2012

Very nice, I am definitely going to be looking into that case for my next SFF build.

Ender17 · May 29, 2012

very nice build, curious why you didn't just use the stock Intel heatsink

mITC build (H61/i3-2120T based)

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