Morex Cubid 3688 Mini-ITX Case Review
Posted on August 27, 2003

Introduction

Morex Information Ent., Co., Ltd, based in Taipei, Taiwan have been manufacturing and marketing PC cases since 1986. The 3677 and 3688 are new additions to the range, sharing the same chassis, but with different front panels. We're looking at the Cubid 3688, which comes in two colours - silver with a clear perspex front, and black with blue perspex.

Specifications

• Model No: Cubid 3688
• Case dimensions: 65mm(H) x 210mm(D) x 258mm(W)
• Main board size: Mini-ITX Form Factor (170 x 170)
• Compatible motherboards: Classic EPIAs, EPIA V, EPIA M
• 1 x Laptop style 2.5" HDD bracket (does not support 3.5" HDD)
• 1 x Slimline CD-ROM bracket
• 2 x Additional front mounted USB 2.0 ports
• External AC Adapter: AC 100~240 V Input, Output DC 12V, 4.58A
• Internal 160mm x 45mm DC-DC Converter

The Cubid 3688

First impressions of this case are that it's very small - just 65mm x 210mmx 258mm (HxDxW), and well put together. Construction is steel, with a perspex front. The top of the case is held on by 3 screws at the back, and slides off easily to expose the contents inside.

Internally, the 3688 is a refreshingly simple design. The base tray holds the motherboard at the back of the case. A socket attached to the back of the case takes +12V DC from the supplied universal PSU. This is fed into a DC-DC converter at the front of the case, which turns this into the various 3.3V, 5V and 12V supplies that the motherboard needs. The power socket is grounded to the case by a separate cable and grounding screw, a very welcome addition to an external PSU based Mini-ITX case - EPIA boards can suffer LAN instability problems without adequate grounding.

Above the base tray sits the drive tray. This can hold a 2.5" (laptop sized) hard drive at the rear of the case, and a slimline optical drive at the front. Cooling is provided by a single 60x60x10mm fan blowing out the side of the case, next to the motherboard heatsink(s). Vents positioned on each side of the case allow air to be sucked across the motherboard.

Let's take a closer look at that fan. It's made by T&T, part number MW-610-12C. We're pretty certain this is a 12V ball bearing unit running at 3400RPM, at 25dBA sound level and with an airflow of 12.6CFM. In our tests it is definitely up to the task, running quietly and cooling adequately.