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Unofficial mini-ITX case thread - Page 4

post #91 of 643
2/24/11 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
I received my Lian-Li PC-Q09F today and took the parts from my modded PC-Q07 and put them in the PC-Q09F. I took lots of pictures and notes and I'll be writing something up soon.

To anyone here who purchased one if you are planning to use it with the GA-H55N-USB3 you will need a 24-pin power extender cable. The PSU power cable will not reach the other side of the board. For everyone else you will need a molex to SATA & molex splitter (like this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2). The SATA cable on the PSU is unable to reach under and around to the 2.5" bay but you can split the longer molex. You need one SATA for the HDD and one molex which goes to the mini-SATA adapter that is for the ODD. Lucky for me I had the right extra cables lying around.

Details and pictures soon.
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post #92 of 643
2/25/11 at 4:41am
Great Star - I can't wait to see them and your review!

Thanks.
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post #93 of 643
2/25/11 at 5:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by augerpro View Post

Another nice In Win case: BP671 Can't find those anywhere either. I like the BQ656 but it seems to have some complaints about a loud PSU. Winder if it is a standard mini-ITX PSU and can be replaced with this FSP? Or if the fan can be modded or replaced? Or even just removed if I have a case fan pushing air through the case and exiting through the fan?

Anyone have any info on this?
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post #94 of 643
2/25/11 at 5:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by augerpro View Post

Anyone have any info on this?

Changing the fan should not be difficult: Simple PSU Fan Swap Technique.

- IN WIN IP-AD80A7-2: 52(W) × 170(D) × 40(H) mm
- FSP FSP220-60LE: 80(W) X 150(D) X 40(H) mm

So FSP220-60LE won't fit the case? If you want to replace the PSU, picoPSU may be a safer choice.
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post #95 of 643
2/25/11 at 6:12am
I did not see the different dimensions...in that case I hope I won't need that FSP. I bought this fan, so maybe that will do the trick. Who has pico PSU's? Newegg doesn't show them.
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post #96 of 643
2/25/11 at 6:26am
picoPSU by Mini-Box is a 12V DC to 12V/5V/3.3V DC converter complying with the ATX specs. Combined with an AC-DC power adapter, you can have a silent, efficient PSU.

For Zacate, for example, PicoPSU-80 + 60W Adapter Power Kit, $40, is enough.
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post #97 of 643
2/25/11 at 6:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

picoPSU by Mini-Box is a 12V DC to 12V/5V/3.3V DC converter complying with the ATX specs. Combined with an AC-DC power adapter, you can have a silent, efficient PSU.

For Zacate, for example, PicoPSU-80 + 60W Adapter Power Kit, $40, is enough.

This may be a dumb question as I have never used a pico but what kind of adapters do they have if you need to power 3-4 SATA devices?
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post #98 of 643
2/25/11 at 7:00am
Which adapter, AC-DC or 1 x SATA-4 x SATA power?
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post #99 of 643
2/25/11 at 7:14am
SATA power. Basically a way to power up a DVD/Bluray drive and a few SATA hard drives.
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post #100 of 643
2/25/11 at 7:23am
Like this?
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post #101 of 643
2/25/11 at 7:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Like this?

I knew there were adapters like that but I didn't know if the picu came with them or if you needed to added them. Sounds like you need to add them and also need to know how long of an adapter you need to reach all the components in your case.
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post #102 of 643
2/25/11 at 7:36am
Yup, as you see in this picture.
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post #103 of 643
2/25/11 at 10:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

picoPSU by Mini-Box is a 12V DC to 12V/5V/3.3V DC converter complying with the ATX specs. Combined with an AC-DC power adapter, you can have a silent, efficient PSU.

For Zacate, for example, PicoPSU-80 + 60W Adapter Power Kit, $40, is enough.

Alternatively, you can use Winmate:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Winmate_DD-24AX

I am running two HTPC's with these PSU's and could not wish for more.
130W each, if not enough, the seller has adapters that can link two PSU into one giving you 260W of power. I have been running both for about a year and absolutely love them. The cost was $29 for the DC-DC adapter and $37 for the AC-DC adapter.
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post #104 of 643
2/25/11 at 10:31am
So you bought it from electrodacus at ebay.ca?
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post #105 of 643
2/25/11 at 11:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

This may be a dumb question as I have never used a pico but what kind of adapters do they have if you need to power 3-4 SATA devices?

