Akasa Euler Fanless case

piglover · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:29 pm

Ice Tea wrote:

piglover wrote:

You still have to authenticate the session. At least a password is required. You can set up TLS certificate based authentication if you like.

Also, in my note above, I mentioned the lack of VPN support. The main reason you want VPN support is to move the management access onto a separate LAN with better security - including no access to/from the Internet. My servers IPMI connections - and now this one's vPRO port - are set up on such a LAN. So are the ESXi management interfaces. Without VLAN support its a bit more complicated, but not impossible.

LOL , This is so confusing like learning a foreign language for the first time.

Just to be sure we mean the same thing i'm talking abut the User Consent code that comes up in a black screen with a padlock that has to be given to remote computer user to log in.

...pictures clipped for quote...see post above if.
If you disable this in the Bios can you then manually set a key as i thought this was the only thing stopping remote access?

If you turn off user acknowledgement then the Management Engine requires a username (nominally "admin", but you can change it for obscurity) and a password for access. Intel enforces relatively strong passwords. If you want to go through the trouble of setting it up it will further require certificates and do TLS-encryption of the entire session.

Regis · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:43 pm

piglover wrote:

I did notice on my Euler that the rear-left MB screwpost was a bit too low (rear-left with the MB upside-down and the IO-shield area being called front - or in other words, the post closest to the corner of the CPU). It was low by 1-2mm and I compensated by dropping in two of the paper-insulating washers you used to get for MB installs.

Didn't think much of it at the time - just seemed like an expected manufacturing variance for such a small case. Maybe my expectations are too low or tolerance for quality issues is too loose?

As for the IO shield - mine fit and lined up perfectly the first time.

I see you have the same MB... that is really strange. Maybe I was just very unlucky. When you get a chance can you check how the area around the CPU looks like for you? I have ditched the IO shield and all the screws leaving only the CPU nuts and there is still very noticeable bulge around the CPU.

piglover · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:09 pm

Regis wrote:

piglover wrote:

I did notice on my Euler that the rear-left MB screwpost was a bit too low (rear-left with the MB upside-down and the IO-shield area being called front - or in other words, the post closest to the corner of the CPU). It was low by 1-2mm and I compensated by dropping in two of the paper-insulating washers you used to get for MB installs.

Didn't think much of it at the time - just seemed like an expected manufacturing variance for such a small case. Maybe my expectations are too low or tolerance for quality issues is too loose?

As for the IO shield - mine fit and lined up perfectly the first time.

I see you have the same MB... that is really strange. Maybe I was just very unlucky. When you get a chance can you check how the area around the CPU looks like for you? I have ditched the IO shield and all the screws leaving only the CPU nuts and there is still very noticeable bulge around the CPU.

Right now its all assembled and living in its permanent home under my desk - I don't have plans to open it up again for a while. But if I do I'll give it a look. Too bad this discussion didn't get to this point 24 hours ago - I had it open twice yesterday evening to ghetto-mod access to the USB2 headers through the I/O shield cutout for the expresscard (long story...).

All I can tell you is that mine seems to have excellent fit for this board (except, as noted above, the one MB mount point that is a bit on the low side).

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

piglover wrote:

If you turn off user acknowledgement then the Management Engine requires a username (nominally "admin", but you can change it for obscurity) and a password for access. Intel enforces relatively strong passwords. If you want to go through the trouble of setting it up it will further require certificates and do TLS-encryption of the entire session.

Thanks for explaining.

I despair sometimes with the Intel Forums as they gave me the impression that the computer would be wide open which is why i ended up buying a 2100t without Vpro as i wasn't going to keep plugging in the monitor for the user key.

Just as i'm at the point of building i now need to get a Vpro CPU.

Sigh! :roll:

Regis · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:10 pm

piglover wrote:

Right now its all assembled and living in its permanent home under my desk - I don't have plans to open it up again for a while. But if I do I'll give it a look. Too bad this discussion didn't get to this point 24 hours ago - I had it open twice yesterday evening to ghetto-mod access to the USB2 headers through the I/O shield cutout for the expresscard (long story...).

All I can tell you is that mine seems to have excellent fit for this board (except, as noted above, the one MB mount point that is a bit on the low side).

