tower microATX cases w/ good layout?

[kenyee]

After a year of living w/ my X-QPack, I've decided that I hate the cramped shoebox style.  My systems typically have power supplies that croak and replacing a power supply in the X-QPack is a PITA compared to a regular tower case because you have to unhook it and then carefully tuck away cables and wrap them back up (even w/ a modular Enermax Liberty).  I'm hoping a tower microATX case is a bit better.

Any suggestions on tower microATX cases besides the Silverstone SG03?  That one seems to have a decent layout but the reviews complain about easily bent/stripped aluminum.  Or should I just look for a mini-tower case? :-P

[hugh]

ever thought about just buying a decent psu instead

[kenyee]

How would a "decent" PSU help?  The Enermax Liberty has modular cabling and is pretty small w/ a 120mm fan.

Ideally, the case would support a microATX motherboard and three 5-1/4" slots as well so you could throw one of these into it ;-)
http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?NDU=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816702004
http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=76852&PRICECOMPARISONSID=d71bda8465d14464f7e23e9d5f81ecf6

[hugh]

well a decent psu wouldn't "croak" all the time as you seem to imply

[kenyee]

In the past 10 yrs, I've gone through multiple Antec and Enermax power supplies.  They usually croak from dust (carpeted room).  I always keep spares on hand :-)
Average PSU lifetime for me has been roughly 3 yrs.  The worst is when it just makes your system crash randomly and you have to guess whether it's the PSU or memory or a bad board, etc.  Usually, it just doesn't power up.  Or the fan dies.  Run any PSU long enough and it'll croak...

[MrbLOB9000]

3 years isn't bad.

How much you looking to spend and what features are you looking for?

[kenyee]

Yep, 3yrs isn't bad, but that doesn't make it less of a pain to swap a PSU in an X-QPack...

I'd say $50-100 w/o the PSU, so the Silverstone SG03 would be ok.  Ideally, it'd be enough space for a microATX board w/ at least 2 hard drives (and DVD drive) and preferably space for more.  After digging around a bit more, the Cooler Master Centurion 541 MicroATX tower seems decent as well.  And if I want to seriously think about the 5 drive cage, the Cooler Master Elite 330 looks like a good fit (although there are the same complaints of easily bendable metal).  Main criteria is quiet and relatively easy to work in w/o being too large and enough space for a good number of drives (no need for separate video card because the nvidia MCP78u should be enough for HTPC/server usage).

[pipperoni]

I am a very big fan of the Antec NSK380 tower case, but it does have its quirks.

On the plus side:
-smallish tower
-simple yet professional looking appearance
-120mm exhaust fan
-fits an ATX PSU**
-built to be quiet, comes with the silicone feet for quiet hard drive mounting
-good cooling design

On the downside:
-gets cramped quickly
-will only fit 2 optical drives and 1 hard drive or 1 optical and 2 hard drives
-doesn't fit all PSU/optical drive combinations

The space for the PSU and optical drives is shared and really only accommodates short PSUs.  If you get a larger PSU, it will quickly eat into your optical drive space, and really long optical drives probably won't fit.

I've managed to successfully fit the GA-G33M-DS2R with an E6850, ATI HD3870 and 2 hard drives and I'm happy.  The case isn't very fun for cable management nor trying to access the motherboard, but otherwise I am very satisfied.

[CrystalCowboy]

Are you talking about the Antec NSK3480? I vote a big thumbs down on that.

The case is divided into two compartments, with the upper compartment holding the power supply and two optical slots, one of which could alternatively be used for a shock-mounted 3.5" hard drive. The power supply (Antec EarthWatts 380, comes included) is restricted to models without a bottom fan. There are two outlets from the upper compartment for cables. The one in the bottom of the compartment appears to be designed for an IDE/ATA cable. It is too narrow for the 24 pin power plug to fit through. That means the 24 pin power cable has to go through the hole on the side fo the compartment. To do so, the cable has to cross the entire width of the power supply, blocking off about a half of the vent. Because of that, it is barely long enough to reach the connector on my motherboard. I had to tug pretty hard to make it reach.

The Silverstone TJ08 is an OK choice. It has two 120mm fans, one in front and one in back. It does not come with a power supply, so that levers up teh cost a bit. The biggest negative is that the hard drive bays come awful close to the CPU cooler. I had to substitute a right-angle SATA power connector to make the second drive fit. The motherboard mounts to a removable tray which drops out the right side fo the case, so at least you can still access the motherboard without remove the disk drives.

[kenyee]

FYI, the Cooler Master Centurion 541 has a *bad* layout.  They apparently designed this so that it can be used for BTX and microATX but in doing this, they put the microATX motherboard on the wrong side of the case (right instead of left when looking at the back of the case)-:  Because of this, you have an ugly twist of cables that run over your expansion cards from the PSU so the expansion cards aren't cooled well and the cards will block stuff up near the top of the case.  Pretty dumb design IMHO...

Looks like the only reasonable layout is the SG-03 but it's a bit cramped...

