Don't know if anyone else has already pointed this out, but Zalman have a new HTPC case called the HD135 and it has been reviewed over at http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zalman/HD135/. It's similar in concept to the HD160, but rather than being 160mm in height, it's 135mm tall (hence the model names). The reduction in height, means that getting a tower cpu cooler is going to prove difficult, not even their 9500 CPU cooler will fit. Aesthetically this case looks miles better than their HD160. The DVD opening and VFD are now centred, and although it seem that there's only a power button to spoil it's minimalist fascia, a series of front mounted USB/Firewire/Audio sockets are hidden behind a flap that stretches the length of the case. This also hides an external 3.5" bay that could house, say, a combo floppy/storage card unit.
The CPU outlet vent on top of the case is also retained albeit redesigned, but there is no longer a way of blanking it off. PSU placement remains the same. It's inlet vents have been redesigned, and used used in each of the four corners of the case (whereas the HD160 only had the two at the rear of the case). The front set of these vents (along with perforations on the underside) provide airflow to the two hard-drive cages which flank both sides of the DVD drive cage. Zalman have switched back to a horizontal orientation for the hard drives, but they've also ditched any attempt in dampening them (probably as the HD160 dampening system was deemed ineffective). The drive cages themselves are removeable, so that does give us the option of placing hard drives onto foam blocks. You might also be able to suspend the drives, by using the side vent and the DVD drive cage as anchoring posts using fabric elastic.
Gone are the two 80mm fans on the backplane that the HD160 had, replaced by some perforations. The case has a single 80mm fan just in front of the PSU which blows out through the bottom of the case (no need to worry about dust settling on your shelf then, eh). They've also bundled an optional fan & cpu duct that connects to the cases CPU perforations on top. It looks like this fan is also 80mm. Given the area that the CPU perforations cover, I would be tempted to try using a 120mm Nexus fan.
What is of concern is that all the perforations seem quite restrictive, they only account for a quarter of the surface area they cover (if you see what I mean). Similarly side vents are quite thin, which in the case of the PSU is again restrictive, especially as a quarter of the swept area of the PSU fan will be blanked off.
Zalman have published some performance results based on a Pentium D 830 (130W tdp) & an nVidia 7800GT card. They've used stock cooling as well as their CNPS8000 for the CPU, and a VF700-Cu for the VGA card. http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/vie ... 0&code=029 They report a 20db drop when switching from stock cooling to 5V on the Zalman cooling products, but fail to mention how they measure that.
Zalman HD135 - a new HTPC case
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Toms hardware have an article on an HTPC build using this case (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/10/1 ... system_uk/). Although their brief is to build a quiet system, the choice of components seem to be in conflict of that brief. And what's even worse, they don't even make any sound pressure measurements.
What it does highlight is that the CPU vent's fan+duct is going to be tricky to use given the case's height. Apart from the potential problem that the height of the CPU cooler might prevent the inclusion of the vent's fan+duct, I've another concern. Most cpu coolers blow air downwards, and the vent blows air upwards. Having two fans backing onto each in such close proximity means that they'll be robbing each other of airflow which can't be a good thing for CPU temperatures. IMO this sort of setup only makes sense with CPU coolers which can blow air upwards.
What it does highlight is that the CPU vent's fan+duct is going to be tricky to use given the case's height. Apart from the potential problem that the height of the CPU cooler might prevent the inclusion of the vent's fan+duct, I've another concern. Most cpu coolers blow air downwards, and the vent blows air upwards. Having two fans backing onto each in such close proximity means that they'll be robbing each other of airflow which can't be a good thing for CPU temperatures. IMO this sort of setup only makes sense with CPU coolers which can blow air upwards.
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Mari0-Br0s
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No, but I'm very intersted in buying one, even if it is VERY OVERPRICED. But I'm waiting for the SiulentPCReview on it to see how the HDD mounting perform. Everything else is fine for me.
The previous HD160 had super HDD noise vibration with his mounting platform.
I would like to build this HTPC:
Zalman HD135
AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+
ASUS M2NPV-VM
1GB Dual Channel kit 667MHz (Kingston or OCZ)
Thermalright XP-120
Scythe SFF21E
Western Digital WD5000KS
Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-S
The only thing I'm not decided yet, is the PSU, but I already got a nice topic started in the PSU forum.
