I am NOT convinced that a portable 341 has any way of safely mounting the HD. I know this isnt my area of specialty, so I will still believe people. I know though that it must be movement free. Sorbothane looks kinda cool.

However.... where does one put it??? I am reading a lot of articles... I just dont sorta see it. I am not looking for 100% isolation, like 60%. I rather have a cold HD vs. covered one as well.

I am split between Lan Gear Da Box 100 and CoolerMaster 341. I know it's a big difference, but really, after looking at many, there are only a few. The lian-li isnt bad either.

I think I shall put up a vote, because I deserve one and I have a nice ass. Go vote!

(or continue this informative Micro-atx discussion!)

It's already pointed out in my other thread, but if it's enough large for you, there's also the smaller PC-A03, and having the PSU at the top could be better with a passive unit.

Regards,
Luca

I reckon that if you didn't have a long graphics card (and possibly no front fan?) that you could vertically mount 1-2 HDDs in the front area of the thing, ie. with the rear facing directly upwards. That's speculation on my part though! You'd need some fancy system to mount the things; I like MikeC's suspension in the link but I'd want it to be secured in all 3 dimensions.



Call me a mod weenie, but I'm a little wary of metal modifications to the case itself these days, not least because I don't want to take the computer out of it and all. If I got a new computer, though, an empty case is fine to work on.



Ha, a Mini P180 would be more like it, if anything..

well. I keep searching.

It seems that the issue is that most case designers figure on removing gfx card heat or psu heat.

The cpu actually is the least issue. I mean, it's really easy to cool a cpu. Any cooler is fine, even stock which is free!!

I keep seeing these isolated pockets of air where the gfx card is. hm. A top blow hole and a bottom mounted psu might be best idea for a reverse styled motherboard orientation. Otherwise, standard install where the front 120's or 92's are blowing across and nailing the gfx card area. I am sure the 5770 pulls more watts, more often than than a 1090T would.

Are you ironical?

Regards,
Luca

the 5770 maxed out is said to pull over 100 watts.

1090T is a cpu and well, cpu's have an almost impossible time in windows to be maxed out. GPU's can be pinned to the max on many modern games.

Still havent found solutions yet! I called one guy for that lian-li case. He had the case but not the top 140 blow hole in stock at the moment. I really think that's needed actually. I could self mod, yes, but I never did that before and dont want to make it look like crap. (plus the tools would cost more than the 140mm blow hole top accessory)

I still have yet to find a case....

what is with people???? no one makes a good case???

I don't think so: actually they are taxed exactly the same, typically around 80W (sources: lostcircuits & atomicmpc) when loaded as you may like the more.

Obviously, according by your own usage pattern, YMMV.

Regards,
Luca

Go with the venerable Antec NSK3480: it has separated upper PSU chamber (good for the Nightjar that's separated, good for the system that being up your Nightjar won't heat up the whole system itself), it may accomodate big heatsinks and rather long video cards (even if the 5770 isn't that long), it's reasonably compact and decently styled. Obviously a pita to build up.

Regards,
Luca

Welcome to the world of case modding.

How about this Lian-Li PC-V354 that's not released yet?

Short answer: No, not with these expectations. You'll probably have to strike a balance between size and silence. Putting hot things closely together makes it hard to cool them quietly, and that problem won't go away no matter which way you turn the PSU or whatnot.

If you can accept a bigger size, I'd look at Antec's NSK2480 or Fusion. The layout is pretty good for silencing.

It's oddly sized but seems promising. We have a sample.

I just bought a mid-tower from SunbeamTech

Pure Acrylic

Tall, heavy, not as heavy as steel cases though by 5-6lbs it's lighter.

I will conquer the universe of silence with my teenage style and pock faced wrath!!


FEAR THE CLEAR (and cold cathodes, bubble lights and 5 fans)

OMG

Just let you know that I'm using Antec Mini P180 with Seasonic X-750 PSU. The fan in X-750 doesn't spin (so it's fanless) unless in heavy load, and the PSU is very cool to touch. Maybe it isn't a problem with FANLESS PSU in Mini P180.

You cant put a PSU in there and have a graphics card with a wide cooler like an accelero or Scythe Setsugen.

Accelero is a problem, but there are lots of coolers which doesn't extend over the graphics card that much or at all. MK-13 or T-Rad2 for example.

haha

Yeah. I realized that I couldnt really build what I need to build. The lian li was the only option, a good option, but really.... I needed more air in and out.

I needed 2x120mm blowing in with a very wide opening to keep Silence. My 120mm nexus on my current SLK3000 at 12volts blowing out the rear was blowing out hot air at a PATHETIC rate. Man, 120mm nexus fans are only good for certain things. I would imagine they work best if you cut all the blow holes out for 0 impedance.

The new case is going to be a Positive Pressure build:
3x120mm blowing in
1x120 blowing out the rear.
80mm hole on top center - no fan there, 80mm fan is probably useless in a positive pressure case
My fanless psu is going to have to be an exit instead of an in breather. I duno if that will work. shrug. So far, in breathing works better than out, but I guess it will change once I put the pressure on.

5x1900 rpm Kama Flow 2's pumping. yeah mofo's... yeah....

One of them is mounted internally on a movable verticle plane

i have this case...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product


i've had a nsk3480 and well this case is just better built (it is a server case i guess), i think with better features. doesn't have a 120mm fan, but thats about all i could see as a negative.

the one i have doesnt have the card reader, but you can get it at superbiiz.com with their constant 15% off coupons for about $85 which is less than a nsk-3480 also.

plus i think its nicer looking than the nsk-3480, but that sjust my personal opinion

It seems clearly aimed at server market: about quality I cannot say anything, but it's deeper and wouldn't accomodate any longer videocard than NSK3480, it's less wide and it cannot accomodate higher/equally high performance heatsinks while loosing some cooling power with the 90mm fan, and sports a less powerful and more probably that not less quiet PSU.

See what I mean:



Surely the SS 731 has far better HDD mountings than NSK3480.

Regards,
Luca

Looks like it would be used as a true "desktop" machine rather than under the desk like a tower or even mini-tower. The front panel controls and I/O would inconveniently low to the ground if used under the desk.

Hehe, now that's a monster cooler.

By the way, do you know if the silver part of front can be detached? I'm thinking for painting it, mostly, the silver faceplate is a bit of an eyesore for me in an otherwise black case. In case my SG03 doesn't live up to my plans... having to put tons of tape everywhere on the case to paint it while attached doesn't seem optimal.

I'm working 12+ hour days so no promises, but I'll try to return to this thread and post how it goes.

By my estimation the distance between the motherboard and power supply in the SG03 means that the CPU cooler is sandwiched in a space not much more than 2U anyway. The main difference is that I want to use lower RPM fans. However my tolerance for temperature is also higher than that of a server. As long as I'm well within operating temperatures for the processor I'm not too worried if I don't see the <30° C temps of my HR-01 on a 65W CPU.

What can I say? I need the 130W CPU for it's 8 magical threads of processing goodness so that I can run 3-4 VM's and still have enough resources to play SC2, work in AutoCAD, or play in Photoshop. The SG03 is the cleanest, smallest mATX case I've seen for my planned setup. I hate lugging my P182 and other PC's around so something small is a requirement.