Any HTPC case recommendations?

brundles · 01-10-2006, 15:10

Strictly speaking I'm not after an HTPC case, but just a reasonably nice looking case that's either HTPC or desktop style that can get stuck under the TV. The key thing is WAF points (Wife Acceptance Factor)

In terms of technical stuff, I'm planning to transplant most of the innards of an ATX based Packard Bell iExtreme or whatever they're called - 2 hard drives, 1 DVD burner, no floppy drive.

Tallest the case can be is about 160 to 170mm to fit into the TV stand. I had been looking at either a ThermalTech Tenor (not sure if I got the spelling right) or one of the SilverStone LC range (like the LC10).

Thanks in advance,
Keith

Gareth · 01-10-2006, 20:34

If money isn't a problem (my WAF points always depend upon aesthetics as well as price) then I'd sugegst the Ahanix MCE301 or the 302. They come in either silver or black, and wouldn't look out of place in the majority of living rooms.

However, they ain't cheap... it'll set you back around Ã‚Â£150 if you buy one in the UK, or abour Ã‚Â£120ish if you get it imported from the US.

QuietPC [quietpc.com] stock 'em, if you're interested.

brundles · 02-10-2006, 11:15

Thanks for that Gareth - they're slightly above what I had been planning on spending but do look good so I might be tempted

. Just to check the motherboard in the existing PC as I think it's a fullsize ATX board.

jamiefrost · 02-10-2006, 11:22

Just finished building a HTPC, used an Antec Fusion case,

seems to be very quiet good thermal managnment, includes a VFD (imon) will only accept a MATX motherboard, 4 pci slots, 2 HD, 1 CD/DVD drive.

Paired it with a Asus P5V-VM Dh motherboard. All seems to working ok.

Jamie

brundles · 02-10-2006, 11:39

Must admit I'm not really up to speed on the different hardware types - can someone confirm (preferrably without slapping me for being stupid!) that this Packard Bell Columbia2 motherboard is indeed a full ATX board rather than MicroATX.

Thanks!

**David F** · 02-10-2006, 11:46

what about these that takes standard mobos http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...nAE_Cases.html

more affordably the pcv-800 lian li takes standard http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...nLi_Cases.html

brundles · 02-10-2006, 12:03

That OrigenAE H7 is rather nice - you're going to get me in trouble with the missus when she sees the cost of that though Zinglebarb!

The PC-V800 on that site looks quite good, but the case picture doesn't seem to match any others I can find - which all have the front looking a bit like a cheese grater! Would the fact that there will only be about 10 to 20mm clearence above the case before the next glass shelf on the TV stand cause a problem with the way it's been designed to vent heat?

**David F** · 02-10-2006, 12:18

well hopefully the ventilation will run out of the rear
The lian li case will vent air in thr front and out through the rear
theres this one but its expensive again http://www.misco.co.uk/productinform...20(Silver).htm

I personally would go for the case that you think is going to look right and damn the cost. Its a peice of furniture if your using it as a media centre also using something that will allow a full mobo 1 gives you more space 2 gives you more choice 3 allows greater expansion.
Your going to want a reasonable gfx and a tv card I imagine so with a full case you can have space between these which will help.whats the max spend may I ask ? let me spec you the system s little lol

Aragorn · 02-10-2006, 12:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by brundles

Must admit I'm not really up to speed on the different hardware types - can someone confirm (preferrably without slapping me for being stupid!) that this Packard Bell Columbia2 motherboard is indeed a full ATX board rather than MicroATX.

Thanks!

Curious - although that page list it as ATX form factor, it is smaller than MicroATX (244mm x 244mm, according to this) and also only has 3 PCI slots, which suggests it's really MicroATX. I could be wrong, of course!

brundles · 02-10-2006, 12:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Curious - although that page list it as ATX form factor, it is smaller than MicroATX (244mm x 244mm, according to this) and also only has 3 PCI slots, which suggests it's really MicroATX. I could be wrong, of course!

Thanks Aragorn - I've just found something saying it's based on the Gigabyte GA-8SIML MircoATX board.

That's one mistake you've stopped me from making

---------- Post added at 13:39 ---------- Previous post was at 13:30 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

well hopefully the ventilation will run out of the rear
The lian li case will vent air in thr front and out through the rear
theres this one but its expensive again http://www.misco.co.uk/productinformation/~100536~WW~/Silverstone%20LC11M%20Desktop%20Multimedia%20Case% 20(Silver).htm

I personally would go for the case that you think is going to look right and damn the cost. Its a peice of furniture if your using it as a media centre also using something that will allow a full mobo 1 gives you more space 2 gives you more choice 3 allows greater expansion.
Your going to want a reasonable gfx and a tv card I imagine so with a full case you can have space between these which will help.whats the max spend may I ask ? let me spec you the system s little lol

The goal was to combine the jobs of the PC and Xbox (which only runs XBMC these days as we have a 360) into a single box.

The plan was to keep expense to a minimum - hence tansplanting the contents of the existing iXtreme tower into a nicer case (ok, HTPC might be overstating the end result a bit

). I'm not after recording TV (at the moment) as we have the TVDrive and I tend to use newsgroups for other stuff. The current PC can't cope with HD feeds (it's only a 2.6Ghz processor with an AGP GeForce 4-440MX card) so I'd need to upgrade at least the graphics card (probably to a PCI-E card with the Nvidea PureVideo technology as it has better Linux support than ATIs Avivo) which in turn means a new motherboard etc...

That said, you might be right about getting the better case. At least that way I can keep it at a later date when I do get around to/have the funds to build it the way I want it from the ground up.

The nicer PC-V800 in the picture on the Overclockers site is actually the PC-V880.

I appreciate all of the responses I've been getting - the missus wasn't convinced about either of the cases I'd been looking at originally!

**David F** · 02-10-2006, 13:15

cool thanks for searching the right case typical ocuk lol

brundles · 05-10-2006, 13:26

This is just like my wife! I gave her the option of all the cases recommended here and she went off and found this one - a Thermaltake Bach case.

One (again probably stupid) question - I've seen references to it having an ATX PS2 power supply. Is the PS2 indicator anything significant?

Thanks again!

**David F** · 05-10-2006, 13:28

It just means that the power supply is capable of powering newer motherboards and cpus

Have you found anywhere in the uk selling that? looks good.It does look like a standard midi case on its side with just horizontal bays for roms etc

I must say I quite like the look of this case and its got me thinking about maybe moving one of mine under the tv lol

brundles · 05-10-2006, 13:34

There are quite a few places according to Froogle but she resorted to good old fashioned E-Bay which is where she found it.

From digging around, the remote and VFD are also Linux compatible because they're just rebadged iMon parts.

**David F** · 05-10-2006, 13:37

Think I may well buy one of the cheaper ones without remote because if I end up building a multimedia centre I will get a remote with the tv card.This has got me tempted the x1800 gfx are pretty cheap now and I think I could build a good gaming media centre around one of the cases for 400 quid ish