Orignal Review from HDPLEX Fanless HTPC case forum

Hi,

Here are the picture of my recently build PC using fanless HDPLEX H3.SODD silent HTPC case
http://hdplex.com/forum/album.php?albumid=6

I have installed:
P8h77-i
i7-3770S
8GB G skill 1600MHz CL7 (higly recommended)
128 gb Crucial M4 SSD
Lite on Philips 4ETS Blu ray drive

I have changed the chipset heatskink and added enzotech mosfet coolers.
Thanks larry for the support and the perfectly silent PSU you ve supplied.

Original Review from HDPLEX Fanless Computer case Forum

Got my build up and running two weeks ago. I left it running 24/7 and no problems/issues at all. It is great enclosure – looks great, feels great (heavy, solid, like the power amps we used to build in Hi-Fi heydays). Instills real sense of pride/ownership I must say!

It is going to be both HTPC (home theater PC using WMC (for now, might look at other software later)) and HA-PC (home automation PC; installed Z-wave USB controller and HomeSeer HSPRO).

I looked around a lot for components so here are my choices. I have compared multiple other passive cases (Streacom, Zeno, HFX) and this one blows them away with features and even price (amazing). USB 3.0/2.0 option and internal industrial grade power supply make it really unique. I decided against internal TV tuner so this case works great – at the end now I really prefer Ethernet TV tuner as it can be shared easily among multiple PCs (wishing/hoping for Android client in the near future).

Case: HDPLEX H3.SODD fanless HTPC case
CPU: Intel i5-2500T 45W (to match 80W internal supply)
MB – ASRock Z68M-ITX/HT
MEM – Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 w/ heat spreader, low profile
SSD (OS): Intel 520 2.5″ 120GB
HDD (storage, hybrid drive): Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750GB 2.5″
Blu-ray reader: Sony BC-5650H-01
Other (external): Silicon Dust HD Home Run Dual TV tuner, Home Seer Z-wave Controller

**Notes from physical build
Be careful with screws as aluminum is tender – do not over tighten (that said none of my screws had issues but I am experienced DIYer and careful)
Had to add plastic washers to ODD eject button screws on top of existing nuts, otherwise board was too close to button and button was always pressed ON
Power switch was falling out when pressed (too short), added 4 layers of duct tape and it is not falling into case any more
Should have used black ties (blue ones are too visible thru case openings)
IR plug goes into USB headers on MB, initially tried to use CIR header and it didn’t work
Bought longer cable for PWR/LED, provided ones too short: http://www.pchcables.com/241.html
Front USB port should be moved higher to enable adding HDD, there is plenty of space to raise it higher. Current height prevents even 2.5″ HDD installation
SSD was installed under ODD, hybrid HDD on the left most side for ease of wiring (same power cable as ODD)
**Notes from media software/OS installations
Boot up into BIOS (only short time to select this option), setup AHCI (see MB UserGuide), setup ODD as first priority for boot
AHCI *must* be setup BEFORE OS installation
Installed Win7 from DVD *without* 750GB drive connected (with it connected Win used both drives for installation)
Installed drivers for ASROCK MB
Restarted HTPC
Ran Win user experience index, showed 5.9 for graphics (it was 1.0 without drivers)
Installed eject button driver
Tested IR remote, worked fine without installing any driver (for now using remote that came with Asrock MB)
Ran windows update which included IE9 which restared HTPC
Installed Silicon Dust software and scanned channels using SD software
Shut down, installed 750GB drive, rebooted and formatted drive using Device Manager
Tuned power management states and HDD spindown
Added network drive where media is stored (using account that has no write permissions)
Installed flash player (IE request)
Enabled DLNA/sharing in Windows Media Player
Started Windows Media Center and did setup for tuner and network libraries (probably easier to do in WMP since interface in WMC is too simple -> to many selects/clicks)
Notes for HDPLEX — (for readers: these are MINOR, don’t let these persuade you to use another case 🙂

ODD eject button is not easy to adjust correctly – need a better system or provide washers with proper thickness
Power button is also not easy to adjust – needs to be taller/stick out more
Both would be better off with some kind of spring system or use full switch with wires instead of plastic pieces that push against switches soldered on the boards
USB port – would be really nice to move it higher to enable using the 3rd drive bay
POWER/LED cables need to be longer (24 inch, http://www.pchcables.com/241.html) … I know some MB don’t need this but many do and longer won’t hurt … luckily I live close to PCH cables and they carry such exotic stuff (they do ship as well)

Original Review from HD-PLEX Fanless HTPC case Forum

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share the details of my build and ask opinions about temperatures under stress.

Build:
Asus P8H67-i Deluxe
Intel i5 2400S (65W)
2 x Corsair 4gb 1333MHz DDR3
Samsung 128GB SSD 830 series
HDPlex H3.SODD fanless passive HTPC case
Win XP 32-bit (as I had it lying around). Might upgrade to Win 7 64-bit.

This computer has to be 100% reliable as it will be doing mission critical data-logging and processing. So firstly I’ve basically left it at the un-overclocked standard settings, turned off any power settings and turned off the processor’s Turbo mode.

