anyone built a pc with a OcUK Value Aspire X-Qpack Cube Case ?

easyrider

easyrider

easyrider

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Hi,

I have a spare micro atx mobo and chip lying around and was thinking of building a pc for the lounge for mp3's and films etc..

anyway has anyone had experience building one using the OcUK Value Aspire X-Qpack Cube Case ?

Was wondering about build quality etc..

Read some reviews and they are promising but first hand experience is always better.

thanks :)
 
Do a search on the forums - there is LOADS of stuff.

1. The PSU is flaky. I take back everything I ever said before. They are flaky. You will need to buy a new one. Or keep sending them off for RMAs. Although loads of people say they have got full size PSU's in there, they mainly have had to compromise something to do it. In the end I bought slot-loading Pioneer Notebook DVD-RWs and an adapter plate as it was the best way to get 2 optical drives, a card reader, a floppy drive and a VFD in there.

2. The one without the windows is better as a long term proposition than the windowed model. - Trust me. One day, you'll think "How the hell do I get that to look tidy in there?" and you'll wish you'd bought the one without the windows.

3. The individual components are not the strongest things in the world. It all fits together and when all screwed up tight it has a nice solid feel to it, but when you take it apart and it's all slightly floppy, you'll wonder where they spent the budget.

4. You can do lots more with this case than with the Silverstone Sugo or Antec Aria. The extra 5.25" and/or 3.5" bays really do make it so much less of a compromise.

5. You can trust the carrying handle.

6. It has nice, proper USB, Audio and Firewire connectors - not the annoying individual things you find on so many cases these days.

7. The low profile cooler is not really an issue as you can fit a Zalman Flower or Swiftech in there no problem.

8. The 120mm fan is not that quiet. And as it drives the cooling for the HDD and most of the other components you'll need a good (expensive) one to replace it eg. SilenX.

9. The Blue LEDs got a bit wearing for my taste (the neighbours asked if I was running a fishtank all night!)

10. It is much harder to find a good mATX motherboard than it is to get an ATX one, irrespective of the Intel/AMD issue.

I could probably go on all night, but bottom line - I had a Sugo. I had an Aria. I sold both of those and I kept the X-QPack.
 
Thanks for a great reply.

1:so what did you do in the end psu wise?
This is the most important part of any psu imo.
Did you fit a full size one in?

2: The window ,I quite like the challange of making it look neat in there :)

3:Is it worth the money?

4:great

5:great

6:greater still:)

7:xp 90 out of the question then? what low profile cooler could i use to cool a opty at 2.8ghz?

8:no problem ill get a silent x or panaflo

9:me too but depends how bright they are

10:I know someone has mentioned Biostar TForce 939

so overall are you pleased with it?

its either this or a shuttle snp25 :)
 
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I've got a Seasonic mATX 380W in mine, but it's stripped now, on-board graphics, just one HDD etc. The PSU has the same dimensions as the original and it's plenty.

The general opionion seems to be that Seasonic PSUs have the power leads coming out on the outboard side of *** 5.25" drive cage, but the full size one still blocks the drive cages to an unacceptable degree in my opinion.

Is it worth the money? No. But then what is? If you want value, buy a Lian-Li and keep it for life. :)

For a cooler I'm using a Coolermaster Aquagate MiniR120 (don't laugh) with 2 Akasa Ambers for quiet. The RAD is on the outside of the case, with one of the Fans mounted conventionally inside pushing air into the RAD and the other mounted outside, sucking air through the RAD. It's £50+Fans, it's silent and it is better than any of the other cooling solutions I've tried in there (Zalman, Akasa, Arctic Cooling, Swiftech, Silverstone).

I've got a P4EE in there and it runs at 50C flat out 24/7 at a little over 4GHz.

As for the LEDs - AC Ryan do a fan that lets you independently vary the speed and the LED brightness. They worked quite well as I could turn off the lights at night.

Overall - I've had shedloads of fun with it. I've built loads for other people too and they're all very happy with them. The Shuttle is much better if you don't want to play with it, but if you're a modder/tinkerer, buy the Aspire.

Below are some pictures of my rig as it was back in October of last year with the same cooling but Akasa 120mm Blue LED Fans.

http://www.walteranderson.com/100_0530.JPG
http://www.walteranderson.com/100_0531.JPG
http://www.walteranderson.com/100_0532.JPG
http://www.walteranderson.com/100_0533.JPG
http://www.walteranderson.com/100_0534.JPG
 
With the info about the psu it comes with I'm leaning towards a shuttle just a bit.

I mean £70 for the aspire then another say 50 for a good psu.

Thats already £120 then £50 for the mobo thats £170 its suddenly doesnt look that much of a budget ssf anymore.

(change of plan I have decided if building one to get another mobo and chip.
The chip I have lying around is a p4 1.7ghz and cheapy asrock matx mobo.So i think if im going to the trouble I might aswell go the whole hog! :p )

Although building it would be good the Shuttle XPC SN25P Aluminium Barebones System is smaller and only costs a few quid more.

seen a review of the aspire here

and the handle looks really filmsy and the hdd cage is really loose
 
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