Production Lazer3D HT5 - Low Profile APU Case

[K888D]

So I am presuming by all the heatsink testing, you have done the ones that got the best noise/performances ratios are the L9a and the L12S
also thanks a lot for the reply as that is one of those things you won't know before you try it and would have been annoyed if my pc sounds like a hairdryer/desk fan when I boot it up for the first time

Most of my heatsink comparison testing was done in the LZ7 and the L12S has been the top performer I've tested so far for sub 70mm coolers, beating the Scythe Shuriken coolers.

As you say the L9a would also be a quiet cooler due to the large distance between the fan and vents.

Cryorig have just teased a silent fan version of their C7, that may be a good choice as well.

 

[proton007]

So I am presuming by all the heatsink testing, you have done the ones that got the best noise/performances ratios are the L9a and the L12S
also thanks a lot for the reply as that is one of those things you won't know before you try it and would have been annoyed if my pc sounds like a hairdryer/desk fan when I boot it up for the first time

I'm using the L9x65, which as opposed to the L9a/L12S, draws in air from the outside. After adjusting the fan temp curve, I can say it is near silent from a meter apart, and I can hear the fan up close, starting from about 10cm.

I decided against the L12S because I was afraid that its larger area would restrict cross air flow, since I'm using a fully interal PSU which also generates heat. With the L9x65 I have 2 sources of air intake (PSU side and top grill) and hot air is pushed out through the other side.

 

[Valantar]

I'm using the L9x65, which as opposed to the L9a/L12S, draws in air from the outside. After adjusting the fan temp curve, I can say it is near silent from a meter apart, and I can hear the fan up close, starting from about 10cm.

I decided against the L12S because I was afraid that its larger area would restrict cross air flow, since I'm using a fully interal PSU which also generates heat. With the L9x65 I have 2 sources of air intake (PSU side and top grill) and hot air is pushed out through the other side.

Do you have room for fans alongside your PSU? Also, why not just flip the fan on the L9x65? That way its fan will serve as a "central" exhaust, pulling air in from both sides.

 

[proton007]

Do you have room for fans alongside your PSU? Also, why not just flip the fan on the L9x65? That way its fan will serve as a "central" exhaust, pulling air in from both sides.

There's no room for fans near the PSU. Assuming you're facing the front side of the case, the PSU is on the left, followed by the motherboard in the middle, and then the two exhaust fans on the right. The PSU's PCB partially covers the grill on the left, although I've mounted it with about 3-4 mm in between.

Using the cooler fan as exhaust may work, but then I would have to reverse the case fans as well to create positive pressure. My concern then would be, how to get air to get across to the PSU side. Perhaps I need to experiment a bit more...I don't have a temperature sensing gun to accurately measure component temps, so ill use the CPU and mainboard temps as reference.

 

[steelfractal]

forgot about the L9x65 here is what it looks like so far are getting custom side panels made as the standoffs don't line up with the hdplex 200 w dc atx psu and moving the hole for the power button to that side as well

 

[Valantar]

There's no room for fans near the PSU. Assuming you're facing the front side of the case, the PSU is on the left, followed by the motherboard in the middle, and then the two exhaust fans on the right. The PSU's PCB partially covers the grill on the left, although I've mounted it with about 3-4 mm in between.

Using the cooler fan as exhaust may work, but then I would have to reverse the case fans as well to create positive pressure. My concern then would be, how to get air to get across to the PSU side. Perhaps I need to experiment a bit more...I don't have a temperature sensing gun to accurately measure component temps.

Your setup is a negative pressure setup (no intake fans, just the cpu cooler as sort of one) so air should flow past the PSU and CPU both. You're probably right that an L12S would hinder airflow across, but mainly because its fan being bigger and closer to the vents would serve more directly as an intake (or exhaust, if you flip your other fans). Then again the 120mm fan might be powerful enough to push air out/pull air in both sides.

 

[proton007]

Your setup is a negative pressure setup (no intake fans, just the cpu cooler as sort of one) so air should flow past the PSU and CPU both. You're probably right that an L12S would hinder airflow across, but mainly because its fan being bigger and closer to the vents would serve more directly as an intake (or exhaust, if you flip your other fans). Then again the 120mm fan might be powerful enough to push air out/pull air in both sides.

The fan on the L12S pushes almost double the amount of air as that on L9x65, so yeah it may be powerful enough. I tried using the L9x65 fan as exhaust, and flipping the fan around made it louder, almost as if it was vibrating. I removed the fan, still running, and could feel the vibration in my hand.
It seems the fan is not designed to be turned around as exhaust, or putting it another way, the fan is designed to push the air through the heat sink. The L12S flips the entire cooler around to reverse direction.

Anyways, this is what the setup looks like (the perspective is a bit skewed). The PSU fits rather nicely with a few mm clearance between itself and the motherboard. The two noctua fans on the left are pushing out almost twice the amount of air as the cooler fan, so I guess ultimately they're helping suck in air from around the PSU and the cooler.


