mCubed HFX Chassis: Availablity in North America?

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Quixote

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I'm looking to build a fanless HTPC. (Well, that is a bit of a lie, since I will be incorporating an emergency fan that only avctivates once a certain temperature is reached.) The case that caught my eye is the mCubed HFX Chassis. Unfortunately, I can only find them online overseas, namely Austria. I live in eastern Canada (Quebec). Shipping will cost me a fortune and I'd like to avoid that if possible.
Does anyone know of any reputable places in north america that stock this beautiful piece of equipment and it's accessories, or will I just have to bite the bullet?

Thanks!
 
:blink:

whoops! I guess I missed that! Thanks for pointing that out for me. Sorry about that -- it was pretty late when I was looking at the site and I guess I must've been half asleep.
 
no problem, I never heard of this case before, so I learnt something new :blink: Very nice case, but very pricey.
 
Man, this box is solid! The thing is so well-made it's incredible. 40lbs of aluminum; even the buttons on the front are aluminum from what I can tell. The drive silencers that you can buy with the case are crafted to perfection as well.

I just had an HTPC orgasm.
 
It's worth it in my opinion. I won't be buying another case for a long time. (until the motherboards change configuration)
 
Quixote said:
Man, this box is solid! The thing is so well-made it's incredible. 40lbs of aluminum; even the buttons on the front are aluminum from what I can tell. The drive silencers that you can buy with the case are crafted to perfection as well.

I just had an HTPC orgasm.
I take it you have one and like it?

1- How hard was it to install the heat pipes?

2- What type of system are you running? How's your temps?

3- How useful is the VFD?

4- How many drives can you stuff in that thing?
 
pavlov70 said:
Quixote said:
Man, this box is solid! The thing is so well-made it's incredible. 40lbs of aluminum; even the buttons on the front are aluminum from what I can tell. The drive silencers that you can buy with the case are crafted to perfection as well.

I just had an HTPC orgasm.
I take it you have one and like it?

1- How hard was it to install the heat pipes?

2- What type of system are you running? How's your temps?

3- How useful is the VFD?

4- How many drives can you stuff in that thing?
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner; I just noticed your post.

I do have one, and I like it so far. I have only started putting the computer together, so I can't answer all of your questions yet, but I can say that the box is built very well. I am impressed with the workmanship and attention to detail of its creators. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so that in itself is really something.

1- I haven't done that just yet (probably tonight), but the assembly looks very easy to work with. The heat pipes are very flexible and the borg cooler was easy to attach to the mobo. I can't foresee any problems with this.

2- I will be running an AMD X2 64 Dual Core 4400 on an Asus A8N-SLI Premium. I'm still deciding on a video card, but I'd like to go with a Geforce EN7800 GTX TOP if I can find one because of its speed and effective, quiet cooling.
I'm using an Antec Phantom 500 because of it's hybrid fan/fanless design.
The problem that I'm having now is that the PSU is too large. I'm going to have to do some customizing. There is a hidden drive bay above the space for the power supply, so I'm eliminating it and raising the PSU with a custom bracket/heatsink that I'll have to make. The Phantom will then hang over the motherboard. I'll keep you posted on the temps, as this is an on-going project.

3- I'll let you know

4- Supposedly you can fit 3 hidden and 1 exposed 5.25". Since I'm using two drive silencer/coolers, I'm not sure how it's going to work out, and one of my hidden drive bays will be eliminated because of the PSU, as I mentioned above.

I guess I'm being a little extravagant and some of the things I want to go with are overkill, but I really want to make this the most kick-ass system I've ever had.
 
Thanks for the reply. That sounds like a helluva system you're building, I'm really curious about temp. Are you going to use the safety fan or are you trying for totally passive? While my system will be quite a bit less beefy as yours (XP64 3200+, 6600GT, drives in an external case) I still plan on using a Nexus 92mm fan plugged into the chassis header and controlled by Asus Q-fan.

That's unfortunate that the Phantom doesn't fit. I guess I'll use the Silverstone that they recommend, even though it's only 300 watts.

Mind if I ask where you bought it?

Please share your thoughts once you have it up and running for a while.

Thanks,
Rob
 
Thanks for the reply. That sounds like a helluva system you're building, I'm really curious about temp. Are you going to use the safety fan or are you trying for totally passive? While my system will be quite a bit less beefy as yours (XP64 3200+, 6600GT, drives in an external case) I still plan on using a Nexus 92mm fan plugged into the chassis header and controlled by Asus Q-fan.

That's unfortunate that the Phantom doesn't fit. I guess I'll use the Silverstone that they recommend, even though it's only 300 watts.

Mind if I ask where you bought it?

Please share your thoughts once you have it up and running for a while.

Thanks,
Rob
 
I bought everything at Elgo-Tech.

I'm using a 92mm safty fan as well. ( http://elgo-tech.com/fanamp.html )

As for the power supply, I'm not even sure if a 500W PSU will do it if I decide to get a second vid card and make it an SLI system. I'm doing some serious customization to fit the power supply, but when I'm done it should be perfect. I'm going to remove a section of the heat sink fins on part of the PSU and attach the CPU heat sink with thermal adhesive, since I'm not using the CPU fan. I have access to a laser engraver, so I'm making the bracket/stand for the power supply with .75" thick accryllic and some aluminum plating with strategically placed holes.

I'll definately keep you posted on the temperatures (ambient internal temp and CPU), but it could be another month before I can afford to buy all of the components. Arctic silver thermal compound is $40 a tube alone!
 
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