dyuhas' Silverstone FT03 Fortress Mini - i7-4770K, GA-Z87N-WIFI, 16GB 1600MHz, Intel HD4600

dyuhas · Nov 23, 2013

dyuhas' Dual-boot Silverstone Fortress Mini Build: Core i7-4770k - GA-Z87N-WIFI - 16GB RAM - Intel HD4600

This was my very first Mini ITX build. Wow. Talk about a tight fit. Building in this case is NOT for the feint of heart. But, I was still able to get everything in there, cable-route it the way I wanted, and even use the Seidon 120M liquid cooler that I love so much. In fact, Silverstone recommends using a liquid cooler in this case if you can.

And thanks to a great message/guide by Stork, I actually started writing this post prior to purchasing any of the items, so I could make all of my Amazon and Newegg purchases wrapped in the tonymacx86 link tags. That way, I could help the website, purchase my stuff, and have this post half written by the time I was at checkout. What's not to love?

A while back, I built another (Windows) system utilizing the large Silverstone FT03 Fortress mATX case. That was a lot easier and if I build another tower like this one, I will probably be using that one instead.

I wanted to do a Mini ITX because I hadn't yet tried the on-board wireless + bluetooth that is installed on a half-height mini PCIe slot on most of these boards. After reading up on the wireless card that is included with the GA-Z87N-WIFI, I knew that the wireless aspect of it was not compatible with OS-X, but the bluetooth was. I can confirm that's true.

There is an excellent guide by "toleda" on testing different mini PCIe wireless cards: [Guide] Airport - PCIe Half Mini v2

After reading through the above guide, I ordered an Atheros AR9287 half-height mini PCIe wireless card from eBay. It hasn't arrived yet. The guide states that it works out-of-box, so we'll see. I don't really need either wireless or bluetooth, but I just like everything on the motherboard to be working (in both operating systems).

Since my first build (read about it here: Build Post), everything was a breeze to install. I just did what I did before:

1. Set the bios to optimized defaults (didn't even have to alter the memory timings this time).
2. Booted with my UniBeast/Mavericks install flash drive.
3. Partitioned and formatted the SSD into two partitions (Windows first, OS-X second)
4. Quit the installer.
5. Booted with my Windows DVD (well, actually I made a Windows install flash drive as well)
6. Loaded Windows and installed all the apps I wanted.
7. Booted with my UniBeast/Mavericks flash drive again, this time just installing Mavericks on the second partition.
8. Installation was again a breeze, not needing any boot flags at all.
9. installed MultiBeast (see below)
10. Reboot. Done. Perfect.

MultiBeast Settings

Quick Start --> DSDT Free
Drivers --> Audio --> Realtek ALCxxx --> Without DSDT --> ALC892
Disk --> TRIM Enabler --> 10.9.0 TRIM Patch
Misc --> Realtek ALCxxx --> FakeSMC v5.3.820
Network --> Realtek ALCxxx --> Intel - hnak's AppleIntelE1000e v2.5.4d
System --> Patched AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement --> AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset
Bootloaders --> Chimera v2.2.1
Customize --> Boot Options --> Basic Boot Options, Generate CPU States, Hibernate Mode - Desktop, Use KernelCache
System Definitions --> Mac Pro --> Mac Pro 3,1
Themes --> tonymacx86 Black
Build --> Install

That's it. After MultiBeast was finished, I ejected my USB drive and rebooted, chose my new Mavericks partition, and everything was fine.

Working: Everything except wireless (in OS-X, works fine in Windows)

Sound: working
Ethernet: working
Wireless: working only in Windows. I ordered an Atheros AR9287 from eBay. I'll update this post when it arrives.
Sleep/wake: working
USB 3.0: working
Bluetooth: working
Logitech camera/Facetime: Fantastic
Instant Menu/Dual-boot: works like a charm

Benchmarks

Ask any questions if you're curious. This has to be about the neatest system I own now. It's also the closest (albeit squarely) case I could find to the upcoming Mac Pro in December.

peaceEASY · Nov 23, 2013

Hi dyuhas,

Love your build, been planning a similar one for a while now. I have a question. Is it any at all possible to put a full size video card in there, omitting the slim drive and extra HDD?

Intel Core i7-4770K
GA-Z87N-WIFI
16GB 1600Mhz DDR3
FT03 Fortress Mini
SATA 6Gb/s 240GB SSD
Corsair H60 Water Cooling System

Geforce GTX 760 (possible?)

And besides SilverStones smaller form factor PSU are there any other options for PSU? Thanks.

dyuhas · Nov 24, 2013

peaceEASY,

Well, Silverstone states that the case is made to accommodate a graphics card up to 9.8 inches in length. But that's not taking into account a liquid cooler radiator. I have used the H60 before and it's very similar to the Seidon 120M that I used in this system. See, the only place for a radiator in this case is on the bottom. The thickness of the radiator cuts the length of the graphics card down a little (in your case 27mm - or about 1.1 inch), but the tubes are what are really in the way. Silverstone recommends installing a radiator with the tubes at the front of the case (which is also the area where a graphics card would go).

