- last edited on by
ROGBot
My first proper build log Project "Silent HTPC"
This build is partially sponsored by
Companies Hardware/Gear in this build (To be updated as I purchase the hardware)
Parvum obviously
So, on the 10th of March this year. I logged onto the ROG Forums and saw a popup for a new private message...and this is what was waiting for me
It was a message from Justin & Shaun from Parvum Systems, I edited out some of it to hide what was going on(as I posted on Facebook and wanted to tease my friends with something I was getting 😄 ) as I was going to get a Beta case from them...their upcoming Mini ITX case.
Normally i'm all about red & black, and I messaged the boys in reply saying hell yes i'd love one of their upcoming products and I chose initially a red & black color scheme. I was going to use the ROG Maximus VI Impact, but then thought that would be a waste of great hardware for just an HTPC build(plus costly for me to build). So I messaged them back and asked for black & gold and the boys were only too happy to oblige me of my color change. I posted on Facebook and got some congrats from some of my friends and one of my replies was this "I feel like the ugly kid asked by the hottest girl at school out on a date hahaha, though this is a helluva lot more awesome!". The boys at Parvum had really made my week and it was only 4 days til my 32nd bday too!! so I considered this a birthday present from them hehe 😄
Now begins the build log, what's happened so far and also and this is very important, i've included pics on how to set this case up right the 1st time...you'll see why when I post the pics. Also as this is me fulfilling my requirements of being a Beta tester, my thoughts on this product and changes that I feel should be changed.
10th April 2014 - I got this box in the mail, no Company logo...but I saw the delivery address, so I knew exactly what it was...I was giddy with excitement!!
Opened up the box and started taking some happy snaps of my new case, with my just bought(the previous weekend) Sony Cybershot W710.....apogologies for the quality of some pics, I have involuntary muscle spasms which causes havoc when i'm trying to focus on doing something...gonna have to invest in a tri-pod for the camera haha 😛
Neatly packaged product
Time to get to bizness!!
All the goodies that come with the case; a bag of 6mm socket hex head screws, bag of 10mm socket hex head screws, a bag of HDD/PSU socket hex head screws, USB Cable with screws in a seperate bag, a Vandal Switch(looks so much better than pics of them) a bag of SSD(I think) screws, a couple Allen keys for the screws,the wires for the Vandal Switch and also some standoff cubes.
A silly little thing I did with the standoff cubes - to reflect my joy at receiving the package
Some (not so glorious) shots of the panels for the case!
Hmmm, is it me, or do those mounting holes look a bit too big? 😛
Gimme GOOOOOOOOOOOLD!! 😛
Initial thoughts on the panels themselves: ZOMFG!!!! the pics pale in comparison to the amazing quality of the panels themselves, the work done on them is amazing and I take my hat off to Justin and Shaun for their work....but, then there was a small problem...the mid-wall(Mobo tray)'s mounting holes were too bloody big and i'd also noticed that the "window" panel seemed a tad small :eek:
I placed the window over the panel it sits behind and my suspicions were confirmed
So, I quickly hopped onto Facebook and contacted the boys and sent them pics for proof. Turns out the guy who packs the orders was at work sick and the window panel was an earlier prototype smaller ITX window panel...and they were perplexed at the size of the mount holes on the midwall/mobo tray. Then i'd also asked them about mounting drives in the case, I seemed to be missing some kind of drive caddy, or something to mount the drives. They told me what happened and that a care package was en route to me ASAP. I was happy at their speedy replies...then, things got a little complicated from here on out. The "care package" of drive mount and midwall/mobo tray somehow got sent to someone else in Aus...they contacted the person who has my stuff and asked him to forward the gear to me. Fast forward to early May, I still hadn't received my stuff. I messaged the boys again, they got right onto it and the following week, the window panel right size(:P) made it to my door. I informed the boys that I had the window, but still no sign of my care package......I was getting a little antsy as this is supposed to be a Beta test and this person was holding up my obligations to Parvum Systems. Early June I contacted the guys again, telling them I still had not receieved the package as of yet, so they immediately sent me again the missing midwall/mobo tray and drive mount.
This build is partially sponsored by
Companies Hardware/Gear in this build (To be updated as I purchase the hardware)
Parvum obviously
So, on the 10th of March this year. I logged onto the ROG Forums and saw a popup for a new private message...and this is what was waiting for me
It was a message from Justin & Shaun from Parvum Systems, I edited out some of it to hide what was going on(as I posted on Facebook and wanted to tease my friends with something I was getting 😄 ) as I was going to get a Beta case from them...their upcoming Mini ITX case.
Normally i'm all about red & black, and I messaged the boys in reply saying hell yes i'd love one of their upcoming products and I chose initially a red & black color scheme. I was going to use the ROG Maximus VI Impact, but then thought that would be a waste of great hardware for just an HTPC build(plus costly for me to build). So I messaged them back and asked for black & gold and the boys were only too happy to oblige me of my color change. I posted on Facebook and got some congrats from some of my friends and one of my replies was this "I feel like the ugly kid asked by the hottest girl at school out on a date hahaha, though this is a helluva lot more awesome!". The boys at Parvum had really made my week and it was only 4 days til my 32nd bday too!! so I considered this a birthday present from them hehe 😄
Now begins the build log, what's happened so far and also and this is very important, i've included pics on how to set this case up right the 1st time...you'll see why when I post the pics. Also as this is me fulfilling my requirements of being a Beta tester, my thoughts on this product and changes that I feel should be changed.
10th April 2014 - I got this box in the mail, no Company logo...but I saw the delivery address, so I knew exactly what it was...I was giddy with excitement!!
Opened up the box and started taking some happy snaps of my new case, with my just bought(the previous weekend) Sony Cybershot W710.....apogologies for the quality of some pics, I have involuntary muscle spasms which causes havoc when i'm trying to focus on doing something...gonna have to invest in a tri-pod for the camera haha 😛
Neatly packaged product
Time to get to bizness!!
All the goodies that come with the case; a bag of 6mm socket hex head screws, bag of 10mm socket hex head screws, a bag of HDD/PSU socket hex head screws, USB Cable with screws in a seperate bag, a Vandal Switch(looks so much better than pics of them) a bag of SSD(I think) screws, a couple Allen keys for the screws,the wires for the Vandal Switch and also some standoff cubes.
A silly little thing I did with the standoff cubes - to reflect my joy at receiving the package
Some (not so glorious) shots of the panels for the case!
Hmmm, is it me, or do those mounting holes look a bit too big? 😛
Gimme GOOOOOOOOOOOLD!! 😛
Initial thoughts on the panels themselves: ZOMFG!!!! the pics pale in comparison to the amazing quality of the panels themselves, the work done on them is amazing and I take my hat off to Justin and Shaun for their work....but, then there was a small problem...the mid-wall(Mobo tray)'s mounting holes were too bloody big and i'd also noticed that the "window" panel seemed a tad small :eek:
I placed the window over the panel it sits behind and my suspicions were confirmed
So, I quickly hopped onto Facebook and contacted the boys and sent them pics for proof. Turns out the guy who packs the orders was at work sick and the window panel was an earlier prototype smaller ITX window panel...and they were perplexed at the size of the mount holes on the midwall/mobo tray. Then i'd also asked them about mounting drives in the case, I seemed to be missing some kind of drive caddy, or something to mount the drives. They told me what happened and that a care package was en route to me ASAP. I was happy at their speedy replies...then, things got a little complicated from here on out. The "care package" of drive mount and midwall/mobo tray somehow got sent to someone else in Aus...they contacted the person who has my stuff and asked him to forward the gear to me. Fast forward to early May, I still hadn't received my stuff. I messaged the boys again, they got right onto it and the following week, the window panel right size(:P) made it to my door. I informed the boys that I had the window, but still no sign of my care package......I was getting a little antsy as this is supposed to be a Beta test and this person was holding up my obligations to Parvum Systems. Early June I contacted the guys again, telling them I still had not receieved the package as of yet, so they immediately sent me again the missing midwall/mobo tray and drive mount.
26th June 2014: I FINALLY GOT MY CARE PACKAGE!!! oh joy of happiest joys I was like a kid at Christmas time again. Work has been a little hectic for me as of late, so I left the care package in it's satchel and had to wait until today(29th June) to open it up. I messaged the guys and I right now, will have to say a huge thanks to Justin and Shaun for their huuuuuuge amount of patience in dealing with this on my behalf...I just hope this doesn't go against me in the future...with other Companies who may do the same for me.
Back to it!! YAYYYYYY! 😄
My 3 missing parts to the case
The Drive Mount - initial thought "where the hell does this go?" haha
The Midwall/Mobo tray - with right sized mounting holes hehehe 😄
And the Window Panel - right sized WOOHOO!!
