@edh, Thank you! I have been wondering about a blanking plate, or whether air is being pulled through the unused vent by the 80mm fan beside it. I need a good way to test this (smoke maker perhaps?). I could design an optional side panel that has a 120 or 140mm vent on it. Then you can optionally us...

Happy to hear it worked out for you!

SEP 2014: A few L1 (single expansion slot) cases are still available. JUNE 2014: L2 cases shipped to customers. APRIL 2014: Taking pre-orders for a limited run of L2 cases. Think L1 with dual expansion slots, or room for dual slot width GPU. MAR 2014: Better late then never. L1 2014 is in stock. DEC...

Cool, thanks for the links! With my design, I have a rear slot (84 x 8 mm) and two top-side slots ((160 x 3 (maybe a bit too thin)) x 2). This gives me a surface area of 1632 mm. However, the vent chamber (above 2x 80mm fans) has a volume of 142272 mm. I wonder if this would be sufficient free area ...

Any thoughts on this? Sorry for the horrible drawing. Imagine the outer border is the case body, with an opening at the back/top. I remember reading somewhere that fans should have a certain amount of clearance. Seems like it was about 10 mm or so? The point of this is that it would direct noise out...

Interesting idea. Everyone has different taste/requirements. Keep at it! Do you plan to have the sides open? Otherwise, I'm wondering how you plan to exhaust the heat.

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on designing optimum airflow for a small custom mini-itx case I'm trying to build. I've been using Intel's TASC guide as a reference, but there's a few things that are suggested that I'm not too sure about. For example, Intel suggests: 1. Vent right above the CPU (100...

@defaultuser: Now I feel stupid, I totally missed your last post. The Node 304 looks like it will provide a lot of flexibility.

I'd stick with the ISK300-65 and then get a higher power PicoPSU later if you find you need a dedicated GPU. I'm trying to design and sell a new Mini-ITX case that would also be a good fit, but it's also going to use a PicoPSU, and probably won't be ready for a couple months. :) ISK300-65 Pros - Com...

I got a Dell U2412M (24", IPS panel, 1920x1200) about three months ago, and I'm very pleased with it. Absolutely silent, as far as I can hear! Is that across all of the brightness range? I did look at that monitor and also the U2312HM, although I couldn't find much about noise (or lack of) on the U...

Thanks for the responses!

I received my NH-L9i yesterday. It can be rotated four ways (as long as the wires reach the fan header). The only problem I ran into was a slight manufacturing inconsistency. One of two heatpipe nubs protruded slightly past the keepout area, and interfered with the 4 pin ATX 12v connector. Not reall...

While I haven't yet seen one in person, the one thing I don't like about Noctua is the brown color scheme of there fans. Wish they'd change to black.

Thanks for the review! Can the heatsink be rotated or mounted in any orientation? I noticed in the photos you have it installed so the fin openings are directed toward the IO ports and memory. I'm hoping it will also mount rotated 90 degrees from what your review setup shows? Not positive. The ends...

When it comes to building a Mini-ITX computer, what's your ideal setup? 1. Storage: a. Minimal - 1x 2.5" SSD/HDD b. Moderate - 2x 2.5" SSD/HDD c. Full - 1-2x 2.5" SSD/HDD, 1x 3.5" HDD d. Other 2. Expansion: a. Minimal - no expansion slot, external optical drive to use once in awhile b. Moderate - ex...

Thanks for the review!

Can the heatsink be rotated or mounted in any orientation? I noticed in the photos you have it installed so the fin openings are directed toward the IO ports and memory. I'm hoping it will also mount rotated 90 degrees from what your review setup shows?

Thanks for the info. I'll post back after I try both methods. I first read about velcro here, and sorta laughed because it was so simple, but then got to thinking it may actually work quite well to isolate vibrations because of all the little fingers, and the increased (or is it decreased!?) surface...

Does anyone know which is better at vibration isolation: grommets or velcro? I have a 2.5" 5400 rpm WD HDD. I've got some grommets ordered, but don't have any velcro yet.

Maybe velcro could be added to the "HDD vibration & noise reducing methods - ranked" sticky thread?