I sprayed the fan black to complete the stealth look. Still waiting for the rgb LED strip to arrive. I like the fact that the switch itself blinks to signal sleep mode, but would be even cooler if the RGB leds could be configured to do the same.

 

[steelfractal]

on the backplate of the ht5 there 2 holes that look like they are meant for mounting wifi antenna connectors but itx boards today coms with Antenna connectors so @K888D can you enlighten me to as what purpose they serve as I have no clue

 

[K888D]

on the backplate of the ht5 there 2 holes that look like they are meant for mounting wifi antenna connectors but itx boards today coms with Antenna connectors so @K888D can you enlighten me to as what purpose they serve as I have no clue

You were bob on with your first guess, they are for ITX boards that don't have built in antennas onto the rear IO.

 

[Donut]

You were bob on with your first guess, they are for ITX boards that don't have built in antennas onto the rear IO.

On this topic: I think the thickness of the back panel would have prevented me from screwing in the wifi antennas (not enough threading comes out the other side) had I needed to use those holes. Maybe the connectors that came with my WiFi card were abnormally short.

 

[K888D]

On this topic: I think the thickness of the back panel would have prevented me from screwing in the wifi antennas (not enough threading comes out the other side) had I needed to use those holes. Maybe the connectors that came with my WiFi card were abnormally short.

I can see how this could be an issue yes, the back panel is 5mm thick so you need a thread of at least 7mm.

You can usually buy replacement cables on somewhere like Amazon if you need some with a longer thread.

 

[krutmob]

Just finished a build. Looks great! As someone else mentioned, I too had to cut the Pico PSU adapter as it was too narrow.

 

[Sene]

At the moment the GTX 1050 Ti is the most powerful gaming GPU available in low profile models, hopefully they will be releasing the 1650 models in low profile soon.

MSI, zotac and Asus have now released 1650 low profile GPUs. Are they supported?

That would perfect for casual gaming (fifa 20) and HTPC with Madvr for upscaling

Thanks

 

[K888D]

MSI, zotac and Asus have now released 1650 low profile GPUs. Are they supported?

Those should all fit no problem, thank you for pointing them out!

 

[Donut]

I just got my hands on a single slot GPU to add to my HT5. I was thinking of re-configuring my system to use 4 80x15mm fans and have some aluminum feet on the bottom.

@K888D, you mentioned a few years ago in this thread (here) that the nuts and bolts of the screw-in feet would interfere with the side fans. Is that the case for 15mm thick fans, or just 25mm thick fans? It looks like the holes for the feet are just to the side of the outermost bracket where 15mm thick fans would be mounted (looking at this photo in the SFF.Network review).

And, if the feet wouldn't interfere with 15mm thick fans, do you think there would be enough space between the fan bracket and the GPU for the nuts and bolts?

 

[K888D]

I just got my hands on a single slot GPU to add to my HT5. I was thinking of re-configuring my system to use 4 80x15mm fans and have some aluminum feet on the bottom.

@K888D, you mentioned a few years ago in this thread (here) that the nuts and bolts of the screw-in feet would interfere with the side fans. Is that the case for 15mm thick fans, or just 25mm thick fans? It looks like the holes for the feet are just to the side of the outermost bracket where 15mm thick fans would be mounted (looking at this photo in the SFF.Network review).

And, if the feet wouldn't interfere with 15mm thick fans, do you think there would be enough space between the fan bracket and the GPU for the nuts and bolts?

That is correct, 25mm thick fans will interfere with the nuts and bolts used to attach the HiFi style feet.

But 15mm fans will be fine, they will clear the nut and bolts, so yes it is possible to fit 4x 80x15mm fans and HiFi Feet.

 

[Donut]

That is correct, 25mm thick fans will interfere with the nuts and bolts used to attach the HiFi style feet.

But 15mm fans will be fine, they will clear the nut and bolts, so yes it is possible to fit 4x 80x15mm fans and HiFi Feet.

Thanks for the response! Time to get some new fans and feet.

Just now realizing that Noctua doesn't sell 80x15mm fans, though. That's a shame.

 

[smitty2k1]

Thanks for the response! Time to get some new fans and feet.

Just now realizing that Noctua doesn't sell 80x15mm fans, though. That's a shame.

For 80x15 you basically have two choices - Noiseblocker 4 pin PWM and Coolermaster 3 pin. I've found the Coolermaster to be slightly quieter. It also measures about a half milimeter thicker than the Noiseblocker, closer to 16mm. The Coolermaster is much cheaper.

 

[Z33]

Very nice case

 

[Analogue Blacksheep]

Just wondering, but has anyone done a build in this case using an LP GPU and both HDPLEX 200W parts (The DC-ATX And the AC-DC).