And now, onto the assembly instructions for the case and trust me, if you wanna buy this and put it together, please, follow what I did...you'll thank me after I tell you why
Grab the Drive mount first, some stnadoff cubes and some 6mm screws and screw the standoffs to the panel
Take the midwall/mobo tray, flip it over and attach two standoff cubes at the far end(closest in view) but do not, please, do not mount the drive panel as you see in this picture, flip it, so the cubes are on the opposite side, so that cutout you see at the top, meets the cutout on the midwall/mobo tray. The reason I have chosen this way of mounting the drive panel, is to keep the drives away from the PSU, that will sit at the opposite side below that panel.
Next, grab the bottom panel - it has two screw holes that will make it obvious this is where the midwall/mobo tray is mounted.
Grab a couple standoff cubes and a couple more 6mm screws and mount the cubes to the panel and then mount the midwall/mobo tray and drive panel combo to the bottom panel.
This is how it should look if assembled correctly so far
Now comes the easy part. Grab the two rear panels and also the PCI bracket, mount the PCI bracket between the black(top) and gold(base) panels in the cutout on the gold panel, with the extended parts of the bracket facing towards you. The grab some 10mm and 6mm screws and mount the panels to the rest of the case the same way as seen in the pic above so that your PSU will too mount away from the drives when they are installed on the drive mount panel.
Grab the front base panel and mount the USB ports to it and also the Vandal switch. Mount a couple more standoff cubes to the other end of the bottom panel and then place a 6mm screw in the hole as above...do not mount the black top panel just yet.
The screw I have shown at the top of the panel is meant to mount to a cube that sits behind it, which gives full support for the drive panel...trust me, you cover it and you'll wonder why later
that the panel seems to droop....it's just easier, because this hole, like the holes for the front case fan are concealed behind the black panel that sits over it and you'll have to remove the panel, to screw down the cube that sits behind this panel. Also; take this opportunity to mount a case fan now if you wish and then screw down the black panel over the base one....your case should look like this so far:
Grab some more 6mm screws and mount the window panel in first and then the top black panel over it and screw it into place.
Then just grab the top panel and screw it into place and you're done! CONGRATS!! 😄
OK, now onto my thoughts/feedback as per the agreed upon arrangement between Parvum Systems and myself.
Thoughts: As I said above, this case is so beautifully crafted!!! I really can't say much, except again a huuuuge thanks to Justin & Shaun for giving me the chance to test their ITX case 😄
Feedback: A few small things I have noticed, I will show a picture of this one...and it's in regards to the drive panel....it's a teeeny tiny bit short:
When I mounted the rear panel, it didn't fit perfectly, until I slackened off a screw on the same side as the gap to allow the panel to be screwed into place.
And also this, at the bottom of the bottom panel...the holes for the midwall/mobo tray cubes aren't counter-sunk like pretty much every other hole...some people will nitpick this i'm sure...for consistency's sake:
The case fans holes aren't the right size, they should be 5mm but are something like 4.7mm...I used a micrometer to measure the inside of the holes as I was wondering why some brand new 5mm hex head screws I had just bought were too fat for the holes 😛 - A suggestion for this...on the inside of the black front panel, maybe counter sink on the inside of the panel so 5mm hex head screws can sit in between both of the front panels...the heads on the screws I bought are too tall and would push the panels apart if I used them....this is just another consistency for the build suggestion.
A suggestion for the Vandal Switch - please include proper instructions with the package on how to correctly wire it up and how it's meant to be hooked up to the motherboard i.e where I hook it up for the light ring to work....or even a short video detailing what to do....i'm sure i'm not the only person who's never as yet had the pleasure of using Vandal Switches before.
Back to it!! YAYYYYYY! 😄
My 3 missing parts to the case
The Drive Mount - initial thought "where the hell does this go?" haha
The Midwall/Mobo tray - with right sized mounting holes hehehe 😄
And the Window Panel - right sized WOOHOO!!
And now, onto the assembly instructions for the case and trust me, if you wanna buy this and put it together, please, follow what I did...you'll thank me after I tell you why
Grab the Drive mount first, some stnadoff cubes and some 6mm screws and screw the standoffs to the panel
Take the midwall/mobo tray, flip it over and attach two standoff cubes at the far end(closest in view) but do not, please, do not mount the drive panel as you see in this picture, flip it, so the cubes are on the opposite side, so that cutout you see at the top, meets the cutout on the midwall/mobo tray. The reason I have chosen this way of mounting the drive panel, is to keep the drives away from the PSU, that will sit at the opposite side below that panel.