OK, thanks. Mine seems to fit rather well too after I removed everything but I am not sure if that is because the MB is already deformed to fit the case or because the case fits. :lol:

I have a different problem now:

Intel 330 120GB SSD

The intel rapid storage technology tool reports it as SATA 1.5 Gb/s and sure the performance looks like it. All drivers installed straight from Intel website. The BIOS does not even see the drive but Windows did install on it and runs fine* from it... can the motherboard be damaged in a way that would make it revert to SATA 1 but still run reliably? I somehow doubt it... I know this is not AKASA related any more but there is no DQ77KB dedicated thread anyway. Any ideas anyone?

*Except occasional freeze with HDD LED solidly illuminated but that is apparently common problem and probably not related.

EDIT:
Problem sloved by replacing the SATA cable! Apparently the one included with the case is not good enough for SATA 2/3. Wikipedia mentions there are differences in cables between SATA versions but I cannot see Akasa shipping SATA 1 cable. It is probably me being unlucky again and getting faulty cable.

It looks like I may have not damaged my MB after all. Maybe all my problems were caused by this faulty cable. I would still like to know if others have visible bulge around the CPU when the moderboard is secured in place... my guess is it's only around 1-2 mm but it is definitely visible. Also looks like it is bigger when the case is hot but that may be just my eyes playing thicks on me.

MikeC · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2012 10:02 am

A query came in via email from Toby, which is worthy of a larger audience:

Quote:

Loved your recent review of the Akasa Euler case - I'll certainly consider that for my next diskless client build.

Just one question that was unanswered - does it matter to the thermal performance which way up the box is? I can imagine that the cooling could be more effective in one of the upright directions (fins vertical?) than when horizontally on the desk, but have never seen a comparison to see whether that's true (and if so, how noticeably). Given that it's VESA mountable, both configurations are likely in real use.

Good question.

I didn't do this, but I have observed other systems like this in vertical vs horizontal mode. In general, under high load, the position that allows maximum fin surface area available for heat to rise seems to offer better cooling -- ie, flat on the desk. In actual use, the differences are usually trivial, either way works fine for cooling when the load is not constant at 100% (as it usually is when we're thermal testing these types of heatsink cases). The design of the fins and edges on this case suggests the flat on desk position would always be best -- the up/down profile of the fins is covered by the front and back panels. Still, mounting the Euler so its fins run vertically should give best results when VESA mounted.

piglover · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:18 pm

If you mount it, the notches in the VESA mount almost require it to be mounted with the fins vertical.

Also, this arrangement leaves the two vent holes in the case sides bottom and top, which would give the best convection flow to cool the rest of the MB.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Anybody running a i5 3470T as i'm thinking of buying one to replace my 2100T.

piglover · **Posted:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:48 am

Ice Tea wrote:

Anybody running a i5 3470T as i'm thinking of buying one to replace my 2100T.

Yes. That is the CPU I have in mine. No issues in this case at all. It is hard to find...

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

piglover wrote:

Ice Tea wrote:

Anybody running a i5 3470T as i'm thinking of buying one to replace my 2100T.

Yes. That is the CPU I have in mine. No issues in this case at all. It is hard to find...

Thanks

Have you ever tried teamviewer at all ?

As this Euler build is just for a nightime download box i'm in two minds if to save some money and just use the 2100T with teamviewer remote desktop or buy the 3470T for Vpro KVM though it looks complicated in comparison.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

BAH!

For not much more you can buy a 45W 3570T Quad Core though it has lower clock speed.

Why is nothing ever easy...........

Aluminum · **Joined:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:15 am **Posts:** 6

I have a DQ77KB in this case with a 3220T, it has no fit problems. I'll try to post some pictures when I get a chance.

If you're looking for an easy to find 45W quadcore, there is the Xeon E3 1265L V2 and it works with the board just fine. Only HD2500 though, something I found out after I bought it and they had the wrong specs on the ark page for a month

3770T with HD4000 would be ideal but its hard to find and tends to be price gouged. Its a shame because intel sells it to distributors for exactly the same tray price as 3770S and 3770 (non K) but for no good reason they screw over the DIY market and refuse to distribute it boxed!

All 4 of these cpus are priced exactly the same ($294 in bare trays) for distributors, but the market prices and availability are widely different...