[Lou3]

I thought the Antek NSK 3840 would be a sure thing, but I saw the mid-tower version at a store and didn't like the cheap plastic face.  

I agree that the Centurion 541's BTX wannabe design isn't very good.

I'm in the same position as Kenyee.  I want to have the case on the side of my desk, but an mATX mobo lying horizontally makes for a pretty wide case.  The SG-03 isn't what I want, because I like having a window and don't want the PSU blocking so much of the view.  I can't find anything smaller than my AOpen H450B that doesn't have unacceptable sacrifices because of the limited space.

[kenyee]

I think I'm going to end up w/ the Silverstone TJ08.  The only negative seems to be the hard drive trays...wish they used the technique they used w/ the SG03 and mounted two on the floor, but it's probably not wide enough for it.
The pop out motherboard tray is a big plus and there's more room so it doesn't look like you have to tie up all the cables to get decent airflow (like what I have to do w/ my qpack) and not needing to tie up cables should make the inevitable power supply replacement somewhat easier :-)

No windows though..

[tartin]

I think I'm going to end up w/ the Silverstone TJ08.  The only negative seems to be the hard drive trays...wish they used the technique they used w/ the SG03 and mounted two on the floor, but it's probably not wide enough for it.
The pop out motherboard tray is a big plus and there's more room so it doesn't look like you have to tie up all the cables to get decent airflow (like what I have to do w/ my qpack) and not needing to tie up cables should make the inevitable power supply replacement somewhat easier :-)

No windows though..

I have recently built a system using a Silverstone TJ08 Black case and a Sliverstone ST350 PSU.

While it is pretty to look at, the workmanship and little finishing details are nowhere as good as a Shuttle xPC.
Had to sand down many sharp edges and enlarge the side panel screw holes.

Using the ST350 PSU, the order of component installation and cable management I found to be an exercise in perseverance and patience. Even when all tucked up in the available area behind the Power/Reset switches.

The noise of the fans at stock are too loud for my taste, so experimental modding is on the agenda.

Many years ago, I built a system using an Enlight case and it is still in use today (24/7) as a Unix based Gateway(Router/Firewall).
They were my second choice. Their PSU's are of good quality and the choice of mATX designs are varied.
The EN-2417 caught my eye since its' display at Computex 2007, but was unavailable at the time.

Enlight mATX cases - UK

EN-2417 pic below

[tartin]

Here is a pic of the internal layout of the EN-2402 as there doesn't appear to be pics of their internal layouts on their websites at the moment.

[chaoswynd]

Have you considered the smaller full ATX offerings from Lian-Li?  Such as the PC-A05 and the V600?  Both are only about 10-20mm taller than an SG03, and only 180mm longer.  Wouldn't be too hard to have a place like performance-pcs.com install a window for you, for a small fee.  Both are rather sexy little cases, if you ask me.  The A05 has room for up to 7" long psu's, and you can fit an ultra 120 extreme cooler in it.  I prefer the way the V600 looks, but it can't fit larger heatsinks.

PC-A05B http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=21170

V600B http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4253

[Lou3]

I've liked that PC-A05 since I first saw it.  The V600 is nice too.  I didn't realize that they mounted the mobo and PSU upside down.  Not that it matters; in fact, people with a window have the benefit of displaying their video card and sound card.

[kenyee]

tartin: the EN-2417 isn't available in the US.

chaoswynd: the V600 has the power supply next to the CPU cooler according to a newegg review.  The PC-A05 doesn't look bad at all.  More space than the TJ08 and easier access to the hard drives, but the same height and slightly deeper.  The biggest negative is they didn't put a blowhole in which looks like it'd be needed w/ the airflow design.  Without the power supply at the top, there's nothing to suck out the warm air that collects at the top.  It's not a bad option though.  Dug up this nice user review of it:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/77909585/m/319001496831

I did put in the order for the TJ08.  The TJ08 looks like it has a nicer cooling setup and currently costs less than the PC-A05 at newegg because of a rebate that ends this year.  Will let everyone know how it fits when I put everything together (I'm hoping nvidia MCP78U motherboards are available soon so I can swap motherboards at the same time as I change the qpack)...

[Lou3]

Thanks for posting about the TJ-08.  I used to have something smaller in mind, but now that I want more space I think the TJ-08 is the nicest aluminum mATX case I've seen.  But I also really like the In Win Alpha 360.  Decisions, decisions. :shut:

[kenyee]

Lou3: the hard drive cage design for the Alpha 360 looks cool but it looks like it doesn't have great ventilation either (and the fans are noisy).  No perfect micro-atx mini-tower case I'm afraid :-P

[tartin]

I did put in the order for the TJ08.  The TJ08 looks like it has a nicer cooling setup and currently costs less than the PC-A05 at newegg because of a rebate that ends this year.  Will let everyone know how it fits when I put everything together (I'm hoping nvidia MCP78U motherboards are available soon so I can swap motherboards at the same time as I change the qpack)...

Yes, let us know how it goes with you.