I've just seen the Tom's Hardware link, and it seems that they're using the same rig as me, but the guy who wrote this article is a total idiot like kojak said.
Temperature should be fine in this case, and with my config, I don't think the noise might be a problem, the PSU should be the most noisy component, so this is why I still havn't decided on which one to get.
If you think the XP-120 won't fit, well it will!!!(please note this is for an HD135 and M2NPV-VM mobo) I've just made some calculations, and it should fit without any trouble. I also though at start that it should be in the PSU way, but take a look at this.
First of all, I needed to known what was the space measure between the cpu socket and the PSU. To get that, I've found a picture of the actual real size of the motherboard, 1:1 ratio, here: http://www.unitycorp.co.jp/images/im-pr ... d_half.jpg . Measuring from the cpu socket to the motherboard edge, it's ~41mm.
As every motherboard, the mounting holes are always at the same place, so this pictures: http://www.matbe.com/images/biblio/art_ ... 044137.jpg shows another 10mm, between the board and the PSU.
Which now makes ~51mm between the cpu socket to the PSU.
Next, I've looked at the way the XP-120 should be mounted on this motherboard. The heatpipes should be toward the DIMM sockets. By knowing this fact, I took the XP-120 width which is 125mm.
To know the space the heatsink takes on the side near the PSU, I divided by 2 that measure. Which now makes 62.5mm.
But I needed to known the actual physical space of the heatsink from the cpu socket to it's edge.
So I went into the SPCR review and found the width of the base. The base is 1.6" (40mm). I then divided this in two, which makes 20mm.
Then the only thing I had to do is substract 20mm from 62.5, and ta-dam! 42.5mm.
The XP-120 physical space requiered from the cpu socket to his right edga is 42.5mm. And the total space between the M2NPV-VM cpu socket and the PSU in the HD135 is ~ 51mm.
Which means that even with the XP-120 installed, we still have a super 8.5mm free.
I know, I know, don't thank me, I am the best!
EDIT: corrected first image link
The previous HD160 had super HDD noise vibration with his mounting platform.
I would like to build this HTPC:
Zalman HD135
AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+
ASUS M2NPV-VM
1GB Dual Channel kit 667MHz (Kingston or OCZ)
Thermalright XP-120
Scythe SFF21E
Western Digital WD5000KS
Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-S
The only thing I'm not decided yet, is the PSU, but I already got a nice topic started in the PSU forum.
I've just seen the Tom's Hardware link, and it seems that they're using the same rig as me, but the guy who wrote this article is a total idiot like kojak said.
Temperature should be fine in this case, and with my config, I don't think the noise might be a problem, the PSU should be the most noisy component, so this is why I still havn't decided on which one to get.
If you think the XP-120 won't fit, well it will!!!(please note this is for an HD135 and M2NPV-VM mobo) I've just made some calculations, and it should fit without any trouble. I also though at start that it should be in the PSU way, but take a look at this.
First of all, I needed to known what was the space measure between the cpu socket and the PSU. To get that, I've found a picture of the actual real size of the motherboard, 1:1 ratio, here: http://www.unitycorp.co.jp/images/im-pr ... d_half.jpg . Measuring from the cpu socket to the motherboard edge, it's ~41mm.
As every motherboard, the mounting holes are always at the same place, so this pictures: http://www.matbe.com/images/biblio/art_ ... 044137.jpg shows another 10mm, between the board and the PSU.
Which now makes ~51mm between the cpu socket to the PSU.
Next, I've looked at the way the XP-120 should be mounted on this motherboard. The heatpipes should be toward the DIMM sockets. By knowing this fact, I took the XP-120 width which is 125mm.
To know the space the heatsink takes on the side near the PSU, I divided by 2 that measure. Which now makes 62.5mm.
But I needed to known the actual physical space of the heatsink from the cpu socket to it's edge.
So I went into the SPCR review and found the width of the base. The base is 1.6" (40mm). I then divided this in two, which makes 20mm.
Then the only thing I had to do is substract 20mm from 62.5, and ta-dam! 42.5mm.
The XP-120 physical space requiered from the cpu socket to his right edga is 42.5mm. And the total space between the M2NPV-VM cpu socket and the PSU in the HD135 is ~ 51mm.
Which means that even with the XP-120 installed, we still have a super 8.5mm free.
I know, I know, don't thank me, I am the best!
EDIT: corrected first image link