Streacom FC8 fanless mITX Build

Just started my new mITX build in a Streacom FC8 fanless HTPC case. I'll start with a little teaser as I just got started.



Similar to the Origenae M10 but without the display and about 1/2 the cost. Unfortunately the instructions which came with the case are rather brief:



Well I have built a few HTPCs before so it should not be a problem. I haven't progressed much since I am waiting for the APU (A6-3500), memory, BD drive and power supply to arrive but I have mounted the motherboard (Asus F1A75-I Deluxe) and a slaughtered HP IR receiver. The latter found a great home at the front right of the case.



The CPU block is anodized all around, even on the surface that will mount to the processor - not too reassuring but it seems very even so with the right amount of AS5 it should work out.

Also the cooling pipes are moving fairly freely in the blocks attaching them to the case and there seems to be no way of tightening the mounting so I guess some AS5 needs to go in there as well.



Sorry about the iPhone photos, I will update with better and more pics as the build progresses and I find the charger for my EOS.

It just became available here (Sweden) - I actually first saw it at perfecthometheater.com but they say they won't have it untlil Christmas.
$176 - that, I'll tell ya, is a grreat deal.

The color is actually much darker - completely black - than the top picture suggests.

Their ultra low profile version looks great too - like an Atech case almost:

Got the CPU, memory and picoPSU installed. Two sticks of 4GB DDR3-1600 - since memory is cheap might as well go with 8 gig. The picoPSU takes up almost no space.





The CPU block is far from the usual mirror polished copper found on most heatsinks. Guess this is an indicator of the low price of the case - remains to be proven how well it works.



No fancy spring loaded screws or anything - just 4 regular screws holding the CPU block by way of nuts on the back of the motherboard. Difficult to know how hard to tighten the screws but fortunately the steel strips flex a bit so the risk of over tightening was lower.

I separated the block and added some Arctic Silver 5 where the heat pipes go and screwed it back together.







Done. No bulky active CPU cooler to take up space, the tiny case becomes quite roomy. The HDD/ODD bracket goes on top of this but with just one SSD and a slim BD drive I should have no problem finding space for the little x1 tuner card I plan to connect to the mPCIe slot.



I was planning to add some Arctic Silver where the heat pipes are held to the case wall, but the 2 blocks which clamp over the pipes are held by screws whose heads are between the cooling fins on the side of the case and I could not get a large enough screwdriver in there to get those screws loose without destroying the heads. Hopefully it will work out anyway.

Only 2 heat pipes came with the case - I would have liked 2 more but they would have come into conflict with the chipset heat sink so it would not have worked anyway. Streacom says they have tested the case with an A8 on the same motherboard as I have with great results so I'll take their word for it.

As soon as I get the power brick for the picoPSU I can power on and test it out. Stay tuned.

I actually had the Zotac board on order but it was not scheduled to be available until mid-October and it is also more expensive than the Asus. Streacom sent me photos of their build based on the Asus board which confirmed it would fit, and I found out it has a real mPCIe slot so I picked the Asus.

W/ r t the heat pipes I agree they could easily have included more. In my case the positioning of the CPU socket on the Asus board is such that I would only have been able to use one more, for a total of 3, assuming I could bend it so it did not hit the chipset heatsink.

I agree anodizing the bottom of the heat sink is unusual. Remains to be seen if it really matters, though.

Even A-Tech uses just 2 heat pipes, although with a much more sophisticated CPU block:



I guess what I am doing is field testing the product. I will be sure to post the results, still waiting for the power brick so the system is still sitting on a shelf.


Agree, very similar, even down to the CPU block and its mounting hardware. Looking at the exterior, you are both mimicking A-Tech.

Another detail to plan for is the slim optical drive; the case has the eject button on the left below the slot while the Lite-On slim BD drive I got via eBay has the button centered.

The drive aligns perfectly with the slot in the case, but I will not be able to use the eject button. Even if I could figure out a way to link the case button to the button on the drive, there is no room because the front of the drive sits flush with the case.

No issue for me, I have an eject button programmed into my Harmony remote, but if you plan to get the case and install an ODD, make sure you get one with the eject button on the left.

