ASPIRE X-QPACK, SFF case only w/PSU.
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ASPIRE X-QPACK, SFF case only w/PSU.
This looks nice....available in several colors. It looks like this mini-PC could be cooled/quieted without a bunch of mods. Supply your own MATX board...not bad.
Newegg link
Newegg link
Last edited by Bluefront on Wed Jun 15, 2005 4:43 am, edited 3 times in total.
What's with the PSU? It looks like it has full width and height but for some reason has an 8cm fan on the bottom. I wonder if the insides of an FSP green power would fit in it's casing.
Edit:
manufacturer's link
I wonder why they put that fan there. they could have put it in the normal location, or they could have put a 92mm there
Edit:
manufacturer's link
I wonder why they put that fan there. they could have put it in the normal location, or they could have put a 92mm there
Hopefully its not tough to replace the powersupply. 430W and only 13A on the 12V rail? Thats pretty low for a 430 W..
Need some way to decouple the harddrives as well because the case is aluminum and will resonate...
otherwise, interesting case. Seems like they are trying to dip their fingers into the small form factor arena
Need some way to decouple the harddrives as well because the case is aluminum and will resonate...
otherwise, interesting case. Seems like they are trying to dip their fingers into the small form factor arena
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Link to Sudhian Forum Thread
FWIW.....looks like a std ATX psu fits in this case, making it even more attractive.
More photos.....look under micro atx cube.
FWIW.....looks like a std ATX psu fits in this case, making it even more attractive.
More photos.....look under micro atx cube.
Ugh. Sudhian thread suggests that the maximum heatsink height is 2.5" -- a major restriction. It looks like there's a cross bar over the "top" of the mobo where most sockets are located. With the 120mm fan I'd love to have that be the only fan in the box, but what heatsink can I use passively that's that short? All the heatpipe ones are out. . . A Swiftech maybe?
Here's another shot showing the problem.
If you remove that bit of metal (running from the fan to the hard drive mounts), how much structural integrity do you lose?
And I don't think a HT-101 is tall enough. IIRC, its height is under 120mm -- meaning less than half the fins will be in front of the fan. I think one of the taller Thermaltake monstrosities (the slinky one that's 150mm or so) would be even better if oriented properly.
Oh yeah, if you're looking to use the nice mATX S939 RS480M2-IL (like I am), it's listed as incompatible with the Zalman 7000.
If you remove that bit of metal (running from the fan to the hard drive mounts), how much structural integrity do you lose?
And I don't think a HT-101 is tall enough. IIRC, its height is under 120mm -- meaning less than half the fins will be in front of the fan. I think one of the taller Thermaltake monstrosities (the slinky one that's 150mm or so) would be even better if oriented properly.
Oh yeah, if you're looking to use the nice mATX S939 RS480M2-IL (like I am), it's listed as incompatible with the Zalman 7000.
Are you going to believe Zalman, or your own lying eyes? It does fit (scroll down and see the picture).Chang wrote:Oh yeah, if you're looking to use the nice mATX S939 RS480M2-IL (like I am), it's listed as incompatible with the Zalman 7000.
I understand this is normal and even required with several boards when installing an aftermarket CPU cooler as some backplates, for example some from Gigabyte, don't work with a Zalman cooler. I am reading the MSI RS480M2-IL manual right now and there are instructions to install the backplate on the motherboard, which tells me it does not come installed from the factory.Tibors wrote:Yeah, but read the text too. You need to remove the backplate that is glued to the MSI board. Not a nice thing to do and probably immediately voids your warranty.
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Chang....I was thinking of using an HT-101 because it really doesn't need the full airflow of a 120mm fan to cool well. Placed in front of that rear 120, an HT-101 would leave the top 1/2 of the fan open. You might be able to duct some airflow directly over the HD with this sort of setup.
There are a number of possibilities open with this case.
Oh...if you cut the case support bracket for a taller heatsink, it probably wouldn't affect the strength much. And it would be easy enough to add another support strut if you want. I'm just going by the pictures, you know.
There are a number of possibilities open with this case.
Oh...if you cut the case support bracket for a taller heatsink, it probably wouldn't affect the strength much. And it would be easy enough to add another support strut if you want. I'm just going by the pictures, you know.
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I actually thought it quite strange those instructions were in the manual. My RS480M2-IL came with the backplate already attached. Also:vdorta wrote:I am reading the MSI RS480M2-IL manual right now and there are instructions to install the backplate on the motherboard, which tells me it does not come installed from the factory.
I didn't remove the stock backplate from mine, as the Freezer 64 works with the standard retention frame.On [url=http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.aspx?catid=45&threadid=73805&STARTPAGE=2&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear]Suhian[/url] Dillusion wrote:MSI uses their own aluminum mounting plate thats adhesively taped on, but a few minutes with longnose pliers will take it right off if you have the patience and skill to not let it slip.
But that cooler is almost 15cm tall, so wouldn't fit in this case without the modding bluefront describes. Last time I looked it was a lot cheaper than the HT-101 though.
My worry is that it's an aluminum chassis and looks like there would be difficulty in soft mounting hard drives.
Let me know how it goes. I have the same silverstone and was sick of the powersupply. I ended going with an Athenatech case and I'm doing a realatively large modding project to it in the next month or so.
Let me know how it goes. I have the same silverstone and was sick of the powersupply. I ended going with an Athenatech case and I'm doing a realatively large modding project to it in the next month or so.
