# Gaming HTPC Silverstone GD05



## The Advocate

Welcoming advice and gentle criticism of my new "Gaming HTPC" build in a Silverstone Grandia GD05 case. My intended uses are 1) Limited gaming (@ 1680x1050) - probably SC II and BF3; 2) Streaming Netflix/Hulu/Live sporting events to my 42" 1080p TV (monitor #2); 3) Multimedia/music.

Here are the basic specs (everything is stock pending completion):

Intel Core i5 2500k
Scythe Big Shuriken (120MM fan)
Asus Maximus IV Gene Z (Z68, mATX)
2x4GB GSkill Ripjaws 1600
120GB OCZ Solid 3 SSD SATA 6.0Gb (boot Win 7 x64/games)
1TB Seagate SATA
600W OCZ ModXstream (modular)
Samnsung DVDRW (SATA, lightscribe)

I have an XFX 9800GT that I just RMA'd (dead), and am waiting on that RMA and BF3 benchmarks before buying a new GPU. I'm going to need to be sensitive to GPU size for this build, because though the specs say this case can handle 11" cards, as the pics below will show, things are pretty cramped.

First - Obligatory pre-build products shot:










The CPU & Asus ROG mATX:










Faux lens flare was an unintended artistic touch...

Tight fit with no GPU front side angle:










Tight fit with no GPU back side side angle:










I didnt take any photos with the ODD & HD cage off, sorry. Everything is either red or black and color schemes well, but the real issue is just how tight things are with that huge 120mm CPU cooler (that is blocking the first memory slot), the ODD, and that crazy HD cage.

A quick word about the HD mounting cage - it was incredibly frustrating for me. It simply doesn't seem to be made for SSD drives - the only way to mount them leaves them flush against the metal bracket with no clearance for power or SATA cords to plug in. there's no comfortable way to turn the SSD for mounting. For the HDD, there are rubber mountaing gromets, but they require you to either take the best position for the SSD, or you have to put the connector end of the HDD directly into the rubber chamber divider that sits atop the PSU. I ended up having to rip mine open so I could attach my cables to my 1TB drive. You can probably see that if you blow the photos up.

I have 2 questions:

1) What GPU would you recommend for that case? I have been looking at the ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP due to 1) the size (9"); 2) performance (pending BF3 bench); 3) Asus quality 4) vanity - it goes with my general red & black color scheme in the guts of a machine you cant see anyway.

I am worried about custom (non reference) GPUs in an HTPC case like this. SIlverstone says that this is a positive pressure case, so it shouldnt matter, but these custom cooling solutions (like the MSI Twin Frozr III) seem to dump heat back into the case rather than rear venting, like the reference cards... Any opinions on whether that would be an issue? GPU suggestions?

2) Cable management? What are your secrets? I have tried a couple of lame tricks and I still have spaghetti, as you can see, before I even add the two modular 6 pin cables I am going to need for the GPU.

In particular: A) The mainboard power cable is super thick and lays right across the front side of the board where it will interfere with any decent length GPU; B) there is a 4 pin connector on the motherboard in the corner behind the CPU, requiring you to loop another thick power cable around the CPU... which I hate (its the yellow striped cable in the 3rd & 4th photos, and it is fully stretched as is); C) The ODD cables are a mess hanging over my CPU cooler despite my best efforts to use adhesive clamps to pin them against the railing/ODD.

I am really worried my cables are all going to be in the way of whatever GPU I use. Keep in mind, I have to use PCIE slot closest to the CPU to get 16x. The 2nd slot (closer to the PSU) is 8x.

Thanks in advance for opinions/polite criticism.


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## alfaromeo333

Good job mate looks nice. Adding GPu will cost you your hand







, I say go for the smallest gpu of the two







.


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## The Advocate

Thanks. I guess I'm doomed to whatever tiny gpu I can find... when are the next gen cards coming out again?

Also, I have to say, my favorite thing about this case has got to be the clean lines. I am an absolute crap photographer, but this case looks amazing...










