**** PHINIX NANO TOWER **** Smallest and most powerful mITX rig !!!

[aka_GK]

fans look unusual

case is soo tiny Won't believe until I see PC harware and WC gear there inside

[phinix_mike]

Thanks tiger!

Wow.. cool Sounds like you have experience with metals!

Yep, holes look pretty rough, all edges and holes need nice finish, will do that soon. I alwyas like to measure 10 times everything, then drill and put all together, then add nice finish. Just incase soemthing needs to be re-done, no point to spend time on filing, sanding and polishing when at the end you gonna see you need to make new one It happens few times when was working with acrylic, so don't want to do same mistake again. Aluminium is a lot harder to work with compared to acrylic, but I like it. It gives you peace of mind, cause it looks so stable and solid structure. I remember I always wanted to build metal case - this is my moment

All panels and rods look pretty ugly, cause have all those small scratches, points, bumps on them. But I believe powder coat will cover it. Cant wait to see it all coated already! Its gonna look amazing

Right now I need to clean up all holes, sand edges and prepare rest of the elements. I'm waiting for my mobo, cause without it I cannot measur standoff holes and mount mobo tray. Then I will measure and cut out big piece from mobotray to have access to cpu cooler mount frame from behind.
There is still a lot of work, but that all it is about - fun

[phinix_mike]

fans look unusual

case is soo tiny Won't believe until I see PC harware and WC gear there inside

I know!!!
it really looks small, but when you look on it in real, you see that it is possible to fit all that stuff in. I had same feeling with the Cube. At the end when squuized all inside, all worked and I was happy

[kgtiger]

When your at your loacal hardware store next, look for a counter sink bit.
It will make cleaning up the holes easy as and lower the risk of removing to much ali, just take it slow.
As for cleaning up the ali to remove lite scratches, try fine steel wool, I know it sounds dumb, but it works really well.

Your project is comming along nicely mate, keep it up.

[phinix_mike]

steel wool - I need to try that before I send all parts to powder coat... Thanks!

[Vinas]

Nice update!!! I'm looking forward to the wire management and PSU placement. I found that was the hardest item to 'manage' in my recent build. Since it is mATX as well, there really isn't a lot of room to manage these things. I think most people don't really understand how hard it is to build a super small system. The majority are using very big lian li or sivlerstone TJ cases. IMHO those big rigs while nice, are pretty worn out so it is very refreshing to see another small build come together.

Keep up the good work!

[dubtown]

Nice update!!! I'm looking forward to the wire management and PSU placement. I found that was the hardest item to 'manage' in my recent build. Since it is mATX as well, there really isn't a lot of room to manage these things. I think most people don't really understand how hard it is to build a super small system. The majority are using very big lian li or sivlerstone TJ cases. IMHO those big rigs while nice, are pretty worn out so it is very refreshing to see another small build come together.

Keep up the good work!

its not mATX

its mini ITX

[phinix_mike]

its not mATX

its mini ITX

That's right! 20cm width, so mATX mobo would stick out form the case for about 5cm)
Even less space for cables

I shouldn't show or tell about it now, but if you want to know...
What I'm gonna do is I'm going to cover PSU (which will be mounted verticaly!) in small cage. Will fabricate from aluminium small department for PSU and pump at the bottom of the case. Looking at the front of the case, it will go from left side to almost right panel, will stop 2mm before graphic card
It will have almost 2cm space above PSU, for cables and plugs, 2cm on left of PSU, same, for cables, and almost 6cm on right from the PSU, where pump and rest of the cables will be squuized To prevent voiding warranty on PSU I will sleeve (braid) cable extensions. I will buy extensions for all cables - 24pin ATX, 8pin ATX, 8pin PCI-e and for power cables. All will be sleeved in yellow with black heatshrink and plugs. Only extensions will come out from that "PSU/pump cage", so rest of the cables will be hidden.
That's the trick

[Anemic]

Very nice progress so far!

[kgtiger]

Sounds good, looking forward to seeing it all happen, I am expecting it to look excellent!