Another thing, recent bios for DQ77KB will not let you boot with a 3570K, 3770K or any other >65W cpu, so no cheap underclocking option for those that live near a microcenter.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Which would you guys go for a i5-3470T brand new or a secondhand E3-1260L?

WimG · **Joined:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:35 am **Posts:** 2

Hi all,

I'm considering combining the akasa euler case with a new gigabyte thin mini-itx board (GA-H77N-WIFI). I'm wondering if the cpu socket position is fixed in the MB standard. Not sure if the heatsink will work otherwise.

Any ideas, experience?

cheers,

Wim

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Can't see that fitting as the gigabyte takes normal ram and there is only just about room to fit a 12.5mm laptop hardrive in there.

Aluminum · **Joined:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:15 am **Posts:** 6

$90, a little cheaper than Akasa guessed it would be stateside

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/akeufacaform.html

ist.martin · **Posted:** Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:32 pm

Aluminum wrote:

$90, a little cheaper than Akasa guessed it would be stateside

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/akeufacaform.html

$115 with the power adapter.

ist.martin · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:27 am

I am going to build a Euler system in the next week or so. I am trying to decide between DQ77KB + G2120 ($240) or DH61AG + G860 ($185).

My main concern with the DQ77KB path is the scattered reports of poor reliability - including the SPCR copy! With the G860 I wonder if there is a problem with it being a 65W TDP chip - does anyone know if it will stay as cool as Mike's G2120 system under 'normal' use?

Also, Intel's specs for the two chips state that both have 'Intel HD Graphics', with the G860 at 850 MHz and the G2120 at 650 MHz. Does that mean that the G860 actually has more powerful graphics, or does the G2120 use a newer generation graphics chipset?
http://ark.intel.com/products/53492/Int ... e-3_00-GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/65527/Int ... e-3_10-GHz

Also, are there important practical things I would lose by going H61 Sandy Bridge instead of the latest H77 Ivy Bridge?

Intuitively, I'd like to go with the latest generation, but I am the kind of person who likes to build something and forget about it for 4-5 years. I prize reliability very much.

Thanks for any help.

Aluminum · **Joined:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:15 am **Posts:** 6

ist.martin wrote:

Aluminum wrote:

$90, a little cheaper than Akasa guessed it would be stateside

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/akeufacaform.html

$115 with the power adapter.

True, though I'd rather buy it without. Shouldn't buy theirs anyways, amazon etc has 90W (or more) for ~$15.

They use the same plug that many Dell and HP 19V have, depending where you are its easy to get them for close to nothing or even free. I picked up a box of 130W from an office closing for $10.

Aluminum · **Joined:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:15 am **Posts:** 6

ist.martin wrote:

I am going to build a Euler system in the next week or so. I am trying to decide between DQ77KB + G2120 ($240) or DH61AG + G860 ($185).

My main concern with the DQ77KB path is the scattered reports of poor reliability - including the SPCR copy! With the G860 I wonder if there is a problem with it being a 65W TDP chip - does anyone know if it will stay as cool as Mike's G2120 system under 'normal' use?

Also, Intel's specs for the two chips state that both have 'Intel HD Graphics', with the G860 at 850 MHz and the G2120 at 650 MHz. Does that mean that the G860 actually has more powerful graphics, or does the G2120 use a newer generation graphics chipset?
http://ark.intel.com/products/53492/Int ... e-3_00-GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/65527/Int ... e-3_10-GHz

Also, are there important practical things I would lose by going H61 Sandy Bridge instead of the latest H77 Ivy Bridge?

Intuitively, I'd like to go with the latest generation, but I am the kind of person who likes to build something and forget about it for 4-5 years. I prize reliability very much.

Thanks for any help.

I have no problems with stability on either of mine, and they are running 24/7. One is mostly idle as a silent firewall/router (3220T) the other is quite busy as a pcapture box (1265Lv2).

The problems I have with these boards stem from intel's tight lockdown of the bios/efi to prevent non desktop uses.
The firmware fails to boot a newer intel chipset network card that my nearly identical hardware (QM77) lenovo laptop has no problems with. I might have narrowed this down to MSI-X support but still not sure.

And of course the arbitrary restrictions on cpu compatibility is pretty much a load of bull.

ist.martin · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:01 pm

Aluminum - thanks for the feedback. I am now leaning toward the DQ77KB with an i3-3225 (55W TDP and HD 4000 graphics at a reasonably low price point).

