Help! Need advice on a slim mce case

alienandy

Established Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
251
Reaction score
5
Points
98
Okay, I'm about to take my first step in to the world of MCE ( Vista ).
Before I spend the cash on this, I need some advice from you experts on here.
Firstly, where I want to put the Media Centre in our living room I am somewhat limited for space in our tv unit. Here are the measurements for the space I have available... 49cms(W) x 10cms(H) x 34cms(D).
I have been looking all over the Net for a case that might fit in here, and the few that I have come across have included a low wattage psu. i.e. 200w or less!
I obviously need something like a 300w psu to run this mce don't I? After all, I will be using atleast a AMD 64 3000+ cpu etc. I know that I can replace the psu if need be, however, I'm not too sure as to the size of the original one?
Does anyone know of a good slim case that already contains atleast a 300w psu? ( preferably a silent one ). I am on a budget of £350-400 with this mce, so I can't really go for some of the htpc cases that I have seen on here.
Also, this might seem like a dumb question, but once you have built up a mce system for under the tv, how do you go about running the mce on say Vista? I assume that everyone sticks mce into the startup folder in windows? I mean, the last thing you want to do is pull out a mouse in the living room and start clicking on the Start Menu!

Thanks.
 
Check out the Aopen EPC barebones, they are perfect for under your telle! :smashin:
 
Sorry mate, juping the gun with that last post - the Aopen barebones is intel based (for VIIV technology) but a micro ATX Mobo can be put in instead. :suicide:

You get Media Centre to start up automatically in the media centre settings (think its a tick box that says "Start up automatically when vista starts up"), so no need to use anything but your remote. :D
 
Thanks for that info mate. Well chuffed.
Just need to find somewhere in the UK that sells that case. Just been looking through loads of Sites, but they are all abroad!
I WILL find one. Otherwise it looks like a PC Cube type case hidden behind the telly! Urgh.
 
Now that's a nice case Sandman.
I've now decided that I am going to rip apart the middle of our TV unit to make more room for the case that I have now set my heart on.

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1212.html

Ta daa!

Interesting note. I've been sorting through the things I need to buy for this media centre, and I've noticed that I end up with a more powerful system than my main pc upstairs! Now that just ain't on!! :eek:
Bloody PCs.
 
I keep meaning to ask someone but what is that big knob on the right that looks like a volume control? If it _is_ a volume control how does it work controlling Windows volume?

Interesting note. I've been sorting through the things I need to buy for this media centre, and I've noticed that I end up with a more powerful system than my main pc upstairs! Now that just ain't on!! :eek:
Bloody PCs.
You must have a pretty low-powered PC upstairs then:) You really don't need a very powerful system for standard MCE use. For a long time my main MCE 2005 system was an Athlon XP 2000+ with 500MB memory & an Nvidia FX 5200. This system handled everything including US HDTV MPEG2 .TS files. It is way too slow for any European HDTV (H.264 MPEG4) but you need a dual core Athlon 64 X2 3800+ as a minimum for that.
 
another :smashin: for the aopen.

just built one it's great size and runs very well with vista...

also as it's barebones all you need is DVD, HD, processor and memory and you up and away....
 
I originally was gonna go with the Antec case, until i discovered the aopen of cause - took me a half hour to put together! (excluding OS installation of cause)

The thing that put me off the Antec was its size at first, as i have limited depth on my shelf under the tv. But then i discovered that if you intend to use a remote control, you have to live with the huge IR receiver staring at you on top of your case! :rolleyes:

I came across another case that was quite small, and had the capability of internal IR receiver, but i cant remember what it was called :confused: (cant even google it - sorry) it was however, just the case, so no wasting money on a barebone, so you can put in your AMD mobo and processor etc.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom