MiniSys T8 it's a new product of Chinese "Iwill" company who specialize in aluminum PC chassis.
This chassis is sold with short manual/assembly leaflet, but I've decided to make this tutorial to help "desperatos" who are desperate to build a completely silent HTPC, and wish to use this particular Iwill housing, as manual assembly leaflet in not very detailed and assemble by less experienced DIY may not be easy.....
Step 1: disassemble T8 chassis.
It is quite easy, please unscrew top four screws located on the corners of the top lid.
then please do the same with the bottom screws - they are located inside of the anti-vibration legs. Please do this gently as that's the only screws that keeps chassis parts together. After disassembling, case will looks like on the photo below:
Step 2: Install the hard drive(s) on the bottom plate of the chassis. MiniSys T8 HTPC case can accommodate 2 x 2.5 inch Hard/SSD drives. On the photo below you can find a spaces designated for HDD/SSD installation:
Simply, apply Hard drive to the space on the bottom lid designated for HDD and then use a black short screws attached in the package, to screw in the hard drive from the underneath of the bottom lid. If T8 120W DC power used, please screw in this board as well in a designated space.
Please Note!
SATA sockets of the hard drive(s) should be directed towards front panel of the case.
Please plug in your SATA cables to the hard drive as on the photo below:
Step 3: Motherboard, CPU & RAM installation.
Please install CPU in your motherboard's socket, also RAM modules in memory banks.
Before you will screw your motherboard in to the bottom lid of the case please install bottom part of T8 case cooling system as on the photos below:
Please note!
This tutorial was prepared without using a thermal compound/paste. It is essential to use such a thermal paste when installing cooling heat pipe system, otherwise it may lead to overheating your motherboard & CPU, which may cause damage of your PC components.
Step 4: Front, rear panel and side radiators installation.
To install rear panel please insert metal I/O shield provided with your motherboard, into space on rear panel, designated for such a shield. Then please screw in all aluminum corner pillars, except one of two rear pillars.Then please place rear panel sheet into rear corner pillar already installed, like on the photo below:
Then please insert another pillar(not yet installed), to his designated position in the chassis, making sure that another side of rear panel sheet is also hidden in pillar's cavity:
Then, please use remaining anti-vibration pad, and screw in the last pillar to the bottom case lid:
After rear panel installation, your case's bottom lid should looks like that:
Now we can mount side radiators, which is really an easy job.
Just slide in each radiator from the top of the case, as shown on the photos:
Please do the same with a front panel:
Step 5: Cooling system installation.
T8 case cooling system contain: cooling CPU core with bottom installation socket mount, 4 x 6mm diameter copper heat pipes & 2 x aluminum side cooling pads.
Please put all 4 heat-pipes on the bottom part of CPU cooling radiator as ahown on the photo:
Then please screw in a top lid of the CPU radiator, but please leave some loose, so heat-pipes can be moved left or right:
Now, it's time to apply side aluminum pads. Simply screw in one side pad to each side radiator like on the photo:
Step 6: Cables connecting & front panel installation.
This step it's quite easy, please connect a front panel connectors to the motherboard, and also hard drive(s) SATA cables, and DC 12V plug to the rear panel.
Step 7: Optical drive installation.
Please skip this part if you're using T8 case model without optical drive slot, otherwise....
MiniSys T8 case coming with designated space for optical drive. Please note that this case to not support EJECT button. Only slot load-in optical drives can be used in this case type.
Firstly, we have to install your optical drive inside of optical drive mounting holder provided together with the case:
When drive is mounted inside of ODD holder, we have to install it in the case:
And of course connect SATA cables to the motherboard.
Step 8: Top lid installation.
Ok, all parts are mounted inside of the case. It's time to close everything up.
Please put a top lid of the case on it's designated place, and use black short screws to screw it in:
Step 1: disassemble T8 chassis.
It is quite easy, please unscrew top four screws located on the corners of the top lid.
then please do the same with the bottom screws - they are located inside of the anti-vibration legs. Please do this gently as that's the only screws that keeps chassis parts together. After disassembling, case will looks like on the photo below:
Step 2: Install the hard drive(s) on the bottom plate of the chassis. MiniSys T8 HTPC case can accommodate 2 x 2.5 inch Hard/SSD drives. On the photo below you can find a spaces designated for HDD/SSD installation:
Simply, apply Hard drive to the space on the bottom lid designated for HDD and then use a black short screws attached in the package, to screw in the hard drive from the underneath of the bottom lid. If T8 120W DC power used, please screw in this board as well in a designated space.
Please Note!
SATA sockets of the hard drive(s) should be directed towards front panel of the case.
Please plug in your SATA cables to the hard drive as on the photo below:
Step 3: Motherboard, CPU & RAM installation.
Please install CPU in your motherboard's socket, also RAM modules in memory banks.
Before you will screw your motherboard in to the bottom lid of the case please install bottom part of T8 case cooling system as on the photos below:
Please note!
This tutorial was prepared without using a thermal compound/paste. It is essential to use such a thermal paste when installing cooling heat pipe system, otherwise it may lead to overheating your motherboard & CPU, which may cause damage of your PC components.
Step 4: Front, rear panel and side radiators installation.
To install rear panel please insert metal I/O shield provided with your motherboard, into space on rear panel, designated for such a shield. Then please screw in all aluminum corner pillars, except one of two rear pillars.Then please place rear panel sheet into rear corner pillar already installed, like on the photo below:
Then please insert another pillar(not yet installed), to his designated position in the chassis, making sure that another side of rear panel sheet is also hidden in pillar's cavity:
Then, please use remaining anti-vibration pad, and screw in the last pillar to the bottom case lid:
Now we can mount side radiators, which is really an easy job.
Just slide in each radiator from the top of the case, as shown on the photos:
Please do the same with a front panel:
Step 5: Cooling system installation.
T8 case cooling system contain: cooling CPU core with bottom installation socket mount, 4 x 6mm diameter copper heat pipes & 2 x aluminum side cooling pads.
Please put all 4 heat-pipes on the bottom part of CPU cooling radiator as ahown on the photo:
Then please screw in a top lid of the CPU radiator, but please leave some loose, so heat-pipes can be moved left or right:
Step 6: Cables connecting & front panel installation.
This step it's quite easy, please connect a front panel connectors to the motherboard, and also hard drive(s) SATA cables, and DC 12V plug to the rear panel.
Step 7: Optical drive installation.
Please skip this part if you're using T8 case model without optical drive slot, otherwise....
MiniSys T8 case coming with designated space for optical drive. Please note that this case to not support EJECT button. Only slot load-in optical drives can be used in this case type.
Firstly, we have to install your optical drive inside of optical drive mounting holder provided together with the case:
When drive is mounted inside of ODD holder, we have to install it in the case:
Step 8: Top lid installation.
Ok, all parts are mounted inside of the case. It's time to close everything up.
Please put a top lid of the case on it's designated place, and use black short screws to screw it in:
And job done!
Voila!
BR
Tomas