iStarUSA D Value D-118V2-ITX 1U Rackmount Mini-ITX Server Chassis (Black)

I bought this case to build a custom linux based router. I used an Intel atom board(Intel D2500CCE) that had two onboard nics two on board serial ports and used a passive heatsink and 2GB of ram. Pfsense is the chosen OS and has ran amazingly. It ran solid for the first month without shutting down until the flash storage filled up and was no longer writable, this was a logs thing that killed flash storage because of constance writes, A known issue with pfsense and flash storage. So after switching to a normal hard drive it has ran for the past year with only 2-3 shutdowns because of bad storms. I have has no issues with heat and the only fan I am using is in the power supply.You must keep in mind that this is a 1U case! The problem with the i/o shield that has given this case a bad rap is not the manufacturer's doing. They have done a nice job making a good quality case that is designed to allow for standard components(mini itx board). But the i/o shield will have to be modded or do without because of the height limits. Also, when picking a board keep in mind that a normal heatsink does Not work with a 2U case and you have even less room in a 1U case. Most 1U servers are custom designed boards that flatten everything out with a custom case. This case fills a need of being able to build a 1U server/router with standard parts but you must keep in mind what you are stuffing into the case when designing your build and your space constraints and you will love this product.

I needed a case to host an Intel Atom system board for a custom router. Because this was to host a router, and would spend most of its time sitting untouched in the rack, I didn't need anything fancy in terms of drive bays or anything like that.Machining is quite good, and after putting together two of these little boxes, I've not cut myself inside the case once (compared to the countless times I've cut myself to ribbons inside cheap PCs over the years).The mounting holes for the system board and hard drives are perfectly positioned. The holes for the power supply could be better thought out, as they are so close the edges (likely not the fault of the case manufacturer; this is a 1U case, and mounting holes in power supplies for these units are in standard locations) that it is practically impossible to get all of the mounting screws installed. I would like to see some type of clamping mechanism, perhaps, obviating the need for screws (the heads are typically too large to fit in the space provided along the lower edge). iStarUSA does provide mounting brackets for certain power supplies, but these were not usable with the supply I chose.Another observation, though not a criticism of the case or the manufacturer, is the lack of space for a standard mini-ITX system board I/O shield (system board backplate). Again, as the board manufacturer is typically charged with providing a compatible I/O shield, it's kind of silly that Intel provides a standard case size I/O shield for a board which will more than likely find its way into a small case. The I/O shield included with the Intel Atom D525MW was completely useless, forcing me to build the unit with no I/O shield at all. Just be prepared for this, as the vertical clearance is really tight. (iStarUSA does mention this limitation on their site, too).Others have mentioned the need for a PCI ribbon cable necessary to mount an expansion card. The bracket mounting itself could be more substantial, but it does the job. I don't like the absurd prices for PCI ribbon cables, and my regular cable supplier does not stock them (they are available on Amazon, though). Still, this isn't the fault of the case manufacturer or the design; it's just the laws of physics: you can't fit a 3.5" high bracket vertically in a 1U case, and board manufacturers can't possibly ship every conceivable socket adapter with every board, or we'd be paying several times the prices for components as we do now. (iStarUSA lists a couple of different PCI risers on their site related to this case.)As stated in the previous review, the case will accommodate up to two 2.5" drives or one 3.5" drive, and iStarUSA does state on their site that utilizing a 3.5" drive will block access to the expansion bay. For heat concerns alone, I opted for the smallest 2.5" drive I could get (these routers don't need much, but they do utilize disk storage for logs and such, vs flash RAM). The 2.5" drive mounted easily on the rubber-grommeted, shock-absorbing platform, with the connectors still easily accessible when the system board was in place.While there is little airflow through the front of the unit, I recently visited one of our installations which has been up and running for a month or so, and with the unit in a vertical wallmount (front of the unit facing up, hanging by its rack ears), I observed very little heat venting through the back of the case, and with no backplate behind the system board, I could tell that the interior of the case was relatively cool (this was with an Intel D525MW board, not over-clocked, and a 250W power supply with a single fan).The case has cutouts for three 40mm cooling fans in the front of the unit. I did not install any of these, so my observations above were only with cooling provided by the power supply fan (the Atom has a heatsink and no fan on the CPU).Front panel connector/LED cables are of ample length and excellent quality.The case comes with NO instruction sheet, so it's necessary to sort of figure out what the extra pieces (power supply brackets) are, and which screws to use for what.I will definitely continue using these cases as we deploy more of these routers. The price/feature ratio is excellent, and the quality is quite good.

Perfect for a small form factor firewall build. I used a gigabyte all in one board (cpu included $88), an itx power supply ($32 or so), Ram ($30), and 2 40mm noctua fans (yes noctua fans, they work great actually.) I had a spare 2.5 inch drive laying around and used it to install PfSense. The build was easy and fast with this case. The case does NOT fit a standard IO shield but this was no problem for me, I trimmed the IO shield down and it fit perfectly. The plate for the 2.5 inch drives comes out to mount the drives. Everything fits perfect in my equipment rack and it is silent with the noctua fans. One thing I did notice was i cannot get the Ethernet cables out easily because the are under the lip of the top of the case. Not the end of the world for me though since i should have been more careful to pick a board with shorter jacks.

Its OK for a cheap 1u case. The problem is that the back panel has a half inch ledge that protrudes past the io on the motherboard. I literally need to remove the top cover anytime I need to move or adjust an ethernet cable. Also the fans are not positioned very well. There isn't an itx bored on the market that has the cpu socket in front of the fans that would need to blow across it. I bought a slim itx board, which has a better layout for this case, but it takes a 19v brick leaving a huge hole in the back where a power supply should go. Im not sure what board this was designed for, but I can't find it.

My unit arrived without a power button.I love the size and over feel of the unit otherwise.A power button could be considered essential though.

Airflow on the HDDs section is non-existant. Once the case is full of PSU cables and other components, the airflow doesn't move much. The two fans are also not placed where the HDDs are located.The indicator lights seem to be designed with illumination rather than indication (they are super bright!).Its a cheap case, but good quality. I wouldn't put anything too powerful in it. Embedded processors realistically are the only thing that should be placed in it.If I had a workload for them that made since in a climate controlled environment, I would buy it again.