So I decided to go ahead and build another rig.  This one will be compact in size, so as to not take a lot of room and can be placed more readily on a shelf.  I wanted it to be as powerful as I could build for a small size and not break the wallet.  The rig will feature an ITX mobo, 2600k cpu, and a GTX560 Ti.  I'm still in the fine fetching of hardware, but I have done a lot of searching.  Case, mobo, and PSU combo was the hardest part as they were the main deciding factor of how powerfully I could go for a small size.
 
Newegg wish list:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13098889
 
Now on the mobo, I know its a H61 chipset, and I will probably not be able to take full advantage of overclocking the CPU.  But ASUS's manual actually states that overclocking can be done through a ratio.  Now only if that means ratio as in multipler or backclocking.  Sadly, ASUS tech support is out on the holidays too, so I could not get the answer.  But no worries, I planning to build it after the New Year.  And if I can't overclock, at least I will have a CPU with Intel 3000 graphics.

 Do you really need the optical drive? Once the install of Windows is done you might not need it. Just use one from another rig. It would save you $50.
 I do my installs from usb drive. After that I can get everything from my network.

I like the rig and form factor! It should make for a good cruncher. With luck the board will give you the option to overclock as well.

Lu523


 Do you really need the optical drive? Once the install of Windows is done you might not need it. Just use one from another rig. It would save you $50.
I do my installs from usb drive. After that I can get everything from my network.

If I built this rig to solely for folding/crunching, I would have ditched the case and few other things.  But this rig may have a second life, so I need it as a fully functionly PC.  But for most its life (95% of it), it will be folding & crunching.
 
I forgot to mention this earlier.  But I'm planning not to use the stock Intel heatsink.  Zalman just released the perfect heatsink for this build, its their CNPS 8900.  Low profile to fit in tight spaces, twin heatpiped coiled around a full copper flower heatsink.  Should allow me to up the power some more and with the 120mm fan so close, stay plenty cool too.  Just got to wait for Newegg to get it first.
 
You wanna know what inspired me to build this rig.  I work damage and defective for my store, and an Apple Mac mini just happened to pass through.  I fell in love with the all so slim design, well built construstion, beautifully engineered design.  That I just had to build something similar, but a lot more powerfully for full workloads.

$164 Zotac Z68 Mini ITX
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069
 
$139 Asrock Z68 Mini ITX
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069
 
 
then you can OC all you want

Good post XZ, I wanted to suggest a z68 system for obvious reasons. He can oc now and hold off on the video card until later if need be.

Xavier Zepherious


$164 Zotac Z68 Mini ITX
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069

$139 Asrock Z68 Mini ITX
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069


then you can OC all you want

I did consider Zotac and Asrock ITX mobo, each had their own negatives which made me choose other wise.  Zotac reviews were not good, and Asrock lacks fine tuning.  Wished EVGA made a ITX Z68 or P67, I would be all over that.
 
Another thing that I had to be careful about when selecting the right mobo, is wether the mobo could support a 95W TDP CPU.  Asus says on their website that it supports a 2600k, but I'm going to call tech support to find the exact answers that I need to know, after the holiday season.

and ASUS?
 
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX35815
 
look around before you choose

Xavier Zepherious


and ASUS?

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX35815

look around before you choose

Its not an ITX mobo.
 
These are the problems I ran into.  Want the P67 or Z68 chipset, but I would cough up more money and would most likely go a micro ATX route.  The cases get bigger and my options do grow.  If I'd choose a micro ATX case, might as well go full width, which defeats the purpose of compact shelf PC.  The list just keeps growing.
 
I've spent many hours researching and deciding on parts.  This project is still in the planning stages and I can easily kick it out the door or proceed to build.  I may still go the mirco ATX mobo route, but would require me to find yet another case and PSU to make it happen.

I like charts so:
mb
................itx......................matx........................atx
ASUS....... P8H61-I............P8Z68-m pro.............P8Z68-v lx
.................$84.99..............$125.........................$125
 
also is linux an option or do you want win-gpu folding?

eabarlan


I like charts so:
mb
................itx......................matx........................atx
ASUS....... P8H61-I............P8Z68-m pro.............P8Z68-v lx
.................$84.99..............$125.........................$125

also is linux an option or do you want win-gpu folding?

Win-gpu folding.  Plan on using the GPU tracker &/or the Bionx crunching.

