Alternative Silverstone SG05 Layout?

[Arboreal]

I am toying with redesigning my older ITX setup that's in and SG05.
I've searched, but not found anything particularly useful or conclusive out there on the web, so am asking here.
I am thinking of front mounting an SFX PSU into the SG05, and using a top intake fan.
In effect, it'd be like a short SG07 in design
Any thoughts or real problems that immediately spring to mind?

 

[iFreilicht]

The SG07 has the PSU laying in front of the mainboard. How are you going to make that short?

 

[Arboreal]

Yes, the SG07 has an ATX PSU lying face down; I was thinking of an SFX in front of the board on its side, with the intake fan facing forward.
I'd hoped that someone had been mad enough to try this with an SG05/06/13, but can't see any mods like that.

 

[iFreilicht]

That sounds like a good layout, like an ITX Cerberus I guess. You might want to consider facing the PSU fan inwards and going for a back-to-front airflow. People that put an ATX PSU inside the NCASE M1 are often doing that, and it should work quite well.

 

[Arboreal]

That's interesting too, depends where the intake is; I had in mind a large slow fan on top with a down draft.
NCase is lovely, but out of budget sadly.

 

[iFreilicht]

That should also work. Just make sure you let the PSU exhaust outside the case and prevent it from recycling any of its own air.

NCase is lovely, but out of budget sadly.

I just meant as an example of this airflow path already working in the wild.

 

[Arboreal]

Yes, absolutely - still doesn't stop me wanting one!

I was thinking about ducting the PSU and having a fan push the warm air out of the side opposite the GPU slot

 

[iFreilicht]

Jup, that sounds reasonable.

 

[wooble]

I actually did something like this for SG13.

Mod is still waiting to get finishing touches as I don't have access to my tools at the moment, but I'm planning to add 120mm fan in top over the PSU and make hole for PSU air output. For old ATX-PSU slot I will just find ventilated cover or mod it to fit 120mm fan.

As far as I have measured case actually performs quite well even without finishing the mod, but I'm bit worried especially about the PSU being trapped at corner with all the hot air as I haven't done the ventilation yet.

While planning this I was also thinking about using something like Noctua NH-C14 and either push or pull the air to/from top intake. Don't know why didn't end up doing that.

Some pics of current state:

 

[XeaLouS]

That sg13 layout is amazing!

 

[Arboreal]

@wooble
That's brilliant! Thanks for posting it here.
Excellent to actually see how you have achieved something that I thought you could do, but was only in my head.
SG05 is on hold at the moment, as I have another project on the go - '2 slot ITX board' build. It's actually a super small/narrow mATX board, but looks like mITX with an extra slot. in this case it's a PCI-E 1x slot inboard and

 

[wooble]

Thanks for nice comments!

I'll be sure to write some updates when I get further with the project. At the moment I can hit 4.5GHz on the CPU (6600K) but I have to run all fans 100% and it still maxes to ~90 degrees after 30min of furmark + prime95, so there is clearly space for improvement.

@Arboreal
Cool! What kind of case are you using? I would imagine something like ncase m1 would be optimal, as it's quite small but still has 3 slots. Or are you building your own case?

 

[BaK]

Something like this?

I did that years ago, SG05 is still running fine, more pics here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1294524/1155-cpu-cooler-case-sg05b/40#post_19449948

 

[wooble]

That's beautiful! Nice to see this option also working well. Almost regretting my choice of cpu cooler.

I also really wish I had shorter GPU so I could also have PSU in similar orientation so I could use ventilation what is already in the case. And I like the idea of having the power switch for psu in the psu plate. That didn't even come to my mind but I think I'll try to copy that.

 

[Arboreal]

Cool! What kind of case are you using? I would imagine something like ncase m1 would be optimal, as it's quite small but still has 3 slots. Or are you building your own case?

@wooble
I would love, but cannot afford and NCase M1. I'm (very sloooooowly) doing a case mod to a smallish mATX tower case to make it 17L, which isn't that small for ITX these days.
I chopped the top section off that used to hold the ATX PSU and 5.25" drive slots, so it's now 27cm high.
As mentioned, I have a 2 slot board that is approx 17x19cm, so is narrow enough to allow an SFX PSU to be mounted behind the front panel, which a standard 24cm square mATX board wouldn't allow.
I've looked at other 'narrow' mATX boards, and could even fit a 21cm wide one at a push.
I have ideas, but the inner engineer that puts the designs into practice is not that strong! I am working on new side panels and how to secure them at the moment, alongside an SFX PSU support bracket.

@BaK
That's just what I had in mind! Same thoughts on the power cord extension, but had not got as far as thinking about the luxury of a rear panel switch. Brilliant stuff, most inspiring

 

[BaK]

Thx guys, glad you like it!
Putting the SFX PSU on the front side was an easy mod, if I remember well, the holes for the stock fans were even aligned to the PSU ones.

Almost regretting my choice of cpu cooler.

While a top flow cooler is nice to have as it also blows on the motherboard, they often block the PCIe slot.
That was my case with the NH-C14 on this Z77 Asrock board.
So, depending on your motherboard, you maybe made the right choice going with a Cryorig tower.


About the PSU rear pannel, I've since made a v2 for my MiniCube build.
Much cleaner but you need a spare SFX casing to take it from:

(The cover comes from a broken AC/DC unit)

 

[wooble]

If someone is interested, I posted my final iteration here https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/sg13-tinytower-mod.5946/

Spoiler: Picture