morriswindgate
08-08-2003, 01:26 AM
Enclosed in this post and the next three are pictures of a build I did today using the Ahanix dbox case in black. The computer was built using the following componants;
MSI KT Ultra Motherboard
AMD XP1700 T-Bread
256MB Geil PC2700 RAM
60 GIG 7200 Western Digital Hard Drive
Lite On Black 52x24x52 CD-RW
Sony 16x DVD
Mitsumi Black 3.5 Drive
Enlight 300watt PSU
Speeze Falconrock HSF
ATI OEM Radeon 7000 64MB DDR
Abit AU 10 5.1 Sound Card
Kingston 10/100 NIC
Total Cost of all Parts with tax and shipping $452.10
The case is a Steel ATX Mid-Tower in a Satin Black Finish. Inside it has the room to accept the largest ATX motherboards with plenty of room for Optical Drive intrusion and to work on the connections.
Other features of the case.
Has three temp sensors that you can attach anywhere to monitor temps on the from LED Readout. Two fan Headers that allow fan speed to be controlled. A Infared Front window and two front USB Ports. One 80mm Ball Bearing rear fan and a Front 120mm Front fan with a slide in filter screen. And finally the case comes with three matching Optical Drive bay doors that allow you to mount your optical drives behind them and operate via the covers button, thus insuring that the case appearance remains uniform.
This case is available from www.mwave.com for $39.00 without a power supply. Newegg also carries them but is out of stock.
I place the temp sensors on the CPU, at the top of the case, and on the hard drive, but the sensor cables are very long and will reach all places in the case. This case features both a over-temp warning and a shutdown feature for channel 1 which is the CPU channel. At 149 degrees F (65 C) you get a beeping which is reset by increasing the fan speed and pressing the temp channel button. If the temp rises to 158 degress F (70 C) the system shutsdown. Although this is below the max of the XP CPU given that the temp sensor cannot be placed directly on the CPU, this is a reasonable temp.
The fan speed control starts at the level 4 of 10 available levels. Both of the supplied fans (80MM Rear and 120MM Front) are controlled and at the default level you cannot hear them run. I personally could not hear them until I reach level 6 and at level 10 they were still quieter than a single Volcano 9 HSF with the case side on.
THe matching CD Drive bay covers work really well and make everything match, although I had to trim down the moulding marks on the buttons to get them to operate smoothly. This area does not show though. To install the drives you need to remove the front cover which snaps off, although i suggest you unscrew the stabs to make them stay tight. Once the cover is removed you can install the front fan filter which is more to protect the case circuit board than filter dust. At this time you remove the drive bay covers and trim them as I mentioned above. Then snap the case front back on, but leaving the drives loose. Push the drive toward the front of the case and then using the drive bay cover push it back until the cover snaps into place and screw down the drive and that should leave the drive operational from the cover button.
All in all this is a great looking case with some great features. The manufactures site shows it in about 4 colors, but the only ones I have seen sold are black.
MSI KT Ultra Motherboard
AMD XP1700 T-Bread
256MB Geil PC2700 RAM
60 GIG 7200 Western Digital Hard Drive
Lite On Black 52x24x52 CD-RW
Sony 16x DVD
Mitsumi Black 3.5 Drive
Enlight 300watt PSU
Speeze Falconrock HSF
ATI OEM Radeon 7000 64MB DDR
Abit AU 10 5.1 Sound Card
Kingston 10/100 NIC
Total Cost of all Parts with tax and shipping $452.10
The case is a Steel ATX Mid-Tower in a Satin Black Finish. Inside it has the room to accept the largest ATX motherboards with plenty of room for Optical Drive intrusion and to work on the connections.
Other features of the case.
Has three temp sensors that you can attach anywhere to monitor temps on the from LED Readout. Two fan Headers that allow fan speed to be controlled. A Infared Front window and two front USB Ports. One 80mm Ball Bearing rear fan and a Front 120mm Front fan with a slide in filter screen. And finally the case comes with three matching Optical Drive bay doors that allow you to mount your optical drives behind them and operate via the covers button, thus insuring that the case appearance remains uniform.
This case is available from www.mwave.com for $39.00 without a power supply. Newegg also carries them but is out of stock.
I place the temp sensors on the CPU, at the top of the case, and on the hard drive, but the sensor cables are very long and will reach all places in the case. This case features both a over-temp warning and a shutdown feature for channel 1 which is the CPU channel. At 149 degrees F (65 C) you get a beeping which is reset by increasing the fan speed and pressing the temp channel button. If the temp rises to 158 degress F (70 C) the system shutsdown. Although this is below the max of the XP CPU given that the temp sensor cannot be placed directly on the CPU, this is a reasonable temp.
The fan speed control starts at the level 4 of 10 available levels. Both of the supplied fans (80MM Rear and 120MM Front) are controlled and at the default level you cannot hear them run. I personally could not hear them until I reach level 6 and at level 10 they were still quieter than a single Volcano 9 HSF with the case side on.
THe matching CD Drive bay covers work really well and make everything match, although I had to trim down the moulding marks on the buttons to get them to operate smoothly. This area does not show though. To install the drives you need to remove the front cover which snaps off, although i suggest you unscrew the stabs to make them stay tight. Once the cover is removed you can install the front fan filter which is more to protect the case circuit board than filter dust. At this time you remove the drive bay covers and trim them as I mentioned above. Then snap the case front back on, but leaving the drives loose. Push the drive toward the front of the case and then using the drive bay cover push it back until the cover snaps into place and screw down the drive and that should leave the drive operational from the cover button.
All in all this is a great looking case with some great features. The manufactures site shows it in about 4 colors, but the only ones I have seen sold are black.