Someone told me I can buy a flop down cover for the DVDRW that will match the case. I think I might need to look into that. The rest of the case looks amazing next to my Denon AVR.


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## mdatmo

Nice! I just used a silver GD04 in my HTPC build. I used a bunch of little zip ties and a few larger ones on the bigger cables to get some decent cable management. It basically requires planning where the cables can go and then forcing them to stay there. In small form factor cases it will never be perfect but with patience can be decent.


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## The Advocate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mdatmo;14681272*
> Nice! I just used a silver GD04 in my HTPC build. I used a bunch of little zip ties and a few larger ones on the bigger cables to get some decent cable management. It basically requires planning where the cables can go and then forcing them to stay there. In small form factor cases it will never be perfect but with patience can be decent.


Did you have any issues with that damn hard drive mounting rig, or was that just me? My wife yelled at me 'cause of the endless stream of profanity...










I swear that thing is evil. 100%. EVIL.

Oh, and I really liked the silver GD04, but everything else I have is black, so... I betcha yours looks sweet.


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## PeaceMaker

I lost a yellow grommet which annoyed me because I only have 3/4 screws holding in one of my HDs.


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## hondajt

could you use 3.5 to 2.5 adapter brackets for mounting the SSD where you want it?


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## Mudfrog

Looks good. I've been debating on buying the same case. I have an CM Elite 360 right now and the largest GPU I can fit is around 7.5" IIRC.. I managed to squeeze a 4850 1GB in there but it's time for an upgrade....


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## Arinoth

I ripped that stupid black thing off of mine as it was annoying the hell out of me.

You can surprisingly fit quite a large sized card into there, I've had a 3870x2 sit with very little clearance into the case and the pci-e power connectors.

The secret to cable management in that case, I haven't seem to be able to find one. Only thing I could suggest and would do next time would be to use a modular power supply to cut down on rogue/extra cables


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## Tron-user

Hey I'm in a similar build, I got a deal on an i7 870 for my sig rig, so I donated some parts from that to an htpc build. I have the following for mine: silverstone gd05, i5 760, evga p55 sli board, 4 gb xms3 1600, m4 64 gb, wd 2 tb green, corsair builder 500w, asus blu ray player. I haven't got any pics but I fired it up today to make sure mobo posted and everything was recognized. All went well but I ordered the asus gts 450 (850 mhz version) and I ran into a problem with the 6 pin pci connector, it will fit but you basically have to do a 90* bend on the cable and it will make a very slight hump in the top of the case. Sucked cause I really like the card but I think I'm going to rma it and go with a different 450, one that has the 6 pin connector on the side rather than the top. I should've checked into it more but hopefully I'll save you the same if that affects you at all. As for my hdd tray, I didn't seem to have a problem with it, I put my ssd flat against the bare metal skinner side and put the 4 screws through the top of the contraption. I mounted my 2 tb to the black grommet side and just used an exacto blade to cut down the middle for the sata power/data cables. Another 3.5 hdd should fit under the ssd mount w/o a problem if I go that route in the future. Hope any if not some of this helps. Good job with the cable routing though, it looks pretty good, when I get finished in the next week or so I'll hopefully have some up from mine.
P.S. nice max 4 gene, I was eyeing that board but since I had a spare i5 laying around and the evga board was only 35 after rebate, I figured it was a better option than 400 bones for 2500k and gene lol.

Chad


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## 2thAche

I built mine into the same case. You can fit a pretty large GPU, no prob.

I find the case fans to be too loud for night time movies.


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## hick

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *2thAche;14691331*
> I find the case fans to be too loud for night time movies.


Night time is the best for 7.1 surround sound! You need better speakers









Build looks good though!! You can find 5.25" slot load dvd burners online...they are over $100 though


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## The Advocate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arinoth;14687373*
> I ripped that stupid black thing off of mine as it was annoying the hell out of me.


