isaak

Hey guys,

As some may know I have been blessed to win one of the prizes - a Zotac Nvidia Ion platform motherboard - in the annual GOTY awards. The problem is, I have no experience with any good cases to put this in. I am not sure of the model number of the board either, so I think I'm looking for a uATX or mATX sized case...I'm not sure which of those 2 are smaller


Also, suggestions for a LGA775 mobo which supports DDR3 would be nice, as I have also recieved 8GB of DDR3 but my current mobo does not support DDR3.

Thanks in advance, and TYVM HH!!!

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

Tipstaff

I'll stick to answering the first part of the question for now.

It's hard to tell by the pic in the prize list, but is that the board that comes with it's own power supply unit? The IONITX-A? What you are looking for is a mini-ITX (mITX) case, preferably one that doesn't have a PSU, however usually they all come with a slim one (either a 120w or 250w PSU similar to the one that comes with that board, or one that has a slim internal PSU). You can get some pretty small cases, but usually the really small ones use the slim optical drives (or rather support it, meaning you still have to buy one which is expensive). Also, they usually have mountings only for 2.5" hard drives. Most guys I know either buy something really ugly, or go with slightly larger towers (mATX).

If you want to stick with mITX cases, yet want to use regular components, one case I use a lot is the IN-WIN IW-BP655. Great thing about this case is that it supports both a full sized optical drive & hard drive, and can be had for around $50. Another option is the the Antec ISK 300. It has a slot for a full sized 3.5" optical drive, but you still need to use a 2.5" hard drive, and it's one of the more expensive of it's kind at around $100.

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isaak

Hmm both of those look really nice. I'll look into availability locally for them. Is there such thing as a slim blu-ray player? I haven't seem to found any on my usual retailer.

I'm looking to use this as a HTPC for our (soon to come) home theatre equipment, so I think right now I am leaning towards the Antec ISK 300

Cheers for the quick reply, +rep

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

simonw

+1 for the Antec ISK-300, that would be the case I would get myself if I had an ION board.

You can get slimline blu-ray drives, but they tend to cost double the price of a standard optical drive. So you if you want to save some cash, you can get ITX cases that accept standard size optical drives, an example is the Apex MI-008.

EDIT: I just noticed that Tipstaff recommended the In-Win case too, but the Apex case is another option for you.

isaak

Ok, I have found a slim blu ray player and the price was relatively what I was expecting. I think I'll leave it at this for the night and I'll check out more cases tomorrow.

Thanks guys

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

Tipstaff

Been working non-stop the last few days, so sorry for not getting back sooner.

Word of warning: take note that SATA/power connector on the slim optical drives are not the same as the ones for other SATA devices, or rather they are "slightly different". The size of the SATA connector is the same, but not the power. It's smaller, and both are much tighter together. As such you will need something like THIS to get it working with that board.

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isaak

Thanks. Surely the slim cables would come with the slim player....

I haven't put any orders yet, as I am still tossing up what I am going to do with it. It's between a fileserver (because 24/7 running it is more efficient than my computer) or a HTPC, but I'm afraid it couldn't take a tv tuner as the picture shown in the prize draws doesn't have any pci-e slots.

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

Tipstaff

99% of the time they don't come with the cable. Remember that the drive is meant to be used in a laptop, or to replace a unit that already has one (such as in Dell's slim desktops which have soldered headers on the board for it).

As for the TV tuner aspect... you could always go with a USB stick, such as Hauppauge's ones. They have a whole line of external USB sticks.

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isaak

True..the USB option would suit well. It won't be anywhere near a TV until we get a replacement for our current ~30" CRT TV though. Looking at a nice 55" Series 9 Samsung

Thanks for the help Tipstaff, I'm gonna go with the Antec ISK 300, I found it for $125 with a 65W adapter, although I THINK the Zotac board comes with a 90W adapter just incase 65W isn't enough...

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

Tipstaff

It's a great case. I like the fact that it comes with a speed switchable fan, an eSATA port on the front, and room for 2 x 2.5" drives while most only come with support for 1.

