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? [BUILD LOG] ? BASEMENT THEATER 100" SCREEN | Coolermaster Elite 361 | GTX 970 | 3570k | IMPOSSIBRU!!!

17K views 35 replies 7 participants last post by  AveragePC 
#1 ·
Finding info on this case or builds using this case hasn't been easy, so I've decided to make a thread following my build from start to finish. Maybe it will help someone who's considering a case like this, or already has this case.

I tried to keep this build relatively inexpensive with the goal being to exceed "next gen" console performance (PS4/Xbox One).

Component list

CPU: i5 3570k
*GPU: EVGA GTX 760 SC w/ACX (EVGA GTX 970 SSC w/ ACX 2.0 as of 1/8/15)*
Mobo: Asus Z77-A
Ram: 8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile DDR3 1600
PSU: Seasonic M12 520w
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
PSU: Seasonic M12 520w
Case: Coolermaster Elite 361 (needed a case to lay horizontally while still fitting an ATX mobo and full sized GPU)


Stuck with ATX since I found a pretty good deal on the mobo

Onto the photos




The case

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Got the mobo in, cpu, hard drives, psu, and fans. CPU cooler is the Corsair H55, and it's much larger than I anticipated lol. I'm still going to use it as I believe air flow may be a concern in this case with a full sized gpu. Cable management is going to be an issue as well, but I'll deal with that once everything is in.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Ran into clearance issues with the power connection and the radiator. The radiator didn't have enough room to be attached to the case so I had to add a small spacer to the power connection. Spacer was made from a sheet of rubber I had laying around. It's not pretty, but it works.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Two 80mm Coolermaster fans will be on exhaust duty. The plan is to have the the radiator inside the case, and the fan on the outside (intake). Decided to do this because the fan and radiator together are 50mm's thick, there's maybe 30-35mm's of space in the case. I drilled...err mangled, a hole to pass through the radiator fan power plug. Need a dremel to clean up the hole.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

And this is what the front of the case looks like. I'm using another 80mm Coolermaster fan here, this time as an intake. Had to drill out the existing threads for the front fan on the chassis, they were too small for the screws I needed to use for the fan. Hopefully it moves enough air to keep the hard drives cool, and maybe it can supply the gpu with some additional cool air.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Did some measuring and it doesn't look like I'll be able to fit a 120mm x 25mm fan on the top door of the case (horizontal orientation). I ordered a Scythe Slip Stream 1600 rpm since it's only 12mm thick, and it should fit between the door and gpu if I measured correctly. As long as this thing supplies the gpu with the air it needs I'll be happy.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Next to a 120mm x 25mm fan
by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Got the radiator in
by superkamikazee, on Flickr

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Hard drives, waiting for the gpu to come in before I hook these up, waiting in case they need to be moved to make room.
by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Silly fan. Didn't like the exposed blades, ordered a grill.
by superkamikazee, on Flickr
 
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#3 ·
GPU came in

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Assembled.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Ran into an issue, the GPU power connections interfered with the slim fan when I was trying to close the case. I drilled more holes in door, painted the holes so they wouldn't stand out as much, and offset the fan. The fan sits 2-3mm's above the GPU blowing air into the GPU heat sink and fans.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Finished.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

Played Hawken for about an hour, max settings, used SpeedFan to check my temps.

p3gVTvC.jpg?2
 
#5 ·
Fan grill came in today.

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

by superkamikazee, on Flickr

This HTPC exceeds all of my expectations, it stays cool, retains a small form factor, and out performs next gen consoles like the Xbox One. Locked 60 fps, 8xMSAA with all other settings maxed out in Titanfall. I'm hoping it can out muscle the PS4 as well, I have a feeling it will
thumb.gif
, but I won't know for sure until I get a chance to play the copy of Watch Dogs I received with my 760.

So for the moment, it's safe to say I'm finished with this build. Thanks for checking out my build thread.
cheers.gif
 
#8 ·
I'm building my setup just like yours. I have a few questions for you.

1. What was the rationale for making the H55 fan face inwards instead of exhausting?

2. Could you mount a Scythe 12mm fan under the H55 radiator to make it exhaust, or is there literally no room at all?

3. Did the right angle power cord that you ran from the PSU, through the case to the back plug come with the kit, and if not, can you tell me where you got it from?

