FT03 vs. PC-A05N vs. TJ08-E?

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adlsrf

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I'm trying to decide between these three cases.

I'd like to use an i5-2500k and a MSI Twin Frozr III PE/OC GTX 570 video card.

I'm having trouble figuring out which case with which setup would be the coolest running option. I just don't want to get too ungainly a CPU cooler in case I have to move the machine around a bit. I would be down for using a Corsair H50 or H60 or something like that but I haven't heard good things about them. Is the H60 significantly better than the H50?

Anyway, cooling and longevity are my only concerns. I do play games frequently. I don't care about noise issues at all and I'm perfectly willing to run all fans at 100% 24-7.

Which would you guys suggest? I'm looking for a case and cpu cooler suggestion.

I don't have any plans to overclock the CPU significantly just yet (doubt it'd have a huge impact in games), but I am considering a slight overclock and/or an undervolt right off the bat.

I would like to keep the CPU and GPU load temps in the 60s, maximum. I don't want it going into the 70s or beyond.

Other info:

One 3.5" HD, maybe an additional 2.5" HD if there's room but the second isn't necessary.
 
PC-a05n.

Pros - great finish, nice and neat, sleek looking, lian li is good to work with

cons - i dont think it cools that well with the backwards fan orientation, wont accept very tall air cpu coolers, is biggest of the 3 cases - too big for a SFF case if you ask me.(~12cm ldeeper than a tj08 to no benefit?)

FT03

pros - small desk space required, good cooling due to narrow tall orientation, heat escapes from the top,

cons - bad for moving around with those feet and the removable top lid can be clumsy, also a few people that bought they end up not happy for some reason

tj08e

Pros- its small! - it has a cpu heatsink bracket support for big coolers,(helps support cooler while moving) will accept tall cpu coolers, because of the front and rear fans running through a narrow channel it cools very well also.

Cons- umm dunno.

BTW instead of h50 you could go an air cooler, i use prolima megahalems without additional fans and i dont have any heat issues. the tj08/e cools well - I also chose this case with lanning in mind, bc its all one small solid unit its safe and easy to transport

Overall tj08e ftw IMO - i reccomend this cooler http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_23_845&products_id=15869
 
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anferne85 said:
PC-a05n.

Pros - great finish, nice and neat, sleek looking, lian li is good to work with

cons - i dont think it cools that well with the backwards fan orientation, wont accept very tall air cpu coolers, is biggest of the 3 cases - too big for a SFF case if you ask me.(~12cm ldeeper than a tj08 to no benefit?)

FT03

pros - small desk space required, good cooling due to narrow tall orientation, heat escapes from the top,

cons - bad for moving around with those feet and the removable top lid can be clumsy, also a few people that bought they end up not happy for some reason

tj08e

Pros- its small! - it has a cpu heatsink bracket support for big coolers,(helps support cooler while moving) will accept tall cpu coolers, because of the front and rear fans running through a narrow channel it cools very well also.

Cons- umm dunno.

BTW instead of h50 you could go an air cooler, i use prolima megahalems without additional fans and i dont have any heat issues. the tj08/e cools well - I also chose this case with lanning in mind, bc its all one small solid unit its safe and easy to transport

Overall tj08e ftw IMO - i reccomend this cooler http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_23_845&products_id=15869
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm leaning towards the TJ08-E myself.

You have no trouble transporting your case with the Megahalems installed?

How much does your total system weigh? And you have two graphics cards in Crossfire? If you don't mind all the questions, what are your GPU temperatures like under load? And CPU? (Have you overclocked?)

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!
 
I just finished building a TJ08-E, here is what I though:

Make sure the motherboard has the power connector high on the board, I am using the Asus Maximux Gene-V z68 board, and the power connector is right where the hard drive cage is, making it very hard to connect if your power cable is stiff. It also has the USB3 front panel connectors right next to it, and I ended up having to use them as USB2 as I couldnt connect.

I have a Corsair H80 in it, only 1 fan as 2 was just a tad bit to large and hit the CPU block.

Make sure your ram is low height.

Make sure your Power supply is short and completely modular, I went with a sparkle 750w that had the main power hard connect, and lets just say lucky for me I wasnt intending on using an optical drive.

Other than that, with the corsair on low, and thanks to using SSD's, the case is silent except for the video card, the i5 2600k idles at 30c.

