Spacing Question with Silverstone Grandia GD08

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sheag123

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Dec 1, 2012
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I am building a gaming HTPC and im wondering about the spacing of 2 parts; a possible optical drive and heatsink, and a possible gpu/mobo/case.

First: I am thinking of using a grandia gd08 case (cause it seems like the one with the most storage/cooling) with an asus P8Z77-V mobo and an asus gtx 660 OC. my concern is the height of the gpu and it not fitting in with the hdd removable case that the gd08 has in it. Has anyone put an asus gtx 660 OC or an Asus Direct CU II (because i believe they are mostly the same size) into that case?

Second: Using an Asus dvd rw optical drive DRW-24B1ST on the lower optical drive because of spacing issues of where im putting it. I want to use 4 G.Skill Ripjaws X and a Cooler master Hyper TX3. I have seen reviews where there can be spacing issues with putting a heatsink into this case and having the optical drive on the lower bay, does anyone have experience with this in the GD08?

Thanks, i really appreciate any feedback as i have a couple weeks to sort this stuff out before i order and build it :)
 
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Hey,

I was wondering if you went through with your build? I am considering just about the same set-up and I had the same two concerns. I really want this case, but I have a MSI GTX 660; however, I read that it can fit cards up to 13.6 inches and the GTX 660 is under 9 inches in length. I watched a youtube video of something doing an install on the GD08 and his heatsink fan was cutting it extremely close to the optical drive, almost the point where he couldn't make the connection. So this bit scares me as well especially since I will be mail ordering all my parts.

So I was wondering if you followed through with the set-up and if so, how did it all work out? I was thinking about going with the HAF XB case but that thing is huge and the HTPC cases look sleek.
 
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hey,

i did go through with the build. let me know if you want to see some pictures.

i have an asus 660 and i thought i would have to grinder a space in the hard drive cart or watever you call it for everything to work, but everything fit fine. i even called silverstone and they sait i would have to take off 5 mm but i didn't need to. i know the video you saw i think and they tried to put the gpu in after the hard drive tray was already in which makes no sense.

the one concern i had was cooling. there is only room for roughly 130mm high heatsink so i bought a hyper tx3 and put a noctua fan on it thinking it would be alright. long story short i took the tx3 out cause it wasnt working for me and put an h80i into it yesterday on a 3570k.

but ya the case is awesome and in my opinion its the best htpc case on the market right now as far as storage and cooling.

let me know if you have any more questions
 
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Thanks for the info and I'm glad it all worked out for you. I am about to push the buy button on the GD08, Extreme4, and my optical drive. Then all the other goodies after the next pay check. So everything you mentioned is great to know. The case looks so nice.

If you have pictures I would love to see everything fits inside so I have a better idea of what I'm getting myself into. This is my first build, so I'm a bit nervous doing it with a HTPC case, but it just looks too nice to go any other route.

I was planning on a very similar cooler as your original tx3; I was going to grab a Thermolab Bada2010 (I live in Seoul, Korea so I can't get all the same name brands as back in the States), but it is 135mm high and has a 92mm fan (as the tx3) so I was reading that this size cooler should fit. But, did you change yours to the h80i due to size issues or just because the tx3 wasn't doing the job?

At some point I would like to SLI my GTX 660 and over clock, is there room for 2 GTX 660s as SilverStone states? And will my cooler be enough to all this? Glad to speak to someone who has already been through this process; it has taken a ton of research. Thanks again.
 
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thats awesome, i felt the same way, once i saw the gd08 i had to have it and i just made things work around that case prettymuch, which after installing everything i realized that i am glad i did as much research as i did, but the case is designed so well that everything fit. one reccomendation i would make that i didnt do is i would reccomend to buy a psu with soft cables like a corsair or something. i bought an antec cause i got a really good deal but the cables were really stiff and it has been a pain trying to get the cables manageable in the case as a result.

i will upload pictures this week as i am adding a couple noctua fans to my h80i and ill have it all open.

this was my first build as well and the instructin manual on the gd08 is really helpful and in depth. i downloaded it from the silverstone website before i bought the case cause it goes into a lot of spacing concerns i had.

i plan to sli my 660's as well and the only drawback to that is you lose out on a couple hard drive bays, but your still left with 4 full size bays which is nothing to complain about.