You can remove the extra hard drive bracket if you're not using one, but you won't be able to remove the slim optical bracket, as that also houses your SSD (or 2.5") drive. Either way, neither of the brackets are really in the way of a graphics card.

So what you would have to do is mount the radiator kind of backwards where the tubes run along the back of the case, and I can tell you right now, that is going to be a JOB. Pretty much every other bit of cabling is in that area of the case. Can it be done? Yes, I'm sure you could. Is it going to really SUCK doing it? Oh yea.

Another thing you have to think of is the type of cooler on the graphics card. The case has a stacked cooling architecture which means all of the components are set up to quickly take any heat out of the top of the case. That's why it only needs one fan at the bottom. Now this is the most unique and awesome set-ups I have seen in a long time, but there are some trade offs.

The graphics card you use has to have a "reference" cooler design, meaning that the fan on the card has to direct heat out of the back-plate, not out the side. If you want to see an example of what I mean, take a look at these two links to two different EVGA GTX 760 cards:

EVGA GTX 760 with the correct cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130934

EVGA GTX 760 with the WRONG cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130932

If you use a card with the wrong type of cooler, you are just blowing hot air back into the case, which kills the stacked effect. By the way, neither of those cards would fit anyway. Actually, I researched all of the GTX 760 cards that I could find with a reference cooler and none of them would fit according to the dimensions.

Sorry to be so discouraging.

As for the PSU, it has to be an SFX power supply. I just chose the Silverstone one because it was 80+ Gold, good price, and it was the same make as the case. There's always something to be said about that.

I hope I have pointed you in the right direction. Let me know if you have any other questions.

B-San · Nov 27, 2013

Hi great build and awesome case!

I've done a few builds with the last gen of this board (Z77n & H77N) and was wondering if the USB 3.0 ports on yours are backwards compatible in OS X?

I found that the limitation wasn't too much of a big deal with the 77 series, as there was plenty of USB 2.0 ports for legacy hardware...

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I haven't tried Mavericks with any of those builds, mainly 10.8.4..

Blackote · Jan 4, 2014

I am pretty much running the same setup except a i5 4670k processor. When i put the computer to sleep it wont wake unless I press the power button on my case which it will boot back up to the desktop but everything is frozen. Any ideas as to what the culprit could be? Thanks in advanced guys!

davidmwd · Mar 8, 2014

Dyuhas,

Did you have to do any tweaking to get bluetooth working? Also is this rig upgraded to 10.9.2 and fully functional?

Sorry for all the questions just having a couple issues and you've got the same setup as me.

Thanks in advance if you can respond.

Cheers,
David

tedeu · May 2, 2014

I have tha same motherboard with I7-4771 and GTX760 2GB.
I installed Multibeast with the exact same settings, but sleep doesn`t work.
Any ideas?
I tried also darkwake=0 but still the same.
The monitor goes off and i can see the fans of the graphic card stoping for 1 second then they start again..the monitor remains still off but the computer is on. If i move the mouse or keyboard the desktop appears no problem.
This is my third re-installation of Mavericks. At one point i think i was using the optimized default in bios without anything else and the computer went to sleep but when wake up freeze.

Does anybody have a solution?
Thank you.

Blackote · Jun 19, 2014

tedeu said:
I have tha same motherboard with I7-4771 and GTX760 2GB.
I installed Multibeast with the exact same settings, but sleep doesn`t work.
Any ideas?
I tried also darkwake=0 but still the same.
The monitor goes off and i can see the fans of the graphic card stoping for 1 second then they start again..the monitor remains still off but the computer is on. If i move the mouse or keyboard the desktop appears no problem.
This is my third re-installation of Mavericks. At one point i think i was using the optimized default in bios without anything else and the computer went to sleep but when wake up freeze.

Does anybody have a solution?
Thank you.

Check your Plist for the Timeout=2 and change to 6 or 10. I had the same issue, but once I changed it to 6 it would take about 15 seconds for it to sleep and it would turn back on with usb or bluetooth.

Janky9 · Jul 10, 2014

Very nice write up!

I have teh same setup just with an i5-4670k and i can´t get my onboard graphics to work. Any idea, i´ve tried literally all the tricks on tonymacx86 but still no luck.

It always says "No kext loaded"

Any ideas?

Blackote · Jul 10, 2014

Janky9 said:
Very nice write up!

I have teh same setup just with an i5-4670k and i can´t get my onboard graphics to work. Any idea, i´ve tried literally all the tricks on tonymacx86 but still no luck.

It always says "No kext loaded"

Any ideas?

How is your Plist setup and check your BIOS to see if you turned off your IGFX

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dyuhas' Silverstone FT03 Fortress Mini - i7-4770K, GA-Z87N-WIFI, 16GB 1600MHz, Intel HD4600

dyuhas

peaceEASY

dyuhas

B-San

Blackote

davidmwd

tedeu

Blackote

Janky9

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