This isn't my first small form factor build, but it is as a member of this site. I had previously stuck a mini-ITX intel atom board inside an old NES, but that was roughly 10 years ago now, and before that did a micro ATX build. Inexplicably, I went back to ATX with my dual Radeon 5770 build in an Antec Three Hundred Illusion case. I wanted to make things smaller and simpler again, hence why I am here. This is my first build in about 8 years. Yeah, it's been too long.
I decided on FN-2187 as a nod to Star Wars/Stormtroopers, and also a subname of "Aren't you a little small(short) to be a stormtrooper?" which works because it is overly complicated and nerdy/corny. Anyway, on to the build:
Case: Raijintek Metis Plus in white
CPU: Ryzen 5 2400G
Mobo: ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 gaming itx/ac
RAM: 1x8 GB Ballistix Sport DDR4 2666 in white
SSD: ADATA XPG SX900 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC (from old PC, more on this later)
HDD: 1 TB Samsung(?) from laptop (Forget the brand, came with my laptop 2 years ago that I swapped an SSD into)
PSU: Corsair SF450
Other: Phanteks PWM fan hub, 4 Artcic F12 silent case fans
Obligatory box shot
First thing I did was take the Metis out of the box and start to take it apart. I was pretty impressed with the heft and quality for such an inexpensive case. I wanted to mod this a couple of ways. The plan was to cut another hole in the top for a second 120mm fan and make it look exactly like the stock opening x2. However, when lining up the fans to see if it would fit, the opening would cut into the IO ports on the top. Scratch that idea. Next was the idea of flipping the motherboard tray back around so it was right side up, as I had seen that on a few builds, most notably MetallicAcid's Elegance. Problem with that is the fan on top would interfere with the motherboard and CPU cooler. Scratch that idea. Proceeding with basically a stock build, I took out the stock fan and added two of the Arctic fans to start test fitting
Put the motherboard in with the CPU, then added the stock cooler (for now) rotated so the AMD was aligned to read correctly
I temporarily hooked up the PSU and SSD to boot the computer up and that is where I hit my first (somewhat expected) snag. The BIOS on the motherboard needed to be updated to recognize the 2400g. Lucky for me, I had built a new PC for my father-in-law recently with an A8 apu so I borrowed that from him. Since it was late at night when I discovered this, I decided to make my life easier and modify the motherboard try to make the M.2 slot and CPU cooler mount easier to access without removing the motherboard.
I had purchased some jigsaw blades for purposes such as this, but apparently I bought the wrong kind and had to resort to tin snips for this mod, which will never really be seen except by me so it wasn't so bad. This made it infinitely easier to swap between the CPUs for the BIOS update. I got more parts in and arranged as I had to wait until the next day before getting the other processor.
On a side note, HOLY CRAP ARE SFX PSUs TINY! I had never worked with one before and was pretty shocked. Anyway, after updated the BIOS, I was able to boot to Windows. This is where I had many headaches and lost hours. I tried using the old install of Windows on the SSD from my old PC, and had driver issues galore. After breaking down and reinstalling windows, all was good. After resolving that, I went about cramming everything into the case as neatly as possible to end this phase of the project.
I inverted the drive tray that comes in the Metis so that it provided more space for a future graphics card, and also to mount the 1TB HDD. I stuck the fan controller underneath that using provided velcro. I might drill holes in the bracket later to screw the controller in for a more secure attachment.
I was very happy to get one of the Metis Plus's with the drive mount next to the motherboard as opposed to the useless bump in older versions. this is where I stuck the SSD (with sticker removed, a nice black brushed metal look to it. May move this to a more prominent location). You can also see my ghetto mobo cutout again here.
