Small Case Computers

[klikster]

I'm getting ready to replace a desktop and keep noticing the smaller cases available, especially the "non-tower" box types. Good cooling and quiet operation are important.

I can get by with a micro-atx main board and a medium quality video card. One CDROM and 1 - 320 gb HDD will do me just fine as well.

Another important factor is saving desktop space. I really don't want a tower that has to be on the floor. A case strong enough to support a monitor "seems" like a viable option. Also easier access to USB ports.

So I'm wondering if any of the folks here have any positive or negative experiences .. either first hand or second hand .. about the "box" style cases.

[nikster]

mac mini is awesome. however, it's pretty expensive.

[klikster]

mac mini is awesome. however, it's pretty expensive.

Yep, I'm thinking PC.

[tariq786]

Asus has some nice products :

http://promos.asus.com/US/evensite/Nova/index.htm

[ignis]

To save even more room, Noticed here the 21" and 24" with hard drive 160GB up to 1TB

Sony VAIO LV Series All-In-One PC Touchscreen

23" Acer All in one PC http://www.quickpcextreme.com/blog/archives/4282

"All-in-One" PC from ASUS the Eee Top. Based on the Intel Atom N270 it offers a new Windows XP Easy Mode and a touchscreen.

Edited November 30, 2009 by ignis

[d0ndela]

Yes most brands have made all-in-one models now, HP also has some nice looking big powerfull ones, Lenovo and MSI as well.

However they are in a different price-range than if you were to build your own micro-atx case out of your own components.

[Tywais]

Jedicool offers some interesting cases > Jedicool

[spacemunk]

http://www.jedicool.com/product.php?id=788

i've always been interested in the SFF casings like the above. But graphic card companies are slow with the low profile cards.

Edited December 1, 2009 by spacemunk

[klikster]

http://www.jedicool.com/product.php?id=788

i've always been interested in the SFF casings like the above. But graphic card companies are slow with the low profile cards.

Something like this, with the handle removed, is more what I had in mind.

Another thing I'm noticing is that everything is USB now. Is there a way to get more USB ports?

[ignis]

Another thing I'm noticing is that everything is USB now. Is there a way to get more USB ports?

My Dell Monitor has 4 USB ports on it....

Buy a USB Hub ?

[d0ndela]

http://www.jedicool.com/product.php?id=788

i've always been interested in the SFF casings like the above. But graphic card companies are slow with the low profile cards.

Something like this, with the handle removed, is more what I had in mind.

Another thing I'm noticing is that everything is USB now. Is there a way to get more USB ports?

You can get 3.5" and 5.25" USB panels which takes one slot on the motherboard and splits into several USB connectors.

[klikster]

http://www.jedicool.com/product.php?id=788

i've always been interested in the SFF casings like the above. But graphic card companies are slow with the low profile cards.

Something like this, with the handle removed, is more what I had in mind.

Another thing I'm noticing is that everything is USB now. Is there a way to get more USB ports?

You can get 3.5" and 5.25" USB panels which takes one slot on the motherboard and splits into several USB connectors.

Ah, sounds neat. Never knew what to call them or even to look for. Is something like this available at Pantip?

[thunder30101]

The big problem I had in building a micro atx case was heat and room for cables and cards. The small case makes it hard to flow air thru it with cards and cables blocking everything. Get a board with onboard video, sound and wireless if possible, then buy a quality usb hub to mount on top. And also checkout the chipset on the board to see what it can handle.

[ignis]

Depends what you want........

Or do you need even more USB Ports ??

[d0ndela]

Those are all external, that's not what he is looking for (I think).

Should definitely be possible to find some internal ones in Pantip. I've recently purchased a 3.5" internal unit, was only 2 USB ports though as it was a card reader, e-SATA and firewire as well.

[nikster]

mac mini is awesome. however, it's pretty expensive.

Yep, I'm thinking PC.

To get something slightly uglier, and cheaper, look no further than Dell

http://www.denverpost.com/business/frontpage/ci_13890509

[Gary A]

I have never had a mini case so this is second hand information. A friend of mine had one for a while. He said he couldn't keep it cool. In an air conditioned room it may be Okay.

Edited December 2, 2009 by Gary A

[ballbreaker]

mac mini is awesome. however, it's pretty expensive.

