Any MATX case interest? & Newbie case advice?

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:37 am

that coolermaster mATX would have been a great case if not for the pseudo btx layout as exposed in the hardwarezone review.

...as such...the search for the elusive 2x 120mm mATX case continues.

smoothness · Post by **smoothness** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:15 pm

Dunno if this will fit your bill, but I was thinking about buying this one for a while - Evercase matx. Fits matx boards, full power supplies, and has front and back 120mm mounting points.

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:50 am

There was no problem at all mounting the EAR grommets. The outside just abuts but there was no re-drilling required.

I have had no issues with the motherboard mouting. The only issue I had with the case at all is that the foam they use for filtering is a bit too closed but it is easy to remove.

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:19 pm

lucienrau, do you have pictures of the HD cage in the case? Because it seems to me that a HDD mounted in the cage receives no cooling.

jvrobert · Post by **jvrobert** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:19 pm

So how do these cases hold up to very hot video cards, anybody tried it?

I'd love something in the cube form factor (like the Aspires) or a small tower for my next gaming PC. But I'm planning on getting an X1900XT which runs ridiculously hot, so I'm wondering how well the cooling would work in a mAtx case like this.

Jason

stupid · Post by **stupid** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:17 am

jvrobert wrote:So how do these cases hold up to very hot video cards, anybody tried it?

I'd love something in the cube form factor (like the Aspires) or a small tower for my next gaming PC. But I'm planning on getting an X1900XT which runs ridiculously hot, so I'm wondering how well the cooling would work in a mAtx case like this.

Jason

The case will turn into slag about 30 minutes into F.E.A.R.

Seriously though, paring a hot card like that and a somewhat powerful CPU like the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (for example) will produce a lot of heat. With proper ventillation you can run such a system without any problems. The good thing about the X1900XT is that the fan exhaust hot air out of the case. I don't know how loud that fan is though. Putting in a good stable PSU like the Seasonic S12 380 or greater should be good enough.

Also, if you put it in a small case that has an exhaust fan, some m-ATX cases solely relies on the PSU exhaust fan, then using the Scythe Ninja with a fan like Nexus that blows hot air directly to the exhaust fan will also help with reducing heat inside the case.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:42 am

Hi, I just moved my main system from an Antec Minuet II into a In Win Z720T. Here are my intial impressions.

System Specifications:

In Win Z720T w/ 300W 120mm fan p/s ($41 @ Buy.com)
BIOSTAR TForce 6100 754 (~$75 @ eBay)
AMD Sempron 2800+ at 2.5GHz (~$60)
Sythe Ninja SCNJ-1000 w/ S-flex 1600rpm 120mm fan ($46 HeatsinkFactory)
pqi 1GB PC3200 2-3-2 (~$90 Newegg)
ATI x800GTO 550MHz/500Mhz ($121 @ Newegg)
WD 2500KS SATA2 ($115 @ Newegg)
Sony DVD+-RW (fairly quiet, $40 @ Newegg )
Lite-on 16X DVD (noisy)
Sythe 1600rpm S-flex ($15 @ HeatsinkFactory)
Sanyo Denki 92mm Mini Ace (~$6)
Aztech PCI 56k Modem (free)

Is the Z720T Quiet?

No, not as recieved. The 120mm in the power supply is decent, but runs just a tad too fast for me. The exhaust fan included with the Z720T is junk. I quickly replaced it with a 92mm Sanyo Denki Mini Ace currently running off a Zalman Fanmate set to minimum speed. The Sanyo runs great off of a 3.3V line, but I haven't wired that up yet. I also removed the clear plastic side duct from the case.That left the case nice and open but I found out that it still wouldn't have quite enough room...

Yesterday I swapped out my Zalman 7000Cu for the Ninja, and boy was that thing a pain to install. I am not sure why the Ninja has gotten such glowing reviews about ease of installation. Mounting the psuedo P4 frame to the TForce board was easy, but actually clipping the Ninja into the frame was not. I'd prefer the simple screw on method (which has worked well since the Swiftech MC462-A). You definitely would not want to put this thing on a flip chip cpu with an exposed die.

