Mini ITX Setup

[DanceswithUnix]

Yea, will do.

Just love the case!! Real quality!

lol, that's great to hear. It is the one component that you have to look at every day, it does make a difference to be happy with it

[cam1986]

lol, that's great to hear. It is the one component that you have to look at every day, it does make a difference to be happy with it

Yea, its sitting on my desk and the only thing i can hear is the CPU fan! Such a lovely, well crafted ITX case! You can see its quality. Everything fitted in well too. Good airflow and really nice top look at.

[DanceswithUnix]

Yea, its sitting on my desk and the only thing i can hear is the CPU fan! Such a lovely, well crafted ITX case! You can see its quality. Everything fitted in well too. Good airflow and really nice top look at.

We did warn you, a 7800 or 7600 should have been silent out of the box

Still, the case should be big enough to take an aftermarket cooler that can tame that beast and then it should be a very nice machine.

Did you go for the MSI or Gigabyte mobo in the end?

[cam1986]

Gigabyte board. Cracker too! This Amd CPU is really fast too!

[Bonebreaker777]

Shame about the case 1 x 3.5" or 2 x 2.5" limitation.

[cam1986]

Shame about the case 1 x 3.5" or 2 x 2.5" limitation.

Not really as i have a 500gb ssd in the case. That is all i need as i have a 1tb external

[Bonebreaker777]

Not really as i have a 500gb ssd in the case. That is all i need as i have a 1tb external

Meant in relation to other people using the case in future builds.

I have a ITX machine on paper waiting and this case intrigued me, but the limitations made me opt out. Despite the very convincing look.

- Apparently you can have a 3.5" plus 2 x 2.5" at the same time (read this in a review, my previous assumption came from a site where the case is sold).
- The thermal design is terrible apparently, strongly suggested to use the case for APU or IGP utilised builds only (dedicated GPU will suffer).

[cam1986]

Meant in relation to other people using the case in future builds.

I have a ITX machine on paper waiting and this case intrigued me, but the limitations made me opt out. Despite the very convincing look.

- Apparently you can have a 3.5" plus 2 x 2.5" at the same time (read this in a review, my previous assumption came from a site where the case is sold).
- The thermal design is terrible apparently, strongly suggested to use the case for APU or IGP utilised builds only (dedicated GPU will suffer).

But you can mod the case to make airflow better. Mine is very good indeed.

[DanceswithUnix]

I have yet to use a SFF case where the airflow is better than iffy. Even the old Shuttle PCs had fantastic CPU cooling but the last one I had cooked its VRMs on the motherboard which seemed fairly typical. So not brilliant, but then there is a good choice of 65W TDP cpus these days and that only needs "good enough" airflow.

Do you really need so much storage in a desktop case? I tried using a CoolerMaster 120 for a server duties thanks to its triple 3.5in internal bays, but switched back to my old Antec Fusion as the rubber drive mounts and superb dual thermal zones just make it totally worth the extra size.

[scaryjim]

... you can mod the case to make airflow better. ...

Or have a system integrator do it for you... http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/system...ion-nano-fury/

[cam1986]

Or have a system integrator do it for you... http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/system...ion-nano-fury/

Nice review and nice mod to the case! Maybe a 120mm hole would have been better. I am going to put a 120mm fan in the top of mine!

[Bonebreaker777]

Or have a system integrator do it for you... http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/system...ion-nano-fury/

I quite like that. Wonder about the possibility to use a thin FAN and have it halfway in/halfway out installed, so won't stand out too much on top of the case but also wouldn't restrict any internal components (slim FANs are typically 12mm thick).

[scaryjim]

With a GPU in the Metis the top vents actually become intake rather than exhaust (very sloppy writing on that Hexus review ) - the GPU's fans will draw in fresh air from above the case to pass over the GPU heatsinks (and, in the case of that review, out of the back of the case as the cards has a radial fan). If the case was in an enclosed space - like under a desk - that could be an issue as the warm air would rise into the space above the case then get reused, steadily reducing the efficiency of the cooling. On top of a desk, however, it should work fine as there's plenty of open space for fresh air to cycle round from the rest of the room.

With an appropriate bracket it should be relatively easy to mount a fan part-in part-out of the case, but it would be a non-trivial modification. I'd personally go for a very large fan on the side panel, but I'd be torn between making it intake to run the case at positive pressure, or exhaust to drag all the hot air out of the case - I have a 2u rack mount system with a 45W Athlon II that's cooled by a small aluminium heatsink (it's actually a 45/65W AMD stock cooler with the fan removed) and a 140mm fan exhausting straight out the top of the case. It's a surprisingly effective cooling system...

[cam1986]

I have drilled a 120mm fan hole in top of my case! I will post some pics when i get the chance. Looks really neat. Took me ages to measure to make sure it was dead centre etc!

[Bonebreaker777]

Can't wait to see

[cam1986]

Well guys, i may decide to sell my new case!! Reason? Mate has given me a tower case which i love! Its an old Antec 300. Its in lovely condition too! Trying to decide but here is the pic of my case with hole cut in the top: