Hofy's Aspire X-QPack

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I finally found some time to get some pics up of my X-QPack with system in it.
The system is an MSI K7N2GM-V mobo with and AMD 1700xp+ 1GB Corsair RAM LiteOn DVD-RW 2 Maxtor HDD an ATI/Sapphire Radeon 9600 vid and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card. The temps are low 30s idle to mid 40s under load. I keep the Panaflo on low to cut the noise.

This image shows it next to the Chieftech it is replacing. The bay bus is an old PCMods controller. It handles the 120mm Panaflo and the led lighting.
CASE1.jpg


As you can see there is room for a full sized Antec Neo480 (The optical drive is a LiteOn 1673 DVD-RW) (I still have some wire management to do)
CASE4.jpg


It was tight getting the mobo tray to slide in so I had to pull the fan off and mount it AFTER I had the mobo in. The current HSF is a Thermaltake Volcano 9 with a Sunon fan. It is the loudest thing in the system. (I will be replacing it soon.)
CASE3.jpg


Yes I have 2 hard drives in there. The second one is mounted in the 3½" bay. It is a very tight fit and new mounting holes had to be drilled. I think I will be adding some rails and mounting it up in the 5¼" bay.
CASE2.jpg
 
Get a few pics of it running with the LED's on if you don't mind.
 
tree_ said:
Get a few pics of it running with the LED's on if you don't mind.
I'll try to get some up once I get the wires all routed and tied.
 
Mind getting some CPU side profile shots?
I'm trying to see what would need to be done to get a Zalman 7700 or 7000 to fit.


 
what is the length of your optical drive and what is the size of your PSU?

I am wanting this box, but I have questions if my Plextor 716AL (7.04 inches deep) and Tagan480 PSU (6.25 inches deep) will fit.

Do you think it will fit?
 
i wanted to get one of these....
but gosh that looks ugly!!!

sigh...guess i am going back to the shuttle plan
 
It aint that bad, it has a basic look to it, it can be dressed up or down with minimal effort. Looks real simple to paint over. I don't like the wimpy looking handle though,

to each their own i guess.
 
is there a temperature penalty for such a small case? I've been wanting to get one of these, but my ATX minitower is pretty hot already because I've 5v modded all 3 fans (cpu gfx psu)
 
Yes, there is a temp thingy.
Its that little blue box beside the 3 1/2" bay, in about the middle of the case.


 
I think he meant whether or not there is a penalty to having all that hardware in such a small box in terms of heat/temps.

Yes there is, but I don't think it is that dramatic.
 
hofy, can u confirm what kinda hsf will fit in that case, i'm lookin at either an xp90 or one of the zalmen's
 
Sorry for the delay in updates, work got in the way.
I still don't have any new pics to post but I will try to answer a few questions.

Tiny: what is the length of your optical drive and what is the size of your PSU?
My optical drive is 170mm (6¾") and PSU is 140mm (5½") This does NOT include connectors. There is 37mm (1½") of space between them. There is 350mm (13¾") of space front to back in the case.


TheNeck :how does your 9600 fit inside this case? do you think a 6800gt would fit in this case
My 9600 fits fine. plenty of room. Your mobo will factor into this also.


poopypants: hofy, can u confirm what kinda hsf will fit in that case, i'm lookin at either an xp90 or one of the zalmen's
I am running a ThermalTake Volcano9 right now and it is a tight fit. I had to install the fan AFTER I had the system all together. There is 95mm between the bottom of the case and the support bar. This leaves about 80mm between the CPU socket and the support bar. As for dimensions other than hight, this will be more dependant on your mobo than the case.
 
I just got done putting together mine, and let me tell you... it was no picnic.

The removable motherboard tray is a deceptive luxury. The XP-90 is *just* barely too tall to slide in on the motherboard tray. I had to remove it, slide in the m/b, then gingerly manuever the heatsink on to the landing zone.

It did work out okay, but there is not enough room for a 92mm fan, and even an 80mm needs to be offset (or the brace needs to be modded) to fit. With a simple mod, the XP-90 would be a perfect fit for this case.

There is a lot of room in the front of the case for a res and pump as well ;)


I am continually astounded by the flimsy construction of this case, and the nasty sharp edges. Make no mistake, this is a cheap case! But it works out for the form factor ... nicely.
 
