Turning a Terra pc-business 5000 compact into gaming rig

[calimeropierro]

Hi there,

I am currently working on turning my Terra pc-business 5000 compact into a reasonable gaming machine. ?

What is done :
- replace stock i5-4590 : i5-4690K
- replace stock intel heatsink : Noctua NH-L12S (this modification allow to drop cpu temperature from ~80°C to ~60°C @4,4ghz under heavy load)
- replace stock psu : SST-FX350-G
- add a gaming GPU : Zotac GTX 1650
- as I needed to use the pci-e port for GPU, I added an usb wifi card

What need to be done :
Reduce noise ?
CPU fan noise is great with the Noctua, but GPU + psu is like a double turbine !
- replace SST-FX350-G psu fan : Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX (12,9 db vs more than 30db stock) cf. this thread
- find a way to tune GPU speedfan (it rarely reach 60°C but too noisy, I would like to reduce speedfan even if I get a little higher in degrees)
Enhance air flow
- front panel mod : CPU struggle to extract hot air & GPU struggle to get fresh air - I need to find a way to modify it with clean looking

What it looks like stock :


Here are some milestones :
As stock psu didn't get enough connector, I had to improvise during test phase ?


An overview with the new heatsink


After an hour of "cable management" and some dirty box mod, I managed to close it.
No free space left, there are 2 SSD hidden under cables.

(it looks bent on this last photo but it isn't, I will try to take another photo)

 

[calimeropierro]

If any of you got an adea on how to modify front panel to increase air flow, please let me know

 

[aromachi]

Any chance of getting a couple slim fans in there for more intake/exhaust? Very low tolerances! Good work!

 

[calimeropierro]

I was thinking of adding one 60mm here to increase the intake of fresh air:


As you can see, no modification are needed. But perhaps I will cut the case to have maximum efficiency.
I think there is just enough space to have the fan inside.


About the exhaust, as there is no space left, I suppose I will have to rely on fans from CPU, GPU and PSU which are all extracting some air