the thermolab cooler looks good, it wasnt spacing issues why i changed, it was performance, i reset my cooler 4 or 5 times and i was just running hot (like 80 degrees at 50% load not overclocked.) which is worse than the stock cooler. (now i run prime 95 for 2 hours at 4.2ghz and it stays around 55 degrees) maybe i just received a faulty cooler but i just went with the h80i cause i didnt want to worry about that. if your cooler works the way it should you should be good as far as spacing. i did grinder off about 5 millimeters from the top of my tx3 before i installed it ( just the copper sticking up from the fins.) just in case but i dont think i needed to (maybe thats why it didnt work haha).

what cpu are you buying?

as far as cooling, the case comes with 3 120mm fans as im sure you know and originally i bought 2 more 120mm fans and 2 80mm fans just to fill it up and to have positive pressure in the case. with all those fans the heat from 2 660's would not be a problem im sure. even having just the 3 stock fans might be ok imo, but i haven't tried that.

so ya, im really happy with my gdo8, ill put some pictures up this week. to get at my computer i have to take my t.v. off of its stand, so its a bit of a process.
 
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No rush on the pictures. I won't be able to start building for a couple of weeks anyhow. I was wondering about loading it up with fans. I should probably do the same and load it up along with the initial build so I don't have to take mess with it again in the future. I have no idea how to overclock so that will be a learning experience once I step into it, but I wasn't sure how well the GD08 could handle it; however, it sounds like you are pushing it without any issues. Hopefully my cooler will be able to do the job.

I am going with the i5-3570k.

I didn't even think about downloading the manual for the GD08, so I got that going and will look it over as well.

I'm assuming the extra fans can only help with heat, so I'll probably purchase them for the extra slots as well. This is a really newbie question, but do you have all the fans blowing into the case rather than out? Not sure how this works until I get more involved in the build itself. Maybe the manual will mention this as well.

With all those fans going how is the noise? Another reason I wanted the GD08 because they state is is quiet. I've had a tower in the living room by the TV for years and I've got accustomed to the constant sound of fans, but when I turn the computer off I can actually hear the silence in the room.
 
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cooling and fans were something i put more time into researching than anything else. it was just interesting to me for some reason.

ya i wanted to load it up with fans so i didn't have to mess around later on.

best case scenario, no pun intended haha is to have all noctua fans in your case, not sure if you have access to those but they are the best in my opinion and they are highly regarded my many and they are pretty much silent.

i don't have all noctua cause they are pretty expensive and it would be a $100 upgrade to change it all over, so someday maybe. the fans that come with the case are quiet as long as they are kept at low rpm. the loudest fans in my case were the fan that came with the hyper tx3 and now are the fans that came with the h80i.

i wanted fans that first of all were less than 20dba which is about the level of sound of yourself breathing. that's a very rough analogy but 20dba is quiet.
beyond that the more cfm and static pressure i could get out of the fans the better.

my thinking is as well if you have more fans, you can have each of them at lower rpm to achieve the same airflow so it is quieter as well. these are all pretty uninformed theories of mine but in my case they have been true.

for the most part, the sound of the air moving is the loudest sound that my computer makes, and with 10 fans which it has, its a noticeable noise with everything else turned off. that's why noctua is so good, they researched how to move more air while keeping the sound of moving that air to a minimum. talking about this really makes me want to spring for all noctua fans tomorrow.. anyway..

with overclocking, the cooler the better so its up to you. i dont know much at all about overclocking either, i just used the asus software that came with my mobo to get it to 4.2, i want to look into it more but i don't want to go too crazy with it.

anyway good luck and keep me posted, ill put those pictures up when i get them
 
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I too have the GD08 and had originally purchased the corsair H55 AIO watercooler for the 3570k processor. Unfortunately, there was not enough space between the edge of the mobo (MSI Z77 GD65) and the case to fit the radiator and fan. So i had to install the stock heatsink while i looked for another option. I have been looking at options like the Noctua NH-L12 but i wanted to see what other people have been using. As you know, while this case isnt ridiculously small, it is still a consideration.
any input is appreciated!
 
