Another MicroFly Build!

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

Iâ€™m starting to feel like Dr. Frankenstein, as the friend I built the NF7-S system for has decided he would like a micoATX gaming system â€œlike mineâ€â€¦.that being either DreamCatcher v2.0 (less wcâ€™ing) or Yodaâ€™s SMN. So here be his system (Silver Bullet) specs:

Case: Ultra MicroFly
PSU: Ultra 600W (from a MX6) [update later]
Mobo: Biostar Tf 7025-M2
CPU: AMD 4400+ Brisbane (CAA4C 0725WPDW) w/ zalman CNPS8700
GPU: MSI NX8800GT OC (Dual Slot version)
Memory: 2 x 1024 Corsair CM2X1024 â€“ 6400C4
HDD: TBD
Optical Drive #1: Lite-On SATA DVD-R #DH-16D2S-04
Optical Drive #2: Lite-On SATA DVD-RW+ #LH-20A1S
FDD: Mitsumi Card Reader/ Writer + Floppy

Here you see most of the partsâ€¦..

Actual case modding will be very little. Will take out the front and rear fan grills, drill some cooling holes in the face plate like YsSMN, and then see what goes from there. One interesting thing weâ€™re going to try is to use an 80mm Tt SmartFan 2 in the front spot and control its speed via the system fan header that is on the mobo. It if works like my nView the speed of the fan will be controlled by the moboâ€™s system temp sensorâ€¦..should be interesting!

The only chassis mod is the usual â€œremove factory tamped fan grillsâ€ thing. Donâ€™t know how many MicroFly builders are reading this, but counting the MX6 this will be my third with this chassis. I have always had issues with the PSU flexing the case and now think I know why. By removing the stamped 120mm fan grill a lot of the rigidity in the back side of the case has disappeared. In the â€œI wonder if this would helpâ€ department Iâ€™m not going to mount the PSU until after the 120mm fan and finger grill are installed. In the first two builds the PSU has been in place without the fan and grill giving some support and that may have been what â€œsprungâ€ the case.

These â€œbeforeâ€ and â€œafterâ€ pics from DreamCatcher shows how much metal â€œdisappearsâ€.

mrweasel · Posted: Thu, 08 May 2008 09:44:10 Post Subject:

I always found that removing the grill makes it slightly quieter, especially if you keep the crappy stock fan

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

On every case I've built I taken them out because of noise and usually restricted air flow. I just seems in the MicroFly series of chassis it ended up being also a good part of the back plate's strength.

mrweasel · Posted: Thu, 08 May 2008 12:29:23 Post Subject:

the back plate on those are quite flimsy to start with. Once you add a heavy PS, it gets much worse. Heck, even the mobo tray flexes a good bit, but once you screw 'em in, they're fine.

I've been using Q-Packs for a few years...they're great!

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

Slow in moving on this thing, but I did manage to mount the front 80mm, FDD, and the two optical drives. Also modded the HDD carrier so I could mount the HDD cooler. The tabs have to be bent up a little to allow for the extra thickness of the cooler and one needs to be cut to miss a mounting screw. Here is a good example how everything is the same but different, made the cut base on the one in DreamCatcher and it ended up be a little â€œtoo bigâ€. I will always be a fan of this particular cooler by Vantec. Iâ€™m using them on YsSMNâ€™s Raptor X and the 74GB Raptor in BHrDx.

While mounting the mobo to the mobo tray came across something, to me anyway, rather different. The Biostar 6100-939s I used in YsSMN and BHrDx are 24.5cm square and so are my two abit NF-M2 nViews. However the Tf7025 for this build is supposedly 24.3cm x 24.4cm and so this is what I ended up with when mounting the moboâ€¦..

This must have been part of the design and one of the reasons the PSU power connector was moved to where it is. Donâ€™t want to remove the standoffs incase this case gets another board that will â€œfitâ€. So guess Iâ€™ll just tape them up to avoid any potential of shorting something.

The expansion slots on the mobo tray have guide â€œdimplesâ€ to help anchor cards when mounted. This is cool except when mounting something like a dual slot GPU. So did a quick and dirty mod for that.

On the honey dos and will get back to this as I can.

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

The fan grill came in so the rear fan and grill have been installed and the rigidity of the rear defiantly improved. Also had an inspiration as the PSU still wanted to â€œbowâ€ the top towards the front. Decided to find something that would function as a spacer but not contribute to ambient noise by transmitting vibration to the chassis from the PSU. Went to the garage and raided by small parts bin and found a few picture â€œbumpersâ€ that were about the right height. Stuck a couple to the chassis and it seems to be doing the trick, also being soft rubber there is not vibration issues.

Installed the mobo, PSU, and few other goodies to see if the system will run and it did!! Now on to do wire management. The Ultra PSU came out of an MX6 so all cables are short so a not to cause much clutter. As of right now think I like a little extra length to make routing easier! The Tf 7025 has the 24 pin power plug towards the rear (I/O) of the mobo and this almost has it under the PSU in the MicroFly. Between a short cable and socket location a little planning is required when pulling out the mobo trayâ€¦â€¦especially with a CNPS8700 as you HSF. Initially when installing / removing the power cable one will have to pull the tray out about 2 â€“ 3â€ just enough to get oneâ€™s hand in to unplug the cable before pulling the tray the rest if the way out.

The following are some â€œgeneralâ€ pictures as I was putting it together and trying to do the wire management. Thought I had it finished but it seems the FDD cable EL regulator has died. Now I need to take it apart to see what I can do.

Also added some cooling holes under the handle to help with interior cooling.

Gonna let the owner take it home and replace the FDD cable when it comes in. I had forgotten about putting in the cooling holes so had to take everything cable wise apart to do it. In the process I managed to "break" the EL regulator! Censored

rodnet2k · Rated PG Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 2

i just got this same case to build a new pc.

i wonder what that wire with molex connectors from the front are for; do i need to hook it up with one of free slots in the PSU?

also, the sensor for the temp display ...is that designed to be squeezed in under the CPU or its socket? or is it to hang freely to sense the temp of air inside the case?

sorry for the dumb question. it's my 3rd build around every 3yrs and this case is definitely more fancy.

thanks,
-R

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

rodnet2k · Rated PG Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 2

thanks! got 'em to work last night. HDD now partitioned ready for XP install.

though still plenty free slots from the PSU, used that feedthru (coupled w/ 4pin) to power the frontfan as my mobo ECS GeForce6100PM-M2 has only one to feed system fan.

the two main power cables are clever (puzzled me before i looked closer). 24pin & 8pin convertible to 20pin (i don't need) & 4pin (i need) by splitting 'em at the connector.

i used ATA133 HDD and cannot mount it on the side coz ribbon cable cannot reach it if IDE optical drive (DVD) will be slaved. (mobo has no secondary IDE slot). so i mounted it in the FDD slot. --holes for the screw are not as fit as that on the side mount.
And boy, cables are now pretty tight! ribbon cable at elbow with the thick 12pin cable.

and so it goes.

more power to you jedihobbit.

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

rodnet2k, how about doing a thread on your build?? Also list the specs (parts) as I'm sure people (me included!!) would like to see what you've put together. Grin

Glad I could be of help! Wave