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Recommend compact Mini ITX Case

Zarathustra[H]

Zarathustra[H]

Extremely [H]
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Hey all. I need to find a really compact mini ITX case for a Zacate build with the following requirements:

1.) Must have one (preferably half height) expansion slot
2.) Optical drive bay not required
3.) 3.5" drive bay not needed
4.) Internal 2.5" SSD bay preferred.
5.) Sub 100W PSU or PSU-less so I can install my own PICO PSU

Does anyone know of a good case like this?

I have searched Newegg, and all their mini-itx cases with expansion slots are full height and way too bulky. Googling doesn't seem to be helping much either.

I really appreciate your suggestions.
 
I'm a big fan of the Wesena ITX7-2 -- looks great for a HTPC. You can either get it at their homepage (http://www.wesena.co.uk) or wait until the new version shows up in the US in a couple weeks (or get the original version w/ the big logo on the front if it doesn't bother you) :)
 
rhansen5_99 said:
What kind of expansion card are you trying to add? If you are down for some modding I bet the Habey 600-s would be a decent case as its tiny. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811321012&cm_re=habey-_-11-321-012-_-Product

There are also ribbon cable pci express adapters you can get to mount the card in a different position. The Antec isk 300 is probably a great case as there are a ton of mods you can do to it, but its not really that tiny.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Some places sell a riser kit for the M350, but it appears to be for atom motherboards only...

The riser card is my backup plan. With a little luck I won't need it at all, but if I do need it, I don't want to have to switch the case. I may actually just buy the board first, run it on an open bench, test if I need the riser card or not, and then buy the case...

The issue is as follows:
This little box is going to replace my linux NAS server. I only posted here in the HTPC thread as you guys have a lot of experience with these little cases.

I currently have a Dell ZINO HD in my closet. My original plan was to hook up my Drobo S via eSATA to the Dell Zino HD and have it be a nice cheap low power redundant NAS setup.

Once I got all the parts - however - I found that the eSATA as incorporated in the AMD780SB southbridge chipset has a hardware bug that prevents it from functioning properly under linux. The eSATA portion works, but the port multiplier and multiple LUN portion does not. The Drobo S requires port multiplier and multiple LUN support in order to work.

The Drobo S works fine in eSATA mode from my Intel X58 desktop, so its not the Drobo.

After having done exhaustive research it has been very difficult to figure out which AMD south bridge chipsets suffer from this issue and which don't. Its clear all 7xx chipsets do. I think (but I am not entirely sure) that the 8xx chipsets do as well. I have been able to find no information regarding the upcoming 9xx series chipsets or the Hudson M1 on the zacate.

Most people simply don't use the port multiplier function of eSATA, so they simply don't know if it works or not when I ask them, and AMD's errata documentation for their chipsets is pretty bad and uninformative.

So right now I am stuck using my fancy drobo and 1gbit ethernet I've wired the house with over the USB2 port, and I'm getting peak speeds of 26mb/s...

I would use a 3rd party eSATA adapter, but the Dell Zino HD does not have any expansion slots.

So, I am planning on getting the cheapest E-350 board I can get (Currently Asrock at $109) and testing if the built in eSATA port works with the drobo under Linux. If it does not, I plan on getting one of the adapters that Drobo has tested to work with their unit and install it in the PCIe slot on the motherboard. (The only one on that list I have been able to still find in stock anywhere is this one, that luckily comes with a half height plate)

Then I will be able to get full glorious 120mb/s from this array, and I can hopefully sell the Zino to recoup some of the cost.
 
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