Diogenes - AKA Rii's m-ITX Build.

[Retardobot]

Dis ^

Everything is going to be hidden

[Retardobot]

D-DAY!

Just emailing CL before I make the order. Trying to find out if they've had any customers who've ordered one of their stocked slim slot loading drives and put it in an Ncase. A bit worried that whatever one I get wont line up with the eject slot on the chassis itself.

Will be ordering the Mushkin Blackline stuff as well, thanks again ML

[Retardobot]

Stinkfist.

CL wont be getting the ASUS card due to no interest from the market for blower fans.

[Mayhem_Lee]

Stinkfist.

CL wont be getting the ASUS card due to no interest from the market for blower fans.

Ahh the peasants of the world with XL/ATX sized cases ruining it for those with M-itx builds. Any others using non blower cards in the n-case?

Also you may still be able to find reference 980's or 970's from MightyApe.... not sure if I would go down that route (some comments on the listed cards having incorrect specs for cards received)

[Xsannz]

ass, i got the same response about that card from them,,as i wanted 2 for a small sli build i was doing.

danm you think us wanting 3 between us might have been enough

[Retardobot]

Ordered stuff yesterday, order still sitting at pending, emailed CL asking if there was anything wrong. Turns out RAM isn't available and they just forgot to let me know. CL have offered to bump me up to the Kingston HyperX 16gb kit for no extra charge, which is awesome except the Kingston have huge heat spreaders which could cause me grief with the minimum room i have in the Ncase. Have asked if they can swap them for the Corsair Vengeance kit instead, with the low profile heat spreaders.

<3 CL.

[Retardobot]

CL have gotten back to me, Corsairs aren't in stock either.

Should I wait for these to come in - http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=21849
Or get these now - http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=19196

The Kingston's shouldn't be too much of a hindrance with their large heat spreaders, I don't have a giant CPU block sitting next to them.

[Xsannz]

get the kingstons

[Retardobot]

Grabbed the Kingstons - all they appeared to have available.

[Xenolightning]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not kingston ;-)

Good shit, so close to having it running

[Retardobot]

The beast will live.

CL just shipped my stuff on Saturday delivery.

[Retardobot]

Zzzzzzzz

Stuff arrived, but neither Ncase ot LG have provided tiny screws to fasten in the slot loading DVD drive. So I need to source some along with a power converter for the drive.

[Xsannz]

Zzzzzzzz

Stuff arrived, but neither Ncase ot LG have provided tiny screws to fasten in the slot loading DVD drive. So I need to source some along with a power converter for the drive.

blacks fastners best bet for tiny screws

[Retardobot]

Found some screws. Just need a power connector for the slim DVD drive. Also need fan power converters for the PSU.

[Retardobot]

Cable tying went a lot better than expected. Managed to re-adjust the AIO so the tubing isn't such a massive turd. Everything is whisper quiet, however this is with the pump on default speed along with the fans on normal (700 - 900RPMs). CPU is idling at 25.C @4GHz (default is 3.5GHz, but it looks like by default, the motherboard does a soft clock up to 4GHz, which is cool).

Haven't managed to install an OS yet as I've been having a poke around in the BIOS. BIOS UI's now are so freakin' cool. Mouse accessible and smooth as butter. Ordered a power cable for the slim DVD drive and need to reach into storage to grab my Win 7 install discs. You'll see on the DVD drive that I have a bit of cardboard packing out the space between the bracket and the drive. The screw holes on that side didn't line up with the drive and the bracket, but they did on the opposite side. Cardboard is lined with double sided tape to keep the drive from vibrating too much when its spinning up a disc. DIY FTW.

NO GPU yet. I'm contemplating buying a sleeved set of power cables so I have more plyability over my cables (the clearance between the modular cable connections on the PSU and where the GPU PCB will sit worries me a bit).

It also turns out I didn't need any power converters for the fans, there's a female splitter on the AIO that takes 2 fans while a plug on the AIO water block takes up a fan header.

Very excite.

[Retardobot]

Windows is on.

Pretty impressed with the onboard Intel 4600 HD GPU. Am able to run WiDi (wireless display) to my Sony Bravia.

