TT561B ATX Case - Compatibility, Ventilation, and

sgs

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May 31, 2004
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Found case with 5 external 5.25 bays: kasecom.com/default.php
TT561B Black Metal PC Mid Tower $45.99

Given no power supply, this seems pricey. However, it's hard to find 5 5.25
bays in a case less than 20 inches high. Also, the front panel ports + the
(advertised) airflow holes around the entire case seem attractive.

I'll probably have 1 DVD drive, 1 CD rom drive, 2 SATA 150 drives (in the 5.25
bays, via removeable hard disk trays), 1 floppy, and 1 5.25 bay reserved for
expansion (perhaps 3rd SATA drive later). I'll also routinely use a USB
(external) enclosure with an ATA133 drive in place of tape backups. Anyway, I
have compatibility, ventilation, and power supply questions re the TT561B.

1. Is there any incompatibility between the TT561B case and the Asus P4C800-E
Deluxe Motherboard (Pentium 4, Socket 478, 875P, ATX, 4GB DDR, 800MHz FSB)?

mobo : www.pcavailable.com/web/index.aspx?pid=680&cid=3

2. The TT561B Case advertisement gives:
Standard: 1 x 8cm Top blow-hole LED fan.
Optional: 2 x 8cm (at front) + 2 x 8cm / 1 x 12cm rear fan

I'm assuming that the power supply [with its own fan(s)] goes in the back.
Given that 8cm/12cm fans are cheap, what case fans should I add? Should I
add 2 8cm rear fans and 2 8cm front fans, or will this be too noisy? Are
there specific 8cm fans to recommend?

Is the air supposed to come in the front, and go out the back? If so, is
there a special configuration needed for the rear fan(s) for this (e.g.
reverse flow, whatever that is)? Should I leave the (standard) top
blow-hole fan or remove it?

3. I'd like a reliable 500 watt (or more) power supply that will support 3 SATA
drives (in case I add the extra drive). Internet power supply research is
very confusing. Hard to tell what the pitfall is in a generic brand versus
an Antec or PCPowerAndCooling.

Also hard to determine which power supplies support 3 SATA drives. If I
read the specs right for the Antec 550 TruePower, it does not.

www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_powerSupply.php?ProdID=20550

Also hard to anticipate incompatibility between power supply, motherboard,
and case. Request opinions, brand/model #'s, web site references, ...
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Tom's reviewed that case, it appears to be OK. It uses 0.7mm thin steel sheet, which is a little thinner than the 0.8mm to 1.0mm I prefer, but not that bad.

1.) The board is ATX the case is ATX, no problems fitting the board in the case.

2.) You could add all four fans, or just the rear fans. Front fans tend to be noisier than rear fans, first because they're closer to you and second because the fan blades sheer air as they go through holes in the case front (this is a design issue that has been solved on some cases by using larger holes, slots, or some space). Rear exhaust fans are the most important because they remove the heat pool from around the CPU. Of course you could just use quiet fans to begin with, I like Panaflow.

3.) I suggest the Fortron Source 530W available at Newegg. It outputs over 600W peak and cost around $70 last time I looked.

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