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i5-2500K-based PC, m350 Universal Case! It works!

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RyoriNoTetsujin:
I’ve been meaning to do this for some time now, and finally put the parts together. Based on the separate reviews I’ve been reading, I had a good feeling that these parts would work well together, and so far I have not been disappointed. Good news for folks who want a full-power bartop or have a specialty design, I think…

Old bits
CPU: i5-2500K (stock 3.3ghz)
Mobo: ASRock H67M-ITX
RAM: 4GB G-Skill Ripjaws
Samsung 64GB SSD
Samsung 2TB “Green” 3.5” HDD
Win 7 x64 Home Edition

New bits
M350 Universal Enclosure
PicoPSU 150w

Noctua NH-L9i Heatsink

eSATA enclosure (for 2TB HDD)

Power
Idle: ~25w
Load: ~115w
** Measured at wall with a Kill-a-Watt meter. This does not include 2TB drive (now powered separately.)

Temps
Idle: Currently 40°C in a relatively warm 25.5° room.
Load: Maxed out at 76°C (room temp was ~23°C at the time.)
** Load test was simultaneous windowed running of mame64 (NFL Blitz) and PCSX2 (Soul Calibur 2) for 100% CPU usage, for 10 minutes.
SSD: Idle ~38°C, got up to ~45°C during load test.

Pros
* Tiny. I could throw this in my backpack and not think twice about carrying it around.
* System is much more modular now. (Some folks will care less about this, but I like it.)
* Noctua fan is very quiet, especially @ 7v or less (~1500rpms.)  Any ambient noise, especially gaming, is going to drown this out.
* picoPSU provides plenty of completely silent power. No buzzing at all from either the unit or the power brick.
* 2 USB ports hidden behind front fascia are PERFECT for wireless keyboard/wifi/bluetooth dongles.
* m350 case is built solid. Some times too much so. (See cautions.)

Cons
* Very tight inside the case: The SSD is touching the heatsink fan. Thankfully, it’s not exerting any pressure on the fan, or blocking airflow, but it is definitely touching. This may make some folks nervous. 
* On a related note: temps with the case lid off were, on average, 5-to-10°C cooler.
* Routing cables was a genuine pain in the ass.  I had to build an extension just to get the power switch to the mobo header on the opposite side of the board. However, you should only have to do this once.
* Power brick is large, gets warm.
   
Cautions
* You do lose the PCI-e slot, at least for a discreet GPU. (Not because of the heatsink, for a change! The heatsink clears everything brilliantly.) 
* Be prepared to make tiny modifications to the case to get everything working right. Not only did I have to make a wire extension, but the two holes that hold the PSU plug in place were too small for the provided screws. I had to open them up a tiny bit with a drill/driver.

Of course, I'm thinking with an Ivy Bridge processor (like a 3770T, despite it's massive expense) you could get even more power and even better temps. As it is, this system is definitely able to run the "benchmark" titles that are playable in Mame. 

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.  :cheers:

RyoriNoTetsujin:
one of these days I'll learn to write long posts in Word first... ugh. Took me 3 tries to get the above posted.  :banghead:

PL1:

--- Quote from: RyoriNoTetsujin on December 18, 2012, 09:05:38 pm ---one of these days I'll learn to write long posts in Word first... ugh. Took me 3 tries to get the above posted.  :banghead:

--- End quote ---

Just hit "preview" every 5-10 minutes and it won't time out on you.   :cheers:


Scott

RyoriNoTetsujin:

--- Quote from: PL1 on December 18, 2012, 10:31:02 pm ---Just hit "preview" every 5-10 minutes and it won't time out on you.   :cheers:

--- End quote ---

Wasn't that. I kept accidentally hitting Alt-Left Arrow on the wrong tab and losing what I'd written.

Not to mention I posted this in the wrong section. I thought I was posting in Main. Already asked a mod to move it... maybe this should go to Reviews, now that I think about it...  :banghead:

It's going to be one of those days.

Jumpman64:
Thanks for the info... what is the ballpark cost on this setup?

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