HTPC case suggestions?

[simonf7]

Hi,

After finally getting a decent reliable tv picture from my box by going old school and using a couple of Nova-T's I'm now looking for a new case to replace the temporary one its currently sat in.

Any suggestions? I've already got the M$ USB remote, etc which it would be nice to get inside the case. I'd also like to fit a nice display on the front for display information.

Si

[hermanmunster]

How about this

http://www.gladiatorcomputers.com/Pr...=SearchResults

Also available in silver, comes with remote and VFD display....or £50 less without.

[mkonieczko]

Hi Simon

I am very happy with my DIGN X1. It is quite deep, but matches my Denon AV amp perfectly in height and width.

Nicely constructed, takes full size mobo, lots of expansion space and the front does not show greasy finger marks too much! Only gripe is the front DVD drive cover which is attached to the drawer with doubly sided sticky pads comes loose and tends to catch sometimes! (Any solution for this Stuart? )

Regards

Mark

[rm010]

Hi,

I'm happy with my Thermaltake Tenor case, not badly priced and it matches my amp well for height and width.

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Product...9781&GroupID=0

Cheers!

[rosco99]

Originally Posted by rm010

Hi,
I'm happy with my Thermaltake Tenor case, not badly priced and it matches my amp well for height and width.
Cheers!

Another one to consider is Antec Overture. It also takes a full size MOB and full height PCI cards. It has a quiet power supply and large quiet case fans. I fitted a Zalman CPU AL-Cu cooler to quieten the Pentium 4 and a passively cooled Radeon 9550 video card. Only noise I hear from it is a soft clicking just as HD boots up then noise is below 20db.

[sjpeckmore]

The one I currently have my eye on is the mCubed HFX case. It looks like a true AV seperate, so it will blend in with your other equipment perfectly but the killer feature for me is that it is totally fanless.

The whole case is a giant heatsink, with massive fins down either side. The case takes fullsize components (ATX motherboard and PSU) but instead of using the standard heatsinks and fans, you attach heatpipes which connect to the inside of the case.

It is a tad pricey - £300 for the case, then £60 for the CPU heatpipes and £80 for the PSU - but it is a stunning, totally silent solution that can take normal hardware (including an Athlon X2 4400+), so there really are no compromises.

Manufacturer:
mCubed

Buying:
Case
PSU
AMD Heatpipes
Intel Heatpipes

Reviews:
Custom PC
Tom's Hardware

Images:

[MarkSS]

Depending on how much kit you want to fit inside, the Zalman is excellent for big installs.

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/pro...tpccases/hd160

Has IR sensor built in to the included VFD display.

[BigBry]

Originally Posted by sjpeckmore

The one I currently have my eye on is the mCubed HFX case.
It is a tad pricey - £300 for the case, then £60 for the CPU heatpipes and £80 for the PSU - but it is a stunning, totally silent solution that can take normal hardware (including an Athlon X2 4400+), so there really are no compromises.

You are aware how much this unit weighs - without anything in it's around 20 kilos. The side heatsinks are also pretty sharp.

In my view it's overpriced and not of the quality you'd expect a £300 unit to be. However that's my opinion and I can understand why it's liked.

From memory it's also peculiar with it's hard drive spaces. I can't recall if all have to go in 5.25" bays or just if you have a 2nd HD.

[sjpeckmore]

Originally Posted by BigBry

You are aware how much this unit weighs - without anything in it's around 20 kilos. The side heatsinks are also pretty sharp.

Yeah, it does weigh a lot, but then again I don't plan on carrying it around much - once it's in my AV rack, it stays there!

Originally Posted by BigBry

In my view it's overpriced and not of the quality you'd expect a £300 unit to be. However that's my opinion and I can understand why it's liked.

It is expensive, though not much more than most other aluminium HTPC cases. But I think the ability to use standard PC hardware without a single fan is a major plus point and worth the cost. It is, as you say, the reason why it's liked.

Originally Posted by BigBry

From memory it's also peculiar with it's hard drive spaces. I can't recall if all have to go in 5.25" bays or just if you have a 2nd HD.

Yeah, it only has 5.25" bays, though I believe that is through design. The idea is to mount all hard drives in these bays using silencing kits to ensure that there is as little noise as possible coming from them.

I do want to point out that I haven't ever actually seen one of these cases, so I'm no expert on them. BigBry seems to have actually got to grips with one so I think his opinion should count for more here.