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hey,

i checked the sizing of the h80i and the h55 and other than the h80 being thicker, the other dimensions are the same.

there is a way to install it in the gd08 but the radiator is just going to be on outside of the furthest back 120mm fan slot on the right side when the front of the gd08 is facing you if that makes sense.

im going to put some pictures up and you can see if thats what you want to do. there is slight modification to the case but just in the built in fan grills.

if thats what you are getting at then ill include some pictures of how i installed it and what i changed.
 
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sheag,

I just received the GD08 today along with some extra fans I purchased. So a real quick question for you regarding fan set-up. I purchased one 120mm for the side (because the GD08 only comes with that one) I am assuming I should install that as intake, correct? I also grabbed two 80mm for the back side and should I install those as outtake fans? The manual suggest installing all fans as intake, but that doesn't seem logical with airflow if all the fans are blowing into the case.

I'm just curious how you set-up your fans so that I can get optimum airflow through this bad boy. Thanks again.
 
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ill try to explain without pictures so bear with me,

i am assuming you have an air heatsink so this is how i had it when i had a tx3, the heatsink i had didnt work but my fan setup was the best it could be.

anyway, i put all the silverstone fans in the front under the hdd tray, i had the fan closest to the front on the right side facing in to feed fresh air to the intake fan on the heatsink, and the furthest on on the right side facing out to get rid of the hot air from the heatsink. (my heatsink was in push pull with air flow directed towards the 2 80mm fans.)

the 2 80mm fans were exhaust.

i wanted as much positive pressure as i could get in the case so the heat from my graphics card would be passively pushed out the vents around it as opposed to swirling around.

what heatsink are you using?
 
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hey sheag
i had considered mounting the fan or rad on the outside, but didnt get too far in that thought process. how did you end up mounting everything? it looked like there may be a bit more distance between the fan and rad than typical- did you find that to be the case and if so, is it functioning sufficiently? if you have a chance to post some pics that would be awesome.
thanks for the feedback...
 
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Yeah, not sure I am following you completely considering there are 3 120mm fans on the bottom of the case and 2 120mm fans on the side. I am using a Thermolab bada2010 cooler, air heatsink. The manual suggests facing the fan to the back of the case and attaching all fans as intake, but I don't understand how this would work. Plus, I have 2 80mm fans I purchased assuming that I would use them as exhaust (pushing air out).

Plus the manual states that the graphics card should push air to the rear; however, I have no idea if my MSI Twin Frozr GTX 660 pushes air to the rear or not. This part is rather confusing and I'm just getting started.

As it stands I have 3 120mm fans which came with the setup which I'm considering moving to the bottom of the case (set up I am not sure). I have an additional 120mm which I want to install on the side assuming it should be an intake, but again not exactly sure. 2 80mm fans which I am 90% sure should be set up as outtake or exhaust fans for the back.

I don't understand why the manual suggest to install the fans as intake in all the empty slots. And I can't find a lot of information on set up for the GD08 from other users on the web - any ideas?
 
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Hi Guys,

Joining on the conversation as I am strongly considering this case.

For rear 80mm fans, you are correct, these should probably be set as exhaust, so that the air is funneled from the 3 bottom-front and 2 right 120mm fans out to the back. That's pretty much what I have on my GD-06 (120mm on right + 2x120mm on left as intake and 2x80mm at the back as exhaust). Agree the manual may be misleading but I am sure they meant all 120mm as intake.

I have a GD-06 (similar but smaller) and I am struggling a bit with temperatures from my Zotac GTX 660. Watching mkv with lav+madvr, GPU reaches ~58oC and the heat is not evacuated well enough, which heats the PSU (temp goes up and so does its fan, making noise) and the hard-drives (reaching 45-50oC)....

So my question for you is:
What MB, HD temperature are you seeing with the GD-08 under GPU load?

Thanks for any info!
 
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i have 2 hdd and 2 ssd's and the hottest any of them get when gaming is 40 degrees, which is the wd black. there is a 120 mm fan in the front of the case pretty much dedicated to cooling them so that must help. they rest at about 35 when browsing or watever. my motherboard stays between 30 and 35.

the pictures that were uploaded were pretty old and since then i have added a sound card and a few other things. but i am confident i have maxed out its cooling capacity without having external custom water cooling. well i could put 80mm noctuas in there but i dont care that much cause my temps are ok.

i work at a computer store so i have a little bit of knowledge, and i have built my computer so all i can say is what i have done so ya if you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
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I've had my build for over 5 months now and it has been perfect. My CPU and MB usually run between 30-40 and I didn't even install the back 80mm fans. I wanted to see what temps I would get without them in order to keep the noise down. I have not overclocked my CPU simply because it has been running great and I don't want to mess anything up by tweaking it. I may venture down this path soon though. So, I have the 3 stock fans at the bottom running as intake, the 2 stock 120mm on the side (front running as intake), and I installed 2 120mm fans on the side (back running as out). I just finished playing Max Payne 3 at highest settings and I didn't get temps over 40, so all is well even without the back exhaust 80mm set-up.
 
