The Habey EMC-800 and EMC-600 aluminum Mini-ITX cases are classy, sturdy, and relatively inexpensive when you consider the included PSU. They seem just about perfect for an Intel Atom or AMD Fusion system. The problem with them is that there is precious little provision for cooling.

I've been looking at heat output of the Asus AT5IONT-I and the new Asus E35M1-I. It seems that in a small box, you just can't keep these systems at a reasonable temperature without active cooling.

Since space is so tight in the Habey cases, cooling quietly looks hard. So far, I can think of three ways to go.

First, Habey makes provision for one 50x10mm fan. I see there are models from Evercool and Link Depot, but I've no idea how effective and quiet they would be.

Second, what about heatpipes? The whole case is a giant heatsink, so why not make use of that? Pipes to the case wall could cool the CPU, but what about the rest of the board? It seems we would still need forced air.

Third, get an EMC-800, remove the DVD bracket, and use that extra 1.5cm headspace to mount a large fan horizontally, with an airduct to the DVD opening for a vent.

Any opinions on these or other ideas to add?

Edit: Someone has put up a nice photo album for the EMC-800S.

Cut a hole on top and mount a 180mm silverstone fan topped with the 180mm fan filter. Downvolt it from its standard 700 rpm.

How much head room do you have for a heatsink?

i dont really like any of the first three ideas... i dont see the 50mm fan being quiet (or effective once made quiet), heatpipes... i dont see that plan ending too well unless youre some master case modder, and the fan blowing up, then venting out the dvd slot... not very efficient airflow, and something about having a fan blowing straight at an aluminum panel makes me think of a vibrating, humming noise.

the 180mm fan/filter is an idea ive thought about for other mini-itx setups, and it'd certainly cool well enough. those fans are thick though, and im not sure how well everything would fit together. worth looking into for sure.

the 180mm filter could be used with the emc-600; then you could just hope that convection would let most of the heat float right out of the case.

if youre not set in stone with the case, i might suggest taking a look at the antec isk-100.

*sorry for the sentence structure, im half asleep after all. :p*

My guess (and it's nothing more than a guess) is that a well-placed small fan will be more than adequate to cool these boards if the heatsinks are halfway decent. No need to resort to complicated mods.
At least if you don't run 3D stuff on them, these chips can be cooled passively. These cases are probably too small and not open enough but very little airflow should be needed because going from no forced airflow to very little makes a large difference at moderate temperatures.

edit:the Brazos heatsink looks impressive actually. And Anandtech's power consumption numbers are somewhat dubious but encouraging. So you *might* not even need a fan depending on what temperatures are advisable.

Nice idea.

Yes, I think there is a great danger that it would look Klutzy.

These cases are 2.25 and 3 inches high. Lian Li has two similar cases at 3.86 and 4.72 inches high. I am thinking that perhaps the shorter the case, the less klutzy this would look. At some point it is no longer a fan being attached to a box, but a box being attached to a fan.

I can`t help thinking that those cases would work so much better with an upside down layout. More specifically, a positive pressure setup with a big fan at the bottom cooling the whole motherboard. Hot air would get pushed out through the existing side vents. This way there would be no need for a small exhaust fan or vents at the top of the case.

It might be feasable to mod the case if there`s enough clearance for such a fan (skythe has a 13mm thick, 120mm wide slipstream model, mediocre but much better than a 5cm fan). You would need to place the case upside down, cut a hole at the bottom (what used to be the top) and add some feet.

The tough part would be re aligning/replacing the motherboard standoffs and cutting the rear of the case so that the i/o ports would fit after relocating the motherboard.

There may be similar questions around cooling in the new Wesena cases, see this thread for links through to discussion on avforums.

With all that thick aluminium it would be great to get heatsinks pressed against the side, or onto the lid. You may be able to use one of the heatpipe coolers for Serener cases. Some of these are available from specialised mini-itx suppliers in Europe, and sometimes on eBay... there's one here now.

In terms of fans, I agree it would be better to push air in to the case, to be vented upwards, and that would combine well with a heatsink pressing on the lid. A 40x20mm fan can pull enough air quietly for a small case like this.

Thanks for the link to the Habey pics