[Vinas]

its not mATX

its mini ITX

I was comparing my rig wichi is mATX to his

[Vinas]

I shouldn't show or tell about it now, but if you want to know...
What I'm gonna do is I'm going to cover PSU (which will be mounted verticaly!) in small cage. Will fabricate from aluminium small department for PSU and pump at the bottom of the case. Looking at the front of the case, it will go from left side to almost right panel, will stop 2mm before graphic card
It will have almost 2cm space above PSU, for cables and plugs, 2cm on left of PSU, same, for cables, and almost 6cm on right from the PSU, where pump and rest of the cables will be squuized To prevent voiding warranty on PSU I will sleeve (braid) cable extensions. I will buy extensions for all cables - 24pin ATX, 8pin ATX, 8pin PCI-e and for power cables. All will be sleeved in yellow with black heatshrink and plugs. Only extensions will come out from that "PSU/pump cage", so rest of the cables will be hidden.
That's the trick

This sounds very exciting!!!

[phinix_mike]

OK. Time for small hardware update.

Small, because the item is very small, however it is the most important in the whole build!!!
Without this little thing Tower wouldn't be that small!
What is it then?

Well... I picked up a parcel tonight... Take a look what was inside



Merry Christmas for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :blush:



...now lets see what's in the box!





Isn't that beautiful?????!!!!











This PCIe will power some really heavy card





BIOS Led error indicator.. sweet



...and these 3 SATA will be working 24/7 for my SSD Raid:blush:



Again, I would like to thank two coolest people in DFI Marketing Department - Eric and Patricia -THANK YOU GUYS !!!

Lot of guys asked me where this mobo can be purchased - In UK you can buy it in SCAN.

[Neox69]

Can't wait to see the final product!

[Mabyboi]

that board.. is just... BEAUTIFUL! if they made that in a core i7, with triple channel slots... my god, i would DIE

[Hsusy]

Nice choice of Mobo! Simply beautiful.

[aka_GK]

It seems like my Koolance TMS-200 board is bigger

great choice!

[pizan]

I really like the way this is going.

Question: What graphics card are you going to put in there? It doesn't looks like you could fit anything too long unless it is set up to be vertical.

[phinix_mike]

I really like the way this is going.

Question: What graphics card are you going to put in there? It doesn't looks like you could fit anything too long unless it is set up to be vertical.

Well, there you go!
Yes, the card will go verticaly. That is why it will be the latest, the baddest, the fastest card on market..
Right now I'm getting GTX295, but next year I pray and hope Nvidia will come out with nice dual chip Fermi

[kgtiger]

That board looks sweet, but I must say in the photo's, it does look like it would fit on the tip of a finger.

[pizan]

Well, there you go!
Yes, the card will go verticaly. That is why it will be the latest, the baddest, the fastest card on market..
Right now I'm getting GTX295, but next year I pray and hope Nvidia will come out with nice dual chip Fermi

Sounds sweet.

Also the board looks sweet. I didn't know a p55 mITX board was coming out till you said it.

I was actually looking into doing a similar style project, thats why I asked.

[Vinas]

Nice choice on the motherboard, could not have picked a better one IMHO.

You should put a 5970 in that thing. Go big!!!

[Mabyboi]

that board.. is just... BEAUTIFUL! if they made that in a core i7, with triple channel slots... my god, i would DIE

wowwww. i just realised the p55 chip.... im retarted

[phinix_mike]

Nice choice on the motherboard, could not have picked a better one IMHO.

You should put a 5970 in that thing. Go big!!!

That's the plan!
Right now I'm getting GTX295 but waiting what Nvidia will show next year in January... I HOPE it will be January...

[phinix_mike]

Guys, small update here - this time hardware update. I received big package from EK last week. I got huge discount on watercooling equipment from EK, so here's what I bought:

Box contained 3 smaller boxes, nice colors by the way, I like the packaging of EK parts, nice design.
So here it is - red, blue and green. Plus acrylic tube


Blue one had nice reservoir combo item. Originaly it has small tube, so I bought additional, longer tube and replaced it.





Red one was the pump - 4.0 version, this is REALLY HEAVY stuff! Like 5 times heavier than DDC pump!



Last box, green, had the latest version of EK radiators - XT 360.



Look how big it is next to the pump with mounted reservoir!



ALso bought some Yate Loons fans, slim versions - they are 20mm thick so will fit nicely behind the rear panel.
So, these elements will make together the GPU loop in my NanoTower. I am corently testing the hardware, so will add more details soon...
In the meanwhile... MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!