[Pc_Support] Chenming 118 Series 11"x9"x14" MicroATX "box"

[Bryan J. Smith]

Okay, I got tired of my cheap MicroATX case as more crappy plastic broke
off.  I was also looking to run 2 hard drives at once and that wasn't
going to happen with this sucker.

For more on that case, it's high-end MicroATX PS and some of the other
MicroATX cases I had looked at, see these prior posts:  
  http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/pc_support/2005-April/000287.html  
  http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/pc_support/2005-April/000288.html  
  http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/pc_support/2005-April/000289.html  

As I had mentioned, I had looked at the Antec Aira, but it uses a
proprietary/non-standard power supply.  I had hoped that someone had
more of a "boxed small form-factor" case with a MicroATX PS, but I never
found one.  But now I think I've found a good alternative.

The Chenming 118 Series ...
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811125485  

There are several resellers selling all sorts of "mod" kits for this.
Frankly, I went with the "stock black aluminum" version with the
standard 300W PS, and I'm glad I did.


- Form-factor:  11" x 9" x 14"

It's not a small box at all, and if you really want small, you'll want
to look at one of the proprietary/non-standard form-factors/"barebones"
out there.  I wouldn't even bother with the Antec Aira, I'd go for this
instead, which is a bit bigger, but well worth it.  Why?

Well, despite it's size, it takes a _full_ ATX power supply -- not
MicroATX, _full_ ATX.  That's a really nice option if you need a
powerful CPU -- maybe you're getting the latest Athlon64 x2 and GeForce
6800 Ultra or 7800GTX, each which will eat up 100W.  Now you don't have
to balance power against power, you can have both (as long as your
mainboard is still MicroATX).

And it's not so cramped, yet still smaller.


- Weight:  Sub-10lbs.

And before you dismiss it as "too heavy," it's aluminum and sub-10lbs.,
even a tad lighter than the "smaller" 12" x 5.5" x 12" steel case I had
before.  Fully loaded, it's still quite portable -- far more so than any
ATX case I've had, and no worse than most MicroATX.


- Sturdiness:  Better than expected (except for handle)

Sure, aluminum is lighter than steel and bends.  If you twist around the
3-plane (side-top-side) cover, that's not good.  But despite the weight,
it still has _2_ solid "beams" on each side of the box, front to back.
One is on its own (on the right facing the front), the other underneath
the mid-shelf (on the left facing the front).  The box could _almost_
take my weight sitting on it when covered (although the top would still
"dent in").

The handle seemed like a skimp though.  It's plastic.  While hard, I
wouldn't "jerk" or "yank" it when it's fully loaded.  But at least it
_is_ set in the frame well.


- Space/Expansion/Drives:  Very well done, but not too, too cramped

The box is really "split" into an "upper" and a "lower" half, a good
~2.5U (~4.25-4.50") for each section.

The bottom is the MicroATX mainboard, 4 expansion slots on the left
(facing it from front), CPU on the right.  It easily took the stock AMD
Cooler Master fansink, and could have probably taken the extra 0.5" tall
aftermarket one I was going to use (but decided not to bother pulling
the other one off which seems to be doing well.

The top is the PS (back-left facing it from the front), drives (front-
center exposed) and 120mm fan area (back-right, facing it from the
front).

The drive options are most excellent for the form-factor:  
  exposed:  2 x 5.25", 1 x 3.5"
   hidden:  2 x 3.5" (front-right, facing it from the front).

It's clear that they figured they might as well get in a full ATX PS and
2nd 5.25" bay instead of cutting another 1" off the height -- probably a
good idea as an 8" wouldn't make any difference versus 9".  The 2 x 3.5"
drives are hidden on the right, although they could have easily done
another 2 on the left too.  I'm sure they didn't, to give you more room
to move cabling on the left, typically where most of the mainboard
connectors are anyway -- from the Power/HD/Reset to ATA, USB, etc...

BTW, the depth is even good enough so you can fit a removable drive bay
in one of the 5.25" bays (at least with the stock PS).  In fact, that's
what I did myself, so I can thrown in an old PATA as necessary for
training/multiple configurations/etc...


- Cooling

Now here's the best part, not only do you have the 80mm on the P.S. but
a nice 120mm on the back-right (facing it from the front) that just
draws out the hot air from the CPU, as well as the internal 2 x 3.5" HD
that are in the front-right.  I had 2 high capacity (>>200GB), 7200rpm
SATA hard drives stacked up against each other on their sides and it
_never_ exceeded 30 degrees C at the drives.  This thing is 20 degrees C
_lower_ ambient/CPU/HDs/video-card than the other, crappy one (with 3 x
40mm plus a 92mm radial too!).