4. Is the maximum width of the case a true 5.9"? I have exactly 6" to spare where I'll be putting my case, so this is important.

5. My video cards are GTX 560 Ti, I'm using 2 in SLI. It's about an inch shorter than your 760. Will I be able to fit both in the case?

6. Why do you have the slots covering the PSU vent? Are you concerned about PSU ventilation?

Thanks!!!
 
#9 ·
1. I wanted to get cooler air onto the radiator, so pulling in was the obvious choice. Next to the radiator are the rear exhaust fans, so any warmed air is quickly forced out.

2. There's no room. I made modifications to just get the radiator to fit as is. With the Scythe you'd have power cable clearance issues (which I already had to deal with as is), as well as mobo clearance issues.

3. The right angle cable came with the case.

4. I'm pretty sure it's right about 6", but I'd have to double check.

5. Depends how many hard drives you are running. As you can see in my photos the hard drive cables could be a clearance issue. If you only run one drive I think you might be ok. Running two 560Ti's make sure to keep an eye on temps. The single 560Ti in my other PC runs warmer than this 760.

6. Only one slot is removable, and that's for the optical drive. I'm not running one so it's closed. There are slits on the lower side to vent the PS, similar to the ones on the top left intake side. I dremeled those slits completely out to make one large exhaust port. I also made some duct work to keep warm air flowing out and not spreading to the intake side. I made that out of some aluminum flashing I had laying around and hot glued it to the plastic front. Nothing fancy or pretty but it works, and it's never seen. I can take a photo if you'd like.

I'd recommend not running an optical drive, I used that empty bay to hide my cables. Without that free space I'm not sure how I'd handle wire management, and air flow would be hampered a lot.

Hope that help!
 
#10 ·
That's IMMENSELY helpful, thank you for the quick response. With respect to item 5, I'm running a single SSD, though I may add a high capacity HDD one day, but I have no immediate plans to do so. I may forgo the optical if I can't come up with anything clever for cable management, though luckily my cables are flat. I'll definitely keep an eye on temps and revert my cards to stock clock if necessary. As for item six, that sounds really interesting. If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see a pic or two. Thanks again!
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by lldsandsll View Post

well, i got it done. the temps seem to stay pretty low too. your guide is so useful. i had to make every modification you made or it would have never worked. some i did my own way, like i zip tied the front fan to the case.
Hey I'm glad it all worked out for you, and that I was able to help!

I ended up cutting the case a bit more, this time the intake side (left if horizontal). I just made the slits larger on the lower side.

Now onto the theater setup, and the reason why I built this PC in the first place. Still a few things left to button up, and couches should be in the first week of December.

The start of the project
DKZeNcY.jpg

sIvlnZb.jpg


The end result
xopz6Gd.jpg

8BZR5pU.jpg

GM95akA.jpg

RQqb4VV.jpg

bGGmArX.jpg


Thanks for looking.
 
#13 ·
i didn't modify my case, except to get the radiator/fan mounted. i ended up zip tying the front intake to the case which worked. even my side intake fit no problem, since my GPUs are a bit thinner and shorter than your GPU. i didn't make any ducts or anything either. my GPU 2 gets a bit hot during benchmarks, but doesn't exceed low 70's during gaming, so i think it's ok. i might just eventually try to get a higher powered front intake and rear exhaust, or something, maybe try to move the cables around and zip them to some internal structure to move them out of the way of the fans.

awesome build though, LOVING it.

here's a pic of mine, it just barely fit where i wanted to put it. it used to be on the floor to the right of that piece of furniture, sitting on top of a piece of wood, in its old case. looked hideous before.

 
#16 ·
Thanks guys.

I've been thinking about my case fan setup, and I may try changing it up a bit to see if my results change. I am thinking about removing the scythe slim fan above the gpu, and flip the radiator fan to exhaust vs intake. Leaving the front intake the same, and the rears as exhausts. I feel there may be a dead zone around the hard drives with all the air being forced into the case the way it's setup now.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AveragePC View Post

Thanks guys.