Glamour shot
Reflective shot trying to peek in the window
All in all, I am very happy with the outcome thus far. I definitely plan a few things in the future, hence why this is phase 1. Future plans include but are subject to change:
I decided on FN-2187 as a nod to Star Wars/Stormtroopers, and also a subname of "Aren't you a little small(short) to be a stormtrooper?" which works because it is overly complicated and nerdy/corny. Anyway, on to the build:
Case: Raijintek Metis Plus in white
CPU: Ryzen 5 2400G
Mobo: ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 gaming itx/ac
RAM: 1x8 GB Ballistix Sport DDR4 2666 in white
SSD: ADATA XPG SX900 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC (from old PC, more on this later)
HDD: 1 TB Samsung(?) from laptop (Forget the brand, came with my laptop 2 years ago that I swapped an SSD into)
PSU: Corsair SF450
Other: Phanteks PWM fan hub, 4 Artcic F12 silent case fans
Obligatory box shot
First thing I did was take the Metis out of the box and start to take it apart. I was pretty impressed with the heft and quality for such an inexpensive case. I wanted to mod this a couple of ways. The plan was to cut another hole in the top for a second 120mm fan and make it look exactly like the stock opening x2. However, when lining up the fans to see if it would fit, the opening would cut into the IO ports on the top. Scratch that idea. Next was the idea of flipping the motherboard tray back around so it was right side up, as I had seen that on a few builds, most notably MetallicAcid's Elegance. Problem with that is the fan on top would interfere with the motherboard and CPU cooler. Scratch that idea. Proceeding with basically a stock build, I took out the stock fan and added two of the Arctic fans to start test fitting
Put the motherboard in with the CPU, then added the stock cooler (for now) rotated so the AMD was aligned to read correctly
I temporarily hooked up the PSU and SSD to boot the computer up and that is where I hit my first (somewhat expected) snag. The BIOS on the motherboard needed to be updated to recognize the 2400g. Lucky for me, I had built a new PC for my father-in-law recently with an A8 apu so I borrowed that from him. Since it was late at night when I discovered this, I decided to make my life easier and modify the motherboard try to make the M.2 slot and CPU cooler mount easier to access without removing the motherboard.
I had purchased some jigsaw blades for purposes such as this, but apparently I bought the wrong kind and had to resort to tin snips for this mod, which will never really be seen except by me so it wasn't so bad. This made it infinitely easier to swap between the CPUs for the BIOS update. I got more parts in and arranged as I had to wait until the next day before getting the other processor.
On a side note, HOLY CRAP ARE SFX PSUs TINY! I had never worked with one before and was pretty shocked. Anyway, after updated the BIOS, I was able to boot to Windows. This is where I had many headaches and lost hours. I tried using the old install of Windows on the SSD from my old PC, and had driver issues galore. After breaking down and reinstalling windows, all was good. After resolving that, I went about cramming everything into the case as neatly as possible to end this phase of the project.
I inverted the drive tray that comes in the Metis so that it provided more space for a future graphics card, and also to mount the 1TB HDD. I stuck the fan controller underneath that using provided velcro. I might drill holes in the bracket later to screw the controller in for a more secure attachment.
I was very happy to get one of the Metis Plus's with the drive mount next to the motherboard as opposed to the useless bump in older versions. this is where I stuck the SSD (with sticker removed, a nice black brushed metal look to it. May move this to a more prominent location). You can also see my ghetto mobo cutout again here.
Glamour shot
Reflective shot trying to peek in the window
All in all, I am very happy with the outcome thus far. I definitely plan a few things in the future, hence why this is phase 1. Future plans include but are subject to change:
- A second RAM module (for 16GB total)
dedicated graphics card- aftermarket cooler (maybe the Cryorig C7, but undecided if needed since I won't be overclocking)
- custom sleeved cabling (this is something that is really bothering me, the SATA power in particular)
- a fan cut out in the bottom of the case (hence why the drives are elsewhere)
- RGB LED lighting (yeah, yeah roll your eyes)
- custom IO shield sticker or something to make it all black
- possibly eliminating red on the mobo heatsinks
- sticker removal from IO ports on mobo
- full window side (which would come last for obvious reasons)
- do something with the front IO USB3 cable (horribly inflexible and doesn't tuck away nicely due to connector, recommendations welcome on this)
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