Scott and Steve; One of the things I was looking for is no holes on the top of the case as we have mice nesting issues and holes on top equals eventual use as potty stop in our sites :-) I also tried using a Supermicro 1u rack case that looked good but way louder than I want to use even at my site... There is a version of the SC512 that has a 200w PS that might be a lot quieter according to the docs.. but SuperMicro cases and no SM motherboards need some special attention.. The ARK case has holes on both sides, the back and in front behind the panel. It also has a pretty blue light fan on the back of the front panel just inside in front/under the HD bay... blowing through (quietly) to the rear over the motherboard..it is taller than the C137 but quite a bit narrower by the looks... and 13 " deep or so which was an issue in my Quintron 900 ex-paging station Cabinet. The power supply is only 300w on the ARK case so I will correct that... . At 10:21 AM 9/22/2009, Stephen Rodgers wrote:
It's been my experience that most cases for Mini-itx motherboards are poorly designed from a thermal standpoint. The best thermal design I've seen to date is the Casetronic C137 case. It has plenty of ventilation holes on the top and sides as well as a case fan near the PSU.
Steve WA6ZFT