I've been thinking about my case fan setup, and I may try changing it up a bit to see if my results change. I am thinking about removing the scythe slim fan above the gpu, and flip the radiator fan to exhaust vs intake. Leaving the front intake the same, and the rears as exhausts. I feel there may be a dead zone around the hard drives with all the air being forced into the case the way it's setup now.
i was thinking of flipping the radiator to exhaust as well, i'm just concerned it won't cool the radiator enough. i'm leaving the GPU fan, because i really need it. i might just look into the highest powered 80mm to put into the exhaust area, and clean up cables a bit more like i mentioned above. it's still working out though. the CPU stays perfectly cool, and the GPUs are acceptable. during gaming, they don't exceed the low 70's. i'd just like to see them a bit cooler, especially GPU 2 which tends to stay 2-3 degrees above GPU 1.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by lldsandsll View Post

i was thinking of flipping the radiator to exhaust as well, i'm just concerned it won't cool the radiator enough. i'm leaving the GPU fan, because i really need it. i might just look into the highest powered 80mm to put into the exhaust area, and clean up cables a bit more like i mentioned above. it's still working out though. the CPU stays perfectly cool, and the GPUs are acceptable. during gaming, they don't exceed the low 70's. i'd just like to see them a bit cooler, especially GPU 2 which tends to stay 2-3 degrees above GPU 1.
So I flipped the radiator fan and removed the slim fan over the gpu and I'm happy to report temps have improved. The only downside is that the CPU temps went up a smidgen, from 41C to 43C when gaming, GPU temps have remained the same,. The most notable improvement has been that the HDD temps have dropped substantially. I was seeing HDD temps of 45-50C, they've now dropped 10C to about 35-40C. There must have been a dead zone around the HDD's before, but now it seems that air flow is less restrictive.

Took this shot between rounds of Titanfall. 100" of Titanfall is glorious!
 
#20 ·
what do you think about using these: bgears b-Blaster 80 80mm Case Fan ???

62 CFM @ 39db, with very good ratings on newegg, amazon, etc. i think this would be great for the front intake, and rear exhausts.

i want to continue using the slim GPU fan since my GPUs get so hot.

i may consider flipping the radiator, but man was that a pain to install. how did flipping the radiator fan affect CPU temps? i think this would be a big improvement too, since it would create negative pressure. my radiator fan is rated at 54 CFM, but the holes on the intake grid might reduce the rating a bit.

i'm thinking that the 80mm posted above would help exhaust the case better.

thoughts?
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by lldsandsll View Post

what do you think about using these: bgears b-Blaster 80 80mm Case Fan ???

62 CFM @ 39db, with very good ratings on newegg, amazon, etc. i think this would be great for the front intake, and rear exhausts.

i want to continue using the slim GPU fan since my GPUs get so hot.

i may consider flipping the radiator, but man was that a pain to install. how did flipping the radiator fan affect CPU temps? i think this would be a big improvement too, since it would create negative pressure. my radiator fan is rated at 54 CFM, but the holes on the intake grid might reduce the rating a bit.

i'm thinking that the 80mm posted above would help exhaust the case better.

thoughts?
Like I said my CPU temps didn't change much lol.

Those Blaster 80 fans move twice as much air as the Coolermasters I'm using, but they're also twice as loud. I already feel the ones I'm using aren't the quietest fans out there, but that's probably because they're only 80mm fans. I'm ok with the temps I'm seeing in my setup, and it's not overly loud now. The scythe slim fan was obnoxiously loud.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AveragePC View Post

Like I said my CPU temps didn't change much lol.

Those Blaster 80 fans move twice as much air as the Coolermasters I'm using, but they're also twice as loud. I already feel the ones I'm using aren't the quietest fans out there, but that's probably because they're only 80mm fans. I'm ok with the temps I'm seeing in my setup, and it's not overly loud now. The scythe slim fan was obnoxiously loud.
Ya the blaster fans are a bit loud. I could potentially add fan control. I'm thinking of maybe just putting them in the back for exhaust, and just trying to beef up the exhaust some more. I think a big part of my problem is positive pressure. The scythe doesn't make any noise that I've noticed. Totally weird that yours was so bad
smile.gif


Maybe the first thing I do will be to just flip the radiator fan and see what that does. Thanks for the advice
biggrin.gif
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by JackMex View Post

How the heck do you handle cable management in such a case? Dat airflow, tho...
I'm not running a disc drive in this case, I stuffed most of the cables into the empty disc drive bay, temps have been excellent even with the pc in my tight cabinet.

Decorated

 
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