Ninja fitment in Z720T

The Ninja was just a little too tall for the In Win side panel to fit. The Z720T (and all the Z-series In Win cases) have a stupid round indent on the side panel. The Ninja would have fit fine with a plain flat side panel. (and I would haver prefered just a plain, flat side panel without any venting, but that seems to be quite rare now.)

I tried just swapping the plain right side with the left side of the case, but that would require some modifications. I decided to just pop out the indent with some hammering. So, now my Z720T has a bulge in the side. Oh well, it solved the clearance issue with the Ninja. Latter I can it out and put some heavy plexiglass there to get a flat side back.

I decided to mount the 120mm S-flex fan directly to the Ninja for now. I am plan to eventually mounting it in a cardboard duct running from the Ninja to the rear fan grill. Fans blowing into heatsinks are probably better at thermal transfer, though. I currently have the S-flex mounted on the bottom of the Ninja blowing up into it. The 120mm power supply fan about an inch away from the top of the heatsink and the Sanyo Denki exhaust fan a couple of inches away from the rear edge of the Ninja.

I would have preferred to put the S-flex on the front side of the Ninja blowing back, but I simply could not fit it there wasn't room between the top of the memory and the side of the case. I played around with the fan settings in the BIOS and right now the S-flex will not spin with the system idle. This is without Cool'n'Quiet which my Sempron doesn't support. Under stress testing I it will spin up to about 1400rpm, which is a whole lot less annoying then the Zalman fan which had to spin up a lot more and didn't even cool as well.

Main noise sources in current form

92mm Sanyo Denki (running about 1500rpm)
120mm Power supply fan
WD 2500KS (currently just sitting on some pink motherboard foam at the bottom of the case)

Plans

Remove or undervolt the Sanyo Denki.

Some kind of cardboard duct around the Ninja.

I think I can get this down to a two fan system.

I discovered that there is enough room between the x16 PCIe slot and the modem to fit my P4 heatsink (w/o fan) on the x800GTO. Whether that will work at decent speeds passively is another question. The GTO's fan is currently inaudable.

I could even see a slightly less powerful single 120mm fan system being quiet doable. Just duct the Ninja to the power supply fan. They aren't well aligned, but a duct would solve that. Probably not the best choice for noise.

More latter...[/img]

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 6:24 am

Valuable insights regarding the In-Win Z-series cases.

I'd like to know whether the Scythe Ninja will fit in the Coolermaster Centurion RC-541 / RC-540 though.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:05 am

winguy wrote:Valuable insights regarding the In-Win Z-series cases. I'd like to know whether the Scythe Ninja will fit in the Coolermaster Centurion RC-541 / RC-540 though.

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't fit. I knew the In Win Z series might have an issue when I ordered it. I seriously considered the Centurion, but I wanted something as small (and cheap) as possible. I didn't like the included power supply fan location on the Centurions. As far as size, Even the Z720T has a couple of extra inches of depth that I don't need, but it was a lot easier to buy something then make it from scratch.

scandium · Post by **scandium** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:04 pm

mATX user here as well. Went with an Asus TM-58 case, which is a little larger than most mATX cases but I liked its clean lines, lack of a drive bay door (whichI find get in the way), and ability to use standard ATX PSUs (since I already had a Vantec Ion2 to put into it that I was rather partial too).

Anyway I've only had the case a couple weeks now and its very much a work in progress, managing as it does to be both loud and poorly ventilated with the ancient 80 mm case fans I'm using; but the new Artic Cooling 2L 80 mm fans I have on order as replacements should help there.

I have only a few minor gripes with the case, which isn't so bad considering how cheap it was. The drive cage is a one piece, non removeable PITA and the mb tray is also one piece non removeable tray that has those fixed, raised "bumps" (whatever you call them) that the board is screwed onto as opposed to the traditional screwholes for copper standoffs. Also cooling is tricky, with only two 80 mm mounts (one front, one rear) for fans - though that's pretty much the norm for matx and what makes it pleasantly challenging to work with

On the plus side it looks good (in a very utilitarian way), is very lightweight and small enough to tuck under your arm to tote around and comforms to matx standards with no proprietary limitations (like propietary PSUs etc).

