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Small ATX Cases

R

rlism

Golden Member
Anyone ever get tired of those big ol' full/server size towers?

I used to have a Supermicro SC750 (a lot like the Addtronics 7890A) but that sucker was just too big, too loud, and too ugly and I really didn't have use for six external 5.25" bays. I currently have a Coolermaster ATC-200, which is bordering on full tower size, and I'm honestly not that impressed... Drive installation wasn't that ez - not that it's hard to begin with, but the internal HD bays are just a pain to work with. The case is quiet considering it has 4 case fans tho, and no one can resist commenting on its slick looks 😎 ...yeah, I'm a sucker for looks.

Honestly though, my favorite case thus far is the generic one housing my little server which 1) cost less than $45 with power supply, 2) holds a full ATX dual processor motherboard, cdrom, zip drive, floppy, and 3 HD's (I used 2/3 of it's external 5.25" bays and brackets for 2 HD's), 3) has a removable motherboard/rear pannel tray (like the Cooler Master), 4) has screwless (not even thumb screwed) case entry, 5) has drive rails for EVERY internal/external bay, 6) is not quite as quiet as an HP Vectra/Fong Kai but is on par with those Dell Dimension/Palo Alto cases. The dimensions? 15.5"x8.3"x18.5" (HWD). The problems? The bezel is ugly and, the bigger problem, I can't find it anywhere.

Anyway, I'm tryin' to find another small mid-tower that'll hold full 9.5" deep ATX motherboards. There seems to be a lack of reviews or maybe just a lack of interest in these enclosures. Anyway, now I'm looking to get the smallest ATX case that will house a full ATX board and, if possible, full length PCI cards. A couple cases I've been looking at is the Addtronics 3890A or the Elan Vital T-5 ...anyone ever use one of these?

Anyone have any case suggestions/opinions?
 
A couple comments:

The Addtronics 3890A has the power supply sideways next to the motherboard. This is not optimal for airflow around the CPUs, and neither is the lack of any auxiliary exhaust fan in that area. If you are not placing critical importance on the cooling aspect, I'm sure it is of high-quality construction, although perhaps not the cheapest.

The Elan Vital seems to be the same layout. Having had an Inwin A500 with the sideways power supply, I would steer clear of that type of design myself.

For the record, I have had dualies in a couple of mid-tower cases. The Enlight 7237 will handle a full-sized board like a Tyan Tiger100 with one catch, you cannot install CD-ROM-sized drives in all of the 5.25" bays. edit: the reason for this is that the rear of the drive hits the front edge of the motherboard. I used the top one and I am not sure if any of the rest are usable, but I could check if you want to know for sure. The Inwin S500 can also handle the Tiger100, and I have a BP6 dualie in it now. You will want to triple-check the S500 to make sure it doesn't touch the underside of the motherboard with one of its forward-row mobo "bumps." Mine has a stray bump that would touch the IDE pins if I hadn't insulated it with an old Sears card. 😉 Both of those cases have rear 80mm exhaust-fan positions to keep the air moving near the CPUs. The Enlight comes with a Sunon ball-bearing 80mm fan and can be purchased without a power supply if you don't need one.
 
For the record, I have used both the Addtronics 3890A and the Elan Vital T-5. Both these cases are heavy, especially considering their small sizes. I preferred the T-5 because it was a bit cheaper, it looked better, and it was quieter than the 3890.
 
Thanks for the input. I've been looking at the side mounted power supplies just because they're smaller.... one of my computers has a ps that's currently mounted on the side right now and it does run a little warmer, but it's had an uptime of over 4 months now and it doesn't seem to be a big factor (it's not overclocked or anything).

Has anyone tried Enlight 7100? That looks like another option.
 
One of the reasons I was thinking of ventilation as an issue is that in the dual-CPU systems I've had, the CPUs tend to feed eachother hot air. In Slot1 dualies, the rear processor also has very restricted intake room, since it is looking right at the rear of the front CPU. In socket-based dualies, your heatsink is going to be facing the power supply and attempting to pull air that the power supply is also trying to put the other way. It probably still will work, I am just being picky. My current dualie is a dual-Celeron system overclocked to 552MHz, and because of the overclock it would probably crash in a matter of ten minutes or less in a case of that design. At default speed I think it could stand almost anything.
 
I am looking for a small case also.
The Enlight 7101 looks pretty good. I've used a 7237 before and it was a nice case to work with. Since the power supply would be mounted on the side, the Enermax PSU seem to be a good option since it has a fan at the bottom to exhaust the hot air of the cpu heatsink.
Price wise, it's pretty good. Found it here Directron

If price isn't that big an issue, I would get a Lian-Li PC-30. pcmods
 
When I read your post the YCC-802 came to mind,.......not really a small case, but not all that large for a mid-ATX, it is an inch or two deeper than most cases and is well suited for the larger mb's plus has extra hdd mounting..........
check it out at:

www.a-pro.com/RVW802PX.htm
 
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