Binkt said:
The removable motherboard tray is a deceptive luxury. The XP-90 is *just* barely too tall to slide in on the motherboard tray. I had to remove it, slide in the m/b, then gingerly manuever the heatsink on to the landing zone.

It did work out okay, but there is not enough room for a 92mm fan, and even an 80mm needs to be offset (or the brace needs to be modded) to fit. With a simple mod, the XP-90 would be a perfect fit for this case.

Can you please post some pics of the clearance around the XP-90? What sort of modding do you mean to make the fan fit? I'm surprised it would fit at all. According to the thermalright website an XP-90 with 25mm thick fan is 95mm high.

From user reports i've read on various forums the clearance in the Aspire from the CPU socket to the cross bar is around 80mm.
 
CrimsonFury said:
Can you please post some pics of the clearance around the XP-90?

xp90-clearanceSM.JPG


After breaking out the tin-snips, my 80mm fits fine... I'll need to snip a little more off of the drive carriage to make the 92 fit.
 
Thanks for the pic.

Which drive cage do you need to cut? The HDD or the CD cage?

How is the cross bar attached to the case? (welding\screws\rivets etc). I'm wondering if it would be possible to remove the cross bar and reattach it to the top of the case (upside down) with the HDD cage hanging from it. Or possibly just leave out the HDD cage and mount my HDD in the 2nd 5.25" bay using an adaptor (like one of the zalman HDD heatpipe coolers).

How much room is there between the side panel and the XP-90? Do you think the XP-120 would fit with the mods you did? The XP-120 height is actually 12mm less than the XP-90, but its 29mm wider (14.5mm each side).
 
hmmm, so the zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU should fit height wise, but i guess the width is the big question here.
 
The Zalman 7000 should fit fine, its only 13mm wider than the XP9 (6.5mm each side). You *might* be able to fit the Zalman 7700 if there is enough clearance, its hard to tell from the pics posted so far.
 
yep, my buddy just got his case in, put everything together last night. currently using a cheap tt cooler, runs real quiet but the temps r a little higher than i like right now, there's real good airflow in the case with the rear 120mm and his ocz modstream pulling out. the mod stream and the optical drive is a real tight fit too as stated earlier, but all in a all a pretty nice case. now all we have to do is slap my tornado on that heatsink and try out the ocing options on this board...
 
CrimsonFury said:
The Zalman 7000 should fit fine, its only 13mm wider than the XP9 (6.5mm each side). You *might* be able to fit the Zalman 7700 if there is enough clearance, its hard to tell from the pics posted so far.

If Zalman's images are correct the 7700 will fit with AMD's only.

On Intel's suggested layout the the Zalman 7700 hangs over the edge of the motherboard, which in this case puts it through the window. AMD chips however seem to have enough space between the chip die and the edge of the motherboard.


 
CrimsonFury said:
On the 120mm fan mount....

Won't fit inside, and that means drilling or cutting up the back of the case. Since the honeycomb fan grill isn't flat.

 
MeanieMan said:
Won't fit inside, and that means drilling or cutting up the back of the case. Since the honeycomb fan grill isn't flat.



Ok someone is a noob modder, CUT CUT CUT!!! :D , I know i could do it and i would use a DD system to do it with one 120mm Rad, single 5 1/4res, 3/8tubing, and TDX block and a Maze4 and one of those tinny little 12v pumps

That would be SWEET!!!
 
Just a quick update. (Sorry still no time for pictures) I did some tests with a second 120mm fan blowing air into the unit. The case temps never went above the very low 20°c but the CPU temps didnt drop liked I had hoped. I positioned the fan on the left and right sides of the case and made a temporary cover out of cardboard. I also useda file folder to make a tunnel for the CPU fan but that didnt seem to help either. About the only thing I have left to try is a fan mounted in the front blowing directly in. I removed most of the metal in that area when I first got the case so all I have to do is pull the front cover off and mount it up. I hope to get this done soon and I WILL post more pics. I also ordered a new HDD (Maxtor SATA) so the nasty ide ribbon cable will be gone.
 
