As a matter of fact -- YES!
I'm thrilled with the case. I gave a lot of thought to what I really wanted before I began the build. I wanted a case that did not have a volume control, simply because the output would go to a stereo amp. A big knob on the front just wasn't going to cut it. So I was really limited in my selection. I don't think nMEDIAPC is a household name in the PC world like Antec. Some of the reviews had me thinking twice. But after getting my hands on it, the case is fine. It's standard width (19 inches?) for stereo components and mates well with my other pieces. Right now, it's mainly Yamaha, but I hope to make some changes as money is available.
Back to the rest of the server -
This must be the fifth or so PC for my home that I've built and the first time I didn't use an Asus motherboard. I walked into Microcenter with the intent of pricing some of the pieces and seeing if any open box items would fit my needs. They had a motherboard that was worth the risk. (It was priced right!) They had an open box power supply that was way overpowererd for my needs, but again, the price was right. The fan from the power supply is quiet enough for a music server. 700 watts is overkill, so it's never going to work hard. The motherboard has an SPDIF header that I hope to put to use. (More on that later.)
The rest of the pieces are behaving as I expected. The CPU is the fastest I could find at 45 watts. It will never keep up in games, but is plenty fast for music. The PC boots faster than any other PC in the house. (Even faster than my Ubuntu box; somethings wrong there!) I can hear the drives once in a while.
Performance wise, it doesn't run EAC any faster than my old system. I wasn't sure if I'd see any difference before the build. I switched from an IDE CDROM to SATA. However, after EAC hands off the wav file to LAME, it's much faster. The same with FLAC. This was expected, and I'm happy with the results.
Back to the case - as many has said, I can hear the fans. It has two smaller fans in the back and one larger fan along the left side to blow across the hard drives. I was willing to deal with this when I made the purchase, and now I will have to. That is the only gripe I have. The noise is not extreme and I believe it can be corrected. I don't have the PC connected to my stereo yet, so it hasn't been a big concern. Right now, the server houses my music collection and albums get dumped in my MP3 player when I travel.
Keep in mind that this is in a house with kids, wife and noise. I wear headphones on planes, not in the house. I'll send the tunes out to speakers and drowned out the noise. The fans will be pretty low on the noise chart. First I need another pair of speakers, mine are in the living room for movies.
I still intend to improve on the system. I need to go back and look at the recommendations for fan replacements. I live in New York, but I'm in Vegas today. Fry's has a nice selection, so if anyone wants to chime in, I'll have time tomorrow to stop by and pick something up.
The case is sitting in an Ikea wooden media cabinet. Airflow has to be restricted a lot, but the PC has never had a problem. I need to get a temp probe inside the case and take some readings. I've got about an inch on the top and almost nothing on both sides.
SPDIF - I know so little about it. I expected digital out would be the same, no matter where it came from. I'll use the header on the motherboard if I can validate some of the info I've come across. I've looked at a few threads on the subject and see that there are different opinions. I intend to do some homework and use you guys as a sanity check. I love Head-Fi for the info, but it can be hard to separate facts from opinions. I'll jump into this discussion when I can devote the time.
I'm on the road now and won't get back home until Friday. It's a weekend and I'm not on the strip! I guess I've been to Vegas enough, huh? I'm happy to type about my results with a cold beer in my hand.