It's a nice case, just make sure you choose your components well.
 
Kihaji is right, using a semi modular psu and optical drive was a pain in the ass, and also short ram is required, yeh the case is quite heAvy. When transporting I make sure to hold the CPU cooler is upright for less weight bearing.. The tj08e shouldn't have his problem... Gpu under load is 73c with fans on med-low. CPU is around 60c load, again fans on low-med.

I might just check these temps over the weekend and get back to you. I don't overclock
 
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What brand of RAM do you guys use that's short?

Also, you have 60 C load temps on CPU with no fan on the Megahalems heatsink?! That must be one hell of a heatsink
 
Also, what's the problem with optical drives? I'm looking at pictures of the case and it seems like there should be no problem with having an optical drive in the top drive bay...


Also, will I have a problem with a Megahalems heatsink, short ram, and one 3.5" hard drive (only one)? Is there enough room to put fans on the heatsink?
 
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PC-A05N has really funky heat trap up top if you are to use an video card. Its almost required to switch the case top for something with ventilation.
 
Kihaji said:
I just finished building a TJ08-E, here is what I though:

Make sure the motherboard has the power connector high on the board, I am using the Asus Maximux Gene-V z68 board, and the power connector is right where the hard drive cage is, making it very hard to connect if your power cable is stiff. It also has the USB3 front panel connectors right next to it, and I ended up having to use them as USB2 as I couldnt connect.

I have a Corsair H80 in it, only 1 fan as 2 was just a tad bit to large and hit the CPU block.

Make sure your ram is low height.

Make sure your Power supply is short and completely modular, I went with a sparkle 750w that had the main power hard connect, and lets just say lucky for me I wasnt intending on using an optical drive.

Other than that, with the corsair on low, and thanks to using SSD's, the case is silent except for the video card, the i5 2600k idles at 30c.

It's a nice case, just make sure you choose your components well.
Click to expand...
All the motherboard seem to have the power connector in the same spot:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=
 
yeah the heatsink does good job, but its the flow of air in the tj08 that makes this possible, btw i will update with temp info this weekend.

as for ram, just need to get ram that does not have the huge heatsinks, just normal size ram. without any tall heatsinks on them.

as for the optical drive problem, there is about 3cm clearance between my psu and optical drive which makes it difficult to plug anything in.. its possbile but annoying
 
Ah, thanks for the info. I wonder if there are smaller optical drives. Worse comes to worst I could just have the drive sticking out the front by an inch when not transporting it (gotta install programs somehow).

Btw, this is a preliminary component list I've got, what do you guys think?

TJ08-E Case
600W Modular Power Supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017 (is 600 enough? I might do slight OCing on CPU... )
Prolimatech Megahalems CPU heatsink - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242001&Tpk=megahalems
Intel Core i5 2500k CPU (Sandy Bridge) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
MSI 570GTX TWIN FROZR III PE/OC Video Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127582
Western Digital 1TB Hard Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
Asus Micro-ATX Z68 1155 Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance DDR3 1600 RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196 (looks low profile?)

How many fans would I need to buy? Two 120mm fans? One for case, one for CPU heatsink?

Are these good for such purposes:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...r=BESTMATCH&Description=panaflo+120mm&x=0&y=0

I can't thank you all enough for your help. I think I'm finally close to deciding on what to get!
 
The optical+psu bay is a 382mm long according to the manual, they reccomend a psu no longer than 185mm, and an optical drive no longer than 220mm, but if you use the max on both you are over the max length by 23mm.

For the video card you are looking at a maximum of 13.3 inches (yes, the manual goes back and forth between metric and imperial units, freaking annoying).

RAM height is 54mm max.

CPU cooler is a max of 165mm height, and 18mm from edge of the case to the edge of the motherboard.

Everything you have listed seems ok.
 
yeh that ram looks good.. yep potentially you could get two fans one for the cpu and one to replace the stock 120 exhaust fan that silverstone provides, im sure its an ok fan, i just changed mine coz i wanted quiet ones.

btw i tested the temps now that i have the 2nd 5770 in and the 2500k.

2500k (fans set to medium)
-idle 35c
-running prime 95 for 10 mins 65c

GPUs-idle 42c
-running furmark 3d
(had to set fans to high or probs would have got to 85+ degrese.)
-top card 74c
-bottom card 64c

not really happy with the temps, i guess 2 passive cards in a small case is not the best idea...

anyway some pics



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
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Thanks! You've got a great looking case there.

