I was looking over the reference/recommended lists and was surprised to see that there are no recommended mini-ITX cases. Mike, the next time you update this article it would be nice to no if no cases were tested or if you found none that meet SPCR standards.
Norman
Why no recommended mini-ITX cases?
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norman-ramsey
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MikeC
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To be honest, we've only seen a very small handful, and I would not recommend any of them. No way to make them quiet... except the (probably) discontinued Scythe's e-Otonashi.
This might be a good place to post notes on the Morex 3777 I got from Logic Supply to use with a VIA EN1200EG
Pros: small and sturdy, ventilation holes match the fanless VIA mobo pretty well.
Cons: zero directions so you have to figure how stuff fits yourself; power cable too short for this mobo so you need a 12" extension. Almost too compact: cabling needs thought; no room for HDD suspension, and while there's provision for a PCI card via an adapter that cantilevers it over the mobo, that would put the card right smack over the heatsink of a fanless mobo i.e. not recommended.
But for a minimalist low-power PC this was a fine case.
Pros: small and sturdy, ventilation holes match the fanless VIA mobo pretty well.
Cons: zero directions so you have to figure how stuff fits yourself; power cable too short for this mobo so you need a 12" extension. Almost too compact: cabling needs thought; no room for HDD suspension, and while there's provision for a PCI card via an adapter that cantilevers it over the mobo, that would put the card right smack over the heatsink of a fanless mobo i.e. not recommended.
But for a minimalist low-power PC this was a fine case.
I did ponder getting one of these to play around with
http://www.psile.com/index.php?page=cat ... ails&CID=2
as it seems to take a single 80mm fan. Strange shape though, being a ~cube it maybe looks less dinky than most mini-ITX cases do.
http://www.psile.com/index.php?page=cat ... ails&CID=2
as it seems to take a single 80mm fan. Strange shape though, being a ~cube it maybe looks less dinky than most mini-ITX cases do.
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norman-ramsey
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I notice that Newegg has something called a Thermaltake LANBOX Lite VF6000BNS for $79 which looks like you could mod it easily for a 120mm fan if you went with an external power brick. It would give you lots of room for cards, suspensions etc.
(Or, rather than whining about exchange rates, you could recycle a dead Shuttle.)
The Morex 3777 that I posted on above comes with a couple of noisy 60mm fans on one side. With a fanless mobo you can discard them and use no case fans at all, though you want decent outside ventilation. Or, if you don't use the over-mobo PCI option, you have room to put an 80mm fan directly over the mobo, pushing air up through the vent atop the box and drawing it in from the sides. With a fanmate and decent-quality fan you could get pretty quiet.
(Or, rather than whining about exchange rates, you could recycle a dead Shuttle.)
The Morex 3777 that I posted on above comes with a couple of noisy 60mm fans on one side. With a fanless mobo you can discard them and use no case fans at all, though you want decent outside ventilation. Or, if you don't use the over-mobo PCI option, you have room to put an 80mm fan directly over the mobo, pushing air up through the vent atop the box and drawing it in from the sides. With a fanmate and decent-quality fan you could get pretty quiet.