Zalman LQ1000 Z-Machine - Motherboard alignment problem

[EasterEEL]

I purchased the Zalman LQ1000 Z-Machine from Scan in September.

During my install I had real problems with the motherboard plate mounting holes and my Asus P5Q Pro motherboard. The motherboard ports were out of alignment with the motherboard ports cover plate and the PCI Express / PCI cards with the respective case slots. I had to bend, twist and force the PCI Express/PCI cards into place. At the time I thought this might be a problem with the new motherboard as it was hard to believe a £400 case would have misaligned motherboard plate mounting holes.

However I have now read a review of the LQ1000 at the well regarded Toms Hardware site which states they had the same problem (two Zalman LQ1000 cases tried) and suggests this might be a manufacturing design fault. Details on this page towards the bottom:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Swifte...w-31373-5.html

I have now tried a different motherboard in the Zalman LQ1000 case (aligned fine in an older case) and it also has misalignment problems.

At £400 I am expecting this case to last for quite a few years and don't want to be bending, twisting and forcing the PCI Express/PCI cards into place everytime I change a card as eventually something will break! Also with the current motherboard ports barely lining up with the motherboard ports cover plate as they are too high, I am concerned when I next upgrade my motherboard it may not be possible to force everything to fit at all.

What can be done to fix this under warranty? I believe the aluminium motherboard plate does completely slide out from the case, so one solution would be a swap out for one with correctly aligned holes. At the moment I have not found a way to discuss this with Zalman. I have tried to contact them via the web form on the page below twice in September but received no response at all.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/Contact/...Write_Form.asp

Many thanks in anticipation of your help.

[EasterEEL]

It's a little bit disappointing that I have got no response from a Scan representative so far, as plenty of more recent threads have, but I suppose it is early days.

Having thought about this a bit more, it doesn't really matter to me if this is a general manufacturing fault (with at least a batch of cases) as the Toms Hardware review is suggesting, or a problem with just my case. It is not acceptable for a £400 case to have motherboard alignment problems because the case mounting holes have been drilled in the wrong place by approx 1/8".

I noticed the case is in the today only offer, so does this mean it is not a general problem?

I would be grateful for a suggestion from Scan on how to proceed.

Thank you.

[moogle]

It's a little bit disappointing that I have got no response from a Scan representative so far, as plenty of more recent threads have, but I suppose it is early days.

[.....]

I noticed the case is in the today only offer, so does this mean it is not a general problem?

I would be grateful for a suggestion from Scan on how to proceed.

Thank you.

Just keep bumping it for a response from Scan, when other members of the board start posting in the thread if Scan are ignoring you they usually see to the thread quick enough.

Most likely it's not a general problem because most of us aren't rich (or some would say stupid, no offence) enough to afford a case like that so they probably don't get much complaints about the holes.


PS - I can't see it on the today only page, am I blind?

[Mark@SCAN]

Hi

Please PM me with your invoice details

Thanks

[Mark@SCAN]

Sorry ignore the above request for your invoice number I can see it above, you might want to edit this out of your post

Having checked, the official distributor for Zalman in the UK is QuietPC:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/contact
0870 321 4620

I would give them a call to see if they can resolve the issue directly with you by swapping just the motherboard tray.

Failing that I could only suggest an RMA with ourselves for replacement/refund.

Just to add we've sold 6 of these in total to date and currently are not showing any as being returned.

Thanks

[EasterEEL]

Thanks Mark I have spoken to Andy at QuietPC and they are going to get in touch with Zalman to see what can be done.

Given that the Tomshardware site are reporting the same problem in their review of the case and blaming wrongly aligned holes in the motherboard tray, one would hope Zalman are aware of the problem and can provide a solution.

I don't really want to RMA the case, as in all other respects it is performing great, almost silent and the temps today on my Q6600 CPU @ 3.6Ghz, are 22C general windows / 42C under load for the highest core.

[Mark@SCAN]

Them's some good temp's

Well keep us updated with how you get on with Andy at QuietPC and if they are unable to assist any further please drop me a PM or bump the thread.

Thanks

[m777]

Hi,

I have just bought one of these cases and found your thread, have you had any response? did you get to a successful conclusion?

thanks,

Michael

[EasterEEL]

Andy from Quiet PC has been dealing with this with Zalman on my behalf. Quiet PC handle Zalman warranty in the UK.

The customer service has been excellent and Zalman have sent me a replacement motherboard tray, which hopefully has the motherboard mounting holes in the correct place. It has taken a number of weeks to get to this stage, I have only just received the motherboard tray and have not had a chance to unpack it yet, let alone dismantle my PC to fit it.

Thumbs up for the customer service from Quiet PC, I have communicated well. I was an early adopter getting my case in early September and hopefully you will not have the problem. I was a bit shocked to see the price has risen to an eyewatering £470 compared to the £400 I paid. It is a great case though, very quiet and this is what I can achieve with it:

Q6600 @ 3.0Ghz vcore1.2650 Temp Amb 22C/Load 42C
Q6600 @ 3.4Hgz v1.3750 24C/46C
Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz v1.4625 28C/51C

I have settled with @ 3.4Ghz.

[m777]

Hi,

Good to hear they resolved the issues and sorted things out. Would have been a pity if there was no way through. My Zalman board thankfully didn't suffer from the same issues but I did manage to use tap water (arrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh) in the system. I had waited a few days for the distilled stuff and made this boo bbo!!! wasn't thinking straight. I realised straightaway, drained it all out and ran about a litre of distilled water through it just to be on the safe side. Did it all again and it worked, just hope I haven't damaged anything ... the tap water was only in there for about 5 minutes at most though.

I'm not overclocking, I got the case as I have an open plan (very small) flat and I use my pc for recording music so noise is a big issue. Its certainly way quiet than before but I can still hear the hum of the pump ... I didn't install the 220mm fan. I have a minimal system with just a good soundcard (Lynx L22) crap agp (not important to me) and one HDD, CDdrive and no floppy and I'm using a 2.4gHz celeron processor ... I built the system about 4 years ago and seeing as it ain't broken, well ...

My temps are crazy low:
21 amb
22 load ... no ****

Mike