IN WIN BQS656.DD120BL Black Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 120W External Adaptor Power Supply

Pros: The size is nice for an HTPC and the external power brick means the only fan in my setup is the CPU fan. The lights are not overly bright.

Cons: It's a just a little difficult to fish the power and SATA cables to the underside of the case where you mount the HDD and OD.

Other Thoughts: It isn't clear from the description but it comes with a slim power connection. Unlike a normal desktop you shouldn't need a separate adapter when using a laptop OD. There is a combined normal sized and small SATA power cable so you just route that to the bottom and have power for both the HDD and OD.

Pros: - Plenty of ventilation
- No fans
- Supplies enough power for a pretty beefy CPU and RAM

Cons: - No front panel usb3 (if you care about that)
- 'Legs' when flat or vertical are somewhat unstable and the case screw casing sticks up to much for it to be placed horizontal without using the legs (if it was detached I would worry it would scratch the surface of the media furniture). On the other hand that means more ventilation via the grills in the bottom I suppose. I store mine horizontally and out of sight though.
- Only fits slim cdrom (irrelevant for me)
- No IR 'area' for the CIR header receiver (assuming your board has one)
- Only one full size and mini sata power cable (also irrelevant for me)
- I wish opening the case was tool-less, but it fits pretty tight so I guess you could do without the screws anyway.
- Would be nice if the case extended out a little bit to support a VFD/LCD -- the only reason I can think of I would want to have the thing visible.
- Would also be nice if the sata power cables were detachable. The case/board is pretty cramped as it is.

Other Thoughts: I had some real trouble finding a HTPC case designed for *just* mini ITX -- it was between this one and a Lian Li (that was out of stock). I was worried the cpu I bought would suck too much power to use this case's psu, but it seems to be ok so far and I do all my decoding at the client side. The only device I really have attached is an mSATA drive directly to the board (though I did have a full size cdrom connected for the initial build). If your worried about the clearance using the stock Intel cpu fan, fear not. The grill on the top of the case extends up enough. For me the most important thing was for it to be small and have plenty of ventilation -- this fits the bill perfectly. All and all the case is no frills but the construction seems to be pretty good. Given the size of the case it seems a little expensive, but the Lian Li I was looking out was nearly 2x the price.

Intel i7-3770k
Intel mSATA 60GB
Intel BOXDH77DF
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 Low Profile

Pros: I like the looks of this case but I think a case like this would be good with a Thin Mini-ITX motherboard that uses an external 19v Power Brick. That would use even less wires. There are some Thin Mini-Itx motherboards, but not many good cases for them.

Cons: Dont see where you would put the slim DVD drive.

Pros: 1. Small form factor with external power supply solution out of the box,

- no need to search for a compatible Pico PSUs and power bric etc. and having too install the PSU yourself. Many builders may not complain about it but still it s a Pro, saved lot of searching, ordering and installation time during build.

2. Good utilization of space - the HDD and optical drive are mounted behind the motherboard so that they are not in the way of CPU cooler's air path, entire volume on the top of the cpu cooler is available for the air circulation. Mesh sidewall helps further getting better air circulation in tiny case jam packed with components. one of the better ones I have used.

3. Comes with VESA stand - I needed this and found it with this case.

4. Good quality build - feels solid and well constructed.

5. Looks good and draws attention of people when sitting next to the TV. - I wanted this looks to be even better though ..

Cons: 1. No USB 3

2. IKEA style instruction manual - didnt find it difficult to figure out but would have appreciated the manual in English with more details.
- everything worked out fine for me so not deducting any eggs for that.

3. Other cases in the series has better looks than this one, specially two tone fascia and modern appearance. Unfortunately not available here for purchase.

Other Thoughts: The manufacturer s website shows a wired remote that can be attached to this case, just could nt find it anywhere. contacted manufacturer a month ago via email, but never got any response ..Grrrr !

Seems that Inwin s not that interested in selling the wired remotes, which otherwise is a useful feature for me because it has a power button, audio jack and USB.
I wanted to mount the unit behind the monitor and having the wired remote hanging near the base of the monitor seems to be a great idea- especially leaving everyone guessing what is it for :).

Too bad cant find it anywhere yet....

Pros: Looks better in person. Could fit on a dinner plate. Smart stand lets you stand on side or flat or even mount to VESA holes on your TV. External power brick is great and ventilation let me make an HTPC with zero moving parts.

Cons: Doesn't seem to have any. Could be a bit cheaper seeing how small it is. Typically would have bypassed it for something more well known at this price, but it turned out to be a good buy.

Other Thoughts: Definitely worth a consideration, I'm keeping it.

Pros: Bought this case for Christmas and built a new HTPC with it. Great ventilation, so you don't need extra fans! Power supply more than adequate for my setup (using a Sandy Bridge mobo for video and dual core Celeron). Case is small and sturdy and will fit just about anywhere!

Cons: Not really a big issue, but realize that if you want to put in an optical drive, you will need a slim drive, plus a y connector for SATA power. And because of the slim form factor optical drive, chances are you will need a slimline adapter to plug in the power and data cables. Just be aware of this if you plan to use an optical drive!

Pros: I chose this case because it had the ODD and SSD beneath the motherboard, giving the CPU room to breathe. It also has an external power supply which allows the case's footprint to be just slightly larger than the mini-itx motherboard. As you might expect from a case this small, it's gonna be a tight fit so choose your parts wisely. I stuck with Intel's OEM cpu cooler and it fits (and works) just fine. Not OC'ing so no worries for me. Using an I7 3770S, CPU temps read around 30C, system temp is around 50C. There's no room for a PCI card so I do not recommend this case as a gaming rig. If however all you need a simple pc to check emails, web browse, etc., then this case can certainly fit the bill. With its small footprint and nearly silent operation, it makes for a great HTPC.

Cons: A couple of minor things that kept this case from being 5 eggs:

- The power supply makes a faint high pitch noise after its been in use. It's low enough that you can only hear it when there's total silence and only when the ps is off, so for the most part it does not bother me.
- USB 2.0 ports instead of 3.0 that face upward instead of forward. This can lead to dust collecting inside the ports.
- Would have been nice if the case had a removable filter.
- Thumbscrews for opening the case would also have been nice.
- Not a fan of the removable stand. Would have preferred that the case had rubber feet beneath and on its the side.

Pros: This is the improved version of a case I bought a while ago from inwin, it looks like this one noted all of the faults in the previous version.
-the ventilation looks better, I had to leave the case open on the old one to keep my cpu from overheating and it was very noisy closed.
-the power supply was changed from an internal 80W to an external 120W, this is a great idea for inwin because the power supply mine had would burn out after a half hour playing games and I'd have to stick it in the freezer to ressurect it.

Cons: price almost doubled, although that's expected since I got mine on a crazy deal where they were probably trying to throw their old product away from so many poor reviews.

Other Thoughts: I'd pick one of these up myself, but I'm looking for one with a 120mm fan support so i can have a tiny watercooled mega OC'd micro gaming machine.