Yep, I'm thinking PC.

Take a look at Shuttle's XPC line of small PC's. I have one with Intel 2.4 Ghz CPU that I have been using for 7 years. Great unit in a small box.

http://us.shuttle.com/barebone/BareboneHome.html

[Max2000]

@klikster: Heat will be your worst enemy with a small box.

If you go for a Quad core, or a high spec dual core system it will get to hot. I had the same idea as you 2 months ago, so I asked on various geek forums. They all warned against a "small box" or HTTP (see jedicool). Temp easy reach more than 70 C in the "small box". Only for very light use, was their recommendations.

I am happy that I followed them. I finally bought a brand quad core pc in a normal tower case, and temp readings shows 60-67 (red) degrees C. I use "Piriform Speccy" to monitor temperature on each core.

If you multitasking and/or other "heavy load" use, a normal case is better for your pc health.

[johnboi]

mac mini is awesome. however, it's pretty expensive.

Yep, I'm thinking PC.

Take a look at Shuttle's XPC line of small PC's. I have one with Intel 2.4 Ghz CPU that I have been using for 7 years. Great unit in a small box.

http://us.shuttle.com/barebone/BareboneHome.html

I'd second that, I used a Shuttle for about 3 years, great little things and no problems.

[d0ndela]

I'm not sure if you want to assemble your own system or go with a complete small box as so many suggested here?

Because if it's the latter then there are plenty to chose from and they should be easy to find. If you want to build your own you can have more "fun" trying to find all the components to go with it.

[edwardrake]

Spent a fair bit of time searching for an ITX format, quiet computer for the bedroom. I needed something that performed well & suitable to attach to a swing arm knocked up by the local metal man bolted to the wall over the bed on which the monitor is mounted. Came across Zotac GeoForce9300 MiniITX w/ Nvidia graphics chipset designed for home theatre/Blue Ray etc & any other use. Installed Core2Quad Q9400, 2 ½ inch Seagate & 4 Gb RAM. The board measures 170mm x 170mm x 50mm inc fan height, full spec & high performance, wireless keyboard & mouse. Plenty of reviews on the net, see AVSForum. Have an acrylic case on order made for this format, meantime mounted the board & HDD in a wooden electric switch box (60 baht) all mounted on the swing arm. Virtually silent except when CPU temp rises the fan speeds up, various methods to overcome this if you need absolute silence. DC to DC fanless power brick also silent, built in Wifi. I found only one firm importing Zotac units on Asoke but I’m sure there are others. Nothing at all in this format in Panthip. Running 24 hrs a day for 2 months, works perfectly, no CPU heat issues, handles heavy loads with ease. Board price 5,400 baht, CPU 6,500 baht, memory & HDD 4,000 baht. Tiny, fast, silent & a fair price. The project was slightly experimental but very pleased with the outcome.

[bkk_mike]

Spent a fair bit of time searching for an ITX format, quiet computer for the bedroom. I needed something that performed well & suitable to attach to a swing arm knocked up by the local metal man bolted to the wall over the bed on which the monitor is mounted. Came across Zotac GeoForce9300 MiniITX w/ Nvidia graphics chipset designed for home theatre/Blue Ray etc & any other use. Installed Core2Quad Q9400, 2 ½ inch Seagate & 4 Gb RAM. The board measures 170mm x 170mm x 50mm inc fan height, full spec & high performance, wireless keyboard & mouse. Plenty of reviews on the net, see AVSForum. Have an acrylic case on order made for this format, meantime mounted the board & HDD in a wooden electric switch box (60 baht) all mounted on the swing arm. Virtually silent except when CPU temp rises the fan speeds up, various methods to overcome this if you need absolute silence. DC to DC fanless power brick also silent, built in Wifi. I found only one firm importing Zotac units on Asoke but I’m sure there are others. Nothing at all in this format in Panthip. Running 24 hrs a day for 2 months, works perfectly, no CPU heat issues, handles heavy loads with ease. Board price 5,400 baht, CPU 6,500 baht, memory & HDD 4,000 baht. Tiny, fast, silent & a fair price. The project was slightly experimental but very pleased with the outcome.

