WonkeyDonkey's Steambox Pro - Z87E-ITX - Core i7 4770S - GTX 760 Gaming ITX

[WonkeyDonkey]

@WonkeyDonkey

Hey, can you upload some photos of your build? I really like that case and I'd like to see the interior and exterior

I dont actually have a camera here right now. What I can tell you about the case :

• Its a fairly standard black box mini design.
• The blue LED at the front is nowhere near as bright or shiny as you see in the manufacturer pics, its only just visible.
• There are a lot of design considerations; it can fit a full ATX PSU with ease and there is room for full length cabling, and there is an internal 'rack' to attach SSDs just under the roof of the unit to free up space inside.
• The fan is standard fayre; I swapped mine out straight away for a quiet noctua case fan I have.
• Temps overall are very good for this size case.
• Ive noticed the occasional and very slight vibration coming from the PSU mount area which I havent nailed down yet. Its not annoying though.
• I'd rate it as a good solid case if not spectacular.

 

[pawelhome]

Thanks about your thoughts.
I need you to do me a favor Can yout measure how much space is from the cpu to the top of the case? I want to buy Noctua nh-d14 but im not sure if it fits. Antec says it fits 170mm cooling and noctua is 160, but you know how it is sometimes.
Did you consider Fractal node 304? its quite similar

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Thanks about your thoughts.
I need you to do me a favor Can yout measure how much space is from the cpu to the top of the case? I want to buy Noctua nh-d14 but im not sure if it fits. Antec says it fits 170mm cooling and noctua is 160, but you know how it is sometimes.
Did you consider Fractal node 304? its quite similar

I did look at the fractal yup, but favoured this one due to having space for the slimline optical drive. I still use mine regular.

Measuring inisde I think 170 prob wouldnt fit.

 

[nonloc]

I'm also waiting for information back regarding C2 versions of this board.

Interesting. My Z87E-ITX board says C2 in the BIOS, and I remember it having some shiny "NEW" sticker on the box back when I got it late October.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Interesting. My Z87E-ITX board says C2 in the BIOS, and I remember it having some shiny "NEW" sticker on the box back when I got it late October.

Sadly, none of the suppliers I use can guarantee or even confirm if they have the C2 version and can send it out.

I prob would update to C2 if I could get it guaranteed.

If anyone knows a sppplier of the C2 version in UK, I would be interested in hearing about it.

 

[nonloc]

Did you consider Fractal node 304? its quite similar

I explicitly wanted a case without an optical drive slot, and chose the Fractal Node 304 as it was one of the few without it. It's an excellent case—sturdy, quiet, cool, and aesthetically pleasing. Would def. recommend.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

I explicitly wanted a case without an optical drive slot, and chose the Fractal Node 304 as it was one of the few without it. It's an excellent case—sturdy, quiet, cool, and aesthetically pleasing. Would def. recommend.

Fractal are a good solid design overall. I still have my Define Mini here. Quite understated I think, but a lovely case to work with for sure. They absolutely nailed the accoustics with this one too.

 

[nonloc]

I see. Do you think Clover will work with this board? Ideally I'd like to boot both OSes in pure UEFI mode.

I use Clover UEFI with mine and it works swimmingly.

Not much difference overall compared to Chameleon, other than that it shaves a few seconds off my boot time and can be set to load my XMP profiles so they're recognized at the OS level.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

I wonder if other owners of this board might do me a small favour.

The second 4-pin fan connector on this board; when I connect a 120mm fan to mine and set the profile to silent, it starts off spinning nice and quiet but eventually slows down and then stops. It does this very slowly.

The CPU fan connector does not exhibit this behaviour.

If anyone would like to check this and see if it happens for them too, it would be much appreciated. If I use a different profile or setup a custom one, then it doesn't happen, only when using the silent profile.

If you are able to test this, please report back with your make/model of fan and motherboard revision.

For reference, my fan is the Noctua NF-F12 PWM model.

The spec for this states 12v, 0.6W, 0.05A.

I have the first generation/non-C2 revision board.

I think in silent mode, the power seems to be dropping to a level that can't power any fan at all.

If I can get some reports back, I'll take this to Asrock with a view to getting them to update the bios again.

Thanks all.

 

[nonloc]

The second 4-pin fan connector on this board; when I connect a 120mm fan to mine and set the profile to silent, it starts off spinning nice and quiet but eventually slows down and then stops. It does this very slowly.

Mine operates in silent mode and it's never seemed to have a problem. Though the connector for this fan is a 3-pin header, which might make a difference.

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/case-fans/silent-series-r2-140mm