Installation and Testing
I am now the proud owner of
just about the biggest single processor ATX motherboard around - the AOpen
AX34 Pro II socket 370 board. This board is very wide as far as ATX boards
go so it makes a great test unit for installing in cases. Addtronics sent
this case with a 300W power supply included and even sent a set of their
luxury castors. This case features all metal construction so I don't recommend
you try moving it around like a normal plastic mid-tower. They also sent
the standard non-roller feet if you plan to sit the unit up on your desk.
The case
only came equipped with one 80 mm intake fan located in the front of the
unit. Fans are cheap and I had enough laying around that I added another
80 mm intake fan just below the unit that came with the case and one 92
mm fan as the exhaust fan on the rear of the unit. One thing you get with
an Addtronics case is great design and the location of the 92 mm fan shows
that. It is set almost level with the CPU's heatsink fan unit. Some mid-towers
come with their exhaust fan mounted very low or above the power supply -
both are areas that won't help with the cooling of your case much. The pictures
below aren't the greatest I have to admit. My new digital camera died so
I had to fall back on a camera with a resolution of 640 x 480.
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Front
Cover
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Front
Fans
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Inside
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Rear
Cover
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Addtronics provided their 300W
power supply. I think that anyone who is considering this case should opt
for this power supply (unless you plan to get the pricey 400 watt unit).
The ATX power connector cable is not short like the units that a lot of
other manufacturers provide. Its not a really big deal, but I like having
the option to run the ATX power cable over and around the top of the CPU
heatsink to reach the power connector without having to go over the top
of the CPU heatsink. I've seen the wires from a shorter ATX cable hit the
heatsink's fan and stop the fan from spinning. This power supply features
six Molex connectors and two floppy connectors that are all designed to
work well with the lengths they have to reach in this case. All those connectors
definitely come in handy when you begin filling in all those fan brackets.
I mentioned before that I recommend
the optional luxury casters for this unit. The reason is very simple: this
case empty weighed more than one of my plastic mid-towers with all the components
inside. It doesn't take long to get up to 50 or 60 lbs. with a lot of components
inside. A big benefit of using this smaller
Addtronics case is that it fits easily under a standard sized desk and can
even be set on top of the desk. Even with its rollers mounted it rolled
under my desk with no problems whatsoever. At $15 you can consider them
an investment into a prevented hernia.