I've made a few changes to my 2600k mITX build.  I'm changing out the mobo from the Asus H61 to Asrock Z68.  This will give me the ability to OC the CPU some, but the Asrock mobo does lack those fine tuning features.  And since now that the mobo can support faster ram, I upgraded that from basic Corsair 1333 to Corsair 1600 XMS3.  Which should help keep it a little cooler.  Price is up to $770 now, maybe a rebate or two will come out soon before next payday.

FYI my Asrock P67 Pro3 blows. No stability at any overclocked speed and any setting/voltage. And you're not telling me that a 2600k won't do 4GHz even at 1.40V.
Oh well, I always get sh*t like this. First it dissapears on me for a few weeks and now it's acting like a POS.
 
Next mobos are ASUS/Gigabyte again. What about the Gigabyte Z68 DS3? It's cheap and seems okay for mild overclocks.

ctgilles


FYI my Asrock P67 Pro3 blows. No stability at any overclocked speed and any setting/voltage. And you're not telling me that a 2600k won't do 4GHz even at 1.40V.
Oh well, I always get sh*t like this. First it dissapears on me for a few weeks and now it's acting like a POS.

Next mobos are ASUS/Gigabyte again. What about the Gigabyte Z68 DS3? It's cheap and seems okay for mild overclocks.

For starters, this is a mini ITX build.  Build a PC rig as small as possible and as powerful as a full size one.  The footprint of the case that I have choosen measure less than 11" in length.  Finding a Z68 or P67 mini ITX mobo is really thin, its either Asrock or Zotac.  My previous pick was an Asus H61 mini ITX, great mobo, but doesn't support overclocking by multipler.  Overclocking is not really a key step for this build, but it would nice to have.  Nothing is set in stone yet, as I'm still planning this build out.  I probably won't be ordering parts till a week later.

Oops, misread the ITX & mATX. :) Good luck!

ctgilles


Oops, misread the ITX & mATX. :) Good luck!

Thanx

It's an interesting rig ...compact and yet a powerful single processor build. I simply love the concept.

MOBAJOBG


It's an interesting rig ...compact and yet a powerful single processor build. I simply love the concept.

You can thank Apple for the idea on the iMac mini.  Thats what gave me the idea to build something like it.
Update:
Newegg.com is offering instant rebate for the CPU and memory.  And Corsair is offering another $10 for the memory.  So I went ahead and ordered the parts.  Another 2600k folder/cruncher should be online soon.

Should be getting everything today.  I get so excited when building a new rig.  Can't wait till I get off work and find those brown boxes at my door. 
 
I'm naming this new rig "Quartz".  Pics soon to come. 
Edit:
 
I present, my "Quartz" rig.  This rig is less than 1 sq foot and less than 12 inches long.  Easily fits on a shelf or where room is tight.  Has a 120mm intake fan that dominates the front panel for that extra cooling edge.  Still plenty of room inside to route cables or add a 9 inch long GPU card.  Unfortunely thou, the power/sata cable for the slim DVD-rom that I ordered is the wrong size.  So it is built, but not running, yet! 
 








 
 

just ordered the motherboard for my upgrade/new build....  gonna be ordering the psu in a few days, then it's just waiting on the cpu, cooler and gpu to get here and I can start piecing stuff together, more of a downgrade to make two systems than a complete upgrade and new build at the moment....
 
Looking at w3520, evga x58 sli3 from b-stock, corsair 1000w, evga gtx 460 ee, 6 (3x2gb)gb ram and h50 with a future upgrade to 6x2gb....
 
and i7-920, asus p6t v2 deluxe, ocz 500w, gt8800, 6 (3x2gb)gb ram, and cooler master hyper 212+

Got my "Quartz" up and folding.  The power effiency is crazy.  The i7 930 usually draws in the 200 watt range.  The i7 2600k is drawing around 50 watts.  And both CPU's are fully loaded folding.  But these reading were off the UPS meter, I would need to plug a meter to each's plug for an accurate reading.
 
This rig is super quiet too. With it idling, you can hear a pin drop.  Thou I quickly found a limitation of the motherboard.  The temp controls go by setpoint instead of a range of temperature threshold.  And the highest setting is 65*C.  So when temps start going above the 65*C mark, fans pick up speed (which they should), but then the rig becomes noisey.  To counter-act this, I downclocked the 2600k to 2.8GHz so it runs right at 65*C.  Once I get a aftermarket cooler, I will be able to up the clock speed again.
 