Well, the guy from Streacom suggested to me that it was designed that way, to keep the cost down.

I powered up the system for the first time yesterday and it seems to be running fine without any temperature problems. The BIOS processor temperature indication is most likely out of whack as it indicated an idle temp of 50 C just after power on.

I have been running AIDA64 which is indicating an idle temp of just above 30; after 30 minutes of Blu-ray playback (which is about the highest load this system will ever see) core temp is stable at 36 with a GPU temp of 37. Core load on the A6-3500 during BD playback (in TMT5) is 24%, 18%, and 18%, respectively.

Cooling fins on the outside of the case appear to be at approximately body temperature.

AIDA64 says motherboard temp is 60C which is definitely not true, so I am not sure how reliable these figures are. What would be the best tool to use for monitoring temps on the Llano/A75 platform?

Okay, I have done some load testing now and here are the results. I think I can conclude now that the case cools pretty well; there are no indications of overheating and temperature is stable even after 30 minutes of running Prime95 at full CPU load.

First, at idle. Notable is that the AMD 10h temp sensor and the "Nuvoton" sensors show completely different readings.



Then, after about 30 minutes of processing a 1080i H.264 live TV stream (by way of DVBlink Network Server) and sending it over the network to a client PC. This represents the majority of usage for this HTPC - TV hub for the house. The CPU temp sensors are still not in agreement.



And finally, after about 30 minutes of running Prime95. Note that the two CPU temperature readings are now just about the same.

Also the indicated mobo temp went DOWN when running Prime95 - which makes no sense so that confirms that reading is out of kilter.

So I have completed the build, thought I'd post some final images. So far I am extremely happy with the case and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants a great looking mITX case that is completely silent.

The exterior does get pretty warm, but I am taking this as proof that the cooling solution with its (only) 2 heat pipes does work. CPU temp does get up to just over 40 degrees C when transcoding 1080i HDTV streams, but it holds very stable at that level and I have seen no signs of heat issues.

I am running it with an SSD, two twin-tuner TV cards and a BD drive powered by a 90W picoPSU with no issues.

miniPCIE WLAN card replaced with a x1 adapter I got from Costronic in Taiwan.



Test run with the x1 DVB-T2 card (BlackGold 3620). Worked great!



The back panel has predrilled holes intended for USB ports above the I/O shield; I enlarged one for the antenna connector for the tuner card.





I fixed the tuner card to the bottom of the disk/ODD bracket using thick double sided tape. The ribbon cable is a PCIe x1 extender that connects the card to the x1 slot adapter.



Photo taken from the left side with the x16 slot still empty. The antenna wire from the -T2 card to the McGyvered connector can be seen on the left. Despite the compact dimensions of the case, there is still room for some air to move around.



Disk/ODD bracket and DVB-S2 card in place. Time to put the lid back on.



Done. It looks really tiny on the shelf...

Yes, the 3.5" hard drive is mounted under the ODD. If you look at my pic of the bracket flipped over you can see the flanges.

I have no hard drive installed, sorry if I was unclear, I meant there is a SPACE for one on the underside of the bracket. I agree with Assassin, in a case like this a mechanical drive is just a source of unneeded heat and noise. All my storage is on a WHS.

No need for a CI slot. Use DVBlink TVsource, newcs, acamd and a USB connected smart card reader (Phoenix). Much more reliable and you can use 7MC if you like. Great solution to get encrypted channels into any TV front end.

DVBlink also works with almost any tuner card that has BDA drivers so no need to get those expensive cards which (claim to) work with CI but are flaky at best.

Okay. I think you could cut a slot in the back panel, in the same way as I enlarged one of the holes, only you make a slot instead. There is room inside the case for a PCI-card style CI add-on, especially if you do not install a 3.5" HDD.

The feet are standard AV type round with rubber inserts and a gold border. They are glued or taped, not screwed, to the case bottom.

Mounting it to the wall should be easy, just drill through the bottom to create a "key hole" mounting.

Mine boots into 7MC in 30 seconds from power off.