Scythe Ninja 2 vs Megahalems facing wrong way for i7 920 ?

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Edwood
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Scythe Ninja 2 vs Megahalems facing wrong way for i7 920 ?

Post by Edwood » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:56 pm

I attempting a Micro ATX cram of insanity.

Here's the specs:

--CASE
RaidMax IceCube ATX-051B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811156200

--MOBO
ASUS Rampage II GENE LGA 1366 Intel X58 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131371

--CPU
Intel Core i7 920

--PSU
Seasonic X650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... nic%20X650

--FANS
Scythe S-Flex SFF21D 120mm (Will suck or blow with or without a duct, if needed)


Problem is that I can definitely tell that the Megahalems won't fit with it facing the Rear 120mm Fan. Looks like there is about 123mm of maximum space between the Side of the PSU and inner wall of the Case.

It might be possible to turn the Megahalems sideways (if there is enough clearance over the caps near the socket on the mobo). Would not be ideal since the fan will be blowing from the more narrow side rather than straight on. The heat pipes might block too much airflow.

I could also possibly attach a 120mm fan to the side of the Megahalems too if cooling was an issue. Likely would have to cut a fan hole in the side of the case, or creative ducting. Which I'd be willing to do.

So would a Megahalems improperly cooled work better than a Ninja 2, given that the Megahalems has so much more surface area and mass for cooling?

-Ed

Edwood
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Post by Edwood » Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:25 pm

Another option would be the Thermalright HR-1 Plus with 1366 Bolt Thru kit.

It's listed as 110mm wide, but could be turned the other way too.

Given that the Ninja 2 is so hard to find, The HR-1 Plus might be a better option.

ces
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Post by ces » Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:36 pm

If I understand you. You have room for a tower cooler, but only if you install it sideways.

If you are going to be running air through the heatsink sideways, the HR-01 plus is the only way to go. It has loose widely spaced fins... and its a good cooler as well.

Its probably the b est bet for a heat sink that will make the most use out of a sideways current of air.

Edwood
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Post by Edwood » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:24 am

Yeah, from the review here, it seems that the HR-01 Plus is about the same performance as the Megahalems with low airflow. Which is what this set up is going to be.

Edwood
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Post by Edwood » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:39 am

Well, looks like even the HR-01 is going to have to go sideways too.

Here's a pic of someone's Asus Rampage II GENE with an HR-01 on it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/ ... eoCard.jpg

ntavlas
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Post by ntavlas » Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:58 am

How about using a different case? I would look at the antec 3480 as long as it can fit your graphics card. I would also consider using an i7 860 instead as the lga 1156 platform is more efficient overall. My 2 cents..

Edwood
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Post by Edwood » Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:10 am

I'm building this one to be a Photoshop workstation. I need as much RAM as I can afford, and 12GB of RAM is it. So 1156 is out of the equation since 4x4GB RAM is much more expensive. The money I saved on the RAM went into an X25-M SSD for the OS. :)

I also want this workstation to be transportable, and I really like the size, weight, and form factor of the "cube" micro ATX cases.

It would certainly easier to build it in a bigger case, but what's the fun in that? ;)

ntavlas
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Post by ntavlas » Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:17 am

Fair enough, though I think that the antec is smaller in terms of volume. On the other hand the raidmax should be a fair be lighter.

Now, cutting a hole on the side of the case would be the best solution in terms of thermal performance. If you`d rather not an hr 01 or noctua should do the job along with some ducting and an additional fan pushing towards the exhaust. If the hr 01 won`t fit neither will the ninja. In fact it won`t fit at all since it`s symmetrical.

edit: I was wrong! At 2030 cubic inches the raidmax has 2/3rds of the antec`s volume.

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:48 am

Look at the Lian Li A05. That will take pretty much anything, even an Orochi cooler. It is very light. and fairly compact. W 8.27; H 15.00; D 19.29;

the Apevia X-QPACK II with a little dremel work will fit an HR-01 sideways. W 11.25; H 9.00; D 14.50; And if you reverse the exhaust case fan you can direct a lot of cold external air at the HR-01.

Bgears BG01206 is a different version of the Apevia but same size and construction.

All three of the above are aluminum cases and reasonably priced... all under $100 each. The Apevia even comes with a PSU, though nothing as good as the seasonic.

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:51 am

The HR-01 Plus has an accessory, a flexible duct (use the short red one).

on the RaidMax IceCube ATX-051B, cut a blowhole in the side. Cover it with a 120mm black FilterRight filter.

Attach a 120mm fan to the side. Use the red Thermalright duct to connect the fan to the HR-01. The duct is designed specifically for this purpose and clips right on to the HR-01. Use this side fan to bring in cold external air directly to the HR-01. Leave the exhaust fan as is.

There you go.

While you are cutting blow holes, cut three 80mm ones in the front over the hard drives. Cover them up with 80mm FilterRight filters.

What more could you ask for? It should handle as much thermal load as you can throw at it.

Edwood
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Post by Edwood » Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:10 am

ces wrote:Look at the Lian Li A05. That will take pretty much anything, even an Orochi cooler. It is very light. and fairly compact. W 8.27; H 15.00; D 19.29;

the Apevia X-QPACK II with a little dremel work will fit an HR-01 sideways. W 11.25; H 9.00; D 14.50; And if you reverse the exhaust case fan you can direct a lot of cold external air at the HR-01.

