I have been looking at micro atx cases lately. They vary quite a bit in size- some almost as large as a mid tower atx case. Does anyone have any experience with some of the smaller sizes from enlight and the inwin ft620/621 flex cases? Granted the cube style chasis for the itx motherboards are small, but I prefer a traditional style tower case. If you have any ideas or recommendations, I would like to hear them.

Thanks,

Kelly

this case looks very cool... and easy to mod... if needed...

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.a ... on=76020B1

I have an aluminum chilli professional that I really, really like - it's horrible to work with, but oh-so-slick.

That, and I can actually cram a lot of crap in there, so......yeah. The MicroATX version (in gun-metal grey, no less) with one of those abit nforce boards would be sweet.

I saw the Enlight model at newegg. A bit big for a micro atx case, but then again it allows for a lot of mods like you say.

The chilli cases are great looking. A little out of my price range but I can allways imagine...

I wonder how hard it would be to quiet an Asus Terminator. Kind of cute or ugly and cheap, depending on your perspective. Certainly not much room to move around, but then I don't know of a smaller traditional case.

I forget, here's an interesting article on the Asus Terminator.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles/asusterminator/

I think they make a version for socket A and Pentium 4 also.

I have a Yeong-Yang YY-102 (called Casper by Yeong Yang for some reason). I've got it down to a pretty quiet level and am very happy with it's tiny size and weight.

Gigacase sells them, also available in Black

Here are my specs...
Asus A7N266-VM
Atholn XP 1800+
GeForce3 AGP card
512MB PC2100 RAM
80GB Maxtor 7200 RPM drive
Sony DRU-500A DVDR/CDR
Zalman 3100u passive cooler
Vantec Stealth 120mm fan
It runs around 45C idle and 53C loaded and came with a 200W power supply that is reasonably quiet, sorry I don't have any numbers. Just for general comparison, it's noise is washed out by my central air/heat system at a distance of about 6 feet.

I ended up buying an In-win 621 case. I believe the 620 doesn't have a place for a floppy drive, and actually may be better in the long run as a floppy drive blocks some of your pci slots. It's a nice little case, but it sure requires patience with the cables, etc. I ended up putting a panaflo in the psu with a fan mate to control the speed even further. It's pretty quiet done that way. I'm using a Celeron 950 - it only has a 145 watt psu. I think this would a very good case for a C3 processor or lower powered celeron. The power supply blows right on the cpu and therefore you could get away without using a fan. Other than the itx cases, it's as small as I know of in a tower configuration, easily fitting on desk.

The Palo Alto PA-450 is also a very compact tower case, IMO a real design & engineering marvel. It's not perfect, but it's as good as I've found. Unfortunately, it's not the easiest case to find.

Pete