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Sheag123 and Ekuan,

Thanks so much for coming back to the thread and reporting your temps! Sounds like cooling in this case is much much better than my GD-06.

I have taken out my GPU and temps are fine, HDs and MB ~35oC. So I guess I have 2 options:
1) Leave out GPU and rely on HD4000. No fancy madvr, but no extra spending. I don't game so I "could" live with that.
2) Get that GD-08, use my GTX 660 and madvr in all of their glory, and maintain silence.

Mmmm....one of those want vs need....I am going to keep an eye on the price, keep using iGPU for now.

Thanks again for your info guys, appreciated!

 
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This is what I did with the GD08 a few weeks back. Since then I did exchange the Corsair CX600M for a Corsair HX750 and returned the 660 Ti and got a EVGA GTX770 ACX.... I also started a case club at overclock.net for the Grandia series.

Here are some pics of the build with the Silverstone Grandia GD08.


  1. ■ I took out the drive/optical cage and started to strategize how I was going to add the H60 cooler first due to my motherboard.
    ■ I then moved the fan in the upper left hand corner to the right side.
    ■ One thing I do not understand here is that why weren't the optical drives placed to the right side of the case.

700



  1. ■ I had to first insert the H60 Cooler and Corsair SP120 fan into the second fan slot pulling in air.
    ■ Then had to slide in the motherboard, but couldn't place the two motherboard screws under the H60.
    ■ I placed two Cooler Master 80mm fans as rear exhausts. I used a Y splitter for these fans to the motherboard.
    ■ I placed the 660 Ti FTW 2gb Sig 2 card in since you can't install the card with the drive cage having been installed first.
    ■ I wired the front two fans, which are setup as intake fans to pull air into the case from the front. I also used a Y splitter for these two fans to the front of the motherboard.
    ■ I installed the Corsair CX600M PSU and started to route some of the cables to where they are not as messy using ties.

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  1. ■ I installed my two hard drives into the right drive cage, a few inches to the right of the 660 Ti. One drive is a 500gb and the second is a 1TB HDD.
    ■ I want to eventually replace that 500gb with a SSD either 128gb or 240gb when prices come down a little bit more, especially for this case.
    ■ I installed the USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter to the USB 3.0 cable for the front header.

700



The modded drive cage

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A look inside the rig.

700


The front of the case.

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Side/Top view

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On the AV Stand

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Overall this case has been a real pleasure to work with, except some of the minute little issues that I ran into because I was trying to fit a water cooler in here that wasn't part of the design spec. I am considering adding a fan possibly on the outside of the case in the open fan slot to the left pull air out.

I did spend a good 30-40 minutes trying to figure out how and where I was going to add that water cooler. I didn't want to go back to air cooling so I had to find a way to make it work, even though I would prefer a push/pull style of setup like I did in my previous case. I had to cut the optical drive cage to get the entire drives cage to fit in. Silverstone should of placed screws on each cage to make them removable by the user based on their needs. Picture to come of my cage having been cut to fit.

I also want to get some black sleeves to stay with the black color theme that I have going to cover up some of the cables.

I also have a Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200W PSU laying around, been debating about putting that in here but seems like its too much for my rig.
 
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Great thread, everyone. I am considering this case too and want to run a Zalman LQ-310 cooler. Couldn't find a lot of info on whether it would fit until I found this thread. I'm still not sure, but I do have hope. Thanks again everyone.
 
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I have started a case club for the GD08 here if your interested, there is a lot more information: Overclock.net
 
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Awesome. Thanks, Capt Zombie. I've just looked through that thread and I'll sign up later tonight. I see the water cooling issues haven't been quite solved yet but overall things look promising. Well done man.
 
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