ASPIRE X-QPACK, SFF case only w/PSU.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 3:26 pm

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

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:08 pm

Is that a carrying handle?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:12 pm

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:34 pm

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

Tiamat · Post by **Tiamat** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:41 pm

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

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:00 pm

From another source that 13A figure is a mis-print on the label. The correct figure should be 20A....more reasonable.

Soft mounting a drive should be easy with that extra 5.25" bay available..

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 3:42 pm

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.

vdorta · Post by **vdorta** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 7:47 am

A standard ATX PSU will fit provided a short CD/DVD drive like a Lite-On or Sony is used; SeaSonic S12s would fit perfectly, including the cables coming out from the left side (viewed from the front of the case)!

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:03 pm

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?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:16 pm

You can see the problem in this picture.

I'll bet a little cutting could fix it........A tall heatsink like an HT-101 would sit real pretty in front of that 120mm fan.

DryFire · Post by **DryFire** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:55 pm

I think i see bluefront's eyes lighting up....

Looks like a nice case sto stick my current A64 in if i just swap my current mobo for an matx one. And at $89 it's about as much as an aria.

Looks like i might have to try this case out.

vdorta · Post by **vdorta** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:20 am

Aspire says maximum heatsink height is 2.75 inches (70mm), therefore a Zalman 7000 fits easily.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:10 am

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.

vdorta · Post by **vdorta** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:26 am

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.

Are you going to believe Zalman, or your own lying eyes?

It does fit (scroll down and see the picture).

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:00 pm

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.

vdorta · Post by **vdorta** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:54 pm

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.

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.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:49 pm

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.

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:37 pm

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 actually thought it quite strange those instructions were in the manual. My RS480M2-IL came with the backplate already attached. Also:

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.

I didn't remove the stock backplate from mine, as the Freezer 64 works with the standard retention frame.

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.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:10 am

I saw another picture that makes it look you might need to cut into the harddrive cage too. That would take out one or possibly both of your 3.5" internal drives. Until there are actual reports of success, it looks to me lik a shorter heatsink will be the way to go.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Tue May 17, 2005 6:32 am

Since the price dropped to $88 shipped from a known vendor, I decided to take the plunge. We'll see if it can replace my Silverstone GD98-LED.

It'll be interesting to see how many problems I'll have with my current socket A board and the HT-101.

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:55 am

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.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri May 20, 2005 5:51 am

Newegg has the Chenming OEM version of this case in stock. It has NO WINDOWS!!! (for those of us that aren't into bling)

vdorta · Post by **vdorta** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:13 am

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.

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.

stromgald · Post by **stromgald** » Sat May 21, 2005 8:08 pm

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)

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.

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

.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:39 pm

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.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:15 am

This weekend at Newegg......$76+shipping.

There are several reviews now...mostly ok. No big problems noted.....

sundevil_1997 · Post by **sundevil_1997** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:25 pm

Bluefront wrote:This weekend at Newegg......$76+shipping.

There are several reviews now...mostly ok. No big problems noted.....

Heh...just noticed how long ago this thread started. I wondered why I hadn't seen it before.....

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.

vdorta · Post by **vdorta** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:14 am

No problems with the handle, it easily supports my Zalman 7000.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 5:03 am

How about this monster sitting in front of the rear fan? I wouldn't suggest using the handle though.....

$20 today

Caudipteryx zoui · Post by **Caudipteryx zoui** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:01 pm

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).