nooo, I've ordered an ECS 9600GT with Acceleros2 passive cooler!
Don't tell me it's the same card... I thought it would fit the case/hard disk...

Hmm, good tip, I'll have to investigate this. Any chance you could post some pics? I think I get it, but without having the case in front of me to look at, I'm not sure. I ran into the exact same problem, but I ended up suspending the second HDD in the floppy "bay" (with the floppy rack removed), but turned 90 degrees because it wouldn't fit the normal direction due to my CPU fan. I'm not real comfortable with it though, because the drive's not very stable (and I'm afraid over time the elastic might fray and break due to how I hung it).

As to the question above about multiple HDDs, I definitely think it's possible, although as mentioned it may/will affect noise/temps. One up top under the optical drive, one in the bottom on the soft mount rack, and one in the floppy bay, however that's assuming you don't have a video card (at least not a double-slot one) or other PCI cards to block the bottom bay, and you don't have a floppy to go in that bay. You probably could somehow mount/suspend another drive (or even more, potentially) under the floppy bay if you do have a floppy to go in there, but it could get tricky.

PigLick

PigLick

It seems to me that any 2-slot vid card would block that bottom floppy bay. I don't have an Accelero (yet), but my 9600GT has a heatsink/fan and is a 2-slotter, and it definitely blocks the bottom drive bay.

You may want to look into the vertical mount mod he mentions though, I know I'm going to.

PigLick

Here is a pic..

Two things though:
- You are NOT in trouble with double slot coolers as long as the PCIe 16x slot is the absolute highest one

- you ARE in trouble with Accelero coolers if your PCIe 16 slot is NOT the highest, because the extend too far towards the side panel, leaving not enough room for the HD! The ASUS 9600GT and Gigabyte 9600GT should work though, as might/should the Powercolor / CLub3d Ati 3870 cards, though I rely on pics, not measurments! )

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3628/img3797002ks2.jpg

Excellent, that's pretty much what I was thinking but as they say, pictures are worth a thousand words. Great idea!

I'll have to do some measuring as far as an Accelero goes. Mine is just a standard 9600GT with a HS/fan, but the fan is LOUD when it ramps up, so I'm considering an Accelero. It's hard for me to picture there being enough room for the Accelero and the HDD like that, but it's possible.

Thanks again for the great (and easy, and free!) tip.

PigLick

Hmm that is very unlikely to fit I'm afraid.. I do have an accelero s1 on my old 6800 card and it really extends towards the side panel a fair bit, like 3 or 4cm. My passive 9600GT only has the heatsink sticking out towards the side panel about 1cm, which only just fits (heatsink, 1cm, HD, 1cm, sidepanel)..

You either want a different cooling sollution that doesn't stick out, or a mobo where you can put the gfx card in the highest slot, so you can just put the HD on the 'floor', which will also be better from a vibration point of view. I think the rubbers work a lot better in the default orientation.

Antec seems to fit the NSK3480 with a few versions of powersupplies. This review shows one with tall extruded heatsinks:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews ... case/4.htm

and mine has bent aluminium plates, which are also not tall; you could fit a 120mm psu on top of them; almost as if the PCB and heatsinks where originally inteded for a 120mm model. Mine is also rated 400W when I read the PCB. It works fine, although 12V is reported at 11.3, dropping to 11.2 under load. I might stick the old multimeter in there to see what it really is..

Yep, that PS is different from mine as well. I haven't opened mine up or inspected the labels, but the one pictured has "slot" intakes on the front, whereas mine has a grid of square holes. Also, in earlier pictures of the case the 1394, USB, and ausio cables from the front the front bezel are grey, whereas in my case they're black.

