Time's silent GTX 1080 HTPC build

Stereodude

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This is the thread for Time to flood with his wisdom on building a silent GTX 1080 based in a mini-ITX case so he can stay out of mine.
 

Mercutio

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I really like the BitFenix Prodigy time suggested, but holy christ is it a huge chassis. I suppose that if you're going to stick a $600 GPU in an ITX rig you might as well buy one that has as much or more interior volume than most microATX chassis though.
 

Clocker

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I have a Prodigy I am not really using anymore. Any takers?? ;)
 

Clocker

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It's actually waiting to be turned into an Untangle box if I ever get to it. :beye:
 

sedrosken

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Send it to sed. ;)

I have been summoned? (looks up BitFenix Prodigy) Hmm. That could work for a NAS/dedicated folder project I had planned -- I have a fair amount of overfill from my student loan disbursing -- bought my books and a ton of stuff I've seriously needed for a while, it's been great to finally be able to afford that stuff. I should probably send it back to the lender to start paying off the loan but I'm feeling like being just a little extravagant... Shoot me a PM if you want to discuss, Clocker?
 

Clocker

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I have been summoned? (looks up BitFenix Prodigy) Hmm. That could work for a NAS/dedicated folder project I had planned -- I have a fair amount of overfill from my student loan disbursing -- bought my books and a ton of stuff I've seriously needed for a while, it's been great to finally be able to afford that stuff. I should probably send it back to the lender to start paying off the loan but I'm feeling like being just a little extravagant... Shoot me a PM if you want to discuss, Clocker?
Howdy Sed. I was more or less joking about the Prodigy I have. I already have some hardware I put inside it along with dual NICs. I will someday, when family life allows, try Untangle in it. So...I need to keep it. :)
 

sedrosken

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Howdy Sed. I was more or less joking about the Prodigy I have. I already have some hardware I put inside it along with dual NICs. I will someday, when family life allows, try Untangle in it. So...I need to keep it. :)

Alright. I would have just set it aside until I socked away enough money for the parts for a NAS anyway. Probably better choices out there for my use case anyway.
 

time

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I'd just like to thank Stereodude for being thoughtful enough to create my very own thread for me.

Unfortunately, I currently work 7 days a week while struggling health-wise, so I haven't been able to give this thread the attention it truly deserves.

The obvious way to improve cooling on the Corsair 600Q is to flick the premium Gold PSU and use something cruddy - the SPCR review used an old 80 PLUS Bronze PSU, which all else being equal, ought to suck more air out of the top of the case.

But you may not be keen on that solution.

A handy explanation from SilverStone

A graphics card with a blower fan that exhausted out the back would also have helped.

But I guess a third GTX 1080 would be a big ask.

The GPU problems are similar to those faced by the much smaller Silverstone TJ08E, which also has an inverted motherboard with the PSU at the top. That case doesn't leak as much, but as CougTek found, the large fan at the front that is meant to cool the entire case is not exactly silent when things get hot. Almost all Silverstone cases are way better than average at cooling, but sometimes theories don't work out as well in practice as you might expect - witness the Raven RV03 with the motherboard rotated 90 degrees; the bottom inlet fans needed to run fast enough to push air all the way through the case and the result was too noisy. I've experienced the same problem with the Fortress FT03 Mini - although it's a brilliant design with an unbelievably small footprint, it gets a bit noisy when the graphics card is working hard.

The only inverted mainboard layout (BTX) case with a fan near the graphics card that I can find in today's market is the MicroATX version of the BitFenix Colossus (the MicroATX versions of the Phenom and Prodigy should be much the same). But these only offer a single optical drive and Stereodude's hypothetical construction needs two. Anything with room for two or more optical drives was designed a few years ago when the emphasis was more on keeping the CPU cool. So the graphics card is in the middle and not very close to any case fans. :(

Something with a side intake fan next to the GPU would be good, but the Silverstone TJ10 is eye-wateringly pricey.

Alternatively, as Ddrueding says, put it in a cupboard. My induction cooktop has twin cooling fans that are enclosed in a cupboard about 1.5m long. I use standoffs to ensure the doors don't quite completely close, but I can't detect any noise 1 meter in front of the cupboard. :)
 
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