Gaming in Tight Spaces: Mini-ITX (featuring Gigabyte, Silverstone, and Prolimatech)

[Jolly-Swagman]

Awesome Article MIAHALLEN, very informative and some very impressive results too, thank you!

 

[Aynjell]

This makes me hungry for tiny megahertz!

Shouldn't we be hungry for tiny gigahertz by now? =D

 

[Jmtyra]

mmmMM, I like the idea of two video cards in that small of a form factor. Yus. /cheer

Wish there was an ITX board that would fit 2x larger GPUs like 2x 460/470/480. That'd be awesome.

 

[Aynjell]

mmmMM, I like the idea of two video cards in that small of a form factor. Yus. /cheer

Wish there was an ITX board that would fit 2x larger GPUs like 2x 460/470/480. That'd be awesome.

That will never happen. ITX only supports 1 slot, with the possibility of the cases support an exhaust slot. So realistically micro-atx is your only option. What you're describing in fact is micro-atx.

 

[MIAHALLEN]

That will never happen. ITX only supports 1 slot, with the possibility of the cases support an exhaust slot. So realistically micro-atx is your only option. What you're describing in fact is micro-atx.

Unless of course you got a dual GPU video card and a case that would fit it

 

[Jmtyra]

That will never happen. ITX only supports 1 slot, with the possibility of the cases support an exhaust slot. So realistically micro-atx is your only option. What you're describing in fact is micro-atx.

Well go and burst my bubble.

 

[Aynjell]

Well go and burst my bubble.

Micro ATX is still plenty small. It's a good compromise. I personally wish we'd get a motherboard with a good layout and a case with 5 slots.

slot 1 -> PCI-E Sound card
slot 2 -> gpu 1
slot 3 -> gpu 1 heatsink
slot 4 -> gpu 2
slot 5 -> gpu 2 heatsink

I mean the only real way to make most boards these days work in any way similar is to go water cooled in a micro atx box.

 

[MIAHALLEN]

Getting ready for the next upgrade. Playing around with some modling to verify my measurements. Looks like everything is going to fit perfect

My mini-ITX v2.0 parts list:
case - Silverstone SUGO SG05 (interior will be painted)
PSU - Silverstone 450W SFX (cables will be recut for fit and sleeved)
mobo - Gigabyte H55N-USB3
CPU - Intel i5 750 (aiming for 4.2GHz or more)
CPU cooling - Corsair H70 (with one 120x38mm 118CFM San-Ace)
memory - 2x2GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
graphics card - Gigabyte 5870 SOC (undervolted to 1.1V)
OS storage - 80GB Intel X25M SSD
games/media storage - 500GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive

Just waiting for the last few parts to arrive

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Unless of course you got a dual GPU video card and a case that would fit it

That will never happen. ITX only supports 1 slot, with the possibility of the cases support an exhaust slot. So realistically micro-atx is your only option. What you're describing in fact is micro-atx.

The production run of Lan Gear's Da MOM will be lengthened so it can accomodate a 5970:

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035966554&postcount=486

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Great article and well worth the wait



Me too...

Is there a powerhouse mini ITX club?

Yeah, but the leader of the club is going to stick a mini-ITX board into an Antec mini-P180.

Kirstie Allie is then going to be the spokesperson for Weight Watchers, and then Ron Wood is going to be the spokesperson for Botox injections.

 

[Audioaficionado]

Nice article miahallen

I used to have a love affair with Shuttle's SFF builds. I swung back to HUGE because of all the hard drive arrays I built and the much easier cooling of a CM full tower case.

I've been looking at the Shuttle SX58J3 but I don't know if it could handle a Gulftown and 2 GTX 460 cards though.
13.11" x 8.46" x 8.03"

Silverstone SUGO SG05 is over 2" shorter and 1" flatter and looks great.
10.87" x 8.74" x 6.93"

BTW: i5-750 vs i7-875K unlocked Processor

Would this unlocked processor have the same problems on your Gigabyte board?

 

[MIAHALLEN]

Thanks man

BTW: i5-750 vs i7-875K unlocked Processor

Would this unlocked processor have the same problems on your Gigabyte board?

Which problems?

 

[Audioaficionado]

Thanks man


Which problems?

"the 'unlocked' multiplier didn’t work!" issue you had with the Core i5 655K CPU & Zotac H55ITX

 

[MIAHALLEN]

Oh...NO NO NO....that was a Zotac issue....the Gigabyte board is fantastic. My 655K worked just fine in it

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Very nice renders. What program did you use?

 

[MIAHALLEN]

Back when I was in school in '99 for industrial design I got a student copy of Rhinocerous 3D....it's v1.0 http://www.rhino3d.com/

Still works well, but the rendering engine is single threaded so these renders took like 10 minutes each Still better than the Pentium 166 machines we used at school though

 

[Ronbert]

Read this a while back and never got around to commenting on it. I really like what was shown here I've always wanted a nice little gaming system but small and compact it's awesome to see that it can be made a reality.

 

[MIAHALLEN]

Getting ready for the next upgrade. Playing around with some modling to verify my measurements. Looks like everything is going to fit perfect

My mini-ITX v2.0 parts list:
case - Silverstone SUGO SG05 (interior will be painted)
PSU - Silverstone 450W SFX (cables will be recut for fit and sleeved)
mobo - Gigabyte H55N-USB3
CPU - Intel i5 750 (aiming for 4.2GHz or more)
CPU cooling - Corsair H70 (with one 120x38mm 150CFM Delta)
memory - 2x2GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
graphics card - Gigabyte 5870 SOC (undervolted to 1.1V)
OS storage - 80GB Intel X25M SSD
games/media storage - 500GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive

OK, Almost all the parts have arrived, and I've done the cutting mods on the case today for a test fitting.......EVERYTHING FIT

teaser


I ordered the wrong molex connectors and I'm waiting on the correct ones to arrive....then I'll strip down again and paint, and sleeve, and post my article....so it'll still be a couple more weeks. H70 testing under-way

 

[ITXGamer]

Micro ATX is still plenty small. It's a good compromise. I personally wish we'd get a motherboard with a good layout and a case with 5 slots.

slot 1 -> PCI-E Sound card
slot 2 -> gpu 1
slot 3 -> gpu 1 heatsink
slot 4 -> gpu 2
slot 5 -> gpu 2 heatsink

I mean the only real way to make most boards these days work in any way similar is to go water cooled in a micro atx box.

Micro ATX motherboards are slightly smaller, in one dimension only. Micro-ATX cases however, are often not that much smaller than ATX. They still follow a traditional case design. The real space saving size of a mini-ITX comes with the design of the case like mounting the power supply on its end.

 

[soldierguy]

Great. Can't wait to see you fire it up. Almost there