The 120x120x25mm fan is not too loud, but it pushes enough air to be
audible more than some might like.  A 120x120x38mm fan as a slower RPM
might be better and slightly quieter, but it's a perfect balance.  But
to be fair, I didn't get "adequate" ventilation on the other case
_until_ I put in a 92mm radial slot fan, and the dual-BB 40mm case fans
weren't exactly "quiet" either.

It should also be noted that in this "desktop box," the expansion cards
are "straight upward" so heat rises and doesn't "trapped under" either
itself, or (in the case of a "flipped ATX"), the PCB of the card above
it.  The PS is directly above the card area, so a PS with an intake
would really help.  The stock one isn't, just the outtake, but it still
seems to cool well enough.


- Power Supply:  24+4-pin ATX2.0+P4, only 300W, but split +12V

Yes, you heard correctly, that is a _split_ +12V.  Only 300W, but it is
actually capable of quite a bit more.  145W max on the 3.3+5V (17A+25A,
respectively), 180W on the split-12V (10A+15A, respectively).  Only 1
SATA power connector, although it _does_ have the 3.3V line as well as 5
+12V that a Molex does.

My Foxconn nForce4 standard MicroATX mainboard took the 24+4-pin ATX2.0
+P4, and then I used each of the Molex cables to feed in the 6-pin on
the video card.  Seems to be quite stable at UT running for 30 minutes
intensely.

I have a "Winchester" sub-40W Athlon 64 3200+ (3000+ and 3500+
"Winchesters" are also available), so the P.S. could handle it and the
100W guzzling GeForce 6800GT.  If you go with an Athlon 64 3700+, FX or
one of the new x2 that require 60-110W, you'll probably want another
P.S.

But that's where this case is great!  It can take a _standard_, _full_
ATX!


- Cables, Front Panel, etc... --- very nicely done ...

One thing I really get sick of is the "spliced cables" of audio,
FireWire and USB connectors.  There's pretty much 1 "agreed upon"
standard that has stuck now, and the Chenming just bundles those
connectors for it -- at least for MicroATX (as well as the mainboard
standoffs, as MicroATX is always 9.6" x 9.6" and fixed mounts).  It
worked out great for my Foxconn nForce4 MicroATX mainboard, taking me 30
seconds to plug in the audio, USB and FireWire, instead of 15 _minutes_
like on the prior one.

The power, speaker, LED, HD and reset were still separate, but easy to
hook up right in the left-front of the mainboard (and nothing blocking
me above -- that's fine, I don't need 2 more HDs blocking the way).

There are also 2 temperature displays -- one for CPU, another for HD.
They are thin thermaresistor types you stick in-between the CPU fans and
between hard drives (or tape to the top).  I found the HD to be very
accurate if you place right above the spindle.  I never exceed 30
degrees C on either drive.  The CPU was a bit more difficult, as it was
hard to get in-between the very narrow spaces between fins, and I'm
closer to the fan above the sink, that the bottom of the sink (reading
probably 8-10 degrees C below what the mainboard thermaresistor will
say).


- Negatives:  Open "box" means more cables to tie off ...

Any negatives?  Maybe just the "box" design means you have to tie your
cabling better.  Especially with your drives and cables being "above"
the CPU fan.

When I first powered on the system, my CPU went over 50 degrees C after
5 minutes of UT2004.  I quickly discovered it was because the power
cable of the 120mm fan was "hanging down into" the CPU fan and it wasn't
spinning.  Still, if the CPU was only just over 50 degrees C (in the
mainboard thermaresistor monitoring), that means it _is_ pulling enough
heat off of just the sink without the fan running.  But since taking it
off, I'm well below 40 degree C (mainboard thermaresistor) after 30
minutes of UT2004, and 25-26 degrees C mid-sink on the LCD on front when
the fan is running and I'm just typing stuff like this e-mail.


- Bottom Line

Given the portability, cooling and design tri-fecta, this is the only
case I'm going to use for MicroATX, and I'm going to try to stick with
MicroATX when I can.  I mean, "shared PCI" is really a PITA anyway, and
most things come on-board, leaving a need to only 1-2 PCI slots for
other stuff anyway.  If I need mega-I/O, I'm going to go PCI-X or 4+
PCIe slots (possibly nVidia Pro and dual-processor anyway) so I'll save
that for Extended ATX / SSI EEB form-factors.  So I'm really not seeming
much of a need for a "full ATX" case ever again, especially when I can
use a "full ATX PS" with a MicroATX mainboard.

So much so that I think I'm going to convert my wife's current Athlon XP
2600+, GeForce 6800GT AGP on a Socket-462 KT266 chipset ATX mainboard in
a big Antec SX1000 series ATX case to one of these cases with a
Socket-462 MicroATX mainboard.  Especially when Socket-462 MicroATX
mainboards are so cheap, and I can probably convert for $100 (and still
use her 400W if this 300W won't cut it).


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                     b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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