Reasonably priced Mini-ITX case that takes a full size DVD-RW?

broona

broona

broona

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Thought I was set on the Noah case, but it only accepts slimline optical drives, which is no use, as I really need a Pioneer drive in there. :(

There's always the Venus 669, but the 2 tiny fans put me off that a little, as I'd like at least some HDD cooling, and I'd need to rip those whiny things out!

Any other cases out there? Looking for it to be as small as possible to stick on my desk, 200W maximum PSU as it'll only have an Atom 330 CPU, can take a 3.5" HDD, preferably has at least an 80mm fan, and doesn't cost the earth, hopefully similarly priced to the other 2 cases I mentioned. Cheers. :)
 
Could I use a micro-atx case with a mini-itx board? I assume that I can, and that would greatly improve my options, but probably mean it would be too big to fit on my desk, not the end of the world.

If I can do this, any recommendations please?
 
yes you can fit a mini-itx board in a m-atx case. One m-atx case you could look at would be the Antec minuet 350 piano though the power supply that comes with it is 350W.

You are limiting yourself a lot by not using slim optical drives. I've just had a look around most of the mini-itx cases I know of and apart from the venus none of them would fit your needs. Could you not get an external optical or just not have a pioneer? They aren't expensive unless you going for a slot loading one which generally costs a little more.

another case to look into would be: Silverstone ML01B,
 
Funnily enough ive been looking for the exact same thing as you, right down to the atom 330 board and wanting it near silent. I thought all was lost as I wanted at least 2 3.5 drive slots and a small quiet psu. Last night I found this which I think probably hits the nail on the head for both of us. It does have a small fan on the internal PSU but the way its lined up I think you could probably take it out and shunt the 80mm fan up a bit so its drawing air through it, especially as the atom board will be generating next to no heat. Only problem is finding one, I've only found 1 uk store that sells it and its out of stock, was only £45 ish though.
 
hey if you guys are looking at atom's and haven't already you should probably have a look for the dual core atoms which are now around and the price isn't much more than the normal single cores.
 
Guardsmon said:
yes you can fit a mini-itx board in a m-atx case. One m-atx case you could look at would be the Antec minuet 350 piano though the power supply that comes with it is 350W.

You are limiting yourself a lot by not using slim optical drives. I've just had a look around most of the mini-itx cases I know of and apart from the venus none of them would fit your needs. Could you not get an external optical or just not have a pioneer? They aren't expensive unless you going for a slot loading one which generally costs a little more.

another case to look into would be: Silverstone ML01B,
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Thanks for that, thought I might be able to, but not sure. I could probably fit it in my PC7 too I suppose, but might be a bit strange!

Main reason for the Pioneer requirement is that it's the most compatible for Dual Layer burning in the format I require, and adding an external drive would defeat the purpose of getting a smaller case unfortunately.

I'll look into those cases too, cheers.

WILD9 said:
SNIP
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That looks perfect, time to put my Googling skills to the test, cheers! :D

Guardsmon said:
hey if you guys are looking at atom's and haven't already you should probably have a look for the dual core atoms which are now around and the price isn't much more than the normal single cores.
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That's exactly what I want, looking at the 330, the dual core variant of the 230, thanks. :)
 
WILD9 said:
...
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Must be a decent 120w PSU, following spec taken from a pre-built machine using that case :-

'Brand New High End Multimedia System - Intel DG45FC mini-ITX Motherboard with DVI and HDMI + Intel E8500 3.16GHz Core 2 Duo CPU + In-Win mini-ITX Case with 120W Power Supply + LG Blu-Ray / HD DVD SATA Drive + Kingston 2GB DDR2 667MHz Memory + Western Digital 80GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive + WiFi USB Adapter'

Think that'll be ideal if I can find one, thanks again. :)
 
Did you end up getting one? Im just about to ask for one for xmas but if youve test piloted it some feedback would be cool.
 
Change of plans for the time being, I'm just gonna swap my mobo for an Nvidia 730i/9300 MATX board with onboard graphics, and probably swap my PSU for a lower powered/more efficient one, but keep it all in my Lian Li.
 
WILD9 said:
Last night I found this which I think probably hits the nail on the head for both of us.
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Dear god that's incredible. I actually might go for that, since the UK site that sells them is back in stock :P My lego case isn't really coming along too well, and after having so many problems with my picoPSU (not that I'm raging it, it's a great device, mine just doesn't want to work :() I might just go for this and be done with it. Thanks for linking :D
 
I had a look at the In Win about six months ago its quite nice. Once its fully populated with say a DG45FC DVDRW etc it feels like a little brick but reasonaly solid. I'm not sure about the flap fronted version would probably prefer the one with the bay exposed and just a flap over the USB+Audio.
I hope to be getting some of these soon too see how easy the actual assembly will be.
 
pennywise said:
Dear god that's incredible. I actually might go for that, since the UK site that sells them is back in stock :P My lego case isn't really coming along too well, and after having so many problems with my picoPSU (not that I'm raging it, it's a great device, mine just doesn't want to work :() I might just go for this and be done with it. Thanks for linking :D
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Which Pico do you have and what problems are you having with it?
I've just got a 90w Pico and need to know if I'm in for aggro.:confused:
 
why atoms btw?

Via's options arent bad, and various forums etc have already proved that underclocking cpus (amd for example) can have better results due to the kak northbridge on the atom boards.
 
DireEmblem said:
why atoms btw?

Via's options arent bad, and various forums etc have already proved that underclocking cpus (amd for example) can have better results due to the kak northbridge on the atom boards.
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Cheapness? I want a small file server for very little money that doesn't use much electricity.

...And my girlfriend said she'd buy me one for christmas :D

pennywise said:
I'll try; I'll order it at the end of the week when my pay comes through :D
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Excellent, looking forward to it!
 
how about the

Morex 668 Venus Black
Morex 669 Venus Black
Morex 668 Venus Silver
Morex 669 Venus Silver

they all take 2x full size roms, priced from £50.00 to £68.00
 
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