It depends on which you get. The 120W and down have one 4-pin molex and one SATA adapter. The 150XT adds a P4 CPU power plug. I had to buy a molex to molex / SATA splitter and a molex to P4 adapter for my 120-WI-32 so I could power 2 x SATA (SSD and ODD) and have a P4 CPU power plug.

There are pictures of all the connectors on the mini-box website.

And, if you need a mount for the picoPSU to replace the gaping hole left by the lack of ATX PSU I can custom fabricate those in a few different flavors depending on need. Here's one I made for a PC-Q07. It has a 80mm fan, mount for the picoPSU panel-mount barrel jack and threaded screw holes for mounting in the ATX PSU hole in the case.
LL
LL
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post #106 of 643
2/25/11 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Babylon View Post

Alternatively, you can use Winmate:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Winmate_DD-24AX

I am running two HTPC's with these PSU's and could not wish for more.
130W each, if not enough, the seller has adapters that can link two PSU into one giving you 260W of power. I have been running both for about a year and absolutely love them. The cost was $29 for the DC-DC adapter and $37 for the AC-DC adapter.

Where do you mount/hide the actual circuit board?
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post #107 of 643
2/25/11 at 12:36pm
Thread Starter 
Here are some preliminary pix of the Lian-Li PC-Q09. It was quite the adventure .
LL
LL
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post #108 of 643
2/25/11 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Where do you mount/hide the actual circuit board?

I mounted the board on 4 motherboard standoffs, which had the threaded parts ground off, and then epoxied the standoffs to the inside of the case. Something similar to what was done here, the only exception is I did not use nuts. You can mount it anywhere you want on the inside of the case as the footprint of the board is fairly small. Also, the board does not have to be mounted flush with the back side of the case - the board comes with a little black power cord adapter (see the third picture from the top in the link I provided), allowing mounting further inside of the case. Lot's of flexibility for an imaginative system builder. Here is another way to mount it.
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post #109 of 643
2/27/11 at 5:23pm
I second the choice of the $49 Rosewill RC-CIX-01 black steel case from Newegg. I used this box for my recent build and I have no complaints about quality, fan noise or built-in power supply with this case. It fits my mini-itx Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 motherboard perfectly with plenty of headroom for the stock Intel cooler. The same case is also available with red and white front panels (Athenatech A1089BR.150 or Athenatech A1089BW.150) at newegg.

See my build here:
http://technocatsblog.blogspot.com/
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post #110 of 643
2/27/11 at 5:29pm
Here are pictures of the two cases mentioned above:

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post #111 of 643
2/27/11 at 10:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gazebo View Post

I picked up some of these flexible pci-e 1x risers. They work really well for 1x PCI-e firewire and USB 3.0 cards.

Don't buy a rigid riser like this as the PCI slot on theses cases will not fit perfectly for a PCI-e card.

If you are into really small form factor bookshelf style mini-itx cases with a expansion slot you won't find a smaller case than these. I owned a variety of these starting from VIA mini-itx days. These cases have seen quite a few systems since then, ranging from AM2/Nvidia 8200 to Atom 330 to DG45FC to Core i3/530.

I like this one as well -





$70 though but it has two expansion slot on the other side of where the motherboard would be.

Here's the problem though... The mITX boards that have x1 slots, the input is facing towards the header. So it while a flexible might work, it has to go straight, turn right (or left) and into the card. If that is like the old IDE cables where they can be turned a bit, then using those flexible risers might not an issue.
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post #112 of 643
2/27/11 at 10:51pm
I really like how that one^ looks, how it can stand vertical. Reminds me of my Enermax Venus (though that was bigger being mATX). I'm not really a fan of the HTPC cases that try to look like receivers or CE gear. No matter how expensive they are, I still think they look ghetto for some reason. They really don't impress me.

Myself, I replaced my Venus with an SG03-S (mATX) that matches better with my TV stand, and speakers, and stands vertically between the stand and one speaker. To me it looks really "in place". Doesn't look too much like a PC (more like a very tiny subwoofer that isn't) and doesn't look like a wannabe receiver.