Those temps are actually quite good for two passively cooled cards and a passively cooled CPU... insanely good in fact, they match what I've heard from people who had fans on everything.
 
Quick question for you guys. Will a 38mm width fan (like a Sanyo Denki) fit on a Megahalems cooler in this case?
 
Three slot card yes, I can't fit that fan In a tjo8 but you are going to get the tjo8e right ? It's upside down layout and mightfit a fat fan like that, dunno

go without 1 !
 
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anferne85 said:
Three slot card yes, the CPU fan all depends on then orientation of the CPU cooler I could not fit a 38 m fan on prolimas but maybe could squeeze a 20m fan in. See the pictures to show what I mean
Click to expand...
Yeah seems like a very tight fit due to the hard drives. If I find a separate location for that 3.5" HD (i only have one), I think I could fit a 25mm fan in there without a problem. Would you agree? I ordered the case but it hasn't arrived yet.
 
adlsrf said:
Yeah seems like a very tight fit due to the hard drives. If I find a separate location for that 3.5" HD (i only have one), I think I could fit a 25mm fan in there without a problem. Would you agree? I ordered the case but it hasn't arrived yet.
Click to expand...
Three slot card yes, I can't fit that fan In a tjo8 but you are going to get the tjo8e right ? It's upside down layout and mightfit a fat fan like that, dunno

go without 1 !
 
Well, I set it up!

ypINU.jpg


I'll report back on temps after I get everything zip tied away. I don't have any optical drive, I just installed via USB stick or a DVD drive shared from my laptop on the network (wasted several hours on that... apparently you can't use the USB 3.0 ports when booting into Windows installer, have to use the 2.0 ports until drivers are installed). I have room to mount one in the lower 5.25" bay. I used a Corsair 650w modular PSU.

It took several hours. Nothing too difficult but working inside such a cramped case was a new experience for me so I went very slowly. I routed everything around the back (the opening near the PSU).

I do have a complaint about the SATA cables having 90 degree angles in an inconvenient way (Asus Maximus Geni mATX board).

I used an old Noctua PF-12 (I think that's the model) on the heatsink and Scythe S-Flex (1200rpm) for the fans. I might get another because these are pretty worn. I used AS5 with the Megahalems using the pea drop method (i know it requires a long "break in" period). Idle temps around low 30s.

I really do not look forward to having to take this all apart in 1 month to pack it all up for my trip overseas then reassembling everything over there. -_- It feels so sturdy, I'm half-tempted to just pack it like this in my carry on somehow.
 
Nice!, its a very neat build, maybe when you move you can just remove the heatsink and vga, to take the strain off, the rest of the gear might be ok i rkn

nice work!
 
Nice TJ08E build, congrats

adlsrf said:
I used an old Noctua PF-12 (I think that's the model) on the heatsink and Scythe S-Flex (1200rpm) for the fans. I might get another because these are pretty worn.
Click to expand...
In case you looking for other fans, and if you liked Sflex, Scythe has their new fans that come with 4pin pwn, and since the GeneZ also has 4pin PWM connectors, i suggest you to check Scythe Kama Flex 120mm x 25mm PWM Fan w/ S-Fluid Dynamic Bearings (SA1225FDB12H-P), the fan can be controlled from 300rpm till 1600rpm. Or if you don't care about PWM fans, then Gentle Typhoons should be a nice option.
 
adlsrf said:
Well, I set it up!
I just installed via USB stick or a DVD drive shared from my laptop on the network (wasted several hours on that... apparently you can't use the USB 3.0 ports when booting into Windows installer, have to use the 2.0 ports until drivers are installed).
Click to expand...
I wasted several minutes as well wondering why the windows setup kept asking me for some driver when installing from a USB stick on the front 3.0 ports. I ended doing an install from the DVD drive.
 
hmmm... I'm having a problem now where the system will suddenly reboot, then reboot again when trying to get back into windows, then start rebooting constantly even before the machine POSTs

I'm trying to figure out what it is, it's happened twice so far, both times in Quake Live in Firefox. I'm trying to get it to happen again but no dice yet after almost an hour.

I'm worried it might be an electrical short or something from something in the case touching metal? I can't see anything offhand. I have two loose PCI-E connectors that are not being used which might touch the side of the case but I don't see why they wouldn't be causing problems all the time and right now it seems to be working fine again.

