My SFF media server/storage tower: Colossus

[henris]

You'll definitely need it too.  There's no room in that case for anything but the stock low-profile CPU cooler! 

There are a few quality low-profile CPU coolers available. I'm going to try out the Noctua NH-L9A cooling a 65W TDP AMD A10-5700 APU and stressing it out with Plex transcoding.

[alans17]

You'll definitely need it too.  There's no room in that case for anything but the stock low-profile CPU cooler! 

There are a few quality low-profile CPU coolers available. I'm going to try out the Noctua NH-L9A cooling a 65W TDP AMD A10-5700 APU and stressing it out with Plex transcoding.

I saw that one. Looks promising, but I'm going to see how far I can go with my $1 stock cooler first.

[dirtysanchez]

FWIW, I am running the stock Intel CPU cooler myself with no issues.  I did replace my case fans with Noctua fans and considered getting the Noctua CPU cooler as well, but since my CPU is 35W TDP I figured the Noctua would be overkill.

 

But yes, to henris's point, I didn't mean to give the impression that the stock Intel cooler is the only one that will fit.

[debris]

Quality photos + Quality build. 

[phillipppp]

All around great build! I love the unopened stack of boxes picture. I like the motherboard tray on your Q25B with the cutout in the middle; mine doesn't have that if I recall. Nice idea of using the Low Voltage RAM!

 

I might have waited a bit to start the build just so I could take that picture 

 

 

I'm glad everyone is enjoying this build documentation! I really wanted to provide the best step-by-step I could.

 

With school having started, I've got less time to really work on this. As of right now, I've got a 3TB parity and two 3TB data disks pre-cleared and have copied data from other drives onto the array. Currently pre-clearing a 1TB cache drive to move over CP,SB,SABnzbd, and Plex to. (Currently have those installed to a flash drive to get them going.)

 

I'm really bummed about the new aTV update that ruined PlexConnect, so I don't have that yet (debating buying a Roku box...yes, I'm that desperate.) Haven't had any other real problems yet, just been a learning experience trying to get everything moving smoothly.

[dirtysanchez]

Having had both aTVs and Rokus, I'll take a Roku over an aTV any day. Unless there's something that really draws you to the aTV, the Roku works much better with Plex IMHO. But then Plex is 99% of my usage on an aTV or Roku.

[phillipppp]

Having had both aTVs and Rokus, I'll take a Roku over an aTV any day. Unless there's something that really draws you to the aTV, the Roku works much better with Plex IMHO. But then Plex is 99% of my usage on an aTV or Roku.

 

I like my aTV because I have an iPhone, iPad, MBP and they all work together. It's a good system together. But honestly, I would get the Roku just for reliable Plex support.

[Ramsay]

 

I'm really bummed about the new aTV update that ruined PlexConnect, so I don't have that yet (debating buying a Roku box...yes, I'm that desperate.) Haven't had any other real problems yet, just been a learning experience trying to get everything moving smoothly.

There's a workaround for the SSL issue:  http://langui.sh/2013/08/27/appletv-ssl-plexconnect/

 

 

[Ramsay]

Also, thank you (& others) for posting this SFF build.  I'm starting a new build and I'm planning on following your lead here with the Q25B. 

 

Has anyone tried using the bottom tray for two more 3.5" drives?  Must be a tight fit....

[sacretagent]

 

 

I'm really bummed about the new aTV update that ruined PlexConnect, so I don't have that yet (debating buying a Roku box...yes, I'm that desperate.) Haven't had any other real problems yet, just been a learning experience trying to get everything moving smoothly.

There's a workaround for the SSL issue:  http://langui.sh/2013/08/27/appletv-ssl-plexconnect/

 

 

 

and i made a plexconnect plugin in the plugins forum ...

easy to upgrade versions of plexconnect

[garycase]

Also, thank you (& others) for posting this SFF build.  I'm starting a new build and I'm planning on following your lead here with the Q25B. 

 

Has anyone tried using the bottom tray for two more 3.5" drives?  Must be a tight fit....

 

The bottom tray works fine with 2 3.5" drives => it's designed for exactly that.    You can either mount 2 3.5" drives and 1 2.5" drive;  1 3.5" drive and 2 2.5" drives; or 3 2.5" drives.

 

Every system I've built with this case had at least 6 drives in it (one had 7).

 

[phillipppp]

 

 

I'm really bummed about the new aTV update that ruined PlexConnect, so I don't have that yet (debating buying a Roku box...yes, I'm that desperate.) Haven't had any other real problems yet, just been a learning experience trying to get everything moving smoothly.

There's a workaround for the SSL issue:  http://langui.sh/2013/08/27/appletv-ssl-plexconnect/

 

 

 

and i made a plexconnect plugin in the plugins forum ...

easy to upgrade versions of plexconnect

 

 

If you want to help me out, that'd be great! I have not been able to get that to work at all! I've tried at least three or four times, starting from scratch each time. The main problem I have is trying to clear the ports in order to get it to work.

[dirtysanchez]

Having had both aTVs and Rokus, I'll take a Roku over an aTV any day. Unless there's something that really draws you to the aTV, the Roku works much better with Plex IMHO. But then Plex is 99% of my usage on an aTV or Roku.

 

I like my aTV because I have an iPhone, iPad, MBP and they all work together. It's a good system together. But honestly, I would get the Roku just for reliable Plex support.

 

This house has multiple iPhones, iPads, and the fiancée has a MBP also. Other than AirPlay, what can the aTV do that a Roku can't?  Not bashing, it's a serious question. Curious if I'm missing something.

