A+ Cupid 3 Mini-ITX HTPC Chassis

The Build

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First things first, I have to remove the front face of the case so as not to damage the finish by moving things around during assembly. I opened the push-release door to give you a sneak peak at what is hidden behind it.

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The reverse of the face plate shows the four tabs that unlock its grip to the case. The bottom left corner of the optical bay door opening, you can see A+ connects the tiny outer button to a much larger plate to allow the use of any drive, as the plate is big enough to still reach the open button on the drive itself. Then of course is the PCB and its six wires emanating behind the power button. At the very bottom is the supplied spring that attaches to keep the door plate closed when the drive door isn't open.

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Installing the ZOTAC mini-ITX motherboard was a snap. Just pop in the I/O shield, align up the board with the risers and screw in four screws; pretty simple.

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The top right corner of the motherboard from the last image is slightly blocked by the optical drive and hard drive rack. A+ eased this issue by adding a hole in the end of the rack to allow the screwdriver to reach through it.

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Here we have a shot of the wiring laid out and plugged into the motherboard. A+ leaves just the right amount of wire to get to the opposite end of the motherboard, but not so much it becomes a hassle to manage. Every connection made it into place and allowed enough slack to lay flat on the floor of the case where it was out of the way to continue forward with the build.

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Once I got the motherboard and the wiring in place, I got to looking at the bigger picture a bit. Using an E6600, I needed a cooler I thought would fit. I had on hand, a stock cooler from a 45nm CPU, thinking the lower profile cooler would ease concerns about fit. Looks to me like it's going to be a close fit!

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Next came installing the PSU back into place. My advice is to plug in the P4 connector before mounting the PSU into place, as the limited space under the PSU will make this a real challenge. At this time I also plugged in the 20+4 pin connector to the motherboard and tried to get the wiring to lie under the drive rack. I also went ahead and attached the IDE ribbon cable to get it ready for more peripherals. This is also a good time to plug the SATA connectors to the motherboard, if that is the option you choose.