A guy from Asus told me at their forums to use only 2 ram slots, lower it to 1333 speed and set VDIMM manually. I'll try all that once I duplicate the problem again. You guys have any ideas? Ever run into this problem assembling a cramped mATX system?
 
I would first try and determine if it is a software of hardware fault, software faults seem to happen at the same time every time while you are doing the same thing ... Hardware faults happen randomly.

Check out the windows log file to see if anything weird is going on with drivers just before the reboot happens, it's somehwere in admin tools..

My pc done the same thing when I made bios changes, It wouldn't boot proprely without me reserting bios to default and completing a few shutdowns

how are your temps? Are you oc at all? Could it be the system protecting itself from something?

I really doub it's a short circuit, I think that most psus won't boot if they are shorted at all
 
Just an update...

That intermittent rebooting problem would go away for a day or two then suddenly reappear. I figured it was a memory incompatibility until it happened again today and I shut the machine down and left for a few hours. When I got back and turned the PSU on... nothing. I took everything out and left only CPU plugged in, even removed vid card and tried different memory and it just won't power up. The motherboard lights up when the power is on but the power switch (there is one onboard) won't do anything.

So I RMA'ed the mobo for another of the same make (Asus Maximus IV Gene Z) and the RAM (got two sticks of low voltage ram this time instead of 4), and the PSU (returned Corsair HX650 for the newer AX750). If it still doesn't boot, I'll get the CPU replaced too.

When I hit the power switch, I hear a really faint sound from within the PSU, but nothing happens.

What do you guys think it was? Faulty PSU? RAM fried mobo?

Are all the USB devices supposed to be powered on when the PSU switch is on but system power is off? I found that weird.
 
Btw no overclocking and temps in this case as well as noise were great for the brief time it worked.
 
i may be wrong but i think when the pc wont even go into post then its short circuiting, or there is a faulty part which is shorting, for all the fans to start and the pc to post there must be a complete power circuit in tact., seeing as you have replaced a few of the parts maybe its a short circuit on a part that you havnt replaced?, it cant be faulty psu again can it ? are all your power plugs in correctly ? vga power ?

i would go over each step real slowly and make sure you dont miss anything. also maybe you want to post this problem in another section of the forum where you will get more support GL :/

small fact but you hold down the power button for 10 secs it earths all the parts lol
 
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I haven't replaced the parts yet, just ordered them. I got the mobo completely separate from the system to make sure nothing's being shorted. If anything is, it must be in the power supply I suppose. Will see when new parts arrive.
 
Since that sounds like it could be a problem with a short circuit, I thought perhaps the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste I used (which is electrically conductive) could have been misapplied. So I took out the CPU and took pics,

Pics of CPU with thermal paste on it after removing heatsink:

http://imgur.com/tQIqI

http://imgur.com/lGjGV

Pic of heatsink with thermal paste on it after removal:

http://imgur.com/1Bp0l

Pic of CPU socket after removal of CPU:

http://imgur.com/mttyT

Pic of CPU underside after removal:

http://imgur.com/Aax3U

Pic of Motherboard 8-pin connector as it was out of the box with the 4-pin tab in place:

http://imgur.com/WgXZT

Pic of Motherboard 8-pin connector with 4-pin tab removed (note the shape of the plugs to compare to PSU connector in next image):

http://imgur.com/9DzQC

Pic of HX650W PSU's "8-pin" motherboard connector:

http://imgur.com/R4baT

Looks fine to me. What do you think? Which forum should I repost this in?

One thing I did notice though was that there was some weird stuff under the CPU cover which I doubt was from my application of thermal paste (since there was no AS5 running down the sides at all):

http://imgur.com/hQy8s

I drew red arrows pointing to what I mean. What is that stuff? That's not my fault, is it? That's how they come from Intel?
 
Only note I have is that looks like a little bit too much thermal paste but everyone has their own preffred amount, so you say the pc went from randomly restarting to not starting at all ? If you didn't change any hardware in that time it sounds like one of the parts becaume faulty after some use .. Once upon a time my pc wouldn't boot and the psu would just make a slight noise when I turned the pc on, turned out o didn't plug the VGA power in properly and bc power was not getting to the whole pc it wouldn't boot, gl
 
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