What's new
  • Please do not post any links until you have 3 posts as they will automatically be rejected to prevent SPAM. Many words are also blocked due to being used in SPAM Messages. Thanks!

Gallery Yet another small(ish) full ATX build (CoolerMaster Q500L)

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
No pics yet (hoping for a nice sunny day tomorrow, and if so I'll snap some pics and change the header to Gallery) but the build's done and currently undergoing full load temp testing.

This wasn't initially planned as an ASUS build, but now that I'm looking at what's gone into it, it'd be hard not to call it an ASUS build

Hardware as follows....

ASUS H170 Pro + i7 6700 w/ 2X8GB 2133 DDR4 - (USED)
XPG Gammix S11 Pro NVMe 512GB (New)
Western Digital Black 500GB (Used, really old! :) ).
CoolerMaster HYPER 212 LED w/ Noctua Redux 1700 (Like New, been in a few builds but never seemed to last much longer than a week in them. )
ASUS TUF Gaming GTX 1650 OC (Like New, purchased a few months ago)
ASUS ROG STRIX 550W PSU (Gold) - (New, came with a Newegg GTX 3060 bundle)

And the final piece is a bit controversial.... I grabbed a CoolerMaster QL500 in spite of the horrid airflow reviews.... couldn't resist, I've always liked the style of it and if I can't tame the temps it's not stupidly expensive to replace. :)

The stock case fan has been replaced with a pair of 2K CoolerMaster Sickleflow fans.

We'll see how the temps go. I've already got 2+ hours Furmark/7 thread done with a stock intel cooler and am now seeing what I'll get with the Hyper 212 (might not be what I'm expecting). :)
 
Last edited:

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
1hrPlusStockCPUcooler.jpg

2hrPlusHyper_212.jpg

Well, my fears didn't come to pass. Without knowing for sure how well motherboard temp sensors are being read I tend to rely on things like the SSD temps when I'm looking to see if hot air is being trapped in the case (and building up over time). That temp quickly was reading 3C higher than the max temp I'd seen on the stock cooler setup so I was concerned that the tower cooler might be creating a dead zone and that the internal temps would just keep climbing over time.

Fortunately, it stuck to that temp over 2+ hours so I'm satisfied that there's sufficient airflow in the case with both a GPU and CPU load in place.

I'm more than happy with those temps on a $60 case with a pair of $8 fans. :)
 

Lysrin

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
7,804
Location
Nova Scotia
Looking forward to some pics but a sunny day on Friday might be a bit optimistic with Elsa on the horizon! ;)
 

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
Looking forward to some pics but a sunny day on Friday might be a bit optimistic with Elsa on the horizon! ;)

Heh... that's right. We're not getting the worst of it here so I haven't been keeping track. If not, I may take a fit and dig out the lights for some indoor basement shots.
 

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
As predicted... raining with little chance of a sunny day for a while so I grabbed these indoors.

Q500L Mostly new Boxes.jpg

That's the new/mostly new hardware that went into this (besides the case).

Q500L Front panel open.jpg

Q500L Rear panel open.jpg

Full build panels off. It's a box so there's no issue(s) with cable management other than control panel location. Surprisingly this case can accommodate 2 3.5" HDDs on the back panel.

Q500L Hyper 212 bracket.jpg

Quick view of the Hyper 212 (LED) mounting bracket. It's a much better setup than the original. (View with top HDD/SDD plate removed).

Q500L internal top rear.jpg

Q500L PSU Cable Clearance.jpg

Closeup of top/rear and bottom/front. The case is designed to allow you to place the PSU pretty much anywhere it will fit based on your existing hardware. I've got it top/front drawing fresh air in from the front, and exhausting out the top. Because of this orientation, the PSU cables impede some of the airflow from the front, but as noted from my temps above, not enough that it's a real issue with moderate hardware.

Aside from the cables impeding airflow, the other issue with this design is that the PSU's power switch / fan control is hidden away up top. You can get in at it with your fingers, but you can't see the labeling on the switch(s).

Q500L control panel.jpg

This control panel can be moved to top, bottom, or front.

Q500L Panels on Front.jpg

Q500L Panels on Rear.jpg

This is intended to be a gift so I've left the peeling of the acrylic for the recipient. :)

Overall, happy with the case. Relatively easy to build in (considering I stuffed a full sized ATX board into it) and the two 2K CM sickleflow fans seem to have tamed the wayward temps (at least for a budget gamer).

Pretty hard to complain about a $60 case that supports full ATX, 2 HDDs, and even has proper PCI slot covers as opposed to the break-away ones we normally see at this price point.
 

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
Did that mainboard actually hit 120'c?!

Heh... no, those are obviously bad readings. If there's anything to be gained from those particular sensor readings it's the delta between min/max under load.

edit: It's also worth noting that the "current" temps are the lowest recorded, but those screenshots were taken under full load. (Although it's also possible that those temps are indeed lower because the case fans are tied to CPU temp thus would be moving more air over the heatsinks under load).
 
Last edited:

FreeKnight

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Messages
4,444
Location
Edmonton, AB
I had actually been eyeballing that case for an alternative to my NCase for a while. Ended up going with an O11 Mini instead, but always thought this was a neat idea for a smallish case.
 

JD

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
11,931
Location
Toronto, ON
What about noise? I'm guessing you can hear all the fans since it's mostly open on the top/front right? I've been thinking about grabbing the Q300L, but I think it's roughly the same size as this, just different PSU placement, to put my "server" into to. I mean there's nothing wrong with my old Fractal Design R3, it's just much bigger than it needs to be.

If you could humour me, you also have that small Rosewill? Could you put them side by side and take a quick pic?
 

Latest posts

Top