Bgears BG01206 is a different version of the Apevia but same size and construction.

All three of the above are aluminum cases and reasonably priced... all under $100 each. The Apevia even comes with a PSU, though nothing as good as the seasonic.
Man, that Lian Li A05 would've been perfect if it were Micro ATX and shorter, even with a few less drive bays.

I have an Apevia X Q-Pack, which is why I went with that RaidMax. The Raid Max is a little longer, so it give more breathing room. Has more drive bays, and doesn't block vertical areas above the CPU area and Video Card area. While it's possible to simply mod the CPU area, the Video Card area is another story.

Yeah, I hear you on the filters. I ordered a bunch of Magnetic nylon mesh filters. :)

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:49 am

The Magnetic nylon mesh filters have their uses.

But for this application the FilterRight are what is appropriate. Go take a look at them online and you will see what I mean. They will look good and appear to be part of the case. Maybe you have to buy one to see what I mean. The black plastic frame looks very professional and clean against a black panel... like it came from the factory that way.

The mesh on the Magnetic nylon filters and the FilterRight filters is about the same granularity. They are also about the same price.

CES

PS: How were you going to use the magnetic filters on an aluminum case?

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:09 am

1. If you are willing to downsize the CPU, and live with 8G of memory. There are some nice Mini-ITX cases coming out that you can use. They are specially designed for large video cards.

ZOTAC has a nice 1156 Mini-ITX (but it is intentionally set up to prevent overclocking)

Lian Li PC-Q08 W 8.94; H 10.70; D 13.58 (this has exceedingly good airflow, room for 6 HD and improved clearance for a good top down cpu cooler.

New Sugo SG07 W 8.74; H 7.48; D 13.78; It also have impressive cooling and room for a good top down cpu cooler, but again not enough room for a tower cooler.

2. The Coolermaster Geminii Plus is a very low top pdown cooler. It has brackets that can be used to replace its 120mm fan with two 92mm fans. That bracket can be modified with a few holes to permit you to mount the new 180mm Silverstone fan. This fan has an optional filter designed just for it. It appears designed to be reasonably slow and quiet. You can use the Anoxia PWM controller to run it off the mother board as if it were a variable speed PWM fan.

Would the Geminii Plus with the 180mm Silverstone fan fit into the RaidMax IceCube ATX-051B? I'm sort of liking that setup myself. Will it fit?

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:18 am

One more option coming out in the nest month is a wide and skinny Prolimatech designed for 140mm fans. Though that doesn't solve your basic problem.

I think the best solution is a sideways HR-01 plus with an HR-01 Thermalright duct (the shorter red one) leading to a side blowhole.

You can first try it sideways to see how it works that way. If any tower cooler can do it, the HR-01 plus, with its widely spaced fins, is the one that can. If the air current can't penetrate its fins, it won't penetrate the tighter fins of the Prolimatech.

And if push comes to shove, the HR-01 ducted to the side blowhole will certainly handle it.

danimal
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Post by danimal » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:32 am

i don't know much about transportable cases, but according to some of those reviews, that raidmax is cheap junk.

surely there must be a better alternative for an i7/920 build.

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:37 pm

The raidmax looks like it is a longer version of the Aprevia, Microfly and bGears cases.... probably all made by the same Chinese supplier. I own a Microfly case.

I read those same comments. They are by people shooting off their mouth.

There is a grain of truth so what they say... but without the restraint of face to face contact they are are going overboard.

The pan on which you install the motherboard is not something you want to abuse. But I have removed and replaced it several times without problem. Most aluminum cases require some delicacy in assembling or disassembling. These cases are no different.

Go check the comments on the Aprevia Qpack cases at newegg. There are many more of them and you will get a more balanced view of the case.

Actually, if you want a large tower cooler and a long graphics card, it is hard to find a substitute for the raidmax.

The closest would be some of the small Antecs and the Lian Li A05. All the others park a PSU right above the CPU preventing the use of a large tower cooler.

housefull
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Post by housefull » Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:01 pm

Nice.... not something I want but cool


Those shrugs are insane!

ces
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Post by ces » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:44 am

Edwood wrote:
Man, that Lian Li A05 would've been perfect if it were Micro ATX and shorter, even with a few less drive bays.
It is Micro ATX.

psyopper
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Post by psyopper » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:12 pm

ces wrote:
Edwood wrote:
Man, that Lian Li A05 would've been perfect if it were Micro ATX and shorter, even with a few less drive bays.
It is Micro ATX.
It's actually an ATX case with the footprint of a mATX case by moving the power supply from the rear of the case to stacked under the 3.5" bays where an intake fan would normally be.

nyu3
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Post by nyu3 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:00 pm

Lian-Li A05's footprint is bigger than most micro-atx mini-towers.

If you want a micro-atx cube case with better cooling, check out http://lan-gear.com/microATX_galery_dabox.php You can even fit a Noctua D14 in there :D

ces
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Post by ces » Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:12 am

nyu3 wrote:If you want a micro-atx cube case with better cooling, check out http://lan-gear.com/microATX_galery_dabox.php You can even fit a Noctua D14 in there :D
Where do you buy it? How much does it cost?

nyu3
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Post by nyu3 » Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:56 am


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