Skylake ITX Z170N HackPro Build - FT03 mini

[Scotty2Hotty]

Skylake Z170N HackPro itx Build - FT03 mini

Hi all - I'm a bit new to forums but not entirely wet behind the ears when it comes to PC build or Hackintosh. I've built two previous rigs and converted one to a hackintosh with limited success due to it not having been planned to make it run OSX but this build is different - although I've taken a punt that there will be upcoming Hackintosh compatibility for the parts I've purchased already...

For the case I've gone with a Silverstone FT-03 mini - in black so to be somewhat similar to the Mac Pro. A bit bigger but still very compact and considerably more customisable.

I've also gotten from Silverstone the 450w SFX PSU and Tundra TD-03E AIO Liquid cooler.

The mobo is a Gigabyte Z170N, with 16GB (8+8) of Mushkin 2800 DDR4 RAM and the OS drive is an M.2 Samsung 950 Pro 256GB supposedly capable of incredible 2200MB/s read speeds and somewhat more subdued 900MB/s write.


At this point I've just gotten these parts and a Panasonic uj-265 slot loading Blu Ray burner but remaining on the shopping list is:

i7 6700k cpu
a nVidia GTX960 (?)
a sata3 SSD for Windows
and a file storage drive

I'm not so sure about the Graphics card, I've not been much of a PC gamer but looking to dip my toes in. I used to play on consoles heaps but study and work took over - Driving games interest me the most, FPS not so much, more games that don't take over your life.

I'm a graphic designer and photographer so Creative Suite is my main focus but this is for my home studio so it has to provide a bit of entertainment too. I have a pretty good monitor to compliment this build too (using my Mbpr on it for now) - an LG 34UC87C Ultrawide 3440x1440.

Movies look terrific on it - hoping games will too although I know it doesn't have adaptive sync but I do think it's the best looking and most functional 1440p Ultrawide out there, could go without height adjustment and the colour accuracy is where I need it to be. I had a 4k monitor for a few months (Dell 2715) but missed my smaller multi-monitor setup for productivity.

So this is my project... any advice on GPU's is welcomely received. Feel free to ask questions too, I intend to document this build on this forum as it might help others and trouble shoot my installation also.

Really hoping there will be a bit more Hackitosh support for the Skylake platform soon and that the parts I've gotten are compatible.

 

[khriswithak]

I'll soon be building my hackintosh using this case as well, different components though (GA-Z97N-Wifi + i7-4790K + MSI GTX 960). Would definitely be interested in seeing how your project turns out.

My current concerns for my build will be the water cooling. I'm thinking of using a thick rad with a 120mm Pull fan on top of it and the standard 140mm case fan under it to create a Push Pull config. Because of that, I'm not sure where I'll be able to fit a 3.5" HDD for my non-system files since the cooling will be too tall to fit the 3.5" cage that the case provides. I won't be using an optical drive so maybe I can figure out another way to use that space for a 3.5" HDD.

I'm also not sure where I'll be plugging in the fans on the mobo so that I can figure out (and control) the most optimal fan speed/cooling/noise ratio.

Good luck with your build and look forward to seeing some updates on this project. I'll try to detail mine as well.

 

[Scotty2Hotty]

Hi Khris. I'd considered a push pull on a Aio cooler to help increase airflow. There's not much room where the optical drive would sit... possibly an ssd or two, no way for a 3.5" drive though. Both the 3.5 and 2.5 drive bays sit above the radiator so putting in an additional fan means removing these too. Removing the 3.5 bay would help airflow... maybe use a laptop hdd instead?

The Silverstone Tundra has a different fin pattern to most others... looks to me that it'll restrict airflow at a lesser rate than others.

Good luck to you too... I'll keep an eye out for your build also.

 

[datrabbit]

I was wondering how the build was coming along and if you've had any success yet with this board?

 

[Scotty2Hotty]

I've put it all together with exception to a graphics card (not bought one yet) and I also need a slimline sata adapter to get the optical drive connected.... minor things and not essential to get this up and running which I'm starting right now.

Cable management took some thought but I'm quite happy with how it went - I'll throw some photos up at some point - Into the bios and everything looks functional - idle is 34 deg C and stable.

Fan is quiet and a nice low tone. Super happy so far.... but not getting ahead of myself, quite a bit more to this project. Glad I see that the Samsung 950 (M.2 NVe drive) is bootable on the Gigabyte Z170n - I had read that some mobo's would need a firmware upgrade.

 

[conradolpz]

I plan to do a very similar built ! Pictures please