I came close to doing it. We'll see once I get a GPU in there if it helps with airflow.
Quote:


> The secret to cable management in that case, I haven't seem to be able to find one. Only thing I could suggest and would do next time would be to use a modular power supply to cut down on rogue/extra cables


That is a modular supply. That's what I am worried about. Most of the GPUs I am looking at will require that I try to cram 2 more 6 pin connectors in the case. I'm holding them right now. They're pretty thick and unecessarily long.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tron-user;14691305*
> All went well but I ordered the asus gts 450 (850 mhz version) and I ran into a problem with the 6 pin pci connector, it will fit but you basically have to do a 90* bend on the cable and it will make a very slight hump in the top of the case.


Crap. That's what I am worried about. The Asus and MSI 560ti's both have connectors on the top. According to Asus' website, the ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP is 9" L x 4.4" H.

The Asus ENGTS450 DirectCU/DI/1GD5 is 8.54 " x 4.37 ". If that's the one you used, the 560ti is even taller, and you had difficulty with the top side connectors. Maybe I should get a reference board that vents outside the case and has the backside connectors? I know - I should just measure this, but I am posting from the machine and don't feel like taking it apart right now.
Quote:


> P.S. nice max 4 gene, I was eyeing that board but since I had a spare i5 laying around and the evga board was only 35 after rebate, I figured it was a better option than 400 bones for 2500k and gene lol.
> 
> Chad


I am not sure that the Maximus IV Gene is the right board for this case, simply because of layout issues. You really need to use a low profile, 120mm cpu cooler like the Scythe, and the first DIMM slot is too close to use, so that channel is wasted. And the PCIEx16 is so damn close to the cooler/cpu socket as well, that I am still worried about the GPU being flush against it. I guess i could have used the stock intel or something like a coolermaster cooler that is really similar (I forget the model # but Newegg sells it, it looks almost identical, but it has a quieter fan). That 6 pin connector in the corner behind the cpu socket is also a major pain in the butt, as is the location of the HD audio connector. I think there are other boards that have the CPU socket further from the ram and PCIE slots that would make for a cleaner, easier build.

That said, the board itself is fantastic. In a different case, I'd give it extremely high marks. Aside from the case limitations, it was the easiest install I have ever done. The BIOS is absolutely fantastic, and there are a lot little conveniences that will appeal to any builder, including the error code LED, the power and reset buttons on the board, and the q connector (man, that saves some annoyance in a tight space build).

*If anyone has pictures of a current gen GPU in this case, I'd love to see them.*

Oh - and this thing is nowhere near as loud as my xBox 360, which was operating as my HTPC. Also, I have fan speed control on the case fans. Really helps with noise, though even on auto, it isnt bad. You have to have no background noise to notice them.

Thanks!


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## The Advocate

Hmmm.... Was just looking at 2thache's pics and saw his Corsair H50...

The Silverstone has 3x 120mm intake fans creating positive pressure (plus space for 2 more 80mm fans).

Am wondering if I could subsititute the H50 pump fan for the closest case fan and liquid cool my Core i5? It actually looks like it might take up less room than the Scythe does, though I'd be a little worried about right angles on the tubes in a tight space...

I've never done any water cooling. That looks ridiculously easy though.


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## Hiege

Without moding, I don't think there is a way to mount a H50 internally. On the CPU side, there's not enough clearance between the motherboard and the side of the case for the radiator and fan. On the other side, the single fan is too far away and I think there'd also be clearance issues with the hard drive mount.


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## PeaceMaker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hiege;14697350*
> Without moding, I don't think there is a way to mount a H50 internally. On the CPU side, there's not enough clearance between the motherboard and the side of the case for the radiator and fan. On the other side, the single fan is too far away and I think there'd also be clearance issues with the hard drive mount.


Someone on the forum did it but they mounted the rad on the outside. I've also seen a custom loop w/ 120mm rad.


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## Tron-user

Yeah I've seen a radiator build as well but it was on hardforum or avsforum websites, sorry no links from my cell phone...


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## Hiege

I was just making the point that you can't just throw an H50 in there, you have to do a mod or mount something (fan or radiator) external.