As for the Accelero/HDD, etc, I'm not sure what I'm going to do for now. I just bought the mobo (and case, and everything else), so I definitely don't want to try to find a mobo with better positioning, so I'm either going to have look into different vid card coolers, modifying and accelero, or keeping my HDD where it is (and hopefully improving my suspension for it). I probably won't be buying the accelero anytime soon, so for now I may use your bent tray trick and stick my HD in that more secure position, then figurfe out what I want to do about the video card later. (I'm trying tyo find info on the Zalman VNF100 right now, as it looks like it could be a good option, but I haven't found much about it yet).

PigLick

Given some time I have another upgrade in the works. I will create a 120 mm hole in the bottom of the case and raise its feet a cm of two, and use a 120mm fan as bottom intake fan, which will aim directly on the gfx heatsink.

Then I will close the front intakes, the lower 2/3rds of them anyway, and create a simple bracket to put the HD there with the connectors facing up.

Then ducts are possible; the top 1/3rd of the front panel can become a 'cool air intake' for the Scythe Ninja, and the bottom intake fan can be ducted around the graphics card, so this warmer air doesn't get in the Ninja..

Sound like a good idea to me, but I hope my cheap dremel is up to the task of making the hole!

I've had this case for over a year now, so i wanted to come back and update my opinions/experiences.

I really believe this case is undervalued on the recommended cases page. It should be a 8/7 up there with the P182 IMHO. This case is truely phenominal. Especially the upgraded 3480 version.

One of the BIG pluses to this case, and probably the biggest reason its so good is the thermally separated zone for the PSU. Also the top cover of the case on the 3480 has a nice large vent. This is the perfect case for using a Passive PSU in, cause you never have to worry about your computer components overheating it since its in its own thermal zone, and it can ventalate straight out the top of the case. As far as i know the only other case that does this dual zone is the P180 series, but its PSU zone is on the bottom, which means you cant really use a passive PSU in it, at least not without using a 120mm fan in the bottom zone to cool it. Since its on the bottom and the heat will build up more without an easy way to escape.

Silicon grommets for the hard drives works well to dampen some vibrations. Not as good as suspension, but then only one case comes with stock suspension.

Airflow is amazingly good for such a small case. 120mm rear, and 2x 92mm front gives you the capability of A LOT of airflow, especially in such a small enclosure.

Its small. For me this is a plus. Its about as small as you can possibly make a micro atx case and still support a standard ATX PSU.

Other than being limited to micro-atx motherboards, you can put as fast a system as you want in this thing, and it'll still be quiet. The PSU never ramps up because of the separated thermal zone, and with such a huge amount of possibly airflow you can keep any video card/CPU combo cool.

One last thing, and this is something i have recently figured out. I have finally gotten down to a single fan computer. Passive PSU, SSD for storage, and useing the 120mm fan as an INTAKE, while blocking up the front/side air holes. Cool air comes in the case at the rear, directly onto the CPU, then exits the case at the bottom/rear going right over the GPU region. Also since its a single intake positive air preassure setup, i can put a filter on the fan and keep the entire case clean while easily able to vacume the filter at the back of the case without removing anything to get to it. This case is now DEAD SILENT, all with a 3ghz C2D and an 8800GT with an AC S1 passive heatsink. Those together with the intel SSD makes this one blazing fast gamming rig, all at the sound of silence. I'd wager its so quiet that MikeC's new Anechoic chamber wouldnt even be able to register it above its noise floor. And other than blocking air holes, it took zero modification to do it.

Other than possibly giving it stock suspension for the hard drives like on the Solo, i really cant think of any other way to upgrade this case from its current iteration. I would however of liked to see the original 3300 side panel come back. The one without the vent holes on it, but i suppose its not that big of a deal to cover them up myself.

This case is truely amazing. If you can live with only 1 or 2 hard drives, and a micro atx motherboard, then this is possibly the best case currently being produced.