Hofy said:
Just a quick update. (Sorry still no time for pictures) I did some tests with a second 120mm fan blowing air into the unit. The case temps never went above the very low 20°c but the CPU temps didnt drop liked I had hoped. I positioned the fan on the left and right sides of the case and made a temporary cover out of cardboard. I also useda file folder to make a tunnel for the CPU fan but that didnt seem to help either. About the only thing I have left to try is a fan mounted in the front blowing directly in. I removed most of the metal in that area when I first got the case so all I have to do is pull the front cover off and mount it up. I hope to get this done soon and I WILL post more pics. I also ordered a new HDD (Maxtor SATA) so the nasty ide ribbon cable will be gone.


When you going to Water cool that bad boy? :D ;)
 
MeanieMan said:
Won't fit inside, and that means drilling or cutting up the back of the case. Since the honeycomb fan grill isn't flat.


I know it won't fit inside, hence why I said mount it outside :p. You can feed the tubes through a PCI slot using one of these:
wc_pci_pass_thru.gif


The fan grill looks flat in all the pics i've seen, but if its not you can mount it without modding by using one of these adaptors:

http://www.swiftnets.com/products/MCB-120.asp

MCB-120.gif
 
CrimsonFury said:
I know it won't fit inside, hence why I said mount it outside :p. You can feed the tubes through a PCI slot using one of these:
wc_pci_pass_thru.gif


The fan grill looks flat in all the pics i've seen, but if its not you can mount it without modding by using one of these adaptors:

http://www.swiftnets.com/products/MCB-120.asp

MCB-120.gif

He is just a noob and does not think he can do it but oh well, forget him, I know i can and will someday, he he :D
 
R!P13y said:
He is just a noob and does not think he can do it but oh well, forget him, I know i can and will someday, he he :D

Anythings possible with dremel. Doesn't mean its smart.
With the setup of the X-Qpack its going to cause a lot of outside tubing to get them to reach around to the PCI slots. Those radiator adaptors are also extremely restrictive.

CrimsonFury said:
I know it won't fit inside, hence why I said mount it outside

To bad you edited that in after I replied.:rolleyes:


 
MeanieMan said:
Those radiator adaptors are also extremely restrictive.

The air comes in from the sides of the adaptor so it doesn't need to be open on the case side.

MeanieMan said:
To bad you edited that in after I replied.:rolleyes:

No I didn't. If I edited it after a reply it would say " Last edited by CrimsonFury at xx:xxpm" at the bottom of my post.
 
CrimsonFury said:
No I didn't. If I edited it after a reply it would say " Last edited by CrimsonFury at xx:xxpm" at the bottom of my post.

I guess I need to elaborate. You edited after I clicked to quote your post. :rolleyes:
Also, if you edit within a certain time of posting, there is no "edit" line, but I'm sure you know that already

The adaptors have a few problems. If you put a fan inside the case then the air that fan pushes completely removes the ability for the adaptor to bring air in from the sides. In fact the air is now escaping from the sides. If you don't add a fan inside then you have an adaptor +radiator + fan(s). Which is a whole lot of weight for the extremely thin aluminum that this case is made from.


 
MeanieMan said:
Anythings possible with dremel. Doesn't mean its smart.
With the setup of the X-Qpack its going to cause a lot of outside tubing to get them to reach around to the PCI slots. Those radiator adaptors are also extremely restrictive.



To bad you edited that in after I replied.:rolleyes:




Please dont ever quote me and answer with such a stupid remark, it can be water cooled and that was my point and that is what i want to do, What that noob said was it can not be done, like no matter what, NO it can be done and i dont know why it couldnt be,

If you think it can not be done tell me why dont just say " it can not be done" or that is like me saying pigs can not fly, IF i shot it out of a BFG it would fly damb straight ;)
 
R!P13y said:
Please dont ever quote me and answer with such a stupid remark, it can be water cooled and that was my point and that is what i want to do, What that noob said was it can not be done, like no matter what, NO it can be done and i dont know why it couldnt be,

If you think it can not be done tell me why dont just say " it can not be done" or that is like me saying pigs can not fly, IF i shot it out of a BFG it would fly damb straight ;)

Please provide the linkage to the post in which I said "it can not be done"
 
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