Installation: Motherboard and Graphics Adapter

Mini-ITX Motherboard

Currently there are a number of very good mini-ITX motherboards available on the market to choose from. For this installation we used a MSI Z87I Gaming motherboard.

The Elite 110 case uses four brass standoffs to mount a mini-ITX motherboard. The Z81I mobo slid perfectly into position.

Because the power supply mounts directly over the mobo, you’re limited to a CPU cooler no taller than 76mm (3”). The stock Intel cooler that came with our i5-4670K processor fits cleanly into the available space. We will look at some additional options in the Case Cooling section.

Dual-slot Graphics Adapter

A lot of folks will be happy and well served by the onboard video their mobo offers, but if you want/need the extra GPU horsepower that a dedicated graphics card can provide, the Elite 110 is ready.  For optimum cooling of a high-performance graphics adapter, you may want to leave the lower left side panel HDD/SSD location open (or install one or two optional 80mm fans there).

(GTX 660 TI with (1) 3.5” HDD and (1) 2.5” SSD installed)

To see how things would fit up will installed a GeForce GTX 660 TI dual-slot card into the Elite 110. As expected, the card fit securely into the designated opening.

Here is another view of the GTX 660 TI installed without the 3.5” HDD mounted on the left side panel and with a full size (160mm) power supply in place.

Note: The maximum graphics card length is 210mm (8.3”) so don’t expect to be able to mount a full-size ~10” card in this location (the GTX 660 TI is 7” long).

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