Aris, you have achieved a major success with a single-fan computer, almost the Holy Grail of silent computing, so you have my congratulations.
But it would have been nice to be specific on the components that you used, which passive PSU, which fan and rpm, which CPU cooler.
I thought of building such a single-fan system, but chickened out, until I saw you post. My specification would have been:

Fortron Zen 400 passive PSU (might be a buzzer?).
E7300 CPU with HR-01+, or maybe E8400 (13W more).
9600GT or maybe 8800GT (20W more), with AC S1 and HR-11.
WD3200BEKT in SQD2.5", bottom mounted.
G33 based mobo (very hard to find now).

I was thinking of a negative pressure setup, with a Scythe Slipstream fan as exhaust, running at 500 rpm when idle and 800 when gaming.
Your approach seems to work very well, it would be nice to specify the temps you are getting at a specific fan rpm.

PS. Isn't your positive pressure system recirculating hot air that comes out at the back bottom and is sucked back by the fan?

Tzupy & Aris,

Perhaps you did not notice before: SPCR's new audio PC, described in detail on page 3 of New Audio Test Gear, SPCR 2008, is a similar 1-fan system using a passive PSU.

Just to add my 3 penn'orth, I had a pig of a time getting all my stuff to fit in one of these, but I also ended up getting a Silverstone and a 16GB SSD to work (as well as another 2.5in drive mounted vertically against the front).

BUT it did give me the idea to use another of these to mount a mini-ITX Intel board/PicoPSU combo to use as a 24/7 music server/NAS. With the smaller mobo there is more room at the bottom to place a 3.5in drive. In my case this is a 750GB Samsung in a GrowUpJapan box.

The BIG benefit of this is that there is enough space for a 120mm fan in a box that is still small enough.

Now if only Antec would sell a version w/o a PSU.

For the moment I have it all mounted in my spare P182. A prime example of a Titmouse on(in) a Round of Beef.

I second that.

As for the hardware details.

Antec 3300 w/ 3480 top (i bought the old and new version, and used the top of the new model with the rest of the old model)
400w Zen 80+ PSU(doesnt buzz, and runs cool)
Asus P5Q-EM Motherboard
E8400 C2D 3ghz
Xigmatek S1284EE CPU Heatsink (basically same as 1283 but with one more heatpipe)
Xigmatek ACK-I7753 Backplate for CPU heatsink
6GB (3x2gb) Adata DDR2 800 Memory
Intel X25-m 80gb SSD
8800gt 256mb w/ passive AC S1 heatsink
Scythe S-Flex 1200rpm running at 700rpm
Zalman Fanmate 2 controller

external samsung SE=T084M ODD

MikeC, of course I have noticed your new audio PC, but there is one major difference: the 8800GT which draws ~80W.
Aris got it properly cooled by channeling the airflow of that single fan through a narrow area (back bottom), by blocking the front intakes.
Even if the air reaching the S1 is relatively warm, due to the heat from the CPU and northbridge, it's probably fast flowing enough to cool the 8800GT.
My suggestion to Aris would be a two-piece duct outside the back of the case, that would clearly separate exhaust and intake airflows.
And maybe inside the case a separator placed at the same level as the gfx card and the same length, to better channel airflow over the S1.
PS. thank you for the full specification!
PS2. the S-Flex is known to perform better than the Slipstream in a restricted environment...

Ah, yes -- I missed the 8800gt info.

Aris, you might want to look at this thread I started in the VGA section, it's about a 9800 GTX+ that draws only 76W, about the same as your 8800 GT.
Link: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/vi ... 2183249aa3
Since you are willing to pay a premium for the Intel SSD (I'm not, I would if it were 160GB for the same price), you may be interested to up performance at the same power draw.

Actually my 8800gt only uses 47w at load and 21w at idle, since its the 256mb version.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... 0gt_5.html

That article shows an 8600 GTS at 47W load and 21W idle.
Your 8800 GT with 256 MB may draw about 5W less than the 78W of the 512 MB version.
That only if the memory chips use lower voltage, but otherwise I can't believe an 8800 GT to draw only 47W at load.
I still believe that a 512 MB 9800 GTX+ at 55 nm would be a nice upgrade over your current 256 MB 8800 GT.

