In Win BM639 mini review

[pennywise]

So after a small stroke of luck, I received this lovely little case this evening. All in all, I couldn't really ask for a better case for my needs for the price. Specs:

Gigabyte GA-GC230D with Intel Atom CPU
1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2/1GB OCZ Gold (I tried both... still having the same problem as explained in this thread - Please help!)
120GB 2.5" Samsung HDD
Slimline Samsung DVD Writer
120W PSU (supplied with case)

For such a small case, there has been a tremendous amount of workmanship and thought gone into it. Everything has a place (even though it may not be initially visible) and although it's extremely cramped to work in, once everything is in place it seems to give you a reassuring feeling; it's like a concrete block once it's sealed up with everything inside. The way I have everything sitting, it looks like the case can handle two 3.5" hard drives and 1 2.5" drive. If you were to use a full-size DVD drive, it would only take one 3.5" from what I can see (I didn't bother experimenting).

My pictures all turned out horrendous since I'm using my phone, but here are a few for tasters (I'll probably post up more tomorrow, feel free to request specifics);

Internal (I don't believe in cable management)





Outside, with my 22" monitor for comparison




With a game case for comparison




Noise-wise it's atrocious, although it's only the case fan at the top that seems to be causing the racket. If it's disabled, the whole thing (including the PSU) runs almost silent. It's a 40 or 60mm fan I think, I don't think you could fit much bigger in there though.

The front flap feels a bit flimsy, but I won't be using the DVD drive much anyway (apart from ripping the odd movie/album for storage) so it isn't a big concern.

All in all, this case is definitely worth the 50 quid I paid for it. If only I can get the damn hardware inside working, it will work nicely as a little file server for me

Feel free to ask any questions you want, and to help out with my hardware conundrum! clicky

More random pictures, trying to give you an idea of how small this thing is:











Set of Icemat Siberias for comparison

 

[pennywise]

Sure thing... It was late when I uploaded them, I didn't really think about what I was doing :O

OK I can't edit them in work since imageshack is blocked :| But I'll sort them out later on, along with more (hopefully better quality pictures).

 

[pennywise]

Bump for pictures

 

[pennywise]

Wow thats small. Nice little set up. How much did it cost you total? Also on a side note what you think of your headphones, Iv got a set and i didnt think they were very popular.

Without the screw ups I've went through, what you're looking at is probably under £200.

Mobo/CPU - £55
RAM - £20ish, going by todays prices (Bought 2x2GB, replaced the 2x1GB in my main PC with this)
Hard Drive - £30ish
DVD Drive - £35ish
Case - £45

(Postage would be about £15 on top of this, altogether).

I also bought a picoPSU and 120W power brick for about £65, but this isn't being used since there's a decent enough PSU that came along with the case, so I'll try it out on another PC first to make sure it actually works then I'll probably just sell it on (if I can't find a use for it).

I've also got a 500GB internal drive that I intend to add in once I get everything up and running. Once this happens I'll also try to tweak the fan speed to as low as possible. It outputs a pretty huge amount of air for all the size of it, so at a lower speed I still reckon it'd be good enough.

About the headphones... I bought them like 2 years ago before I knew anything about "decent" headphones. I've actually been waiting for them to break for the past year so I can buy a good set, but as of yet they've been sturdy and seem to be able to take quite a beating Oh well, they do the job for now.

 

[pennywise]

Thanks for the review Pennywise It looks really good, Shame about the noise but Probably nothing a sharkoon 80mm fan or 2 wouldnt fix, Im hopeing I can make one of these completely silent, does the small PSU fan make much noise?

No probs

As I said, if you unplug the case fan you can barely hear anything, only the Northbridge fan (I think it is?) makes any kind of noise, and with the case sealed it's pretty quiet. The PSU fan makes virtually no detectable noise once everything is put together, so you shouldn't have any problems with it.

 

[pennywise]

Looks good. Any idea's on power consumption at the mains on idle and load?

Still haven't received my replacement motherboard (the faulty one still hasn't been picked up by the courier either, naming no names) so I haven't had a chance to run any tests whatsoever on the machine. Once I do get the replacement and I have everything up and running (still unsure as to what OS to use, but that's another topic for another thread ) I'll try and see what kind of wattage the thing uses whilst idle and under load. I can't imagine it using all that much in real-world use though, considering the most it'll be doing (for me, anyway) will be downloading and streaming music, and the odd movie. If I'm doing any cd ripping, I'll do it on my main PC and transfer the files across manually.

 

[pennywise]

I haven't went near the case in over a month. I still haven't had the mobo replaced, so I've no need to touch it yet. I'll update this with more info once I get the thing up and running...

 

[pennywise]

WELL. 2 months later, a replacement arrives, and thankfully it works. The case is a loud *******, and the insides aren't even doing anything (idle at BIOS - trying to figure out how to install FreeNAS on a USB pen for some experimentation) but I intend to replace the fans with some that are either a lot quieter or completely silent (if possible). All in all a fantastic little case, very robust, but just a tad loud at present.

 

[pennywise]

Do you think with some setting up, this tower/system could be run whilst in the same room as sleeping?

Planning on getting one myself, Looking at the Atom 330 with 1GB ram.

Edit - How is that hdd mounted on the box at the (botttom?) of the case in the first picture?

Sorry for all the questions, but I take it the slim ODD cover plate is included?

- I doubt it could be ran in the same room whilst sleeping without some tweaks, i.e. turning the case fan RPM down a fair bit or changing it altogether, I haven't went near this thing in ages because of moving house/can't be arsed/various other issues so I haven't done this yet, but it really is quite loud.

- The 2.5" HDD is mounted with screws that come up from below. I'd take pictures to show you, but there's a terabyte drive stuck in there now The ODD cover plate is indeed included, and it not only holds a slimline DVD drive and a 3.5" hard drive, but it helps with the stability of the whole case, turning it into a solid barrel of muscle.

 

[pennywise]

Few questions if I may....

1) The box at the bottom of the case below the 2.5" HD is for a 3.5" HD?

2) Can one be mounted where the 2.5" is as well (losing one of the PCI slots no doubt)?

3) What connectors does the PSU come with?

4) It does take a full height 5.25 drive OR a slimline and a 3.5" depending on choice yes? Does it include a fascia to allow the slimline drive?

Thanks
Meth

Yes, the box at the bottom is for a 3.5" HD. I have a 1tb drive stuck in there now with the 120gb 2.5" system drive bolted on top. I'm quite sure there aren't any boltholes for a 3.5" drive where the 2.5" drive is at the minute, although I'm also quite sure you can fit another 3.5" drive in the ODD cover plate underneath a slimline optical drive.
It will take either a full size optical drive by itself, or a slimline drive and a 3.5" drive in the ODD cover plate, but unfortunately not both.

I can't remember exactly which connectors come with the PSU, but I *think* there's the 24-pin connector for the mobo, one molex, one sata, and one 3/4 pin connector for the CPU.

I might crack it open tonight to see if I can fit my spare 500gb drive in, and if I do I'll take some more pictures.

 

[pennywise]

Sorry to stir up old threads...

But, where'd you get your desk lamp OP?

No idea, it was one that was just lying around the house that I brought to my uni house since I didn't have a reasonably sized desktop lamp.

I forgot all about this thread actually, more pictures are due... If I'm not wrecked from work I'll do a bit of messing around tonight when I get home and take some more internal pictures.