Aspire X-QPack: A Lanparty Dream
by Joshua Buss on July 2, 2005 1:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Internal Design
Removing the cover of the X-QPack is as easy as unscrewing the three thumbscrews in the back and sliding it off. In this shot you can still see the protective film covering the inside of the three transparent windows.
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Another of just the cover, this time with the protective film removed.
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This is one of the most useful shots of the X-Pack, as it gives you the best overall idea how the case is arranged internally.
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We can immediately see the two distinct areas of the chassis; the higher of the two for the drives, power supply, and exhaust, and the lower for the motherboard, add-on cards, and, as we found out after we put a system into the unit, excessive cable clutter.
Before the power supply is taken out, the case seems like it'd be impossible to work in, and in practice we found this to be quite true.
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Once it's taken out though, there is actually quite a bit of free space inside the QPack. Here we can see all of the possible locations of the computer's drives. There's space for two hard drives, two 5.25", and one more 3.5", be it external or internal. It even looks as though a courageous modder could squeeze another one or two hard drives on the opposite side, or possibly components for a water-cooling setup.
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R3MF - Tuesday, July 5, 2005 - link
#52 -"I second (or third or fourth or whatever) the call for some words of comparison to the Antec Aria (it's the only other mATX standard cube case, right?); I can see this offers more bays and a bigger power supply, but what else?"
add the Silverstone SG01 to that comparison too.
and have a part two article looking at high-end mATX motherboards.
that would be ace!
Noriaki - Tuesday, July 5, 2005 - link
Hey is the 420W PSU that comes with this case 20pin or 24pin main connector? And I know it matters less, but does it have the 6pin PCIe connector?sprockkets - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
FSP or Fortron Source Power and it's varients are one of the best.johnsonx - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
I second (or third or fourth or whatever) the call for some words of comparison to the Antec Aria (it's the only other mATX standard cube case, right?); I can see this offers more bays and a bigger power supply, but what else?Also, for everyone talking about the power supply not being standard, I don't think anything prevents you from installing a normal depth ATX power supply, as long as your optical drives are not overly long; most of the newer optical drives are pretty short.
Finally, I do agree about the window. Couldn't they offer a windowsless variant? Cases with windows are just toys to me.
IronChefMoto - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
I'm not real happy that it has a non-standard PSU -- one of the things that worries me about long-term ownership of my Shuttle SN85G4V3 XPC. The advantage with a DIY mATX box like this SHOULD BE the replaceability of parts. Of course, Antec screwed themselves in the ass with their proprietary Aria PSU in the same way.I'm also not keen on the windows. Windows are nice on a large tower where you can clean up your case (when you have the room too). Windows on something like this is akin to showing off a really unkempt closet full of pack rat stuff.
Nice review, by the way. Would love to see a comparison if and when the Antec Aria II comes out.
Pannenkoek - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
[OT] Thanks Kristopher, I missed those comments. Odd that that would be possible, but I appreciate the protection of their sources by editors in any case.R3MF - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
[edit]with the price difference i could even afford to stick the SST VFD panel in the spare 5.25" bay for use in a HTPC!
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R3MF - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
@ 44 (re: SST SG01) -i agree that SST cases are overpriced, but it is very affordable compared to a shuttle.
my SN25P cost me £285
by comparison:
SG01 = £100 (or thereabouts)
NF4 mATX M/B = £60 (tho i would pay more for a better baord)
400W Akasa ATX2.01 PSU = £40 (yeah, sure i need more, not)
Via ENVY PCI soundcard = £25
TOTAL = £225
looks pretty affordable to me.:)
i only wish there were some high-end mATX motherboards to put in it. i repeat; come on MSI/Abit/DFI/Asus, show us what you can do.......
Tujan - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link
Dont know if that was a positive on a different full size power supply. Or the same positive for a full size DVD player.Too Im not fully convinced of the carrying copacity used from the handle of this m-ATX case.
I think that this case however has been the best looking m-atx alternative out there for a few months running. Everytime I look at Newegg.com they are sold out of them.
If used one of those ATX 2.0 w detachable wiring would be a super setup.
Surprising other m-atx manufacturers don't have something like this on a melt already. There are several M-ATX Intel that can run dual-core with this case.Hard to find on the web though. Certainly the m-atx AMDs would go well with it.
Would get one to carry it around.Looks really good,. Nothing beats its value cost. I would trade out the power supply for one I listed,if it fit.
All sorts of colors too.
Tujan - Monday, July 4, 2005 - link