Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, SpotTheCat, Nemesis
jensend wrote:WRT the ISK-300 I looked at that back in the day and thought "after a few iterations Antec will have a really nice design on their hands here." Then they stopped innovating entirely. Still not a bad case, but again only slim optical and cramped enough I might need to replace the 150W PSU with a PicoPSU for better airflow with a 65W proc. Also, it's hard to guarantee you're getting the version with USB3 front ports.
jensend wrote:Um, well, I like the case a lot. It definitely isn't superior build quality, but what do you want for $30 with a power supply? The PSU is also cheap and awful, but it should work for a no-GPU Mini-ITX build.Auxy- Well, what do you think? I'd looked at that case before (well, the black version); I remember I went to the trouble of inspecting pictures and comparing with standards spec sheets to deduce what PSU form factor it used, but I can't remember what it was. I was too worried about the possibilities of problems with shoddy quality from an unheard of manufacturer to jump on it. Only info I found was newegg reviews; there are complaints of dying PSUs and non-functional front USB3 ports, and some of them get creative in their insults (e.g. "engineered by a single celled organism"). If you've done a bunch of A10 systems in such cases, your experience would be valuable information about the quality and reliability question.
A few of the other minuses I'm remembering, none of which would be a deal killer if this is a diamond in the rough quality-wise:
Not sure how I feel about vertically mounted optical drives. Does it work well horizontally (airflow-wise, for instance)?
It's deeper than the space I was thinking of placing this in (13" vs 15") - taller too if vertical
HDD bracket would require adapter for my 2.5" SSD but I probably have one somewhere if I clean up thoroughly
I'm actually doing an FM2 build myself- A6-5400K for now (purchased on the cheap), upgrade sometime next year to Kaveri (if it has an FM2 version as rumored) or a Richland A10-6700 (should be cheap by then).
cynan wrote:It's worth noting that that case I suggested has a 5-in-1 card reader already.If you want to spend a few extra bucks, you could consider a case with a 5.25" front bay and one of these conversion brackets. Then a slim DVD and 3.5" card reader.
auxy wrote:cynan wrote:It's worth noting that that case I suggested has a 5-in-1 card reader already.If you want to spend a few extra bucks, you could consider a case with a 5.25" front bay and one of these conversion brackets. Then a slim DVD and 3.5" card reader.
They don't seem to have the red version of the one I've actually used, but here's the white version (which I have used before.)
Bensam123 wrote:You can look for a case with a standardized mini-itx power supply...
jensend wrote:After learning a couple things about the limitations of the ITX mobo I was about to buy
Chrispy_ wrote:I've really only skimmed this thread but I'm quite impressed with the Coolermaster Elite 120.
It might be too deep front to back (15.8") but it has great 120mm fan cooling, no expansion card or PSU issues and it comes with front USB3/Audio/5.25" bay. It's also well-made for the price and the styling is tastefully understated, unlike so much of the competition.
Chrispy_ wrote:I've really only skimmed this thread but I'm quite impressed with the Coolermaster Elite 120.
It has great 120mm fan cooling, no expansion card or PSU issues and it comes with front USB3/Audio/5.25" bay. It's also well-made for the price and the styling is tastefully understated, unlike so much of the competition.
DPete27 wrote:Bensam123 wrote:You can look for a case with a standardized mini-itx power supply...
I would avoid PSUs with 40mm fans (mITX PSUs) like the plague, especially if you'll be pulling more than say..50% of their rated capacity. Little fans like that can get LOUD. Especially in the junky units that typically come included with cases. The reason for my interest in the InWinn case I linked before was because it uses a TFX PSU.
While being about half as wide as ATX PSUs, TFX will (typically) house an 80mm fan. I have one of these Seasonic TFX PSUs (SS-300TFX) and they're perfectly quiet. According to SilentPCReview the fan on the SS-350GTM doesn't even start spinning until load exceeds 150W. I can't confirm if the SS-300TFX does the same (too lazy) but like I said, I can't hear it over my 92mm CPU fan (which is the only other fan in my open-air case) so that's good enough for me.
FubbHead wrote:There was a compact case.Amiga 1200, 68020@28MHz, 4MB+2MB RAM, Conner 80MB harddrive