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Preview: Cool Master Elite 120 Advanced ITX Case

When the temptation strikes me to build a new ITX rig, the first thing I look for is a case to house it. There’s new mini-ITX hardware dropping regularly these days and it’s fast becoming a viable format for many PC gamers. Sadly, finding a quality case with the features most gamers want is still a tall order. Aside from the staple PC-Q series from Lian-Li and the SG series from SilverStone, finding something different to handle a high-end ITX build with double-wide GPU’s is a challenge. Whilst perusing various sites reading up on forthcoming Trinity APU’s, I came across …

SFFReview Archives

So, you want to build a scratch mod? Part 2

When I last left off, I had just finished covering a little bit of the case’s interior layout. As I stated last time, I like to work from the inside out. I was pretty happy with the placement of the parts in the concept. There was minimal wasted space, and I felt I had a design that could be easily maintained. I tend to go pretty complex given the chance, but I did have a slightly different goal here. I kept reminding myself to keep it as simple as possible. It was finally time to plan the exterior of the …

SFFReview Archives

Intel 1155 Stock Cooler Comparison

Sometimes the most appropriate cooler solution for a SFF rig is in fact the stock cooler. With this in mind, we set out to see which stock cooler for Intel’s socket 1155 was the better option, and by how much. Specifically designed by the CPU manufacturer for your CPU, the stock coolers are commonly derived for their poor performance and awful noise output. In some situations, such as HTPC and home servers, the CPU load is usually low enough to enable any cooler to run at low speed. Other situations, like my LAN rig, flakb0x, involve a low wattage (< …

SFFReview Archives

Asrock H61M-ITX Motherboard Review

ASRock, originally a spin off of ASUS, has been making inroads into the mainstream market since it’s inception in 2002. While originally viewed as the budget ASUS arm, the quality and innovativeness of ASRock products has only become better over the years. Today we will look at the ASRock H61M-ITX motherboard. While the product has been on the market for a while, it still features as a budget M-ITX board with a lot of potential. In fact, this is why I chose it for my flakb0x build! Built around Intel’s H61 chipset, the H61M-ITX has a lot of expansion and …

SFFReview Archives

PCS4VETS – Alfred Shuryan’s Purple Heart “Merit” Build

Alfred A Shuryan, although being a newer member of our community, has been hard at work (an understatement!) getting the parts together and beginning the work on the Purple Heart “Merit” casemod. Raising awareness of a cause so close to the hearts of many is an admirable task. Many LOSIAS members are vets themselves, and/or have family members or close friends who have served. Please support Alfred in his work – comment on his build, the cause. Even if you cannot donate, it is the attention and awareness that is the driving factor behind this build, so share the forum …

SFFReview Archives

So you want to build a scratch mod – Part 1

So, you want to build a scratch mod? It’s something a lot of enthusiasts have thought about tackling over time. You reach a certain point and you’re no longer satisfied with simply modding existing cases. You want to get a little more creative, and as a result, a little more personal. The modding community is always growing, and as you see rigs that inspire you, the desire to create something truly unique becomes insatiable. Desire is a great thing, but it’s only part of the equation. You need to have a plan and the commitment to see the project through. …

SFFReview Archives

Single Slot Graphics Cards – Space Saving, But Rare

In the world of enthusiast computing, we’ve come to a crossroads. Crossfire and SLI performance is such that it’s not quite worth it (yet) to run dual graphic cards, over a big single. The sacrifice many of make now is losing a slot to a dual (or even partially triple) slot graphics card. While many boards have saved costs/PCI express lanes by not putting a slot where it will be blocked by a dual slot card, there are many boards in the SFF world that lose a useful slot. In the case of M-DTX, we lose the only other slot …

SFFReview Archives

Why Use a standard motherboard in you mods

I’ve been a case modder for over a decade now, and whilst I am relatively unknown, some of my designs are not. I have made many entries into design contests around the world. Having been involved with the casemodding world for so long, I’ve seen the community begin to stagnate. Everyone wants a feature on MPDC, CaseModBlog, Bit-Tech, etc etc. So the recipe for the old classic mods has now become the norm. Fine, I say, this is the way tech moves along. Yesterday’s supercomputer performance is today’s desktop performance, then tommorow’s smartphone performance. Same goes with most, if …