TR Forums

I'm seriously considering diving into the SFF areana since I plan on going to school in Janruary and also doing more LAN gaming. They also just seem neat.

What are you thoughs on the SN45G? Seems to be quite popular.

Do you think it would house this system without overheating? Being that i'm on an "nothing to spend except what I get from selling what I don't use from my current system" budget I really want to use as much of my current rig as possible. These are what I'd me moving over, hopefully.

xp2500 (would 200x10.5 be posssible with the SFF?)
radeon 9700pro
1 gig of corsair XMS 3200LL
120gig WD SE
floppy
DVD/cdrw combo

Here is my problem, my r9700 has a heatpipe cooler on it and is bulky. Anyone who has this PC, could you give me a measurement from the middle of the agp slot to the side of the case? So I can get an idea if I would need different cooling on my radeon? I don't really plan on using the PCI slot anyway.

I'm sorry if I come off as a complete newbie (I am). Any info will be greatly appreciated!! The TR article on the SN45G was VERY helpful too.

Thanks!

Which is your 9700 pro model exactly? (manufacturer)
If you have the zalman or similar heat pipe they don't fit into the little case! I have sn45g and 9700 pro (Sapphire) with standard heatsink.
Consider that from the fan of the radeon to the case there is very, very little space (max 1 cm.)
Now i'm at work so i can't measure with precision...

Ah, i'm running N XP 2500+ @200X11 : NO PROBLEMS, but the temperature stays around 51 C in idle

The sapphire "Ultimate" model. I really didnt hold out much hope for it fitting.

Here are the dimmensions of it in PDF straight from Sapphire.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/broschure/ult-dimension.pdf

I still would appreciate a meansurement though, so I can get an idea of what I can use on my Radeon.

Thanks!!

Hoot Hoot Hoot... I guess not too many people go in here.

I don't have one, but I'd doubt very much that it would fit. You could always cut a hole in the casing to make room.

Pez, its not like a lot of people come in, its just some won't come out of the closet of their monster box's and admit that the SFF is actually quite capable.

This happened at a LAN party a couple of weeks back. Some of the guys scoffed at my SN45G till I schooled them at BF1942. Then they were like "wow, what hardware ARE you running in there?" Needless to say they took me/it pretty seriously as the evening wore on

-E

Since the PCI card isn't on the "correct side of the video card, you won't have much of a chance. However, like previously mentioned, you could mod the side of the case. I think that would be pretty cool, since you could have the heatsink jutting out with no space around it. That would also make for an extremely good cooler, since it's exposed to your nice cool air. Just make sure the heatpipe clears your drives!

pez-king wrote:

I'm seriously considering diving into the SFF areana since I plan on going to school in Janruary and also doing more LAN gaming. They also just seem neat.

What are you thoughs on the SN45G? Seems to be quite popular.

Do you think it would house this system without overheating? Being that i'm on an "nothing to spend except what I get from selling what I don't use from my current system" budget I really want to use as much of my current rig as possible. These are what I'd me moving over, hopefully.

xp2500 (would 200x10.5 be posssible with the SFF?)
radeon 9700pro
1 gig of corsair XMS 3200LL
120gig WD SE
floppy
DVD/cdrw combo

Here is my problem, my r9700 has a heatpipe cooler on it and is bulky. Anyone who has this PC, could you give me a measurement from the middle of the agp slot to the side of the case? So I can get an idea if I would need different cooling on my radeon? I don't really plan on using the PCI slot anyway.

I'm sorry if I come off as a complete newbie (I am). Any info will be greatly appreciated!! The TR article on the SN45G was VERY helpful too.

Thanks!

Not sure if it helps much, but what if you put this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1124

into this:

http://www.noblepcs.com/product.asp?0=208&1=265&3=982

It's still small form factor using MicroATX but you may be able to put your video card in without the use of a Dremel! Just put a nice carry handle on top (notice the case is only as wide as a floppy drive) and it'd be like carrying a small briefcase.

Zootech, not quiite what i'm looking for. But thanks for the idea!

I don't really feel too well about leaving part of the heatpipe exposed outside of the case like that becasue this is going to be a LANing rig along with being toted between the dorm and home and the such.

I guess I could get some sort of other cooling for it. I'm looking at this Vantec ICEBERG 4 cooler now. The reviews claim it's good. But I seen no mention of how quiet it is. The fan runs at 6000RPM...

It says it's about 15mm high, do you guys with the SN45G think it will fit?

REVIEW: http://www.envynews.com/index.php?ID=559

OFFICIAL: http://www.vantecusa.com/p_ccb_a4c.html

Or do you reccomend something else as a cooler?

Thanks!

pez-king wrote:

Zootech, not quiite what i'm looking for. But thanks for the idea!

I don't really feel too well about leaving part of the heatpipe exposed outside of the case like that becasue this is going to be a LANing rig along with being toted between the dorm and home and the such.

I guess I could get some sort of other cooling for it. I'm looking at this Vantec ICEBERG 4 cooler now. The reviews claim it's good. But I seen no mention of how quiet it is. The fan runs at 6000RPM...

It says it's about 15mm high, do you guys with the SN45G think it will fit?

REVIEW: http://www.envynews.com/index.php?ID=559

OFFICIAL: http://www.vantecusa.com/p_ccb_a4c.html

Or do you reccomend something else as a cooler?

Thanks!

What about showing up at the LAN party with a tricked-out water-cooled SFF rig?

pez-king wrote:

I don't really feel too well about leaving part of the heatpipe exposed outside of the case like that becasue this is going to be a LANing rig along with being toted between the dorm and home and the such.

You misunderstand. The heatpipe itself isn't going to stick out of the case, only the heatspreader that contacts your GPU directly. It may protrude 1cm out of the case, if even that. It may even make your system more stable, as if it's cool enough outside the case, not only will the GPU's heat be radiated, but some heat from inside the case can be transported through the heatpipe and radiated there unlikely it will be that cold outside your case, but you can pretend it makes a difference with your overall system, as opposed to just your video card stability.

You may be better off selling the 9700Pro and getting a 9600/9800 pro with a smaller heatsink. Plus, depending on the model, you may get HL2 for free. I wouldn't want to mod my SFF, because i would like to keep it small and neat, and also for resale vaule.
My .02

Even if just the heatspreader is exposed like that... if something bumps it's going to push on the whole card.

Actually I have decided to just get another cooler for it. A 9800 pro would be nice, but at the moment it isn't worth the hassle or cost of selling it and getting something else. I'm getting a vantec iceberq 4 cooler. $12, it's pretty slim so it should fit.

I can sell my heatpipe cooler to someone and i'll break even.

Thanks for all the replies!