Opinions: HTPC Cases

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by Oats

I used a Silverstone LC-17. I liked it a lot and it kept my computer cool with 2 100mm intakes and 3 80mm exhausts. I had two hard drives and two tuners in it.

However, I did what paulbeers is suggesting. I didn't see a point in having my SageTV PC under my TV and another PC for more storage. So I went with an extender and combined the SageTV PC and storage PC into one. Now I'm trying to find somebody who wants to buy the case, but I'm not having much luck.

I have an LC-17 as well, and it works quite well. It doesn't quite look alike an A/V case since it has no display on the front panel, but it blends in well in my rack.

[davephan]

I selected the Lian Li PC-G70B full tower case. The case is no longer available from New Egg, but is available from other sources. The Lian Li PC-G70B case is very large and has a professional look without gimmicky a bright colored plastic window.

The case can hold 12 drives. There is space inside the case for one or two extra 6 drive metal drive bays. The case also has room for two power supplies.

I plan to relocate the large Lian Li PC-G70B full tower case out of the normal living space, and install a long video monitor cable, keyboard, mouse, and external DVD drive USB cables.

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811112105


Dave

[ybrew]

I've got the zalman hd160.



Very quiet. I'm using a zalman powersupply but the stock cpu cooler. No complaints (other than the price).

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by davephan

I selected the Lian Li PC-G70B full tower case. The case is no longer available from New Egg, but is available from other sources. The Lian Li PC-G70B case is very large and has a professional look without gimmicky a bright colored plastic window.

The case can hold 12 drives. There is space inside the case for one or two extra 6 drive metal drive bays. The case also has room for two power supplies.

I plan to relocate the large Lian Li PC-G70B full tower case out of the normal living space, and install a long video monitor cable, keyboard, mouse, and external DVD drive USB cables.

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811112105


Dave

Personally, I like the original stacker much better. Bigger case, lots of room, and great cooling. Plus you can get it for $55 at the coolermaster refurb store, which is a steal. Room for 2 PSU's too...


It is becoming increasingly practical to remote the client completely from the display. The xantech folks are just starting to ship their HDMI over dual CAT5 extender, which also piggybacks IR as well. You can basically keep the client PC elsewhere, and remote the HDMI to your receiver (provided you are pushing the audio over the HDMI connector, otherwise you need more cat5 for SPDIF.

If you are putting a boatload of disk in your sage server/client, I think it's hard to keep that in the TV room because of the noise of cooling the disk. I put my disk in a NAS, and then keep the client in the A/V rack with my receiver.

Of course with an extender, it's even easier, but I think I'll probably rebuild my client with the new nvidia 8300 chipset, which is supposed to do HD 8ch LPCM audio over HDMI, which is nice for HD media, and the extender can't do that. If that doesn't work any better for me than what i have now, I'll probably just replace the whole thing with an extender and call it a day.

[jlmdxtv]

I agree with Spartan. The Antec New Solution NSK2480 is inexpensive and *very nicely* built.

I run the 2 120mm fans at their lowest RPM, put a Zalman cooler on the CPU also at its slowest setting (it's directly next to those 120mm fans), purchased an NVidia 8500 with full-side heat sink (no fan), and now I cannot hear it running from 4' away. It's worth tossing your ATX MB and getting a Micro ATX MB for a $70 or so.

Another plus is that the silver face can be easily removed, spray painted black and reinstalled to match with your other black components.

john

[david1234]

Originally Posted by flashbacck

I have the NSK2400 (older model of the 2480) and I like it. I agree with Spartan's pros. A few cons I have are:

1) no stealthed 5.25" drive bays.
2) even though it's a microatx case, it's not really that small. I think this has to do with the layout of the drives and psu.

I think the antec fusion is virtually the same model, but has a VF display, which you mentioned you wanted.

I know he wasn't looking for the matx case, but I would avoid the Fusion. It's the same case, except for the face plate. I bought it and it is a really nice and cool running case, BUT the IR reciever won't work completely with anything other than MCE and the LCD's have a tendency to go bad in a very short time (mine blinks 12:36 for a couple minutes every week or so, otherwise it just glows blue now).

You can buy the 2480 and a decent LCD for the less, which is what I wish I'd have done.

[[JiF]Mike]

I'm totally dig'n all the replies ty. Perhaps I would have gone mATX before I ordered my atx motherboard. I'm kinda locked into it now, besides...I like it. If anyone else wants to chime in about cases u have or wish you had, I'd love to hear it. I don't wanna have any regrets when I finally pick a case! lol