Aspire X-QPack: A Lanparty Dream
by Joshua Buss on July 2, 2005 1:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Cooling
The X-QPack relies on an all-exhaust system to keep the computer cool. The main component is a semi-transparent blue LED 120mm fan.
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Larger fans allow for more air to be moved at lower noise volumes, so this is definitely a good sign that this will probably not be too noisy of a case.
The power supply has an internal 80mm fan set to exhaust as well, so these two fans working together will simply attempt to suck all of the hot air out of the back, and by creating this negative pressure inside the chassis, bring cooler air in through the perforations on both sides of the case.
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Something else to keep in mind when it comes to cooling in this case is that there simply isn't enough clearance for some of the larger heatsink/fan combos for CPUs out there. Our test bed has a Zalman CNPS7000cu heatsink/fan and it fits with only about half an inch of clearance when sliding the tray back into position.
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Construction
Overall we are very happy at the way the X-QPack is put together. Parts such as the motherboard tray and hard drive cage are made with aluminum to help keep the components cool and the case light, yet there are enough supporting rods and beams throughout the case to keep it very sturdy. Here are the two main supports for the power supply, one of which also helps to hold up the 5.25" drives.
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And here you can see how the long rod will help keep the case's front or backs from flexing under the strain of holding up the power supply.
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Looking from the other side you can see the rolled edge for the hard drive support beam and how this will also help support the drives.
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Lastly, we considered the construction and design of the front-mounted carrying handle, and in practice it is easy to use, solidly built, and still manages to look good when collapsed.
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Questioner - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
I have this case with the MSI Radeon Xpress 200 MB with an AMD64 (Venice)3200+, 4 sticks of Geil 512MB PC3200(With Blue heatsinks)ATI 550 Pro TV Tuner card, VIA Vinyl Sound card, 2 Plextor SATA DVD/DVDRW drives, 2 Segate 120GB SATA drives,Mitsume 3.5 floppy drive with built in smart card reader,Gigabyte cpu cooler with blue led fan, blue led SATA power connectors, UV SATA drive cables,Logitech MX 1000 laser mouse, Logisys lighted blue keyboard and Sceptre 19" LCD 12ms. The question about can full sized power supplies be used is yes, only if you use Liteon or Sony optical drives because they are shorter than the other drives. This case is great it is very quiet and cool the motherboard lacks any overclocking options but I was able to push it to 2.2gHz with a software tweak and it was stable and I didn't need any other voltage tweaks to do it. If any one wants pictures of my system I would be glad to show it if I knew how to post pictures on Anandtech, plus my system is alot neater than what the Anand's reveiw looks like because I have alot less cable clutter than Anand's, plus I did a little cable modding to make it look better.at80eighty - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
#30 , did you even read my disclaimer?thanx for the answers though :p
bbomb - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
How does this case compare to an Antec Aria? Its a pity they didnt compare the two as they are very similiar looking from the outside.IPSecGuy - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
Great review - thanks for the in depth info.Just a couple of (hopefully) quick questions;
1 - What MicroATX mobo's would you recommend for this case? I have looked at some Intel 915 foxconn and ASUS mobo's and have also looked at some AMD 939 based MicroATX boards. AMD vs Intel aside, which would be your top pick from each camp? (btw - haven't seen one with SATA-II support, so if you are aware of one let me know)
2 - Assuming that selecting a mATX board with pci-x16 is a given, do you think the PSU included with this case would support a vid-card such as a nVidia 6800GT/Ultra or the newer 7800GTX?
Thanks for your time!
deathwalker - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
KristopherKubicki - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
Olaf van der Spek: Aren't there like four MicroBTX boards on the whole market? And aren't two of them based on 915G? I'll pass.Kristopher
Gholam - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
#29, did you even read the article? This is a case, not an SFF barebone system. It has nothing to do with SATA or SLI. It will accept pretty much any mATX motherboard, which DFI LanParty isn't. Abit is rumored to have a mATX SLI board in the works, but nobody has seen it yet. The PSU can be replaced, but the space is tight, and you'll have to use a short 5.25" drive to leave enough room for it, and fitting a long PSU such as Antec Phantom is out of the question.at80eighty - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
utter n00b questions :-1) SATA 2 supported?
2) SLI - capable?
3) Can a mobo like the DFI LanParty fit in this case?
4) Can the PSU be replaced with something like a Antec Neopower?
Appreciate any help :)
Olaf van der Spek - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
#25: MicroBTX?vfxraven19 - Sunday, July 3, 2005 - link
I bought this case and love it! I think this is better than the Antec Aria, but the Aria is still a nice case...