So far, it has completed its first project for 16k PPD on the 2.8GHz clock around 5min TPF.  Not bad really.

Great work Learjet and thanks for sharing all the pics with us!  I actually have a space in my Thermaltake Mozart TX case for a mini ITX mobo.  The case design is split into 2-halves where you can mount a full size ATX mobo on one side and the mini ITX mobo on the other side.  Your build thread and showing what can be done in a reduced footprint has me thinking about it.  I have a 2600K in another rig and you are right about low power and heat using that processor.  It is quite a breath of fresh air in that regard. 

2x motherboards in the same case, now that is crazy.  . 
 
If I wanted to, I could have built this rig even smaller, but I wanted to keep the cooling effiency high and enough PSU to run it all.  When I get ready to install a GPU, it too will have fresh cold air to cool it.  It will be sucking air through the side of the case and the back side of the GPU card will be cooled by the 120mm pushing air into the case.

sweet build and novel idea.
Kudo's

Just found a good comparsion between old and new.  My "Quartz" rig and "Crystal" rig are folding the same SMP project.  Both TPF times are within 2 seconds of each other (4:14).  The difference is processor speed and age.  Crystal has a i7 930 OC'd to 3.6GHz.  Quartz has a i7 2600k UC'd to 2.8GHz.  So it goes like this:
 
i7 930 3.6Ghz = i7 2600k 2.8Ghz
 
If you include power energy factor, then the i7 2600k always win.  Makes wonder, if Sandy Bridge is this good now, what would Ivy Bridge be like? .  I've seen rumors of an Ivy Bridge CPU designed for a 1155 socket and will work with a Z68 chipset.  So future expansion is in the releam of possablity.

psu came in today....  Fastest I've ever gotten a package in while in Okinawa....  6 days over a holiday weekend....  Just waiting on the mobo, cpu and gpu....

LearjetMinako

...

No there is a difference. But clock for clock the SB is about 8% faster and a bit more energy efficient. Hexcore Xeons like the E5649 are a better choice when considering output per rig (+50% but also +5X% energy)
930@3.6:  31680.00 (WCG), which is 4525.71 (BOINC)
2600k@2.8:  26796.00 (WCG), which is 3828.00 (BOINC)
930@2.8: 24640.00 (WCG), which is 3520.00 (BOINC)
E5649@2.8: 36652.00 (WCG), which is 5236.00 (BOINC)
 
The 22nm evolution will yield more performance 
And yes, S2011 is a dead-end street.
 
Cool rig tho' 

ctgilles


FYI my Asrock P67 Pro3 blows. No stability at any overclocked speed and any setting/voltage. And you're not telling me that a 2600k won't do 4GHz even at 1.40V.
Oh well, I always get sh*t like this. First it dissapears on me for a few weeks and now it's acting like a POS.

Next mobos are ASUS/Gigabyte again. What about the Gigabyte Z68 DS3? It's cheap and seems okay for mild overclocks.

id have to agree with this.... a 2600k should do 4ghz at damn near stock voltage...

farthestkris

ctgilles


FYI my Asrock P67 Pro3 blows. No stability at any overclocked speed and any setting/voltage. And you're not telling me that a 2600k won't do 4GHz even at 1.40V.
Oh well, I always get sh*t like this. First it dissapears on me for a few weeks and now it's acting like a POS.

Next mobos are ASUS/Gigabyte again. What about the Gigabyte Z68 DS3? It's cheap and seems okay for mild overclocks.

id have to agree with this.... a 2600k should do 4ghz at damn near stock voltage...

 
+1
 
Also, what a great thread, thanks for sharing.  Love the pics!

Here is another shot after I sqeezed in a GTX560 Ti into the case.  The case is desgined to hold a full fledge 9 inch GPU card.  And it might hold a GPU that is a little bigger if the power connectors are on the side instead of the end of the GPU.  But I'm planning on putting a low power GPU to keep the noise and power usage down.
 

Other additions that I will be adding later is a Zalman CNPS8900 CPU heatsink.  This will allow me to start cranking up the clock speed while keeping the rig quiet.  If ASRock also released a BIOS update that increased their thermal setpoint from 65*C max to 75*C max, that would also help since the 2600k runs around 72*C at its stock clock speed.  Currently have it down clocked to 2.8GHz to keep temps around the 65*C thermal setpoint.