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AOpen HQ08 Computer Case


Date
: 12/14/00 – 10:43:26 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Manufactor: AOpen
Price: $95

Big thanks to MPL for supplying us with this very nice case!

Introduction

A computer case is one of the most important parts of a computer. Unfortunately most people save money on the case to get a
better videocard or a faster cpu. These people are forgetting that a cpu or a videocard is outdated after six months to a year and
that a computer case can last several years at least! Especially people like me who are working on their computer case all the
time to swap a cpu, install extra ram (you can NEVER have enough of that ;)) need a decent case.

AOpen is a well known case manufacturer so we decided to take a look at their premium computer case: the HQ08 full tower.

Specifications

• Housing Material: Metal
• Housing Type: Full Tower
• Main Board Size: ATX/microATX/Full AT
• Disk Drive Bays: 5.25′x5/0, 3.5′x1/7 (external/internal)
• Dimensions: 16.54′(D)x7.80′(W)x23.23′(H) / 420mm(D)x198mm(W)x590mm(H)
• Power Supply: 300W ATX (Ball bearing fan in US), UL/CSA/CE/VDE/S/D/N /FI/FCC DoC Certified
• Ventilation: Air Vents with Optional 2nd DC fans
• FCC, CE & Novell: Ready
• Net Weight: 28.60 lbs. / 13.0 kg
• Gross Weight: 31.90 lbs. / 14.5 kg
• Volume: 3.1 Cu. ft.
• Certification: Novell certification with AOpen motherboards
• ATX/microATX/Full AT housing
• High expansion capacity with 7 slots and 13 drive bays
• Bend-in edges ensure safe assembly and installation
• High quality 1mm thick steel
• Compact design saves space
• Complies with DoC, and CE regulations (with AOpen MBs)
• Equipped with 300W ATX (Ball bearing fan in US) high efficiency switching power supply
• Optional all-in-one carton has room for K/B, mouse, S/W and accessories
• Led cover provides 4 kinds of option colors

AOpen really did a hell of a job when then constructed this case. What I especially like about this case are the bend-in edges
that ensure safe assembly. I have had computer housings cutting me up by just installing a hard drive!

Another great feature of the HQ08 is its 300W powersupply. It has become very common to own two or more hard drives, a cd-rom,
a cd-writer, some additional case fans, 3-5 cards, … All of these can use a good amount of power, and if you add a 74W peltier
to the list to cool down that overclock cpu you have been using you will see that a 300W p/s isn’t a luxury ;). The powersupply is
fitted with a lot of molex connectors so you won’t run out of these ones any time soon. You can also use an old AT motherboard with
this case as the powersupply has a special connector for it.

The HQ08 features five external 5.25′ bays and one 3.5′ bay. This should be more then enough to accommodate all your hardware like a
cd-rom, cd-writer, zipdrive, live! drive, …

On the inside there is room for three 3.5′ hard drives at the front bottom. If that is not enough for you, you can install another
three 3.5′ hard drives in the rear top of the HQ08. Of course you have to check that your IDE cables are long enough to stretch all
the way up there.

As you can see the AOpen engineers really thought this case trough! If this case does not give you all the room you need, then you’d
better look for a server case cause there aren’t that many full towers available with this kind of storage room.

Installation

Installing a case is pretty easy. You just take it out of the box and unwrap the plastic that protects it. After you done that you
can start installing your hardware into it.

Testing

I figured the best way to test a computer case is by building a pc out of it. I started with making a list of all components
I would be using to build myself a nice computer.

Here are the parts I selected for this pc:

- AOpen HQ08 Full Tower (of course)

- ABIT SA6R Motherboard

- Intel Celeron 733MHz CPU

- 3x128MB pc133 RAM (Infineon Chips)

- ABIT Siluro Geforce MX Videocard

- ABIT AU10 Soundcard

- Western Digital 20GB 7200rpm UDMA 100 IDE Harddrive

- Toshiba 24x/8x Cd-rom/DVD Player

The first thing I did was remove the covers of the case. In order to remove the side cover, you have to take of the top of the
case first. This is somewhat a pain if you open up your case every single day but if you don’t ‘work’ on your pc every day this
will not bother you at all. AOpen had a good reason to implement this way of opening up the case: you can lock the top of the case
so noone can take of the sides of the case and steal that nice but very expensive Geforce GTS Ultra you have sitting in there.

Like I said the fact that you have to take of the top if you want to slide the side panel of, is very annoying. I ‘fixed’ this by
taking the pliers and bending these small brackets on the top of the case a bit. Now I can slide out the side panel without having
to remove the top panel :). Is there another downside? Yes there is … You have to slide the side panel all the way to the back of the
case if you want to remove it. This is no biggie if the cables from your speakers, keyboard, … are long enough, but if they are tight
already this means you have to disconnect all the cables every time you want to open the case. Again the pliers came in handy as I bended
the brackets on top of the side panel so the side can come of without having to slide it out all the way!

There is a bag with all screws, binders, bolts, … and any other hardware you might need to install your motherboard, cards, cd-roms and
other equipement into the case. The HQ08 comes with four feet that are retractable. The feet are intended to give your case extra stability
which is always nice!

After the sidepanel was out of the way, I was able to take the motherboard tray out of the case. This removable tray is a very nice and
pratical feature of the HQ08. It makes life easier because you can install the motherboard onto the tray, add your cards to it,
install the cpu and the ram. After you finished installing all the hardware you just slide the tray into the back of the case and you
fasten the screws. The only thing left is connecting the LED’s to the motherboard and attaching the necessary cables like the floppy
cable, IDE cable, ATX powerconnector, …

After I installed the tray back into place, I fitted the WD hard drive into a free slot at the front of the case. AOpen inserted drive
rails in the HQ08 which makes it very easy to install hard drives, cdroms, … Next piece of hardware that I installed was the Toshiba
DVD player. I figured I’d better install a DVD drive instead of a normal cd-rom because this pc will have to last a few years from now
so there is nothing wrong with being future minded.

AOpen knows we all like a lot of fans in our case so they equipped the HQ08 with some free places to install a case fan. In the front
bottom of this nice full tower, there is a fan cage preinstalled that will hold a 80mm fan. What comes in must go out, so there are
two places in the rear top of the case that will also hold 80mm fans. Since this computer is not intended for overclocking purposes,
I decided against installing extra case fans as they would only generate more noise. IF you decide to install extra case fans in this
case, I suggest you install the front bottom fan to suck fresh air in and the two upper fans to blow air out. Thanks to the good design
of the case, the powersupply fan will also conduct the hot air coming from the cpu out of the case.

If you have a lot of hardware to put into the top of the case, you might have some problems guiding all these wires to the motherboard.
The opening that is made between the upper part of the case and the space where the motherboard is placed is a bit small. This is not
good for airflow so you’d better guide the cables with great care so the airflow restriction is kept to a minimum!

Conclusion

AOpen has done a great job with the HQ08 as they built a case that can easily compete with the other well known cases out there. I like
this nice full tower a lot and I would recommend it to all of you, especially those guys out there who have a LOT of hardware ;).

Good

- Excellent quality

- Price is good

- 300W Powersupply

Bad

- Small opening to put all the cables coming from the top to the motherboard

- You have to remove the top cover (unmodified) to remove the side panels

- The side panels to not open like a door (just as Supermicro and Addtronic cases)