I got the idea to watercool my GD04 from the guy on HardForum. I've got pictures up in the "Show your HTPC" thread

Now a H50 mod replacing the 120 rad with a double 80mm rad might work in the back. That would be pretty sweet...


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## hellopi

I'm just about to start a very similar build to this tomorrow, same case and mobo. I've got the 560ti directII top gpu card and opted for antec 620 water cooling. I'll update you tomorrow to let you know how it goes.


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## 2thAche

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hick;14691778*
> Night time is the best for 7.1 surround sound! You need better speakers


You do realize that movies have quiet sections and not just explosions, right?

I've got more than enough surround power.


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## 2thAche

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The Advocate;14692722*
> Hmmm.... Was just looking at 2thache's pics and saw his Corsair H50...
> 
> The Silverstone has 3x 120mm intake fans creating positive pressure (plus space for 2 more 80mm fans).
> 
> Am wondering if I could subsititute the H50 pump fan for the closest case fan and liquid cool my Core i5? It actually looks like it might take up less room than the Scythe does, though I'd be a little worried about right angles on the tubes in a tight space...
> 
> I've never done any water cooling. That looks ridiculously easy though.


There's not enough room for the rad. It's very tight in there. Something with this config would be best:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608020

You'd have to measure the height of the cooler though.


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## hellopi

Couldn't get the radiator of the antec 620 to fit and actually managed to break the unit while trying... Luckily I've got the stock cooler to replace it with for now. The gpu fits in fine however. Hope you have better luck than me mate.


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## Tron-user

Here are some pics of my build. The wires up by the ssd are tied up higher to hopefully







clear the single fan on the psu side. 24 pin and 6 pin pci connector routed under front panel wires along front of case out of the way of things, molex tri-fan splitter routed along top edge of case above the psu and under the hard drives, everything else wrapped up in a bundle hugging the psu lol. Specs are 90 mm silverstone cpu fan, corsair 500w builder series, evga gts 450, m4 64 gb ssd boot, 2 tb wd hdd, asus blu ray, evga p55v micro atx board with i5 760. Fans arent stock ones, I was being ******ed and cutting zip ties and cut one of the fans wires...







So I called my brother who had 3 noctua fans he was gonna put in his pc case but hadn't yet, so I reminded him about the $200 driver I gave him for golf and told him he owed me lol. Haven't had it running yet, gotta do some housework before my wife gets home or I'll have Hurricane Irene of my own to deal with







No offense intended towards anyone who is going through that thing right now, doesn't look fun... Not the cleanest build but I'm fairly happy with it for now, once I get it running I'll see how the dust buildup is and think about if I want them on the outside for easier cleaning. Hope this gives you a general idea Advocate of side connector with a 8.25 in card in there


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## Tron-user

Also obviously a modular psu would've helped me a bit but even though the area around the gpu and hdd looks cluttered there's really only 2 cables in direct flow area of the single 120 mm fan, the sata cables that needed to run across to hdd and odd are most of the mess. Figured I couldve run them under the disc drive but my main concern was keeping the area fairly clear for the gpu to draw in some clear clean air as well as going with a slightly smaller cpu fan since I won't be overclocking at all so I tried to keep that area clear as well. My 4 pin connector was down by the back of the case so that's the wire below the cpu fan, couldn't really hide it oh well. Hopefully Tuesday I'll get win 7 on it and report back what my temps are for cpu and gpu, good luck man!


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## The Advocate

Tron,

Thanks a bunch for the pics. Yes, that gives me a great idea of what can really fit in that case. Just confirmed that GTS 450 is 8.25", which leads me to believe I need to stay under 10" with my card, despite Silverstone saying you can fit 11" cards in there.

Based on that, I am almost certain I am going to buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/NVIDIA_Series/ENGTX560_Ti_DCII_TOP2DI1GD5/#specifications










9" x 4.4" per Newegg and Asus specs, so just a little longer than your GTS 450. The GTX 570 is 11.5 " x 5", even though I dont mind the triple slot cooler. About the only other high end cards that would fit are a specific few 6950's and 6870's. The GTX 570s and 580s are all too long.