I’m stress testing using the Blend setting of Prime95 with Realtime priority. Logging temperatures is harder than I thought it would be: Asus’ own software gives different numbers than speed fan. Seems to be some kind of aggregate? Anyway, after an hour of Prime95 we have:

Asus AI Suite
CPU: 58C
Motherboard: 60C

Speedfan
Cores: 69C, 68C, 70C, 71C
Motherboard: 60C
Above RAM slots: 59C

So, the CPU temp seems okay. But how is this motherboard temp? I might also try reinstating some of the power saving features for idle time.

UPDATE 2:
Okay, I’ve been doing some testing and my gut is that the 80W internal power supply might be insufficient.

I was reading this post ( http://hdplex.com/forum/showpos…0&postcount=10 ) and see that a 35W TDP processor in a similar system to mind is asking for 42W during prime. Looking at the specs. of the 80W supply, it’s actually a 60W supply in this setup as there is no air cooling, and since my m/b was up at 60C we could be looking at around 46W maximum power output (60 x 0.975^10). And, of course, my processor is 65W TDP so could easily need an extra 10W or so juice under stress.

Might be totally irrelevant, but also the 12V rail is quite low according to the BIOS at 11.6V.

I’m trying an overnight Prime95 now with an ATX from another desktop, so let’s see if that crashes. The only problem is, I can’t close the case so the MB temp will be different. But if we’re stable in the morning, I guess I’m one step closer!

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Just a final post to share my conclusions if it’s helpful for anyone building a similar system to mine. In the end it looks likely that the internal 80W power supply is not a *quite* sufficient for use in this system combination and useage. It might well be fine for HTPC use, but it’s not stable under any settings for number crunching or anything requiring the GPU to work hard.

I’m going to try out the PicoPSU option now, and maybe try and sell the 80W supply on ebay (or, more likely, throw it away). Good luck with your own builds!

Original Review from AVS Forum

System config

Case: H3.SODD Fanless HTPC Chassis 248 USD
PSU: Industrial 80W AC-DC ATX Fanless Power Supply 58 USD
Motherboard: ZOTAC Z68ITX-A-E LGA 1155 Intel Z68 165USD
Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core 125USD
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) KVR1333D3N9K2/4G 32 USD
HDD1 (System): OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-60G 2.5″ 60GB SATA III 105 USD
HDD2 (Data): Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARX 2TB 170USD
Drive: Lite-On DL-4ETS Bluray Combo Drive 78 USD
IR Receiver: Internal IR receiver with MCE Remote Control(RC6) 18 USD

Total: 999 USD (funny, isn’t it)

A few considerations:

I wanted my system to:
– work as a HTPC
– act as a router for my small home network
– serve as a http server – light load only ofc
– be as silent as possible
– consume as little power as possible
– look nice and blend with my other stuff in the cabinet

I also considered that SATA III and USB 3.0 should be mandatory.

H3.SODD Fanless HTPC Chassis is a very nice case and it’s TOTALLY SILENT. I mean I have to check the power light to see if the computer is on.
Beware that this case needs a little space around it to have a little bit of airflow. If you use it for HTPC/router purposes I highly recommend it.
Also it does have a USB 3.0 port on the front which is very good (and rare). Also it is very nice.
I would have bought the H3.S case (which is the same but without the slot loadind bluray) but it was not available.

ZOTAC Z68ITX-A-E LGA 1155 Intel Z68 is totally overkill for a HTPC build, but I need a motherboard with:
-two Gigabit ports (remember the router function)
-USB 3.0
-SATA III
-HDMI output
-miniITX form factor
-Sandy Bridge platform
The Zotac was the only one I could find.

Intel Core i3-2100 is also too much, but could not find in my area a 2100T in a reasonable amount of time. 2100T it’s the same proc but restricted to 2.5Ghz max freq, hence 35W.

OCZ Vertex 3 is also totally overkill, because you can use the mSATA port of the ZOTAC for a smaller mSATA drive. But could not find one at the moment.
Anyway any SSD solution is too much, because this system will boot once and act as a router for a very long time. So the speed of the SSD is not used. After a while when I’ll build my next
system I’ll get rid of the OCZ and make a partition on the Western Digital for the Ubuntu system.

I bought the blu-ray drive only because of the case. IMHO I consider that bluray distribution will silently fade away.
Normally I would go with the H3.S case, but not available.

================================================== ============
A few tests:

Operating system, Ubuntu 11.10 minimal & Xserver
All temperatures measurements at 24C ambient & WITH THE CASE IN THE CABINET AS IN THE PICTURE.
Power consumption measured at the wall.

– idle, Intel Core i3 2100 3.1Ghz ondemand (will scale down to 1.6Ghz), —— 29W, 49°C
– xbmc 11.0 Eden beta1 – 1080p h264 hardware playback (vaapi & intel linux graphics) —- 36W, 57°C
– prime95, 4 cores, blend test, 90 min run, Intel Core i3 2100 3.1Ghz, ondemand (will scale up to 3.1Ghz) —- 70W, 86°C

As I mentioned all the tests are done with case in the cabine with a somewhat restricted airflow.
If I place the case on a table, in “open space” temps are:

– idle 43°C
– prime95 75°C

Regards,
Cristian