Chenbro ES34069-BK-120 4 Bay Hotswap Mini-ITX Case $160 (Free Shipping)

[GaryMaster]

Best deal I have found on this... I believe this is an awesome combo with the H55 motherboard I just posted:

 

Chenbro ES34069 Mini-ITX Home Server/NAS Chassis with 120W Power Supply:  $160 + FREE SHIPPING

 

This case has the following specifications:

 

4 Hot Swap Hard Disk Bays

Mini-ITX with Removeable Motherboard Tray

VERY Small:  Only 10.2" x 5.5" x 10.2"

Includes 120W Power Supply

Card Reader (SD/Mini-SD-MMC/MS)

Internal 2.5" Drive Bay

 

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-34069&title=Chenbro-ES34069-Mini-ITX-Home-Server-NAS-Chassis

Use coupon code: GO4GOLD

 

They also have the 180W version for $15 more.  Although most ITX ATOM and i3-530 systems will draw < 80W with 4 drives, it may exceed 120W when 4 drives spinup simultaneously (my 3 drive i3 system with 7,200 RPM drives pulls 110W at the moment the drives spin up).

 

EDIT:  According to the manual, the Chenbro cases do not include a 4 pin CPU power connector.  Could be a deal breaker with the H55 boards which require a 4 pin CPU connection.

[Romir]

My 180w version has a 4 pin cpu power cable. The efficiency is nothing special sadly, standard 80plusish. I was expecting better.

 

You can actually mount two 2.5" drives inside by using the provided top and bottom mount holes on separate drives. So all 6 ports could all be used internally.

[GaryMaster]

That's great news!  I purchased the 180W version.  The manual states the power supply is 86% efficient (although they don't state at what load level - normally peak efficiency is achieved at around 50% load).  This is actually quite good (if it is accurate!).  Of course, the manual doesn't claim there is a 4 pin CPU power connector either.

 

I plan on taking some measurements to compare it to my 83% efficient OCZ power supply after I set it up with the new H55 Zotac board and i3-530.

[WeeboTech]

My 180w version has a 4 pin cpu power cable. The efficiency is nothing special sadly, standard 80plusish. I was expecting better.

 

You can actually mount two 2.5" drives inside by using the provided top and bottom mount holes on separate drives. So all 6 ports could all be used internally.

 

I was only able to mount one 2.5" drive.  Hmmm... did I miss something? How did you do it.

I only saw side brackets for one drive. And boy is it a pain installing it!!!!

 

I decided to use a 2.5" ssd there and will use the 3.5" drives in the regular chenbro slots.

 

Anyone able to find similar chenbro 4in3 or 5in3 slots for regular cases?

[GaryMaster]

 

Anyone able to find similar chenbro 4in3 or 5in3 slots for regular cases?

 

Chenbro only makes 5 in 3 and 3 in 2 from what I can see here:

 

http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_cat.php?pos=31

 

Ironically, this same reseller offers the best price on the net on the 5-in-3 bay and the coupon code above also works, resulting in a $99.99 price on the chenbro 5 in 3 (no free shipping though)!

 

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=CA-SK335BK&c=fr&pid=f473ca0c2777e12ed5158e1d6503c97132074687d6e4bd290c877bd09926f5a1

 

Newegg has it listed too (out of stock and $130 delivered price).  Only one review.  5 eggs, but user complains about fan noise.  Appears to be a standard 80mm fan, so it would be easily replaced with a high quality noctua, nexus or yate-loon if you are into the silent computing thing.

[BRiT]

My 180w version has a 4 pin cpu power cable.

 

I too can confirm my 180w version has the 4 pin CPU power cable and has a 20+4 ATX power cable.

[Romir]

 

I was only able to mount one 2.5" drive.  Hmmm... did I miss something? How did you do it.

I only saw side brackets for one drive. And boy is it a pain installing it!!!!

 

 

There's enough room to use the top side bracket screw hole with the lower side of one drive, and the lower side bracket hole with the top of another drive. Both drives are held by one screw each, so the top one needs to be secured against the chassis so it doesn't flop down. I gave all the 3.5" drives to VMs and used a ssd + old laptop drive for the OS and its minor data.

 

I don't have an optical drive installed if it matters.

[GaryMaster]

My 180w version has a 4 pin cpu power cable.

 

I too can confirm my 180w version has the 4 pin CPU power cable and has a 20+4 ATX power cable.

 

That's excellent!  Was really disappointed when I found this apparant compatability problem after I had already ordered the hardware.  Now I can rest easy.

[WeeboTech]

 

I was only able to mount one 2.5" drive.  Hmmm... did I miss something? How did you do it.

I only saw side brackets for one drive. And boy is it a pain installing it!!!!

 

 

There's enough room to use the top side bracket screw hole with the lower side of one drive, and the lower side bracket hole with the top of another drive. Both drives are held by one screw each, so the top one needs to be secured against the chassis so it doesn't flop down. I gave all the 3.5" drives to VMs and used a ssd + old laptop drive for the OS and its minor data.

 

I don't have an optical drive installed if it matters.

 

So you mount two drives, end to end rather then stacking on top of one another.

The whole SSD & spare 2.5" is what I want to do also.

 

What I did in the mean time is use one SSD internally. and wired an eSATA connector at the vent near the SATA cables. I nibbled out part of the vent and mounted the jack there... Then put one of those USB powered 2.5" eSATA drives there.

 

I do have an optical drive, so I'm not concerned with a 2.5" falling. it's just pretty cramped in there and I was wondering how you fit two drives inside.

[Romir]

 

So you mount two drives, end to end rather then stacking on top of one another.

The whole SSD & spare 2.5" is what I want to do also.

 

 

That's correct. The gap was large enough to connect the cables to the top drive.