SG13 Front Mount PSU Build (Stupid pic heavy)

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
Hi all, new to the form and figured I would share my build before I start asking for help!

I absolutely had to have the SG13, but I was on a very strict budged and didn't have $ left over for AIO or a fancy high power SFX PSU, So I got the best deals I could on all my components and didn't like to stock layout of the SG13, so I modified it to how I saw fit, and this is the outcome!

I currently only have a 275GB M.2 mounted under the motherboard, I have a 1TB Samsung F3 that I plan to install in the front cover of the case after printing an extender for it. I also have 2 80mm fans on order that I will be mounting to the rear of the system with a pantyhoe filter. But thats a couple days down the road.

Case: SilverStone SG13B-Q
Motherboard: ASRock AB350 Gaming-ITX
CPU: R7 1700 With Stock Wraith Cooler
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 16GB 3200mhz
Video Card: Power Color Red Devil RX580 8GB
SSD: Crucial MX300 M.2 2280 275GB
HDD: Samsung F3 1TB
PSU: Corsair CX550M








































 

Arboreal

King of Cable Management
Silver Supporter
Oct 11, 2015
805
803
Great work. You've gone and done it! I had an SFX front mount PSU in mind for a while, but haven't got round to doing it...there is a thread about it on here somewhere.
I have an SG05, SG06 and SG13 so am sold on these little gems. I do like the 'Q' front panel, which suits this sort of build perfectly. I prefer it to the standard front. My SG13(W) was used, so I had no choice; the gaming rig would overheat in a Q I think.
I had imagined that I'd use a large top-down cooler and a 140mm fan at the top of the case blowing down over the board.
Maybe one day.
 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
Thanks! I'm really enjoying the build so far, its nice to get to build something like this.

I built a I5 4460 system back in 2014 with the SG05 and as soon as I saw that case I was hooked on SFF. I had been stuck with a 2500K in a Corsair 230T since 2011, that processor aged amazingly! it still handled everything I threw at it, but I got a smoking good deal on the R7 1700 and just had to build an ITX system!

Ya, the Q version would probably be a little low on airflow if the front was an intake for the system. AIO or air, just not enough ventilation I think, and in the stock configuration the PSU would cover all the upper ventilation as well.

I was originally looking to get a SFX PSU and still front mount that, just differently, that would have left me with so much room I wouldn't know what to do, but when i was looking to buy I couldn't find any in my price range. So I went ahead and decided to make a full size PSU work, its definitely getting tight in there! I thought about mounting the PSU fan facing the motherboard, but then I realized that as I start to plug in all the cables it would start to block the airflow, and some PSU don't run their cooling fans below a certain temp. So I went with the front facing and we will see how it does!

I still plan on extending my front cover so I can use the USB and audio plugs, because I would use then all the time, and this board has fewer USB plugs than I am used to.

I might extend the cover as a whole so I can shove my 1TB drive in there and leave maximum room for cooling, but I have managed to stick it in a pretty ok place at the moment. It blocks about 2/3 of the top vents which I don't care for. But I had to stick it in there somewhere so I had access to all my 3d printing stuff

I'm also seriously thinking about either cutting out a section of my PSU cables, or re-pinning them so i have shorter cables, that would make the upper section a lot cleaner and give me back just a little bit more room. Although, I do enjoy warranties as I have used them a time or 3. . . .

Currently using a book to level out my case, printed stands in the next few days.

Anyways hope enjoy the pics, and maybe you will mod your own!
















 
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Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
i managed to get a lot done this weekend.

Printed some feet to keep the case from resting on the PSU cord, which also allowed me to retire my handy leveling book.

I purchased some thin Cooler Master 80mm fans, I test fit them with a temporary mount and found some additional clearing that needed to be done. After verifying that everything would fit after some bending I designed and printed a proper fan shroud. I also found that one motherboard header can control a 3 pin fan, where the other is PWM only so its always full speed.

I spliced the 2 fans together so they would both run off of the same motherboard header that allowed speed control. I thought about ordering a Y connector, but decided to just cut it! I think it came out a little cleaner that way, but I left WAY too much heat-shrink on the connector end of the cable assembly. I might clean that up later down the road. At first I installed the fan to the wrong header, so the last set of pictures are the correct header.

Now I need to figure out what I want to do with the front of the case, extend it to fit my HDD and USB headers, or do something else.






















 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
Thanks, I'm having a blast with the build.

Looking at some of your projects I really need to use a proper camera and clean up my area, lol! Nice builds and great camera work!
 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
Got a new toy! Noctua NF-F12 3000rpm.

I'm going to play with it a little, but I think this is going to be my new heat-sink fan.

It currently wont fit at all, even if I rotate the HDD sideways, so I have started drawing a new front cover for the case that will accept the 3.5" drive. I have been playing with the idea of making it hot swap-able but I'm not sure yet.

My thoughts are currently remove the stock fan on the heat-sink, build a mount that will place the F12 at the top of the case so it has access to fresh air, then print a funnel to guide the fresh air to the heat-sink.

I plan to test both airflow directions. Some people have said sucking hot air off the HS lowered all temps including VRM so I figure its worth a test to see what happens in my case.







 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
I think I have a design that I'm comfortable with.

I moved the USB and audio ports to the top, it seemed like the best place to put them with everything else going on in there. It should use the original power and reset switch assembly, I might have to print a new power button cap but we will see. There are a couple points for cable management.

The cover has been extended approximately .625" to accommodate the hard drive, as much that I would like to ditch it I need the storage and cant afford a large SSD.