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Newegg has the Chenming OEM version of this case in stock. It has NO WINDOWS!!! (for those of us that aren't into bling)
Tibors, I received my MSI RS480 board a couple of days ago and today I began installation. Removal of the factory backplate is a must to install a Zalman 7000 because of a small but definite difference in height once the Zalman nipples are screwed down. I was concerned about backplate removal but it ended up being much easier and uncomplicated than I thought. You just heat the backplate with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes and then push from above and it comes right off (there is only a tiny amount of glue attaching it to the motherboard). The best part is that nothing is damaged and you can reinstall the factory backplate at any time if that is your desire.Tibors wrote:Yeah, but read the text too. You need to remove the backplate that is glued to the MSI board. Not a nice thing to do and probably immediately voids your warranty.
Nice find, I was thinking of this case after having trouble committing to and buying an Aria. I prefer no windows and less bling. Unfortunately, it isn't much cheaper than the Aspire . The extra oomph in the power supply might be worth the extra 7 bucks.Ralf Hutter wrote:Newegg has the Chenming OEM version of this case in stock. It has NO WINDOWS!!! (for those of us that aren't into bling)
Would 300W be enough for an AMD64 3000+ and Nvidia 6600GT or 6800 non-ultra? I know there's a thread somewhere about how much a 300W PSU can hold, but IMO it really depends on the quality. The label on the Chenming PSU is "High Power", which I've never heard of .
Well I've had my case for some time now and played around with it some.
First off, the biggest problem I ran into wasn't the heatsink issues that I expected, but problems with my vid card. I have the Zalman dual heatpipe cooler and it flat out won't fit in the case. The PSU support gets in the way. I only managed to get it in there by removing the supporting cross piece on the cooler and installing the video card after sliding the mobo tray in place.
On to the blue bling. The front LCD is on the bright side but bearable. The included 120mm fan is much too bright. It's made worse by being very visable through the right window. It was quickly removed (and replaced with the "Ralf" OEM Panalfo). The light of the PSU fan is mostly blocked out with a full height PCI card and a full height AGP card. You can barely see light through the windows with the cards in place. Quick stress testing didn't reveal any PSU weaknesses. Also, the front power LED is pretty bright.
For the heatsink, using my HT-101 would have required some significant cutting, so I picked up and installed a Zalman 3100 (no mounting holes in my mobo). I was very disappointed with my inital temperatures until I flipped the rear 120mm fan from exhaust to intake. Doing so dropped my CPU temps 20-25C.
What I think was happening is that when set to exhaust, air is being drawn directly through where the drive cage sits and out the exhaust. Air just wasn't being drawn over the HS -- in fact, the support may be creating somewhat of a deadspot right above the heatsink. Flipping it must be creating enough turbulence above the heatsink to make it all hunky-dory. Keep in mind that there's no fan on this heatsink -- I might not have had to flip if there were one.
First off, the biggest problem I ran into wasn't the heatsink issues that I expected, but problems with my vid card. I have the Zalman dual heatpipe cooler and it flat out won't fit in the case. The PSU support gets in the way. I only managed to get it in there by removing the supporting cross piece on the cooler and installing the video card after sliding the mobo tray in place.
On to the blue bling. The front LCD is on the bright side but bearable. The included 120mm fan is much too bright. It's made worse by being very visable through the right window. It was quickly removed (and replaced with the "Ralf" OEM Panalfo). The light of the PSU fan is mostly blocked out with a full height PCI card and a full height AGP card. You can barely see light through the windows with the cards in place. Quick stress testing didn't reveal any PSU weaknesses. Also, the front power LED is pretty bright.
For the heatsink, using my HT-101 would have required some significant cutting, so I picked up and installed a Zalman 3100 (no mounting holes in my mobo). I was very disappointed with my inital temperatures until I flipped the rear 120mm fan from exhaust to intake. Doing so dropped my CPU temps 20-25C.
What I think was happening is that when set to exhaust, air is being drawn directly through where the drive cage sits and out the exhaust. Air just wasn't being drawn over the HS -- in fact, the support may be creating somewhat of a deadspot right above the heatsink. Flipping it must be creating enough turbulence above the heatsink to make it all hunky-dory. Keep in mind that there's no fan on this heatsink -- I might not have had to flip if there were one.
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Heh...just noticed how long ago this thread started. I wondered why I hadn't seen it before.....Bluefront wrote:This weekend at Newegg......$76+shipping.
There are several reviews now...mostly ok. No big problems noted.....
I'm really tempted by this case. My wife and I regularly play online games with my cousin..who lives next door. Typically we play at our house, and them at theirs. But this case appeals with the idea of just unplugging it at our house and carrying it over there (assuming a spare monitor, keyboard, etc exists there).
However, my next upgrade has some rather specific requirements. I'm ok with going to a microATX board, IF I can find one that meets my needs. So far, that's:
1) onboard giga-bit lan
2) AMD Athlon64, and compatible with dual-core AMD chips
3) SATA (and a 0/1 RAID controller would be nice).
4) PCI-express graphics (not integrated)
A search of newegg revealed no boards that did this, but plenty of regular ATX that do. Is it just too early? I'd imagine microatx takes longer to come up to speed with the industry...
Also, assuming I put some rather massive heatsink on the CPU (like those described in this thread), do I have to worry about swinging this into a carrying position and it breaking something from the weight shift? Or are the heatsinks fully stabilized. I don't intend to bang it against anything, of course, but I'm just wondering how well it would actually hold up to being carried.
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A bit OT-
Do you have any experience with this company, or did you just get them off pricewatch or something similar? 20 bucks plus shipping is a good price, depending on the shipping.
edit: And while I'm here, how about the Scythe SCNJ-1000? It's 150mm tall to the Hyper 6's 120 (10mm wider on the sides though).
Do you have any experience with this company, or did you just get them off pricewatch or something similar? 20 bucks plus shipping is a good price, depending on the shipping.
edit: And while I'm here, how about the Scythe SCNJ-1000? It's 150mm tall to the Hyper 6's 120 (10mm wider on the sides though).