| Moneual MonCaso 972S Home Theater PC Case
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Installation:
The following components were installed in the Moneual MonCaso 972S HTPC case for this review:
» Intel E2180 dual core processor with stock cooler
» ASUS P5K Pro P35 ATX motherboard
» 2GB Aeneon DDR2-1142 dual channel memory kit
» Sapphire 1024MB Radeon HD3850 graphics card
» 250GB Maxtor MaxLine III SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» TSST Super WriteMaster optical drive
» Nesteq EECS 700 Watt ultra quiet power supply
» Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit
The installation was not difficult by any stretch of the imagination, and we will focus on a handful of things to consider when using this case. The below left image shows all of the components mentioned in place. As you can see, even with a rather short list of components installed, the case looks very crowded. Cable management is an issue, even with a modular power supply installed. Everything fits in just fine, but there are many cables required by the case itself; add these to all of the component cabling and there is just nowhere to hide. The 24-pin ATX adapter cable may be the most conspicuous, as there is nowhere for it to go neatly, and it just wants to get in the way of the CPU cooler, video card, and memory (in part the fault of the motherboard's design).
 
The above right image confirms that the power supply has to be mounted with the fan facing out, so you have to rely on the two 80mm exhuast fans to handle all of the case cooling. The fans seem to move a good amount of air, and while not silent they are very quiet, especially when the case is closed up.
The next two images just show the completed assembly from two more angles. You may note that one drive cage has been left out. This was done not only since it wasn't needed, but also because of the damaged screws mentioned earlier... I just couldn't get it back in and use all of the mounting points provided. The below right image shows about how far the stack up of a DVI to VGA adapter is going to stick out. Depending on how hard you are willing to push, you're still going to need four to five inches of extra depth to accomodate this!
 
And as a final note for assembling this case, and so many other HTPC cases; you will need a low profile CPU cooler. The cooler shown peeking out of the top is a big one from Noctua, but even smaller heatpipe coolers like the OCZ Technology Vendetta are too large. In order to avoid having to use the stock Intel cooler like I did, check out this article from Frostytech.com on their recommendations for low profile coolers. Those lsited at 110mm and under should make it easily (if a fan is included in the height), but many listed at 75mm or less offer great cooling and would provide better clearance.
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