I added some ventilation to the front of the cover right where the video card sits, there's space for either 4 40mm fans, or 2 60mm fans with a max depth of 20mm. I also might toss in some red LED's to add a little character. There are no mounting points in the cover for the fans, I will make a separate fan cage to hold everything if I think I need them.

Please excuse the very amateur renderings, I have absolutely no experience with Keyshot or any rendering programs.

There are a couple of overhangs, but my bridging is pretty good so we will see how it works out.







 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
Got the front cover printed. It looks pretty good, but it has some issues so I opted to not finish it with paint and a good sanding. I will make some adjustments here and there and make another. Plus it looks much better in person, the camera brings out all the little details you wouldn't otherwise see. The power button didn't fit like I had hoped, but its out now so I can model the switch itself and make the next one work.

The hard drive area has little tabs that lock the drive into place without the need for screw. I did have to do some trimming on the front of the metal case because it was protruding into the HDD circuit board.

A little hot glue here and there was used to secure the existing LED to the side of the vent, It was also used here and there to help with cable management. The rats nest on top was re-organized in an attempt to clean it up a little bit.

Overall it looks pretty neat and I'm quite happy with the results so far. Now I can start designing the CPU fan mount and supporting pieces.















































 

Rufu

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Apr 21, 2020
3
2
Very nice build. I am a big fan (not the rotating one) of this.
Some quiestions:
Have you had any thoughts of going to SFX PSU?
Have you thought of filtering the intakes?
 

k0n

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 3, 2019
213
280
Great work. I would use the PSU for exhaust and just put the case on the front. The SG05 in this picture from ~2009 is how I got into SFF. Standard components, no need for AIO, no risers and not even a SFX-PSU (there werent any good ones back than).


I've shared it since than a couple times... I think it was originaly from the user 'Kopi80' from Computerbase.de.
 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
Very nice build. I am a big fan (not the rotating one) of this.
Some quiestions:
Have you had any thoughts of going to SFX PSU?
Have you thought of filtering the intakes?

I know this was asked a while ago, I have been away and things changed. But I'm back, with a new build as well!

Honestly I kind of like the full size ATX in the case. It gives me a nice area to tuck away all of the cables and they stay there. It kind of fills the case up creating a wall for the the CPU area to ventilate where I want it to.

I wouldn't mind trying a SFX psu, but I just don't want to pay the extra $ for just a couple cm.

This is incredible. That front panel seems a great addition.

Thanks, I have redesigned it about 6 times now. It's completely different with a removable filter and all that great stuff. I think this new cover I'm working on would be great especially for a stock configuration.

Loving this ! Simple and well executed ideas :)

Thank you!


Great work. I would use the PSU for exhaust and just put the case on the front. The SG05 in this picture from ~2009 is how I got into SFF. Standard components, no need for AIO, no risers and not even a SFX-PSU (there werent any good ones back than).


I've shared it since than a couple times... I think it was originaly from the user 'Kopi80' from Computerbase.de.

Thats an awesome build!

I thought of exhausting out of the PSU this time around, but I didn't want to pump all that heat into it. I'm trying to get everything to intake "fresh" air from wherever it can.
 
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billabong2606

Caliper Novice
Jul 25, 2020
25
6
Hey @Max78 ! Didn't expect to see you replying this thread after all this time. You mentioned that you've redesigned this case about 6 more times; would you be willing to share what you've done to this build? I'm interested because I've recently built in this case as well, and after tinkering for a bit I'm thinking of doing this front PSU mod soon.
 

Max78

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Jan 12, 2018
16
26
@billabong2606 I haven't been on any forums lately. I have been super busy with other non-tech related projects.

To be honest, I swapped all my components into an InWin 301 and then hated it, so I sold it. . . .

I then tossed in some extra $ and purchased a better system!

So far I'm realizing that the stock CPU fan sucks, so that has put a damper on what I want to do on the CPU side of things. Do I wait and upgrade, or make the most of what I have?

I have only redesigned the front cover as a result, so no major changes to the case itself. . . . Yet.

I essentially made the front cover the same depth as the original and removed the mounting for additional drives. I kept the USB on the top, and added ventilation to the front where the PSU fan is to help it to breath better. I have incorporated a filter holder on the front that will allow me to install a 1/4" (6mm) foam filter.

The thicker foam filters have better breathability and filtration, I really don't care for those tiny mesh screen filters that kill airflow. I should do some testing though.

I have plans to add filters to the CPU intake, and I really want to try to add them to the GPU, but there is ZERO room inside the case for the filters I want to use. So now I'm trying to come up with a modification that will allow me to filter the GPU and add some character to the case, and not look terrible.

After I get it all done I do plan on ripping it all apart and finishing it off nice with a good sanding and painting of a different color. With some of the bending the paint has been chipping and even though its hidden I don't like that and it bothers me.

I will post some new pictures of my progress when I can. I'm still tweaking my new 3D printer so the parts are not coming out great.
 
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billabong2606

Caliper Novice
Jul 25, 2020
25
6
@Max78 thanks for the reply! Wow, sounds like your build have come a long way since then. Can't wait to see the pics of your new setup, and good luck with all your other ongoing projects!
 

AGilesRem

What's an ITX?
New User
May 10, 2023
1
0
I know this is quite the old post by now but do you by any chance still have like the stl file for the back fans bracket and the psu mount aswell?
 

BaK

King of Cable Management
Bronze Supporter
May 17, 2016
930
931
I know this is quite the old post by now but do you by any chance still have like the stl file for the back fans bracket and the psu mount aswell?

Looks like he shared the front panel:
But not what you are asking.

An SFX PSU bracket is available though:

'sg13' related stuff on thingverse: