Topic: PC Case Suggestions

[drober05]

I recently acquired a Boltek PCI system.  My original intent was to put it into my low profile PC which has run my Davis weather station for many years (Dell 455).  However, the full-height PCIe card will not fit.  So I guess it's time to upgrade my PC.  Since all my weather station electronic equipment is housed in my family room entertainment center I want to stay as small profile as possible.  Anyone have any suggestions on a small PC case that can handle the Boltek PCI card?  I've seen some micro-ATX cases that claim to fit a full height PCIe but wonder if anyone on the list has first hand experience or recommendations.  I'm not sure on things like power consumption and heat dissipation for the Boltek card.

Thanks.
Dave R.
Flint, MI

[C5250]

PCIe??? I don't believe Boltek offers a PCIe card. I believe the StormTracker is still a PCI card, which is becoming a problem as accommodation for PCI cards is getting to be very limited, especially for a full height card. I had to do quite a bit a of searching to find a solution as I moved toward retiring the 9 year old system that had been hosting my StormTracker. Details are here. PCI support is disappearing fast and much of what I used is or was EOL.

The new system has been hosting the StormTracker off and on for the past few months, as I experiment with fine tuning the hardware, the card is not currently installed because I am about to attempt another RAID solution, but wanted to image the drive first and the program I use for that complained that the drive was too fragmented. So a defragment has been running (painfully slow) for the past few days.

[drober05]

Thank you for the reply C5250.  Yes, PCI is correct.  I know what you mean about the PCI support disappearing.

The case you used is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for - very small footprint yet everything fits.  I never know if the cases with PCI Risers will work for a given board.  Your build proves this one will fit the Boltek.

I'm wondering how critical the mother board is.  The Jetway NC9R-F appears quite expensive.  Did you have a hard time finding MBs that would fit the case and offer PCI?

[Garth Bock]

Why not put the Boltek in a separate full size computer like a Dell Optiplex 960....


eBay item number:
201344322202
231555131498

[cospringswx]

I have a Corsair 250D case for my WX  PC and it's great.

[C5250]

I'm wondering how critical the mother board is.  The Jetway NC9R-F appears quite expensive.  Did you have a hard time finding MBs that would fit the case and offer PCI?

The MB is not critical. I have another Atom D525 ITX system that serves as my router (an Intel D2500cc MB in a Mini-box M350 case), so I was partial to a similar MB. It is a little tricky to get the Boltek card installed, as it is a tight fit, otherwise the case is near perfect. Frankly, I think I spent more time finding the right case. The really nice part is getting the weather stuff moved to a system that draws about 1/10th the 300 watts the fileserver has been drawing 24/7.

The Boltek card works fine with a riser, what will *not* work with a riser are cards that want to be a busmaster such as most RAID or video cards.