Love the look, custom PCB, and build quality (higher end components and metal, not plastic shroud), and the performance should be adequate for 1680x1050, which is what I usually game in. Have some trepidation about it dumping heat in the case instead of venting, but even though it's not completely closed/encased, it is one of the few custom cards that has a full size slot vent.

I was just waiting for BF3 benchmarks, and I suspect prices will drop as soon as the next gen Radeon HD 7xxx or the nvidia kepler cards are announced...

Makes no sense, but it's getting harder for me to wait. Asus has a $20 rebate that ends 8/31. I know the price will probably drop again, but I want to finish my build and try it out. My 9800GT is looking awfully tired in there.


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## hondajt

^^Seems like a nice choice! Post some pics when you get it done!


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## The Advocate

... So I finally got around to buying and installing the new vid card. Ran for a while with just the HD3000 and then later the XFX 9800GT, and I'd have to say that the 3000 is probably good enough if you're looking for just a dedicated HTPC. With the 2500k pushing it, the 9800GT was still surprisingly viable in games I have been playing, like SC II.

Anyway, here are some photos from the upgrade from the XFX 9800GT to an Asus GTX 560 Ti Top (900MHz factory OC). I was really worried about finding a powerful enough GPU to game on, and for a while debated getting a bigger card, like many of the 10.5"-11" monster Radeon and GTX's. Glad I didn't. Tight fit with just this 9" card...

Trying to hide, cause it knows what's coming:










The new guy:










Old vs New:










Ti in his seat (it's cramped):










Here's a shot I didn't do before - back of the GPU comes just a millimeter shy of touching the heatpipes on the Big Scythe (yikes!). 8GB kickass red GSkill RAM matches the color scheme:










A couple of other local heroes come by to pay respects to a fellow warrior:










(subtitle: "daddy, can my toys be your picture?" - my 5 year old, though Finn McMissle is there at the behest of my 17 mos old)

Gotta go run some tests - GPU and ambient temps, FRAPS, etc. Thanks for stopping by!


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## Tron-user

Looks good man, how did your clearance end up with the pci cables? I wimped out when I got the greater than 90* bend on them in the enclosed space heh. Job well done, enjoy!


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## The Advocate

You mean in the vid card? I wanted that Asus card, but those top mounted pci plugs scared the crap out of me, so I almost got an MSI with the TFII simply because the plugs are in the back....

... so yeah, I had to bend them 90 degrees and yeah they are basically touching the case lid, to the point where I dont want to open it if I dont have to...

PS - I was worried about ambient and GPU temps. Just played an intense match of SC2 - about 30 minutes, huge battle..

FPS: min 71, max 123 (1680x1050 @ ultra settings)
Fan Speed: about 69% @load. It was working, and audible, though more of a dull whir than a shrill noise

GPU temps: 38° @idle 73° @load
CPU temps: 32° @idle 41° @load
Ambient/case temps: 38° @idle 46° @load

So the small case is pushing the GPU about 5° hotter than most mid tower cases with same hardware. Ditto CPU temps, but I think they're still okay. I do have it overclocked to 4.2 GHz. I do not have much of a frame of reference for the ambient temps, though I suspect that's okay. Also, this is a hot room. About 7° hotter than the rest of the house.

Overall I am fairly pleased with the build, though I do at times wish I would have gotten a Corsair 400R or 600T, and just ditched the HTPC idea.


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## Tron-user

Yeah I meant graphics card cables, but yeah as long as there's no need to unnecessarily reopen the case very often you'll be fine, temps seem very reasonable as well. I hear ya on the bigger case idea too, I just figured when I put mine together it was nice to have gaming options on the big screen as well as playing blu ray movies







After seeing how messy my pics are compared to yours I think I'll be reopening mine and redoing some of the wiring to clean it up a bit, notably the sata cables. Take it easy man!


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