Quick as lightning, 7 second boot from a cold start on the Samsung 850 Evo SSD. CPU idles at 23.C on the silent fan/pump profile.

Looking at grabbing this - http://www.msi.com/product/vga/GTX-970-GAMING-4G.html#hero-overview as it's the next best thing to not being able to get a blower style card. You're able to control the fan speed of each individual fan which is awesome, considering the card will have a 120MM Corsair blowing on it as well. Hopefully Computer Lounge can get one in.

[Mayhem_Lee]

Windows is on.

Pretty impressed with the onboard Intel 4600 HD GPU. Am able to run WiDi (wireless display) to my Sony Bravia.

Quick as lightning, 7 second boot from a cold start on the Samsung 850 Evo SSD. CPU idles at 23.C on the silent fan/pump profile.

Looking at grabbing this - http://www.msi.com/product/vga/GTX-970-GAMING-4G.html#hero-overview as it's the next best thing to not being able to get a blower style card. You're able to control the fan speed of each individual fan which is awesome, considering the card will have a 120MM Corsair blowing on it as well. Hopefully Computer Lounge can get one in.

The problem with using a non blower style card in these type of builds (mini-tx) is all the gpu heat dump inside the case. You would want bottom fan intake and the 2 x side panels fans (including cpu cooler) exhausting. Give it a shot the 9 series nvidia cards are super cool regardless so you should be ok.......... My recommendation is still blower style gpu but do some research Other people would be in the same boat as you.

[Retardobot]

I have 0 option for a blower style.

No one is stocking any and I'm not going to fall into the trap of ordering from a US/AUS supplier. I've had more GPU's fail on me than any other component, so doing an RMA Amazon would be a nightmare.

[Xsannz]

What about

http://dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?304584

[Retardobot]

I've never heard of Galax and DragonPC had a pretty horrific name for themselves a little while ago.

[Lias]

Galaxy branded cards have been around forever. It's a sub brand of Palit, which is a huge manufacturer, easily one of if not the biggest GPU manufacturers in existence. Gainward, XpertVision and Galaxy are all sub brands. Pretty much on par with Sapphire, relatively generic OEM/ODM cards for the most part.

[Lias]

Also, card he linked on Pricespy, if you don't like DragonPC.

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2810711

[Retardobot]

Galaxy branded cards have been around forever. It's a sub brand of Palit, which is a huge manufacturer, easily one of if not the biggest GPU manufacturers in existence. Gainward, XpertVision and Galaxy are all sub brands. Pretty much on par with Sapphire, relatively generic OEM/ODM cards for the most part.

I know who Galaxy are. You're right, they've been around for ever. Box-art says Galax.

Which after me just Googling for 30 seconds, turns out are Galaxy - http://www.galaxytechus.com/__US__/Home6

Weird and fucking confusing. Thanks Lias, will check out the other suppliers.

EDIT: It's base clock is roughly 100 - 200Mhz lower than most other 970's. On the upside, Might Ape stock it and offer price matches, and it's a $100 cheaper than most other 970's.

2nd EDIT: The core clock speed that Mighty Ape lists on the card specs are higher than what the Galaxy website lists. Make things more confusing, Galaxy list 2 identical looking 970's with blower coolers. Sigh....

3rd EDIT: Ugh, Mighty Ape are listing the specs from the Galax 970 EXOC Black Edition, a different, higher specc'd card.

[Xsannz]

i had Palit gtx580s and they performed fantastically and they were first on market as 3gb editions...  never had an issue with galaxy or palit cards ever.

and 100mhz is not even considered an oc you could use afterburner to bump that small amount and not even notice.


Dragon souce from DOVE.

Dove are the wholesalers , but you need a wholesae accoutn to buy.

I'll check mine nope dealer account expired

[Retardobot]

I'd much rather purchase through Mighty Ape and pay for a little more if they don't price match, they're always great to deal with (from what I've found).

However, this Galax model doesn't have a backplate. Might do some research, post on some OC forums to see what people are using. I might have to loosen my stance on ordering from Amazon. Anyone know if Amazon honour warranties when selling outside of the US on PC parts?