It seems that there are other MB makers coming on board very soon with thin mini-itx:

ECS - http://www.techpowerup.com/177535/ECS-R ... oards.html

Gigabyte - http://techreport.com/news/24154/gigaby ... this-month

I think Akasa may end up surprised by the retail demand.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Anyone using the thermal paste that came with the Euler?

gazer365 · **Joined:** Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:15 pm **Posts:** 2

First of all, thanks to Mike for doing a great review.

I am looking to build a quiet, compact ITX system and was originally planning on going with:

*Realan E-i5 (case dimensions 200mm*75mm*236mm)
*External 120W power brick
*ASRock Z77E-ITX
*Core i3-3220T (35W)
*16GB RAM
*1 x 128GB SSD
*1 x 1TB 2.5" HD

However I was having some trouble deciding what cooler to use, I wanted it to be as quiet as possible. :!:

After stumbling across the Akasa Euler and reading the review and replies here I am now planning to do this build instead:

*Akasa Euler
*Intel DQ77KB
*Core i3-3220T (35W)
*16GB RAM
*1 x 128GB mSATA SSD
*1 x 1TB 2.5" HD

However after reading about the the problems in this thread regarding realiability issues with the DQ77KB and the motherboard being bent out of shape in the case by the IO Shield/overtightened nuts I am a little worried that the system would not be as reliable as my original plan.

What is the general consensus about the severity of these problems and overall reliabilty of the system?

MikeC · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:00 am

gazer365 wrote:

What is the general consensus about the severity of these problems and overall reliability of the system?

IIRC, only one user was afflicted by the wrong-position screw points on the Euler, right? Checking the fit carefully as the board is being mounted should let you know if there are any issues. Also, not using the I/O plate might help -- one thing less to line up, in case there are any slight misfits. (not a pun) It's not that important, and leaving it off might actually help a bit with passive cooling anyway.

As for board reliability, Intel actually did comment on this -- they said return stats on this board do not differ significantly from other boards they sell.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Anybody else have a glowing red LED at the back of the green output jack on the back when you look down it?

Pappnaas · **Posted:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:15 am

optical audio out combo-jack maybe?

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Hope it's something like that.

Was hoping someone could pull out the speaker jack and check theirs is the same and that it's normal and not some warning error light reflecting from the board.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Pappnaas it seems you are correct , Thanks

http://communities.intel.com/thread/31518

Quote:

Regret to inform you that Dan_Intel is misinformed. This is not his fault; the Technical Specifications document (3rd revision) does not have complete information on the audio capabilities of this board.

In fact, the DQ77KB does support S/PDIF audio output. The green speaker jack on the back of the board is a dual-function jack. In addition to serving as a 1/8-inch stereo analog audio jack, it is ALSO a Mini-TOSLINK plug.

You can see this for yourself by installing the latest Realtek Audio driver from Intel's website, selecting "Realtek Digital Audio" as your default playback device, and observing the red glow coming from this jack.

You will need a Mini-TOSLINK to normal TOSLINK adapter plug (these cost only a few dollars at Amazon or Fry's), or an optical audio cable that has a mini plug on one end and a normal plug on the other. Of course, you will also need an audio or home theater receiver that supports optical inputs.

I have verified that the S/PDIF output on the DQ77KB can produce 2-channel PCM and 5-channel Dolby Digital and DTS at 44.1, 48, and 96 kHz, with either 16- or 24-bit resolution. My Denon receiver does not support 192 kHz samples, so I haven't verified that.

As you probably know, S/PDIF does not support the newer Blu-Ray audio formats like Dolby HD, nor does it support more than 2 channels of PCM. This is a limitation of S/PDIF itself, not the board.

Ice Tea · **Joined:** Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:06 am **Posts:** 47

Is everybodys private messages working as i'm not getting a reply from piglover for some reason even though he has been online?

treacle · **Joined:** Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:00 am **Posts:** 5

Hey Ice thanks for finding that info as i have been wondering what that light was as well though you can't see it when the speakers are plugged in. :lol:

I sent you a PM with a link to AVSforum as piglover has been active on there and has quoted your post and user Digs has informed him about private messages not getting answered.

Regards

Treacle

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