Cheap board/case/cooling for i7/4790K
 

I'm looking for a Mini-ITX board which will happily run an i7/4790K at all-cores-4.4GHz, plus cooling adequate to keep it running and a case to put it in. Optimising for price and then for smallness of case; no need for SLI video cards (there will be no video card at all).

My Avoton system is in a Compucase 8K01 case, which is just the sort of size I want and is available with a 200W PSU which looks adequate (pure-CPU-load over clocking tests of i7/4790K suggest 150W total power consumption at 4.6GHz which is above where I want to go), but is 70mm high which might be a bit tight for decent cooling.

I usually buy here my hardware. Also you can chat with them about solutions.
[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/[/url]

[url]http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345016&cm_re=bitfenix_prodigy-_-11-345-016-_-Product[/url]

[url]http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132122[/url]

[url]http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099&cm_re=hyper_212_evo-_-35-103-099-_-Product[/url]


The case supports two top-mounted 120mm fans, two front-mounted 120mm fans or a single larger fan, and a rear 120mm or 140mm fan.

Do I really need that much cooling capability for what is not a large overclock? The machine shouldn't be dissipating as much as 200 watts, and that seems an awful lot of copper and fan to devote to cooling that little power.

[QUOTE=fivemack;391058]Do I really need that much cooling capability for what is not a large overclock? The machine shouldn't be dissipating as much as 200 watts, and that seems an awful lot of copper and fan to devote to cooling that little power.[/QUOTE]

No and living where you are you just need to turn off the heat of your home or flat as I do on the division where have my laptop.

[QUOTE=fivemack;391058]Do I really need that much cooling capability for what is not a large overclock? The machine shouldn't be dissipating as much as 200 watts, and that seems an awful lot of copper and fan to devote to cooling that little power.[/QUOTE]

The fans are all optional of course. You could run two or even one case fan and one fan on the cooler, all very quiet-like. I wouldn't be concerned about the "amount" of copper unless it's really the size that concerns you. It's simultaneously one of the best and cheapest coolers on the market.


You can always work your way down from there.


[url]http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119292[/url] is considerably smaller. It won't fit the hyper 212 but if you want to go smaller, there's always the stock heatsink.

You can go for a smaller version of the hyper 212 and grab this: [url]http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103108[/url]


Keep in mind that regardless of the degree to which you overclock, the CPU still puts out an impressive amount of heat if you're running it at full load at any point. The D92 looks pretty good but it will get hot.

EDIT: I should just stress a bit more that the Hyper 212 isn't something that gets used for record-breaking overclocks or anything. It's not meant to dissipate 300W or anything (though it probably could). It's not as much overkill as you think. Again though the 92mm version will be much more compact for you.

[QUOTE=fivemack;391058]Do I really need that much cooling capability for what is not a large overclock? The machine shouldn't be dissipating as much as 200 watts, and that seems an awful lot of copper and fan to devote to cooling that little power.[/QUOTE]
A 4770K with no OC at all with a Noctua NH-U14 +2 fans in a big case with 3 fans reaches more than 90° when AVX is used.

When I had bad case airflow, the 4770 would hover around 90°C using the Hyper 212 Evo using only 3 cores. I fixed the case airflow and got it down to 71°C (at the moment).

The stock cooler is nowhere near adequate. You will likely exceed the thermal limit running just 3 cores at stock clock. I have access to an Ivy Bridge i7-3770 machine with the stock cooler and I can only use 2 cores without thermal throttling.

We don't know if this cooler fits but it has taken everything we have thrown at it without a problem. If temps go over 70°C that just means we need to clean out the dust in our well-ventilated case.

[URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608019[/URL]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;391102]We don't know if this cooler fits but it has taken everything we have thrown at it without a problem. If temps go over 70°C that just means we need to clean out the dust in our well-ventilated case.

[URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608019[/URL][/QUOTE]

That would be handy for a small case, but it's very expensive!

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;391100]When I had bad case airflow, the 4770 would hover around 90°C using the Hyper 212 Evo using only 3 cores. I fixed the case airflow and got it down to 71°C (at the moment).[/QUOTE]

The ambient temperature matters a lot - at least when you have good airflow in the case. For comparison, my 4670K with full load and NH-D15 cooling it in a [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196047&cm_re=DS_Cube-_-11-196-047-_-Product"]DS Cube[/URL] case runs currently at 46°C.

Room temperature is now 21°C, I'm heating the room with three computers taking currently 301W. Outside temperature is -15°C. :rajula: (Finally a reason to use that smiley :smile:)