Yes an L2, the spec for the PCIE cards has an EMI bump on the tab, the case itself was missing a cutout to match. I later put a fiber washer under the tab with the mounting screw going thru it in to balance it out. James fixed it in the L3 I believe.
Zombi and Saper you may try to come off like you're helping but you come off more like a couple of real assholes spamming someone else's case thread while selling your own book as the saying goes. Based on your behaviour in this and other case threads I don't think I'd ever buy one of you cases...
I've seen threads where guys are putting mATX mobos in Hadrons after drilling out the drive bay. Made possible by the 1U PSU. Check the OCN Hadron owners thread, detailed instructions.
I think the biggest difference is the InWin will fit, the Realan probably will fit but looks to be very tight. Somebody built one of these cases up a few years ago, maybe do a searchand PM for measurements. My Galax card is a virtual copy of the Zotac, I think it needed 27mm in my L2 case, think...
InWin BM639 $58 with 160W supply free shipping in US 6.8L size
http://www.ebay.com/itm/In-Win-Case-IW-BM639-AH160TB-Blk-Mini-ITX-Mini-Tower-1-0-1-Bay-USB-HD-Audio-/371262211775?hash=item5670f3c6bf
And then some, I run a 3770K plus GT 750Ti card off of an hdplex 160W, can take prime 95 plus kombustor torture tests running at the same time no issues.
I think the name is fine, never gave it a thought as far as dissuading me from buying a case from you. If anything I would get away from the case naming style, there's far too many letterdigit cases, L3, M1, S4, A4, and so on not to mention the big brands, ugh!
Not sure how well you've scoured the mini-box website but they appear to sell the E-2015 under the model name M250 for $50
http://www.mini-box.com/M250-Universal-Mini-ITX-Enclosure
Pic from the website
Why didn't the Morex 557 work? It has 2 USB 2.0 ports in front. Think those could be modded to 3.0 without much trouble seem to have standard spacing, and looks much better in person than online photos would suggest. I have one for a fanless system.
Almost suggested that A10, but not having ever used one wasn't sure of performance etc compared to discrete GPU. I think there are quite a few people that have used the big shuriken in small builds with great success. You can get quite a bit of power in these small cases, here's my L2, loaded up...
It can be done with the perforated side panel, I have an i7 3770K plus 750ti in my L2 which has a bit more room. But if you're going to use a GPU anyway just ditch the high TDP CPU and make it easier to cool plus use a smaller PSU. The 250W HD plex takes up a fair amount of room. Not sure how...
I've used one of these Morex 557B cases before, at 2.3L it's barely bigger than an ITX mobo. The carrier for SSD mounts it right against the underside of the top cover(painted mine black). It can be mounted forward or aft of the center lining up with perforations, these could be easily...
The Galax card was the same way but on a quiet desk it was noticeable. I ended up changing the fan but the new one wouldn't start at the default 40% setting so I used Nvidia Inspector to set it at 50% it's super quiet now. Letting it be partially passive actually works too, as running Kombustor...
Fractal Node 304 will fit a 160 with a long card if you use a Seasonic G-series or Fractal Edison M-series(which are likely a rebadged Seasonic G. The modular connector are all below the bottom edge of the GPU PCB.
The 160-170W was from the wall, more like ~135W to the mobo but that was running Prime95 & Kombustor at the same time, a very unrealistic load. You'll be fine, normal loads are much less even gaming.
1st Gen NUC might work with dvi/vga dongle. I think XP drivers were an issue for awhile, but Intel site shows some support
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034034.htm
Check out Dell FX160s they can be had cheap on ebay in a myriad of configurations, a friend re-purposed one of these to run XP off the HDD for some legacy HW/SW.
That EMI bump actually was a tiny issue on the L2, I swapped a few emails with James and it looks like he has a cutout for it on the L3. On the L2 if you screwed down the PCI bracket it would torque the card pivoting on the EMI bump, ended up putting a fiber washer between the bracket and the...
Actually, my Galax came with th LP bracket but the tab was backwards. For some reason, the PCI spec has them in opposing direction from a full length version. Another difference is the LP version is spec'd with an EMI bump. So in the end I did purchase another bracket off eBay.
Hard to gauge, I just noticed my idle temps weren't as good, couple degrees C maybe. Under a Prime95 load you'd need to fix the CPU fan speed to really gauge, my temps were still OK so I'm not worried in that sense. But if you look at the Noctua installation PDF for a C-type cooler like the C14...
I think it's the same with most heatpipe based coolers. My AXP100 worked much better when mounted horizontally in my Node304 case as the vapor is meant to rise up, condense, and flow back down to the CPU interface. Mounted vertically, bends to the right, in my Lone case performance took a...
That Seasonic should be fine, the system won't even approach the simultaneous TDP powers unless you run Prime95 & Kombustor torture tests simultaneously which isn't a realistic load even for gaming. I've done that with a 3770K plus a 750Ti off of an HDPlex 160W supply no problem, registered...
Saw someone use those flat heatpipes in an FC9 build on SPCR but he used it on the GPU, was almost able to go fanless but not quite with a low profile 750 Ti, with heatpipes on 35W CPU
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=67808
Your biggest problem will be cooling the CPU with the GPU and CPU sandwiched so close there's not really much room for a heatsink of any kind. That's what was good about the J1900 mobo TDP of 10W and from his benchmarks the x1 was probably more of an issue for speed on some but not all games...
OK thought it might be a CPU you already had or something. Most of the thin-ITX boards I've seen if they have PCIE at all it's x4, but sometimes x1. There's a build using an Asrock j1900 board which is x1 over an x1 to x16 cable with an EVGA 750Ti and getting decent benchmarks. Asrock actually...
Geez that's pretty bad from the factory. My P8Z77-I got warped pretty bad like that mounting the AXP100 without backplate due to component interference on back of mobo(got lazy didn't feel like drilling), didn't think I cranked on it bad but shit! Finally drilled it and put it on but board is...
Did that motherboard previously have a heatsink mounted on the CPU? That amount of warping is pretty typical of a heatsink mounted without a backplate using a lot of screwdown force. It will also permanently dish the backplate that most motherboards have on them so even if removed the warping stays,