Of note, inside the case you'll find a power converter board that turns the power coming in (DC) from the external power supply into an ATX header with appropriate connectors (for motherboard, and other devices). You can remove that whole component as the Zotac board has a molex connector and a cable that has 3 SATA power connectors on it, so it can power the whole thing (note: the fan is powered by a pass-through molex connector, so you'll need to plug that into the board first, then the other cable into it). By removing that whole converter system you'll lighten the case up, as well as clean up the inside clutter.

Have fun building the thing, and let us know how it goes!

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simonw

I noticed that on the Antec website, they have a new model, the ISK 310-150. Has a nice silver front bezel and comes with a 150W power adapter, nice for a beefier mITX setup, but overkill for an ION.

isaak

Yeah, I heard that the new model was coming out, although I THINK the mobo I won doesn't have any expansion slots therefore shouldn't need a beefier power supply. Thanks for pointing it out though.

@Tipstaff, not entirely sure what to expect for the power converter, but I'll look into it more when I actually get the mobo and see what I'm dealing with lol

I will be sure to start a new thread and post some pictures

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

SeraphicSorcerer

Not to hijack The thread or anything but I've always been interested in a "shuttle" type Computer that's a full powered computer but in a small space.... I realize the ion isnt built that way but can you recommend good cases for that as well

but Most notable Grats Isaak, and Please post some pics of you building that sucka.

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isaak

I nearly went that direction with my current computer - it was either full out cooling with the HAF932 or low profile with a smaller case something like the FT01. (btw FT02 is out and it looks really promising ). Obviously I chose the HAF932, but have always been curious. Are you talking mATX seraphic or ITX?

btw congrats on the 5870 vapor

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

SeraphicSorcerer

Thank you

I guess I am talking about mATX since you can put full computing power in em right?

I really have not dealt with SFF pcs at all, so this thread has me interested.

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isaak

Very true lol. Well, grab yourself a Rampage II Gene and another VaporX 5870 and thats a pretty strong mATX build if you ask me

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

SeraphicSorcerer

Damn that does indeed look sexay.

so what case would fit that ?

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simonw

SeraphicSorcerer - for a mATX case Shuttle-style, you would probably go for something like the Lian Li PC-V351. This was the case I was looking at for a previous SFF build, but since mITX came onto the scene, I prefer that smaller size.

SeraphicSorcerer

But Mitx doesnt allow full size cards etc therefore no gaming performance, or am I wrong?

Ty for the help

Yay 2k Post!@

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anonemus

@seraphic -- and I just gave you your 120th rep power

SeraphicSorcerer

Why thanks. :0


Ever ealt with small form factor pc cases though?

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anonemus

Same here, totally inexperienced with SFF but with a growing interest to build one!

simonw

Check the DFI MI P55-T36, support for LGA1156 cpus and PCI-E x16 slot. Other boards that come with a PCI-E slot also exist for LGA775 (Zotac 9300 ITX) and AM2+/AM3 (J&W MINIX 785G), so no reason why it is not possible to build a gaming rig using mITX. Just don't expect much overclocking on the cpu.

The limiting factor for the gfx card tends to be the case and psu, since mITX cases are kind of small, and don't have large capacity psus. The most popular gaming mITX case is the Silverstone SG05/06 which can accept 9 inch long dual-slot cards.

SeraphicSorcerer

So basically the huge difference is power feeds for atx/itx?

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isaak

If you're wanting gaming, just go mATX. Upgradeability + reliability + room to work with + no issues.

It is possible to use an ATX psu for ITX boards, except the issue of case space comes into play.

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

isaak

what about this?: SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd - Designing Inspiration


EDIT: wait, I see simonw mentioned the Sugo SG06 earlier. Thats just a link to it^^^^

Its $125 which is quite reasonable from SilverStone I think.

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The first step... shall be to lose the way. - Galway Kinnell

SeraphicSorcerer

That's nice, very nice. It's got class.

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