Description

Built to replace an aging i7 860 gaming system from 2010. (ver.1 - Pictured)

Went through different versions of this build after upgrading from a GTX 970 (from the 2010 system) to a GTX 1080. (ver.2 - Not Pictured)

After upgrading to the GTX 1080, I noticed that the GPU was running a bit hot (76-78c, GPU Fan 78-83%) and the GPU fans were spinning at a higher / louder rate. While looking into the issue, I noticed that the temp. on the GPU dropped while the case was on it side (my thinking was the intake on the bottom started getting better air flow). I ended up replacing the Corsair H100i v2 for the Corsair H80i v2 to help bring in cooler air to the GPU by adding a Corsair 140mm AF Q.E. fan to the front of the case in addition to the 120mm fan (Stock Fractal Fan) from the bottom of the case. (ver.3 - Pictured)

Still not happy with the internal temp (72-74c, GPU Fan 68-76%). I ended up picking up a Corsair ML120 case fan to replace the fan (Stock Fractal Fan) in bottom of the case to help bring in more air from the bottom of the case to the GPU. It didn't seem to help with the internal temp which seem to just be building up in the case. I eventually moved the ML120 to the rear to help exhaust out the heat and moving the Corsair 120mm AF Q.E. to the bottom of the case and using a PWM splitter with the 140mm AF Q.E..

GPU temp. while gaming now stays around 68c while the GPU fans spin around 55%. (ver.4 - Pictured).

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Comments

  • 35 months ago
  • 2 points

Fantastic mini itx build! As was said before the cable management is great!

  • 35 months ago
  • 2 points

Thanks!

  • 35 months ago
  • 2 points

it looked great... until i saw the HIDEOUS noctua fans. honestly, noctua fans are great for function but they kill aesthetics. that's just me though. they could look amazing to other people.

  • 35 months ago
  • 1 point

yeah, i feel the same way, i would have probably gotten different fans if I had gotten a case with a window.

  • 35 months ago
  • 1 point

I'll agree that they definitely aren't the best for aesthetic purposes, but for performance they're a top contender. I'd rather have a build perform better and perhaps not be completely color-coded than sacrifice a bit of cooling performance for a nicer look.

  • 35 months ago
  • 2 points

Oh cool. Someone else who went with the SF600 PSU in the Nano S. Should get mine tomorrow to finish the build. Seems like a nice little sucker and should make dealing with cables easier.

  • 35 months ago
  • 1 point

I def. wanted to give the GPU some breathing room. Looked up all the builds for the Nano S and compared PSUs / GPUs on dif. builds. I was surprised how small the SF600 PSU was when I 1st opened it, it was def. the right choice to go with for the Nano S. If you plan on placing 2.5 HDD / SSD drives under the mother board you may want to look into getting a SATA power adapter / splitter. The SATA power on the SF600 PSU doesnt really fit well with the case.

  • 35 months ago
  • 1 point

Wonderful cable management! How was working with the Corsair SFF PSU cables?

  • 35 months ago
  • 1 point

Thanks!

Not the greatest cables, I ended up buying an adapter for the SATA power to be used with the 2 SSD drives in the back. They were also a bit short for this case, so i went with the cablemod extension.

I thought about buying custom cables to replace them, but didnt really feel like spending too much more for cabling.

  • 34 months ago
  • 1 point

Doesn't the Nano S Mini come with fans included?

Or did you choose to replace them?

  • 33 months ago
  • 1 point

it comes with 2 fans (i forget the sizes but probably 2 120mm fans), i ended up re-using them for my older build that this replaced.

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