One word: SSD




(actually it's an acronym comprised of three words, stop being so pedantic! )

This looks like it was designed specifically for a good SPCR review!
low power atom CPU? Check!
Heatpipes from CPU and NB connect to case which acts as a passive heatsink while keeping form factor small? Check!
PicoPSU for very high efficiency? Check!
Only thing lacking is softmounting/suspension for a HDD.

Then they go put a huge pricetag on it which puts it into competition with other SFF systems which are able to outperform this one by an order of magnitude. Shame.

Nice review of quite the interesting system. Sounds like it would work great for a den, small office or other place where quiet is needed and huge performance is not.

one thing though - the title page with the comma in the price makes it look like the thing costs 545 Thousand EU (even though you state the true price elswhere in the review).

Europeans use commas to represent the decimal point, not periods.

Europeans are even weirder than you yanks.

It's mixed. UK uses a decimal period, most (?) other European countries use a decimal comma. I just count if there are 2 or 3 numbers behind a period or comma to tell what's meant...

i could have sworn this case had room for a full hight expansion card up to 6" long.

http://www.mcubed-store.com/catalog/pro ... cts_id=257

"Expansion slots: 1x"
"IR receiver and remote control, power supply, riser card and DVD burner are not included in the package contents and have to be ordered separately."

In this package its sold with a slimline optical drive:

http://www.mcubed-store.com/catalog/pro ... cts_id=276

Also on their website is a blueray slimline slot loading optical drive that works with the case:
http://www.mcubed-store.com/catalog/pro ... cts_id=290

I really dont know why they sent you the crappy version of this case to review. The stock version of this case is amazing.

They sent us one of 2 systems they sell. It was not a case review, but a system review.

You should review the original HFX Micro case. The one with a full hight expansion slot and a slim optical bay with blueray slim optical drive.

Just looking at the stats, it should be able to silently cool a media center PC with a C2D processor, a tv tuner card, a blueray optical drive, and a 2.5" HDD (SSD for ultimate silence).

They also sell a stackable external storage solution that matches this case to expand storage capacity for DVR functionality.

Its a very sweet package. It really needs a full review. This gutted version they sent you makes this case look bad.

So you say.

Readers can see for themselves what mCubed offers here. There's not much need for us to examine the basic case any further, the core fundamentals that we would cover -- acoustics, thermals, fit/workmanship -- are the same. (As for C2D, given the temps reached with the Atom 330 board, only the low power end of the line need apply.)

No version of the HFX Micro fits a full height expansion card. The mini doesn't either, only the full size original HFX.

Uh, yes it does:

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,5888.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x75e ... -swar_tech

Thats a full height expansion slot on the back of that case.

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/produc ... cro-bundle

"If the motherboard has a PCI-E slot then the Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT will work fine. If the motherboard supports standard PCI then the best card we have come across is the Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-T 500. Both of these cards are dual tuners and will fit inside the Micro without any issues. "

Both cards listed are full height expansion TV tuner cards.

The mini has 3 full size expansion slots:
http://www.mcubed-store.com/catalog/pro ... cts_id=194
"3 full size expansion slots with riser cards (optional)"

Is there a option to replace the drive with a SSD?

Neat, I'm positively surprised about the HDTV playback capablities.

Mike, are you going to test the new EeeBox models with an HD3400? (pretty please )

When they become available, probably, as a followup to the first eeebox.

one of the major obstacles in building something like this yourself seems to be the heatpipes from the cpu and chipset to the case. does anything like this exist as an off the shelf produce, i.e. two heatsinks with long heat pipes in between that you can bend into place?
...any ideas?

mCubed sells heatpipe/clamping kits... and a few others here and there. Raw heatpipes are not expensive if you can source the mfg. I have a handful about 1' long.

This 2-yr old article is probably of interest: Measuring Heatpipe Efficiency by Brendan Wynn

We built a Mobile Quad Core in the HFX Micro M2 chassi. With SSD of course

Here are some performance tests and temps:

http://tystpc.nu/pics/_uploads/47-_2008 ... ture_q.jpg


Build pics (sorry text is in swedish)

http://www.tystpc.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3741

Hello,
the text of the article mention ``The only other system that might have had a lower noise level is another mini-ITX fanless box with a 4200rpm laptop drive from many years ago, the A4F from Mappit, a brand that's now history. ''. I think Zalman TNN cases (300/500 AF) are also very capable, while not eliminating too much your board choices.
Well, I needed to mention it as I'm very happy TNN user for years...
Karel

kcg --

We have to differentiate between complete systems and cases. The Zalman TNNs are cases, and the systems we reviewed which used the TNNs were nowhere near as quiet as the systems mentioned in this article.