- Joined
- Jun 10, 2003
- Location
- Eldersburg (Sykesville,) Maryland
Like the title says, I finished my HTPC project that I've been wanting to do for a while last night (at 2am...so tired now.) It's up and working great- and furthermore, since I didn't see much info on the case I selected, I decided to write about it a bit here.
Here's the link to Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856110028
(side note- if I had known to wait a single day, I could have gotten that $20 rebate. Grr.)
Anyways, this case caught my eye first of all because I love the design. The case feels very sturdy and you can safely carry it around by the handle with everything installed inside. It looks great sitting on top of my entertainment center along with my TV and other appliances- It isn't easily recognizable as a PC, so it doesn't look strange and out of place.
Here's the other positives. This case is VERY quiet. Sitting on my couch, probably ~7 feet away, I can't hear it at all. Even if I stand right next to it, it is almost silent. The loudest thing in the case is definitely the hard drive when it is being accessed, or the DVD player. It is also easy to open up (contrary to a review I found on the internet, which claimed a time of 15min to figure out how to get the case open- took me maybe 30 seconds) and is surprisingly open and easy to work in once you get it open, for such a small size. It comes pre-wired for all of its USB and card reader ports, the motherboard is already installed, as is the included mini-PSU.
There are some negatives though. The biggest thing that annoys me (and I assume that this would not be normal for every one of these) is that I could not get the onboard LAN to work. It won't see that it is connected to a cable unless I wiggle the cable around for a while, and even when it shows that it is connected to something, it won't get an IP address. Obviously, I got a mobo with a defective lan port- I've considered returning it, but I don't really want to dismantle the system again and ship the case back. I installed a USB ethernet adapter I had, and that works just fine- so that will probably be the solution I"ll stick with.
Also, remember how I said that the case is quiet? Well it's also HOT. My processor (Celeron D 2.4ghz) idles at 50C in bios. Granted, this is my first prescott processor (my other PC's are running Northwoods,) so perhaps this isn't too far away from normal. Still, it surprised me. This being said, the heatsink included with the case is pretty interesting. The fan is mounted on the side, drawing air from a vent in the side of the case. There are also two heatpipes connected to two sides of the heatsink's base which helps draw heat into the fins. I used AS ceramique as a thermal paste. It's possible that I may just need to re-mount the processor, as due to the heatsink's design it was somewhat difficult to mount (two of the screws attaching it to the mobo are hard to get to.) However, I have a feeling that my temps probably wouldn't get much better.
And the last negative- no overclocking capabilities in the bios. You can change memory timings, but that's it. Granted, I don't really think I'd want to OC in a SFF case, but its still a bit disappointing that it isn't even an option. (I knew this fact before I ordered it though, so it's not as if I was surprised.)
Overall, I'm very pleased with the case, even though it may look like I described more negative aspects than positive. The major downer is the defective onboard lan, but that was fairly easy to get around. The other negatives I can live with, as I like the positive aspects of the case so much.
Here's the link to Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856110028
(side note- if I had known to wait a single day, I could have gotten that $20 rebate. Grr.)
Anyways, this case caught my eye first of all because I love the design. The case feels very sturdy and you can safely carry it around by the handle with everything installed inside. It looks great sitting on top of my entertainment center along with my TV and other appliances- It isn't easily recognizable as a PC, so it doesn't look strange and out of place.
Here's the other positives. This case is VERY quiet. Sitting on my couch, probably ~7 feet away, I can't hear it at all. Even if I stand right next to it, it is almost silent. The loudest thing in the case is definitely the hard drive when it is being accessed, or the DVD player. It is also easy to open up (contrary to a review I found on the internet, which claimed a time of 15min to figure out how to get the case open- took me maybe 30 seconds) and is surprisingly open and easy to work in once you get it open, for such a small size. It comes pre-wired for all of its USB and card reader ports, the motherboard is already installed, as is the included mini-PSU.
There are some negatives though. The biggest thing that annoys me (and I assume that this would not be normal for every one of these) is that I could not get the onboard LAN to work. It won't see that it is connected to a cable unless I wiggle the cable around for a while, and even when it shows that it is connected to something, it won't get an IP address. Obviously, I got a mobo with a defective lan port- I've considered returning it, but I don't really want to dismantle the system again and ship the case back. I installed a USB ethernet adapter I had, and that works just fine- so that will probably be the solution I"ll stick with.
Also, remember how I said that the case is quiet? Well it's also HOT. My processor (Celeron D 2.4ghz) idles at 50C in bios. Granted, this is my first prescott processor (my other PC's are running Northwoods,) so perhaps this isn't too far away from normal. Still, it surprised me. This being said, the heatsink included with the case is pretty interesting. The fan is mounted on the side, drawing air from a vent in the side of the case. There are also two heatpipes connected to two sides of the heatsink's base which helps draw heat into the fins. I used AS ceramique as a thermal paste. It's possible that I may just need to re-mount the processor, as due to the heatsink's design it was somewhat difficult to mount (two of the screws attaching it to the mobo are hard to get to.) However, I have a feeling that my temps probably wouldn't get much better.
And the last negative- no overclocking capabilities in the bios. You can change memory timings, but that's it. Granted, I don't really think I'd want to OC in a SFF case, but its still a bit disappointing that it isn't even an option. (I knew this fact before I ordered it though, so it's not as if I was surprised.)
Overall, I'm very pleased with the case, even though it may look like I described more negative aspects than positive. The major downer is the defective onboard lan, but that was fairly easy to get around. The other negatives I can live with, as I like the positive aspects of the case so much.
