Can anyone recommend a small case that DOESN'T look cool?

[adavidw]

Hi,

I need to build a few systems for a doctor's office, and am having a hard time finding appropriate cases. They need to be small (preferably Micro or Flex ATX). More importantly, they need to be not flashy. It's a doctor's office, not an arcade (so I've been told), so they want something understated and business like. The case should be white or beige, without transparent windows or blue lights or curvy lines. Additionally, because space is tight, I think they want to put the flat panels on top of the cases, meaning the cube shape might be out. Most of the cubes have a handle on top, and even if they didn't, the flat panel base might be too big to balance on a cube.

So, I can find plenty of small cases, but they're all black or silver, or they light up, or they're joined to an espresso maker. I can't really find any that meet my needs. Do any of you have any ideas?

-Aaron

 

[vood0g]

i think the antec sonata looks pretty classy, but its black. not too flashy though. i really dont think black should be a problem since dells are black, and a lot of corporations use them. just my 2 cents.

 

[adavidw]

Isn't the Sonata a glossy black though?

Yeah, I personally don't think black is a big deal, but because it's a medical office, everything else is either white or beige or some other light color, and that by itself makes black stand out.

-Aaron

 

[fireontheway]

so you need something boring like these ?

 

[jpeyton]

My personal favorite: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-108-267&depa=0

 

[adavidw]

Both of these suggestions look like they fill the bill quite nicely, thanks.

The In-Win one looks like it's got half height card slots. I can't tell about the Aopen one though. Do you know, fireontheway?

-Aaron

 

[adavidw]

Whoops, reverse that. I meant to say that I couldn't tell from the pictures if the In-Win was full height or not. Do you know jpeyton?

-Aaron

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: adavidw
Whoops, reverse that. I meant to say that I couldn't tell from the pictures if the In-Win was full height or not. Do you know jpeyton?

-Aaron

picture
Those look half-height to me.

 

[adavidw]

It's just at the angle of the picture it's hard to really estimate length, so I wanted to know for sure.

-Aaron

 

[fireontheway]

by the way, the price for this case is $43.00 each not $79.00.

 

[MikePanic]

Originally posted by: fireontheway
so you need something boring like these ?

thats about as boring as they get

 

[mechBgon]

How long are these systems expected to last before they're retired, and what kind of processor will you be using?

BTW, here's one to consider: Inwin H-series These have a standard ATX power supply, 300W, good quality. If the systems will be expected to last quite a while (say, 3 to 6 years), it's nice to have beefy decent-quality PSUs that are easily swapped out in the event of a problem. This case is a full-sized ATX case with full-height expansion slots, so it's going to take up a little more room.

 

[adavidw]

They'll be in service for probably five years. They'll be using Intel processors (a requirement of the software company), although I don't know which processor specifically. It'll have to be one that doesn't draw a whole lot of power, though, since the power supplies in these cases are pretty skimpy.

Any suggestions?

-Aaron

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: adavidw
They'll be in service for probably five years. They'll be using Intel processors (a requirement of the software company), although I don't know which processor specifically. It'll have to be one that doesn't draw a whole lot of power, though, since the power supplies in these cases are pretty skimpy.

Any suggestions?

-Aaron

If you have to use a 180W-200W power supply in a marginally-ventilated micro/flexATX case, then I'd snap up some Celeron II's that use the Pentium3-style core, either Coppermine- or Tualatin-based ones. They don't draw a lot of power or generate a lot of heat.

If you have to use a Pentium4 or a Pentium-4-style Celeron, then I suggest that Inwin H500 with the Powerman 300W power supply that it comes with. Besides the decent power supply, it also has a position for an 80mm exhaust fan. The Enermax 80mm thermally-regulated dual-ball-bearing case fans are nice and very quiet, although I recommend powering them from the PSU instead of the motherboard because their low RPMs can boggle some motherboards and keep them from POSTing.

Where I work, I maintain a business fleet of about 80 computers, and I've built almost half of them myself over the last 2 1/2 years. I'm using Antec TruePower330 or SmartPower350 power supplies... the guide in my signature shows one of our latest ones getting built. I think over the long haul, the "overkill" power supplies may end up being a smart choice in terms of reliability, longevity and EOL resale value.

 

[Cheetah8799]

AOpen H340D are good cases. Low profile, so expansion will be a problem, but for office use they are excellent microATX cases.

Newegg has them.

 

[Gravity]

the antec aria allows full height expansion cards. It's small, quiet but not inexpensive.

 

[adavidw]

Yeah, the power supply's definitely something I'm concerned about. Just last week I had to replace a 9 month old power supply out of another InWin case at that office. I replaced it with the Antec TruePower 430, precisely for the reason that I didn't want to have to do it again.

(Sounds like an Antec commercial in here).

-Aaron

 

[Zepper]

What you want is the Athenatech A100 SC/BB/WW series (they are quite conservative with the light bar left disconnected). Or for less money,Powmax has similar in the 330x series - also available at http://www.compgeeks.com et al. Maxtop also has similar. All can be used horizontally or vertically and take full height add-on cards.
. Be sure the mobo you get has the P4 12V (4-pin square) power connector for CPU. There is absolutely no way that software can have a CPU requirement other than a minimum performance requirement! The Duron 1600 can beat ALL Celerons and P4 up to 2.2 in performance and price! Use with the DFI KM400 based mobo (has P4 12V) and the Thermai Integragion V77L HSF for a killer solution at low bucks.
.bh.

 

[adavidw]

A few words on CPU requirement: These aren't just general purpose word-processing PCs. They're built to run a $30,000+ piece of practice management software. The software is so expensive because of the nature of the vertical market. It's a complex piece of software that requires a company of maybe 150 people to develop and support, yet you might have at most 5,000 customers. That makes the price per customer pretty high just because the market is so small.

Now, if that company decides they don't want to waste their time testing multiple PC configurations, they'll just decree that certain minimum requirements must be met, knowing that a doctor spending $30,000 probably won't be concerned that they can't save $50 by using an Athlon. There are tons of health care software companies that will only support the product on their hardware, period. There are occasionally bugs that only manifest themselves on one processor or another. By limiting the potential configurations to only one processor, they don't have to waste time and money resolving a bug like that if it ever crops up in their product.

The software company says that it should work on any Intel compatible CPU, but that they'll only officially support it on Intel. So, it would make it a tough sell for me to tell the doctor, "Well, we're going to use an unsupported Athlon configuration, meaning that if someday the software won't run right, the company can conceivably just refuse to help you troubleshoot it because it's not one of their required configurations and so you'd be down for as long as it takes to replace the computer with an Intel one, but we're going to save about $50 per unit, so the total cost for the five computers and monitors and software and network cabling and mounting hardware and everything will go down from $47,700 to $47,450."

I like Athlon. I really do. But if my client said to build systems for one particular app, and the app vendor said the system was only supported if my butt print was on the case, well, I guess I'd be unbuckling my belt.

My point: It's an easy requirement to meet. Not meeting it undoes the whole deal. Therefore, it's a no brainer.

-Aaron

 

[Zepper]

Well, at least one of the cases I mentioned should be right for the project. For a mobo then I would be looking at AOpen, Abit, Asus, or DFI micro ATX boards. Most mobos for Intel have the P4 connector, but make sure anyway - it allows systems to run well on low-powered PSUs (~200W or so).
.bh.

 

[boomerang]

^