I could only imagine trading it for an SG06-B. Or that other pretty expensive one posted earlier which is just, well, too expensive lol.
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post #113 of 643
2/28/11 at 8:58am
Thread Starter 
The Lian-Li PC-Q09F in silver has been discontinued at Newegg.com. I am glad I grabbed one when I did! I hope I can get to the write-up soon (which would of course apply to any color they sell).
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post #114 of 643
2/28/11 at 12:17pm
It has cost me, but I've finally managed to complete the review of the hfx.

hfx micro review

But this is the first part of the review, for next week performance test is terminated.

I hope you enjoy.

Here is the awful google translation to english.
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post #115 of 643
2/28/11 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj4monie View Post

I like this one as well -





$70 though but it has two expansion slot on the other side of where the motherboard would be.

Here's the problem though... The mITX boards that have x1 slots, the input is facing towards the header. So it while a flexible might work, it has to go straight, turn right (or left) and into the card. If that is like the old IDE cables where they can be turned a bit, then using those flexible risers might not an issue.

Flexible risers are just that....flexible! You can bend / twist them all over the place and an 1x is really small and comes in several different lengths.

BT
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post #116 of 643
2/28/11 at 7:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

This may be a dumb question as I have never used a pico but what kind of adapters do they have if you need to power 3-4 SATA devices?

Molex to SATA splitters work fine, just make sure you have enough power to operate everything. Here is a breakdown of the amount of power on each rail for all the individual Picos. For the 150XT & 160XT, you need to download the manuals.

BT
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post #117 of 643
3/2/11 at 10:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by StardogChampion View Post

So far, I have hands-on experience with two mini-ITX cases.

The first is the Athenatech A1089xx.150 (aka Rosewill RC-CIX-01, aka CFI A8989)

http://www.chyangfun.com/pro04_1_1.asp



Pluses: uses standard desktop components, has a full-size expansion slot, comes with a decent 150W PSU, lots of room above mobo is ODD isn't too deep and is usually $50 or less.
Minuses: somewhat noisy PSU and case fan, ODD door sticks at random and needs slight modding, a bit "cutesy"

The second is the Lian-Li PC-Q07 mini-ITX tower case

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product...25&ss_index=64



Pluses: takes standard desktop component, including a standard ATX PSU, well-built quality case, inexpensive at $60 and very cool looking (IMHO)
Minuses: opening case requires removing 5-10 tiny black screws, no case fan, once PSU is installed it block CPU cooler, since it takes ATX-size PSUs they are usually overpowered for mini-ITX system, front USB cables are too short to reach H55 motherboard headers (extenders can be found), customer support is in China.

Greetings StardogChampion. Thanks for starting this informative thread.

Would you know if any of these casings would accommodate a two slot graphics card by using a single slot bracket?

Many thanks and best regards.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?...ess-Video-Card

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?...ess-Video-Card
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post #118 of 643
3/3/11 at 4:38am
SPARKLE Announced GeForce GT 440 Graphics Cards For Home Theater Enthusiasts And Casual Gamers

Quote:


Smart Cooling Technology With Temperature-Control Function

Compared with the reference design, the smart cooling system of the SPARKLE GeForce GT 440 Graphics Cards not only reduces the noise from the reference cooling fan which runs at high speed all the time

So this looks good (but you shouldn't trust it until somebody confirms it). DDR3 1GB for $75, GDDR5 512MB for $80 at Newegg.com.

Lian Li PC-Q08 (W227 x H272 x D345 mm, ~$120) supports a 2-slot card. But it's huge (21.3L). SilverStone SG05/SG06 is more compact (11.1L) and comes with a 300W PSU for $120.
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post #119 of 643
3/3/11 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

SPARKLE Announced GeForce GT 440 Graphics Cards For Home Theater Enthusiasts And Casual Gamers



So this looks good (but you shouldn't trust it until somebody confirms it). DDR3 1GB for $75, GDDR5 512MB for $80 at Newegg.com.

Lian Li PC-Q08 (W227 x H272 x D345 mm, ~$120) supports a 2-slot card. But it's huge (21.3L). SilverStone SG05/SG06 is more compact (11.1L) and comes with a 300W PSU for $120.

Thanks Rene for this single slot bracket beauty.

Will it fit in Lian Li PC-Q07?
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post #120 of 643
3/3/11 at 9:05pm
Thread Starter 
The Lian-Li PC-Q11 is the updated version of the PC-Q07. It has 2 expansion slots. It might be worth checking out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112297

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