I have to admit - I'm wondering where you got the swing arm made up as I keep thinking of getting something similar set up - was it with a standard VESA mount on the end? (accepts all LCD monitors up to about 26 inches).

It would primarily be used to watch downloaded TV programmes, so more likely to go for an ION-based dual-core Atom board, which should be significantly cooler running than a Core2Quad (i.e. Zotac ION mini-itx board).

[lopburi3]

Check the Acer E-Machines. Very small unit and seem to work well.

[edwardrake]

Spent a fair bit of time searching for an ITX format, quiet computer for the bedroom. I needed something that performed well & suitable to attach to a swing arm knocked up by the local metal man bolted to the wall over the bed on which the monitor is mounted. Came across Zotac GeoForce9300 MiniITX w/ Nvidia graphics chipset designed for home theatre/Blue Ray etc & any other use. Installed Core2Quad Q9400, 2 ½ inch Seagate & 4 Gb RAM. The board measures 170mm x 170mm x 50mm inc fan height, full spec & high performance, wireless keyboard & mouse. Plenty of reviews on the net, see AVSForum. Have an acrylic case on order made for this format, meantime mounted the board & HDD in a wooden electric switch box (60 baht) all mounted on the swing arm. Virtually silent except when CPU temp rises the fan speeds up, various methods to overcome this if you need absolute silence. DC to DC fanless power brick also silent, built in Wifi. I found only one firm importing Zotac units on Asoke but I'm sure there are others. Nothing at all in this format in Panthip. Running 24 hrs a day for 2 months, works perfectly, no CPU heat issues, handles heavy loads with ease. Board price 5,400 baht, CPU 6,500 baht, memory & HDD 4,000 baht. Tiny, fast, silent & a fair price. The project was slightly experimental but very pleased with the outcome.

I have to admit - I'm wondering where you got the swing arm made up as I keep thinking of getting something similar set up - was it with a standard VESA mount on the end? (accepts all LCD monitors up to about 26 inches).

It would primarily be used to watch downloaded TV programmes, so more likely to go for an ION-based dual-core Atom board, which should be significantly cooler running than a Core2Quad (i.e. Zotac ION mini-itx board).

mike - the computer guy I bought from in BKK lent me a IONITX for a week trial & I gave it back. I run a fairly heavy load, charts, databases, Word, ACDSee, Access, SnagIt & Firefox with anything up to 200 tabs open. IONITX couldn't cope & slowed to a crawl. CPU temp on the Q9400 is warmish 43C night 53C day, no problems yet. Under this load occasionally it gets bogged down & sometimes slower than my desktop w/ E6700 CPU. The desktop has two PCi video cards which does a lot of the work so I’m going install one of them in the 9300 see what difference that makes. If all you need is movies the ION should be fine.

Re swingarm. All made up from scratch at the metal shop. The horizontal arm (1) is ~5 feet bolted to wall w/4 bolts. The wall plate has a vertical 180 degree hinge. A vertical arm descends (2) ~3 feet from the horizontal arm to a second horizontal hinged arm (3). Both (2) & (3) are sleeved ½ inch box tube that slide to extend/adjust. Attached to the end of the lower horizontal (3) is the descending piece (4) to carry the monitor, descends ~20” then forms a U-shape with one more hinged bracket/plate drilled for VESA mounting. I’ve had it for years but vaguely remember price about 1000 baht. Best gadget in the house.

[bkk_mike]

mike - the computer guy I bought from in BKK lent me a IONITX for a week trial & I gave it back. I run a fairly heavy load, charts, databases, Word, ACDSee, Access, SnagIt & Firefox with anything up to 200 tabs open. IONITX couldn't cope & slowed to a crawl. CPU temp on the Q9400 is warmish 43C night 53C day, no problems yet. Under this load occasionally it gets bogged down & sometimes slower than my desktop w/ E6700 CPU. The desktop has two PCi video cards which does a lot of the work so I’m going install one of them in the 9300 see what difference that makes. If all you need is movies the ION should be fine.

No worries, not my main PC (or even my main non-work PC) - just thinking of a possible replacement for a 5 year old laptop that I have next to the bed (Pentium M that I run underclocked so that the fan doesn't come on) that can't cope with 1080p, even when run at full speed.