Next, grab the bottom panel - it has two screw holes that will make it obvious this is where the midwall/mobo tray is mounted.
Grab a couple standoff cubes and a couple more 6mm screws and mount the cubes to the panel and then mount the midwall/mobo tray and drive panel combo to the bottom panel.
This is how it should look if assembled correctly so far
Now comes the easy part. Grab the two rear panels and also the PCI bracket, mount the PCI bracket between the black(top) and gold(base) panels in the cutout on the gold panel, with the extended parts of the bracket facing towards you. The grab some 10mm and 6mm screws and mount the panels to the rest of the case the same way as seen in the pic above so that your PSU will too mount away from the drives when they are installed on the drive mount panel.
Grab the front base panel and mount the USB ports to it and also the Vandal switch. Mount a couple more standoff cubes to the other end of the bottom panel and then place a 6mm screw in the hole as above...do not mount the black top panel just yet.
The screw I have shown at the top of the panel is meant to mount to a cube that sits behind it, which gives full support for the drive panel...trust me, you cover it and you'll wonder why later
that the panel seems to droop....it's just easier, because this hole, like the holes for the front case fan are concealed behind the black panel that sits over it and you'll have to remove the panel, to screw down the cube that sits behind this panel. Also; take this opportunity to mount a case fan now if you wish and then screw down the black panel over the base one....your case should look like this so far:
Grab some more 6mm screws and mount the window panel in first and then the top black panel over it and screw it into place.
Then just grab the top panel and screw it into place and you're done! CONGRATS!! 😄
OK, now onto my thoughts/feedback as per the agreed upon arrangement between Parvum Systems and myself.
Thoughts: As I said above, this case is so beautifully crafted!!! I really can't say much, except again a huuuuge thanks to Justin & Shaun for giving me the chance to test their ITX case 😄
Feedback: A few small things I have noticed, I will show a picture of this one...and it's in regards to the drive panel....it's a teeeny tiny bit short:
When I mounted the rear panel, it didn't fit perfectly, until I slackened off a screw on the same side as the gap to allow the panel to be screwed into place.
And also this, at the bottom of the bottom panel...the holes for the midwall/mobo tray cubes aren't counter-sunk like pretty much every other hole...some people will nitpick this i'm sure...for consistency's sake:
The case fans holes aren't the right size, they should be 5mm but are something like 4.7mm...I used a micrometer to measure the inside of the holes as I was wondering why some brand new 5mm hex head screws I had just bought were too fat for the holes 😛 - A suggestion for this...on the inside of the black front panel, maybe counter sink on the inside of the panel so 5mm hex head screws can sit in between both of the front panels...the heads on the screws I bought are too tall and would push the panels apart if I used them....this is just another consistency for the build suggestion.
A suggestion for the Vandal Switch - please include proper instructions with the package on how to correctly wire it up and how it's meant to be hooked up to the motherboard i.e where I hook it up for the light ring to work....or even a short video detailing what to do....i'm sure i'm not the only person who's never as yet had the pleasure of using Vandal Switches before.
Picture showing some gear I got while waiting for my care package to come in the mail. This is all the stuff I bought from Lutro0 Customs - sleeving gear!! 😄
Coreless Paracord, Black and Gold. Apparently the black spool broke, so Lutro0 was generous enough to put in a bunch extra for me at no charge. Also got his Crimper, Heatshrink block, the Sleeving Tool, Paracord tool, a 4ft strip of heatshrink for the paracord. A few connectors and I think that's it....i'm very excited to try my hand at sleeving 😄
Unfortunately for me i'm in the middle of moving, everything is pretty much packed, I just have to find a place and move, so this will be the last post in this log until i'm moved and have cash to buy the hardware I want.
Coreless Paracord, Black and Gold. Apparently the black spool broke, so Lutro0 was generous enough to put in a bunch extra for me at no charge. Also got his Crimper, Heatshrink block, the Sleeving Tool, Paracord tool, a 4ft strip of heatshrink for the paracord. A few connectors and I think that's it....i'm very excited to try my hand at sleeving 😄
Unfortunately for me i'm in the middle of moving, everything is pretty much packed, I just have to find a place and move, so this will be the last post in this log until i'm moved and have cash to buy the hardware I want.
