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Djangostar · (This post was last modified: 2011-10-07, 02:04 by Djangostar.)

So, i received my parts yesterday and started my htpc .
case : Apex Mi-008
CPU : AMD A4 3400 llano
RAM : 2x 2 gb DDR3 Mushkin 10666
HSF : Scythe SCKZT-1000
HDD : 30Gb SSD Kingston

I chose the heatsink cause i thought the stock one would not fit under the psu . But it barely does , see below . about 5 mm of clearance ..

Now after mounting the aftermarket cooler , same thing , actually the stock one seems shorter then the scythe .

Eskro mentioned something about the cooler blocking the first Ram...IT DOES, i had to force a bit , as u can see the heat pipe is against the ram.

I also had a spare dvd drive, and it fits.

I have windows7 ultimate 64b. xbmc and using a wireless keyboard for now, this thing is very responsive, the UEFI is very user friendly. the only issue i had is having to install the O.S and drivers, I only have a usb keyboard and usb drivers were not installed yet...And had to manually set it to on board graphics, its set to pci by default so couldn't install xbmc.
It's been on since last nite, temps are hovering 32-38 . Enjoy

eskro · 2011-10-06, 03:58

hey thanks for the pics!!

weird that the stock cooler takes less place then the SCYTHE cooler o.O

but in return, your temps are very good!

thanks for the pics!

g725s · (This post was last modified: 2011-10-06, 04:32 by g725s.)

Nice. Interested in how it goes after setup. Would you mind posting a couple of pictures of the stock heatsink/fan that comes with the retail boxed APU with a ruler to show dimensions?

How did you get the DRAM installed. Looks like it is pushing up against the heatsink and leaning over a bit.

**Beer40oz** · 2011-10-06, 04:26

Very cool man!

Djangostar · 2011-10-06, 04:42

g725s Wrote:Nice. Interested in how it goes after setup. Would you mind posting a couple of pictures of the stock heatsink/fan that comes with the retail boxed APU with a ruler to show dimensions?

How did you get the DRAM installed. Looks like it is pushing up against the heatsink and leaning over a bit.

Of course let me find a ruler or something.

Djangostar · 2011-10-06, 04:43

g725s Wrote:Nice. Interested in how it goes after setup. Would you mind posting a couple of pictures of the stock heatsink/fan that comes with the retail boxed APU with a ruler to show dimensions?

How did you get the DRAM installed. Looks like it is pushing up against the heatsink and leaning over a bit.

yeah, i installed the ram first , and pushed on them a bit. Hope i dont have to remove the Ram lol

evanesce · 2011-10-06, 05:04

Love it all!

poofyhairguy · 2011-10-06, 05:22

Thanks for pics.

Djangostar · 2011-10-06, 06:49

cannot find my ruler, but will get the info on heatsink tomorrow

**voip-ninja** · 2011-10-06, 16:50

Thanks for the writeup, Most of my parts are here, but ironically no APU or Motherboard so I will be another day or so waiting on those.

One thing I noticed is that there really isn't a good place to mount the 2.5" SSD in this case. How did you mount yours the way in the picture, in which it is laying sideways in the floppy bay? I looked at doing it this way but did not want to mount it with velcro, so I screwed it into the side drive rails instead.

From looking at the pictures of the aftermarket HSF, it looks like the problem is with the heat spreaders on your RAM. I imagine if you removed them you would have exactly the amount of clearance you would need for this and it's not likely you really need them unless you are going to be doing gaming marathons with this anyway.

evanesce · 2011-10-06, 16:51

Got a question, should i take apart the Scythe SCKZT-1000 and reverse the fan flow? if I don't, the psu and cpu fan are going to compete with each other and negate the airflow.

the psu is blowing the air up out of the top of the Scythe, and the Scythe is blowing the air down away from the psu onto the mobo.....

**voip-ninja** · 2011-10-06, 16:54

evanesce Wrote:Got a question, should i take apart the Scythe SCKZT-1000 and reverse the fan flow? if I don't, the psu and cpu fan are going to compete with each other and negate the airflow.

the psu is blowing the air up out of the top of the Scythe, and the Scythe is blowing the air down away from the psu onto the mobo.....

I personally wouldn't worry about it, but if you are worried then yes, you can reverse the cooler fan and I don't imagine it would make much of a difference in performance.

I am going to slide a 120mm fan into the side of my MI-008 so that I have moderate cross case ventilation, I imagine that would take care of any "hot spot" issues with the cooling. I will probably tape up some of the vents to force the air from the back of the case on one side and out the other corner so that the apu/mobo/ram get a little extra ventilation.

evanesce · 2011-10-06, 16:56

voip-ninja Wrote:I personally wouldn't worry about it, but if you are worried then yes, you can reverse the cooler fan and I don't imagine it would make much of a difference in performance.

I am going to slide a 120mm fan into the side of my MI-008 so that I have moderate cross case ventilation, I imagine that would take care of any "hot spot" issues with the cooling. I will probably tape up some of the vents to force the air from the back of the case on one side and out the other corner so that the apu/mobo/ram get a little extra ventilation.

Well I was thinking, what sense would it make for 2 fans nearly on top of each other to work against each other ya know? I also don't get why the aftermarket cooler would push the hot air on to the system board instead of up out the top.....

**voip-ninja** · 2011-10-06, 16:58

evanesce Wrote:Well I was thinking, what sense would it make for 2 fans nearly on top of each other to work against each other ya know? I also don't get why the aftermarket cooler would push the hot air on to the system board instead of up out the top.....

That's a valid question, I will go look at mine and see if it is configured the same way.

**voip-ninja** · 2011-10-06, 17:10

Yup, same way. I have no idea why they designed it that way, but it is definitely intentional.