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I recently picked up a brand new Caselabs S3. I've been piecing it together slowly but surely for the last month and half. I've been using a GTX 750 ti for a while but this coming week will be using a R9 280x. I've been meaning to clean up the cables but just haven't had a lot of time, I shortened some of them but need to do the rest so I can clean it all up. Anyway I snapped a few pics today and thought I would share.

 

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It was pretty cheap. I'm getting back into folding for TC, I revived my old team and found a cheap 280x to use to fill the AMD GPU slot.

 

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Several of the Z97 have a M.2 slot. I'd recommend the ASRock Z97E-ITX

 

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That's a nice board too! I've been looking at all of them really but can't decide if I want to upgrade or not. I have a Crucial M500 240GB mSATA that I'm pretty happy with and seeing as how all the boards are using M.2 now I would have to get a new SSD along with CPU and motherboard. So unless something comes out that makes my 3570K @ 4.7GHz feel slow, I'll try to ride out this platform out a little longer.

 

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I said I don't feel the need to upgrade because nothing out yet makes my 3570K feel slow, at least for my uses.

I was just looking at specs for both those boards and then noticed this SATA Express connector so I've been reading up on that. Now I definitely can't make a move until I see what develops out of that.

 

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I think it's kind of cool. I wouldn't buy one, but it's not terrible.

 

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Quote:

Originally Posted by keikei

Hey Guys,

i'm looking into getting a micro board and this seems like an appropriate one. The only potential issue is the 2nd pci slot. Will it fit a 2nd card? Does anyone have experience with this card having SLI/X-fire? Thanks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128548

I don't recommend SLI on a board like that. The 2nd slot is only x4. With all the money you spend on two GPUs, you ought to spend a few more bucks on a motherboard that will give you a few more PCIe lanes. I don't see any in stock on Newegg, you might have to eBay it.

 

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Quote:

Originally Posted by keikei

^Thanks for the advise. I guess i need to look for another board.

Well everyone else seems to be failing. You need a mATX socket 1155 board with x8/x8. Here are a few of them, finding a place that sells them still is up to you!

Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4168#ov

Maximus V Gene
http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/MAXIMUS_V_GENE/

ASRock Z77 Exteme4-M
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4-M/?cat=Specifications

Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4370#ov

And I'm sure there are a few others.

 

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Yeah because braiding would shorten and/or tighten them up, my suggestion for a tiny case and a regular ATX PSU is to shorten the cables by clipping them off and crimping on a new connector at a more appropriate length. While your at it you can put some sleeving on the wires.

 

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I would look for a molex pin extractor (make sure you get the MOLEX and the ATX), and for shortening you would want a pair of snips, some strippers, and a crimper.

You can find a lot of the tools here:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=60_143_272

I've used the crimper it's not bad, oh yeah, for crimping you need the replacement pins as well.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=60_174&products_id=1418

 

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Naw it's full height. Their half height is two slot.

 

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My work in progress

 

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LOL that's exactly what I thought when I got frustrated trying to fit in the case and just decided I would mess with it later and attached it to the mid panel rail. I should craft a little biker helmet for it, lol.

I ordered a multiport top and some various fittings/adapters to let me suspend it inside the case in the space that I want. Using either the res clamps and/or the radiator adapter was going to make things more difficult for me in terms of tubing and wiring. (Basically I just don't want to trim another few inches off of all my PSU cables because I already did it once, just ended up an inch or two longer than desired)

 

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Allanitomwesh

This looks familiar....TomsHardware was it?

Yeah I'm stickg1 at a lot of places

 

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Any ideas on a decent sub $60 mATX case? I've been looking at the Coolermaster N200. I beefed up my parent's HP desktop, I got a new motherboard for it and unlocked + overclocked the Phenom II 960T that was in it. Put a CM TX3 cooler in, got a 120GB SSD and a new PSU. But the case + OEM mobo had proprietary connections for the power buttons and LEDs so now the PC has to be jump started unless I want to try to rewire the thing. I would like more airflow and front panel USB3.0 so I think a case upgrade makes the most sense. I also plan on putting a 750ti or R9 270 in there at some point so the case would need to be able a house a dual slot full width GPU.

Here are current pictures of the process...

 

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My AMD N200 Folding Rig, specs and more pics in Sig

 

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I'm looking for a good way to use a spare i3-4360 CPU. I want a tiny PC, I would prefer a case that came with a PSU, but does anyone have a recommendation on something tiny plus a PSU for < $100? I will be using integrated video and a 2.5" HDD.

 

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Has anyone used the IN WIN BQ656T.AD120TBL?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108416

 

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I think I'm going to go up in size, there are a few mATX Slim cases with TFX PSUs I'm looking at, mostly these two In Win's. Looks like just over 11L, that's still pretty small right?

In Win BL040 SFF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108425

or I think this one looks nicer, but doesn't have the vent right over the CPU cooler which could be a drawback

IN WIN CE685.FH300TB3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108109