[henris]

Just finished second build on this same Lian Li PC-Q25B case. Ran into some funny problems, mostly due to insufficient pre-research but some of encountered things were just bizarre. First build was a breeze so I did not expect any probs here though I was doing major replacement to the stock components. Thought I shared if anyone else is hitting similar issues.

 

I planned to replace all the case fans and also the stock CPU-cooler with Noctua's silent products. The front 140mm fan was supposed to be replaced with Noctua NF-A15 PWM. Should have read the product description with more concentration. This particular fan is a 140mm fan with 150mm round frame BUT with 120mm mounting holes. And this case requires a 140mm fan with 140mm mount holes. My bad, it's now running with the stock fan.

 

Second bump came when I started to install Noctua NH-L9a CPU-cooler. I was pleased to see that the new case was the newer version with removable motherboard tray and cutout. The Noctua cooler has a back plate to be installed flat on the back of the motherboard. But when I looked at the back of ASRock FM2A85X-ITX motherboard there were small components in the way. Short googling and quickly found this. So my motherboard was one of two motherboards in the world which is not implemented according to AMD specification for backside clearance... Noctua has already fixed this problem in April (small spacers added to the package)  but unfortunately there seems be old versions still in the market. At least I got one. I've got spacers coming from Noctua and I created my own temporary ones for the moment. Cooler is otherwise working nicely, idle temps for A10-5700 are ~40C, haven't had a chance yet to stress the system.

 

Third issue is related to previous one. The cut out in the motherboard tray is somehow oddly placed at least for an AMD mount. The screw holes on one side are right next to the edge of the cutout so that few millimeter of the Noctua's backplate would go under the motherboard tray. There is at least 15mm free space on the other side so it seems like problem in the design.

 

The last issue came with the motherboard I/O shield. It just wouldn't fit the case cutout. I pushed, eased, shoved and banged it but it was just simply too long. Googled a bit and found similar observations. I filed ~0,5mm off the top edge and the shield fitted nicely. There seems to variance in the quality since most people are not experiencing this.

 

Otherwise everything went nicely. I was really pleased with Silverstone SST-ST45SF-G modular SFX power supply recommended here. It's so small compared to the Corsair CX430M I used in the first build. I also tested several types of SATA-3 cables. Clear winner from usability point of view was the Akasa ProSlim. The header is so small that you can bend all the cables directly to the back of the drive cage (and yes the ASRock has it's SATA-ports pointing up from the mb...). Especially all the round cables were quite disappointing due to being too rigid and hard to get nicely stacked for cable management.

[phillipppp]

Having had both aTVs and Rokus, I'll take a Roku over an aTV any day. Unless there's something that really draws you to the aTV, the Roku works much better with Plex IMHO. But then Plex is 99% of my usage on an aTV or Roku.

 

I like my aTV because I have an iPhone, iPad, MBP and they all work together. It's a good system together. But honestly, I would get the Roku just for reliable Plex support.

 

This house has multiple iPhones, iPads, and the fiancée has a MBP also. Other than AirPlay, what can the aTV do that a Roku can't?  Not bashing, it's a serious question. Curious if I'm missing something.

 

I haven't done all the research on what the Roku is capable of (besides full support of the Plex app), but I also like the home sharing. Since when I'm home, my MBP is usually docked, I can stream my whole library to the aTV. But I guess my main commitment to the aTV is that I already bought it haha.

[phillipppp]

@henris thanks for the info! So far, I am still running the stock fans and CPU cooler. I have my box on a wire shelf in a fairly empty large closet in a spare room. It seems to get plenty of airflow and since it's out of the way, noise isn't a concern.

 

It's interesting how many variances of this case seem to be out there. From the connectors on the back of the drive cage to the MB tray, it seems like there's a bit of inconsistency.

 

I did have a bit of trouble with the I/O plate. Mine was that the back lip was bent upwards too much and did not allow the plate to snap in the groove. Once I flattened it out some, it popped right in.

[garycase]

Clear winner from usability point of view was the Akasa ProSlim. The header is so small that you can bend all the cables directly to the back of the drive cage

 

I think you'd find a far better choice is to simply use 90-degree connectors on the drive cage connectors.    Depending on which version of the case you have (the drive cage connectors are different on different versions), you may be able to use standard right-angle connections;  or you may need the more-difficult-to-find left-hand connectors.    You can get left-hand cables here:

http://www.cpustuff.com/left-angle-to-straight-sata-cable/

 

[Not suggesting you change -- once you've got them in place, there's no reason to switch -- but just for future reference or others who may be just doing the build it's nice to have a source for the left-hand cables]

 

[henris]

I think you'd find a far better choice is to simply use 90-degree connectors on the drive cage connectors.    Depending on which version of the case you have (the drive cage connectors are different on different versions), you may be able to use standard right-angle connections;  or you may need the more-difficult-to-find left-hand connectors.    You can get left-hand cables here:

http://www.cpustuff.com/left-angle-to-straight-sata-cable/

Yep on the hard drive cage side angled connectors would be the best approach. But on the ASRock motherboard side you will need something very flexible since the ports are not pointing towards the drive cage but straight to the PSU. And since all the ports are stacked in two rows, you cannot use angled connectors there.

 

The Akasa ProSlim have both a very tiny connector and very thin and flexible cable, it's almost more like a rubber band than a cable Time will tell how well the cables perform in actual operation but so far they seem good. Once I get all the five drives in the cage using all ProSlim I will post some pics to compare the cable management.

[garycase]

By the way,  I've noted several times how much nicer the "internals" are with an SFX power supply instead of an ATX unit.    Here's a picture of one I recently built for another "UnRAID'er".

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=28206.msg262402#msg262402

(See Reply #12)