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:45 am

The Z720T Saga continues:

X800GTO Cooling

I just got high speed Internet, so I was able to remove the PCI modem, giving me enough room to mount the P4 heatsink with fan to the X800GTO. I also took off both the PCI slot covers to let the hot air escape.

Ninja Ducting

I removed the rear 92mm fan and built a cardboard duct out of a USPS Priority Mail box (nice white, thin cardboard) to mount the 120mm S-flex in. This setup seems to work great with the S-flex pulling air horizontally through the Ninja and out of the case when needed and the power supply fan pulling air up through it. I could probably help the latter with another small piece of cardboard between the Ninja and the edge of the power supply.

This removed most of the heat build up in the bottom of the case, but I still want to find a good way to mount the hard drive...

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:33 am

Just got the Inwin Z583 and it seems pretty nice so far, although quiet is not something you get out of the box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811108006

I have the rear 92mm fan running on 5V, although it was a little tricky since it just comes with a motherboard header connection. Modded an adapter for that.

The 120mm fan in the PSU is not too quiet either, but I probably won't do anything with it, that computer is just a second computer.

The metal case is pretty flimsy (especially after working with a P180). The tool-less design is nice, though again, there isn't really any way to damp the hard drives. Not much rattling though from anything.

The duct *almost* lines up perfectly with the CPU cooler, temps are quite a bit cooler in this case.

Oh, and the case looks pretty slick in my opinion.

hygge · Post by **hygge** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:46 am

I think the Asus TM-581 looks very nice!
Has any one any experince with it?
I wonder if a standard PSU can be used or I need a special microatx-one...

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?mode ... 2=37&l3=95

coldmist · Post by **coldmist** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:26 pm

psiu wrote:Just got the Inwin Z583 and it seems pretty nice so far, although quiet is not something you get out of the box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811108006

I have the rear 92mm fan running on 5V, although it was a little tricky since it just comes with a motherboard header connection. Modded an adapter for that.

The 120mm fan in the PSU is not too quiet either, but I probably won't do anything with it, that computer is just a second computer.

The metal case is pretty flimsy (especially after working with a P180). The tool-less design is nice, though again, there isn't really any way to damp the hard drives. Not much rattling though from anything.

The duct *almost* lines up perfectly with the CPU cooler, temps are quite a bit cooler in this case.

Oh, and the case looks pretty slick in my opinion.

What are the yellow things around where the screws hold the drives in? Are they a rubber-mounting system, or just something else? I'm looking a the white version for a computer for the kids. I've got a Samsung 173P LCD monitor that would look reall good with this.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:54 pm

coldmist wrote:
What are the yellow things around where the screws hold the drives in? Are they a rubber-mounting system, or just something else? I'm looking a the white version for a computer for the kids. I've got a Samsung 173P LCD monitor that would look reall good with this.

Tool-less drive mounting for the two 5.25" bays and for one of the 3.5" bays. Work really nice. Even better than the Antec drive rails for convenience.

As far as the hard drive goes, it mounts vertically where you would expect a front fan to go, it has 2 little pegs on the backside and then 2 holes for screws on the side you would usually access things from (so you don't have to open the other side to attach screws). The hard drive sits pretty snug even without screws.

If you won't be unplugging things too frequently the toolless PCI is pretty handy, I ended up screwing in my VGA card though (and of course, it's nice if you are fiddling with things, you can use it while building and only screw them down when all finished up).

I will probably try just using the PSU fan for exhaust to see how it goes. With the mobo I have the CPU hsf blows up at the PSU fan and it's a passive graphics card. I am probably going to get a new card anyway, when I do I will throw a Silencer on it to give some additional exhaust.

If I remember right the PSU fan is thermally controlled, having the CPU exhaust at it is unfortunate (but I don't have an alternative, so I'm stuck with that at the moment.

Any MATX case interest? & Newbie case advice?

Built system using a In Win Z720T

Re: Built system using a In Win Z720T

Inwin Z583 is okay

Re: Inwin Z583 is okay

Re: Inwin Z583 is okay