Concept Little ideas of greatness

cleveland

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Sep 8, 2016
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I don't know why, but, for some unknown reason, I'm really in love with the simple design of the Mini-box M350. Every time I think about miniaturization and reducing the size of my builds, it ALWAYS end up with something like this in my mind:



To put more pressure into inovation, I'm riding the wave of Thin-ITX and noticed how empty the M350 feels when there's just a Thin-ITX mobo housed inside it.

This is the board that made me feel the "emptyness":


[A78F2-TI, fwiw]

Since then, I've searched for the perfect mobo to put inside that case. It must have:
✓ DC-Input (I guess that's something every Thin-ITX mobo have, but I certainly may be wrong);
✓ A PCI-e slot x4, at least;
✓ Overlapping SSD and wifi slots.

After a lot of hardware researching (what i can easily describe as a hobby of mine), this little (pun intended) gem showed up on my radar, for a price that is somewhat affordable:




I plan to use a GT1030 and a "T" series Intel processor, cooled by this:



With almost everything going as intended, i wanna know from the experts (and here's where you guys come in):
Is it doable?

This case would be my "gaming-in-travels" build, since I mostly play DotA2 and lightweight games.

Inb4: I know there are a few AM4 Thin-ITX boards but none of them are available here where i live. The non-thin ITX version of those boards generate a lot of heat for what this case can handle, considering the temps here oscilate around 33ºC.

Also, wich is the thinnest GT1030 on the block? Bonus points for active cooling versions.
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,582
I don't know why, but, for some unknown reason, I'm really in love with the simple design of the Mini-box M350. Every time I think about miniaturization and reducing the size of my builds, it ALWAYS end up with something like this in my mind:



To put more pressure into inovation, I'm riding the wave of Thin-ITX and noticed how empty the M350 feels when there's just a Thin-ITX mobo housed inside it.

This is the board that made me feel the "emptyness":


[A78F2-TI, fwiw]

Since then, I've searched for the perfect mobo to put inside that case. It must have:
✓ DC-Input (I guess that's something every Thin-ITX mobo have, but I certainly may be wrong);
✓ A PCI-e slot x4, at least;
✓ Overlapping SSD and wifi slots.

After a lot of hardware researching (what i can easily describe as a hobby of mine), this little (pun intended) gem showed up on my radar, for a price that is somewhat affordable:




I plan to use a GT1030 and a "T" series Intel processor, cooled by this:



With almost everything going as intended, i wanna know from the experts (and here's where you guys come in):
Is it doable?

This case would be my "gaming-in-travels" build, since I mostly play DotA2 and lightweight games.

Inb4: I know there are a few AM4 Thin-ITX boards but none of them are available here where i live. The non-thin ITX version of those boards generate a lot of heat for what this case can handle, considering the temps here oscilate around 33ºC.

Also, wich is the thinnest GT1030 on the block? Bonus points for active cooling versions.

Gigabyte GT 1030 is the thinnest, or you could get the ASL GTX 1050Ti, which is single slot, LP.

Where are you getting that cooler?
 
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Arboreal

King of Cable Management
Silver Supporter
Oct 11, 2015
805
803
snip

To put more pressure into innovation, I'm riding the wave of Thin-ITX and noticed how empty the M350 feels when there's just a Thin-ITX mobo housed inside it.

Since then, I've searched for the perfect mobo to put inside that case. It must have:
✓ DC-Input (I guess that's something every Thin-ITX mobo have, but I certainly may be wrong);
✓ A PCI-e slot x4, at least;
✓ Overlapping SSD and wifi slots.

After a lot of hardware researching (what i can easily describe as a hobby of mine), this little (pun intended) gem showed up on my radar, for a price that is somewhat affordable:


Nice board, a good choice there!
I bought a nearly identical GA-H110TN-M used on eBay UK this week, and now have it up & running
 
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illuminerdi

Minimal Tinkerer
Mar 8, 2019
4
1
Seems like a lot of work for a fairly small amount of gain - you're going to have to mod the case to accept any GPU at all since there aren't mount holes for the PCIx card slot on the case and there's so little room to cram the GPU into the case, and you have to use a riser to adapt the PCIx4 to any GPU slot, so "lose" some of the free space above the PCIx slot by putting in a riser. Even a 1030 would be a pretty tough cram-job with enough modding that your expenses would probably justify alternative cases that are custom built to fit your parts in the smallest possible space.
 
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cleveland

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Sep 8, 2016
455
240
Seems like a lot of work for a fairly small amount of gain
You're correct on your statement. I'm not going for the best bang for the buck in this build, since my primary goal is to get it running.


you're going to have to mod the case to accept any GPU at all since there aren't mount holes for the PCIx card slot on the case and there's so little room to cram the GPU into the case
I'm working on a carbon fiber, J shaped stand for the GPU that sits over the mobo just like this:



It'll be held in place by the mobo mounting points in the chassis and it's height will be just the minimal to allow to connect the CPU fan.
 

cleveland

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Sep 8, 2016
455
240
Considering that Low-Profile cards have a standard height of 64.41 mm and the red area above have 64,4mm, I presume that it's virtually possible to sit the GPU in this orientation without trespassing the CPU keep-out zone.
 
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cleveland

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Sep 8, 2016
455
240
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