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September 05, 2017
Choosing the right DC-DC PSU

August 27, 2015
AMD's Project Quantum

August 13, 2015
The Redstone PC is the ultimate Mini-ITX Minecraft Machine

October 09, 2014
The "Restomod TV"

April 09, 2013
Installing NAS4Free

February 28, 2013
Building an XBMC 12 Home Theatre PC

January 25, 2011
XBMC Guide updated to version 10.0

August 06, 2010
Building a Green PC

February 15, 2010
Building an ION powered HTPC with XBMC

October 10, 2008
The "Cambridge Autonomous Underwater Vehicle 2008"

Mini-ITX Online Store

September 12, 2008
"Florian", the DVD burning robot

September 05, 2008
The "i-EPIA"

May 22, 2008
The "GTA-PC"

April 14, 2007
The "Digg" Case

January 19, 2007
The "ITX-Laptop"

December 07, 2006
The "Tortoise Beetle"

October 02, 2006
The "DOS Head Unit"

August 31, 2006
The "Janus Project"

August 05, 2006
The "Leela PC"

June 26, 2006
Nano-ITX in a Football

May 17, 2006
The "EPIA Alloy Mod"

April 11, 2006
Neatorama's Collection of Case Mods

February 18, 2006
The "Rundfunker"

October 24, 2005
The "ITX TV"

October 06, 2005
The K'nex-ITX

August 05, 2005
The "Waffle Iron PC"

July 21, 2005
The "Supra-Server"

July 18, 2005
The "Mega-ITX"

July 07, 2005
The "Encyclomedia"

May 25, 2005
The "Accordion ITX"

Mini-ITX Online Store

May 16, 2005
The "FileServerRouterSwitch"

May 15, 2005
The "Mini Falcon"

May 13, 2005
The "Bender PC"

May 11, 2005
The "BBC ITX B"

May 10, 2005
The "Frame"

April 20, 2005
The "Jeannie"

March 09, 2005
The "Cool Cube"

January 30, 2005
First Nano-ITX Project?

January 17, 2005
The "iGrill"

January 15, 2005
The "Gumball PC"

December 15, 2004
The "Deco Box"

December 03, 2004
The "TERA-ITX"

October 06, 2004
The "Coealacanth-PC"

September 17, 2004
The "Gramaphone-ITX-HD"

August 26, 2004
The "C1541 Disk Drive ITX"

August 25, 2004
The "SEGA-ITX"

August 13, 2004
The "Quiet Cubid"

August 06, 2004
The "BMWPC"

July 14, 2004
The "Moo Cow Moo"

July 02, 2004
The "Mini Mesh Box"

Full alphabetical archive on right hand side of page...


Travla C137 Mini-ITX Case Review
Posted on October 8, 2003

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Time to try out a couple of different PCI risers (right angled PCI extenders used to fit PCI cards parallel to the motherboard). The Travla C137 comes as standard with a single slot riser card...

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...but can also accept a 2 slot riser card (such as the one made by VIA). This is only possible when using 0.75" high 3.5" hard drives, or ideally 2.5" laptop sized hard drives. We only had a 1" high 3.5" hard drive handy. PCI blanking plates are provided if you don't want to use one/both of the slots.

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The C137 requires an extension riser card with standard Mini-ITX motherboards - this fits between the PCI card and PCI riser card. We've removed it from the picture to show the gap that is left otherwise. One extension riser card comes with the C137.

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The rear of the case with a motherboard fitted and the top back on. The C137 is specified as compatible with Classic EPIA, EPIA V and EPIA M motherboards. These all worked fine in testing, as did an EPIA CL 6000. We then tried ours with a couple of EPIA CL 10000s (as pictured), but the boards had powering up problems. We now understand this to be a "timing issue", and Casetronic and VIA engineers are working on a solution...

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When powered up, the splendid blue power LED is revealed. More shiny blue things please. Did anyone notice the hidden additional photos? Click open an image and cycle through them all using the image viewer.

Conclusion

The Travla C137 is a very well put together case that is more solid and professional looking than the Cubid 26xx cases - its nearest competitor in size and appearance. The slot on the front of the case for a compact flash adapter to sit behind is a nice touch, though it would have been nicer if a suitable adapter had been provided. Some users may prefer front mounted USB or Firewire ports, but there is space for the EPIA M expansion card at the rear of the case. The 90W and 120W PSU options will be enough to drive power hungry PCI cards, and adds P4 Micro-ATX motherboard compatibility - expanding the potential market for Casetronic. The 60mm case fan isn't as quiet as the (slower spinning) fan on the very quiet Cubid 3677/3688 cases, though that fan probably isn't able to handle cooling a 3.5" HD, P4 motherboard and 2 PCI cards. We think a Zalman Fan Mate would be a very useful (and simple) addition, to slow the fan down slightly. Usefully, the Travla C137 supports 2 PCI cards on an EPIA in a small form factor, something no other mainstream case can currently do. The Travla C137 certainly wouldn't look out of place as a Server or Industrial PC, or next to a digital cable or satellite unit as a Home Theatre PC.

*Shameless plug*
You can buy this case from the Mini-ITX Online Store!



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