Picture showing some gear I got while waiting for my care package to come in the mail. This is all the stuff I bought from Lutro0 Customs - sleeving gear!! 😄
Coreless Paracord, Black and Gold. Apparently the black spool broke, so Lutro0 was generous enough to put in a bunch extra for me at no charge. Also got his Crimper, Heatshrink block, the Sleeving Tool, Paracord tool, a 4ft strip of heatshrink for the paracord. A few connectors and I think that's it....i'm very excited to try my hand at sleeving 😄
Unfortunately for me i'm in the middle of moving, everything is pretty much packed, I just have to find a place and move, so this will be the last post in this log until i'm moved and have cash to buy the hardware I want.
Coreless Paracord, Black and Gold. Apparently the black spool broke, so Lutro0 was generous enough to put in a bunch extra for me at no charge. Also got his Crimper, Heatshrink block, the Sleeving Tool, Paracord tool, a 4ft strip of heatshrink for the paracord. A few connectors and I think that's it....i'm very excited to try my hand at sleeving 😄
Unfortunately for me i'm in the middle of moving, everything is pretty much packed, I just have to find a place and move, so this will be the last post in this log until i'm moved and have cash to buy the hardware I want.
1st Update!! hooray :cool:
Finally got some cash together to buy some hardware for the build and rather than blather on, here's a pretty little picture 😛
Finally got some cash together to buy some hardware for the build and rather than blather on, here's a pretty little picture 😛
2nd Update!! hooray, finally had some cash to buy the Motherboard 😄
I know ITX boards are small, but this is sooooo tiny when you get to see it for yourself
Glory shot before adding on hardware
Celeron and *shudders* stock cooler installed, also the G.Skill 4GB Kit installed.
Time to go into your new Home! 😄
Connecting the USB, a SATA cable and Power Switch - Mostly testing the length of the switch wires and the USB cable length.
Now for the next fun part the top of the case has to be removed so that the SSD can be screwed into the panel. Though I had noticed when I got it, the SSD Panel is supposed to have support for 2x SSD's and 1x HDD...hmm, may have to drill a couple holes to attach an HDD when I can buy one....gotta get my car serviced 1st lol.
I know ITX boards are small, but this is sooooo tiny when you get to see it for yourself
Glory shot before adding on hardware
Celeron and *shudders* stock cooler installed, also the G.Skill 4GB Kit installed.
Time to go into your new Home! 😄
Connecting the USB, a SATA cable and Power Switch - Mostly testing the length of the switch wires and the USB cable length.
Now for the next fun part the top of the case has to be removed so that the SSD can be screwed into the panel. Though I had noticed when I got it, the SSD Panel is supposed to have support for 2x SSD's and 1x HDD...hmm, may have to drill a couple holes to attach an HDD when I can buy one....gotta get my car serviced 1st lol.
3rd Update!! had some more cash after buying the Motherboard sooooooo I got me a Silverstone ST45SF-G PSU
Let's see what we have here...PSU...check!! cable pack...check!! power cord...check!! and something that's not seen in this shot, a PSU bracket that comes with the package.
Side view - terrible shot, sorry guys 😛
Let's see the top!! 😉
Holeeeeee cow it's sooooo freakin tiny!!! it's almost cute :cool:
Mounted and plugged in
Yuuuuuuck!!! what a bloody mess!!!
Aaaaand we haz a successful POST WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!! 😄 :cool:
Now, while I wait to get the cash together to buy a 4TB HDD the only things left to do are to make and sleeve the PSU cables and since the power switch wires are so damn long, i'm gonna make and sleeve some new shorter ones, try and make the build look neater than it does now.
Oh and for those who have noticed - yes, there is no VGA and no, there will not be one put into this build - it's an HTPC, so the iGPU should be more than enough for the build's intended use.
That's all for now
Let's see what we have here...PSU...check!! cable pack...check!! power cord...check!! and something that's not seen in this shot, a PSU bracket that comes with the package.
Side view - terrible shot, sorry guys 😛
Let's see the top!! 😉
Holeeeeee cow it's sooooo freakin tiny!!! it's almost cute :cool:
Mounted and plugged in
Yuuuuuuck!!! what a bloody mess!!!
Aaaaand we haz a successful POST WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!! 😄 :cool:
Now, while I wait to get the cash together to buy a 4TB HDD the only things left to do are to make and sleeve the PSU cables and since the power switch wires are so damn long, i'm gonna make and sleeve some new shorter ones, try and make the build look neater than it does now.
Oh and for those who have noticed - yes, there is no VGA and no, there will not be one put into this build - it's an HTPC, so the iGPU should be more than enough for the build's intended use.
That's all for now