Ah my bad, how about this link showing 50w load for an 8800gt 256mb?

http://archive.atomicmpc.com.au/forums. ... t=9354&p=0

8800 GT _____________####¦)####}| 35W-39W-78W ² (512MB)
8800 GT _____________###¦)##| 31W-50W ^ (256MB)

Or this anandtech review showing 33w less power for the 256 over the 512. Since we all know the 512 is around 80w, that puts the 256mb around 50w load.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175&p=7

I just got an NSK3480, my first case. I had one problem with it.

Mine apparently came with the PSU apparently "flipped" in comparison to the reviews. The cables come out the left side when you're looking at the front of the case, close to the hole that the cables go through down into the case.

I had a problem with the SATA power cables. There are 2, and each one has 2 plugs, one being very close to the PS. The plugs close to the PS would not reach the power connectors on my DVD drive or hard drive in the upper chamber. They were just a fraction of an inch too short. I had to buy a short splitter/extension cable and add that on. I could have just used the plug at the end of each cable, but then I would be unable to add SATA devices in the lower chamber in the future.

At some point, I noticed one of the reviews mentioned flipping the PS. If the power cables originally came out on the right, then the SATA plugs would have reached the drives because the SATA power connectors are towards the right. So, I think they solved one problem (the motherboard power cable issue) but created a problem with the SATA power.

The connectors were less than 3 inches from the PSU? A hard drive and ODD in the top chamber would be only a few inches from the back of the power supply.

Quoted from the review:
"2 x 25" cables with two SATA drive
connectors, one at 6" and one at 25""

6 inches is more than enough room to make it from the back of the PSU 3 inches to the back of an ODD or HDD. 6 inches makes them long enough to reach the front of the case, so unless your ODD and HDD are less than an inch deep they would reach just fine.

Aris, I think the best way to find out the power draw of your 8800 GT is to temporarily replace it with an 8800GT with 512 MB, maybe not passively cooled.
And measure the total power draw of your computer in both cases, when running 3DMark or Furmark, then compare the reults.

Do you mind answering another question, I forgot to ask previously? How long is the Fortron Zen 400 (I couldn't find this information)?
You are using an external optical drive, but I wouldn't, so that's an issue for me. Thank you in advance.

Or just read the reviews that say it is.

I never measured them, but they definitely weren't 6" unless that includes some portion of the cable that's hidden within the PSU. I think it was just one, maybe 2 of the 4 wires on each cable that wouldn't reach far enough. I don't know if there might have been excess inside the power-supply body, but I didn't try pulling because I didn't want to break anything.

To reiterate, on my unit the cables come out of the left side of the power supply, then they have to go across to the right side to reach the SATA power terminals. From what I've read if I understand it correctly, they used to come with the PS flipped the other way and the cables on the right, but they changed it because the mobo power wouldn't reach after going across from the right to left. Now that's solved that but (in my case at least) there's this problem with the SATA power cables.

I dont think its just a flipped PSU, because if you look at the review SPCR did, there is A LOT more distance between the PSU and the first SATA power connector than just 1 or 2 inches.

If i were you i'd contact Antec and RMA it for something that is actually usefull. A 2 inch power connector is useless.

Well, I already built the computer and I don't want to take it apart now. The most I might want is reimbursement for the splitter I had to buy, but I don't know if that's worth the time.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but according to this, it seems the case is being upgraded.

I hope Antec starts offering a version without psu, though. It's definitely a very nice case for a mAtx build.

It would have been nice if the Antec people bothered to say HOW exactly, while they were at it... sheesh...

Hopefully, they're making it 2-3" deeper, so that a tower heatsink doesn't conflict with the optical drive bay, and putting a fanless ~450W PSU in the front of the case, through which air can be drawn as an intake.

Hopefully, someone at Antec is listening to me writing this too .