Shrinking & Beautifying Your Smallish mITX DIY Rig?

[t258jgn]

Clues already given out here leh...

Anyway, I usually only post my projects after they are completed. The above is the actual completed test rig lor.

Need to see the internal of the case with the motherboard inside

 

[MacClipper]

The Case Itself
Ah, it flips open on a front hinge... ooh, that Silverstone sheen!

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[eyz]

my bad. you had a lot of pictures, and i was happily scrolling through it without paying much attention to it.

everyone love pictures!

the pt13 casing is a good consideration for a htpc. i am contemplating a in-win BQ600 series 3.3L for my upcoming htpc, which i will double up as a desktop unit.

Precisely why I had indicated all these points earlier if you care to look back...



Every Thin mITX mobo actually look very alike with a quick glance cos Intel has dictated a strict format to them. And you have found out why they are called Thin too, the I/O plate is half height...

 

[MacClipper]

The Other White Box
contains the 19V FSP power brick, this external AC-DC adapter is a non-bundled necessary component

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[MacClipper]

The Silverstone AR04 Ultra Slim HSF
incredibly slim stuff with 2 direct contact heatpipes... probably at around half the height of the stock Intel HSF

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[MacClipper]

The Asrock H81TM-ITX Motherboard
Note the extra T (as in Thin, 19V DC model) in the model name, the other H81M-ITX without the T is a normal (Fat?) mITX model


Official Specs
ASRock > H81TM-ITX

Note the lack of the main 20/24 pin power connector, the 19V DC in plug location is circled in Red in the next photo

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[MacClipper]

Installation
Adding in the Kingston SODIMMs, Pentium G3258, AR04 HSF and also checking for heatsink clearance around caps, chokes and RAM... looks really just right and tight.

And inside it goes...

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[Smartypants]

Installation
Adding in the Kingston SODIMMs, Pentium G3258, AR04 HSF and also checking for heatsink clearance around caps, chokes and RAM... looks really just right and tight.

And inside it goes...

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Hmm, won't low profile desktop ram be about the same height as the CPU heat sink ? The SODIMM slots are kinda pointless

 

[magnitude]

For this type not possible to add graphic card right?

 

[MacClipper]

Hmm, won't low profile desktop ram be about the same height as the CPU heat sink ? The SODIMM slots are kinda pointless

It is called the Intel Thin mITX format standard which specifies the use of SODIMMs only.

Eg. if Intel's standard calls for 4 anchoring holes for LGA1150 HSF then the manufacturer will jolly well design mobos with 4 holes instead of 3. Someone like you might also come along and say why use 4 when 3 would do...

Just follow law.

For this type not possible to add graphic card right?

Aim of graphic card?

Just remember this platform is not meant for your 3D fps gaming.

 

[t258jgn]

Hmm, won't low profile desktop ram be about the same height as the CPU heat sink ? The SODIMM slots are kinda pointless

Not all countries got sell low profile rams.

Some Thin-ITX cases even thinner than this Silverstone case & using custom passive heatsink.

For this type not possible to add graphic card right?

The whole system = size of mooncake box.
No space to add a graphics card

 

[MacClipper]

...
Some Thin-ITX cases even thinner than this Silverstone case & using custom passive heatsink.

Guess these must be of the lower TDP rating variety like 35-55W?

 

[t258jgn]

Guess these must be of the lower TDP rating variety like 35-55W?

Yup. upto 65W

Can you measure the length of the 1 to 1 SATA Power Cable included in the motherboard?

Planning to do some custom cables.

You can also state what is the ideal length for SATA Data Cable & SATA Power Cable to use with this case.

Thanks

 

[MacClipper]

Planning to do some custom cables.

I simply made do with the cables which came with the Asrock H81TM mobo, think they fitted OK enough.

 

[MacClipper]

Finishing Up
adding the SSD with screws all the way... then the cabling

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[MacClipper]

Running In The Dark
For those comtemplating using this as a HTPC and concerned with the brightness of the stock LEDs (Pwr - White, HDD - Red). This night shot is an attempt to illustrate just that, greens are from my DeathAdder mouse LEDs.

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[MacClipper]

Testing, Testing
It's looking all good this far...


Idle

Load
HyperPi 32M

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[MacClipper]

Final Product

Using the bundled stand

All in, this is simply super small, so beautiful and whisper quiet too!