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I'm totally cool with leaving the usb ports, it's just as easy to not put it in if you don't want it.
How hard have you pushed your board, any issues with warping without the backplate on the AXP-140?
I'm not so concerned with the front ports, but I would love the option to not have them. With Da Box, I really didn't like them, they are better on Da Mom... but I still found that I liked things better without it. Perhaps we should take a poll ASAP. If it could lead to an improved HDD cage...
Yes.... I think you are probably right about this, the holes are tight and it does increase noise levels... but the temps are really low. It seems to be a noise issue more than anything at the worst.
Here's my beta setup. I had problems with the mounting plate for my AXP 140 cooler on the motherboard (H55N-USB3), so it has standard intel cooler for now. It's running an I7 875K with no overclock yet (will do soon). Temps are very nice, even without the AXP 140. Right now I'm booting in...
It seems Danger Den have another LAN box, built aroud the Silverstone SFF 450w psu:
http://photos.dangerden.com/Cases/Tower-12-LAN-RIG-450W/13278060_FXdFJ#964599133_dVarn
Looks even better than the 270W
I'm very impressed with the new ITX case design:
http://photos.dangerden.com/Cases/Tower-12-LAN-RIG-270W/13118698_wmbUT#951295844_UYSys
It's a perfect variation on the DD Tower 12:
http://photos.dangerden.com/Cases/NAS-Systems/9724979_ZALJK#710456735_SdCSj
With added PCI slot and 270W psu.