Horizontal case for HTPC gaming: does such a mythical beastie exist?

Michael

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Essentially, I am sick of the noise from my Antec 300. As much as I love the thing, and the insane cooling, it raises the noise floor in the room from 31db(A) to 43. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do to reduce it, save blocking off the top fan, or going full water (ha, nope).

What I am ideally looking for is a case that will lie horizontally (removing coffee table from under TV, and getting a proper equipment rack, this also helps reduce H60 noise). It needs to be ATX compatible (size isn't really an issue), and be able to accommodate 4 ish 3.5" drives, as well as an SSD boot drive. Ideally, it would sit racked with the HC amp and CD player (and I'm willing to make thermal considerations)

My current GPU is a sapphire 7850, and my CPU cooler is an H60. With this in mind, I'd like 120mm fans on the back, if not on the front too. Ooh, and space for an extra sound card.

I'm sorry if this sounds a lot like a client spec-sheet :laugh:
Any ideas, shoot :)

[-]Edit: My piggy little eyes have now spotted this one. Thoughts?[/-]Nvm, it doesn't have 120mm fans.

The closest I have come so far is This: Review - Lian Li PC-C32 HTPC Case Review | bit-tech.net
Bit too pricy maybe though :(
 
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Silverstone do a whole range of these..

Cases » Silverstone - Overclockers UK

I was looking at them for a PC I built as a NAS server and Media Portal client for the bedroom.

In the end I didn't want to pay the prices they were asking, and as it was going under the bed, I just went for an Antec 300 and lay it on it's side!
 
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Are you gaming on it? If not, sell the 7850 on ebay, buy a passive HD6450 and disconnect the top fan on the case. You don't mention what your CPU is, but it may even make sense to sell the CPU and motherboard too and replace the whole lot with something quieter and more efficient. Used PC parts attract very good prices on ebay, so don't worry about that side of things.
 
What is it that is noisy? A new case probably won't make much difference if the components (CPU, GPU and PSU fans) are making the noise and you just stick them in the new case...

If it is case fans then what are you running temperatures like? You can probably just unplug some of the case fans.

Horizontal cases with 120mm fans are relatively rare :( Something like Kustom PCs HTPC Cases is even more expensive and probably way over the top just to solve a noise problem....

Silverstone GD07B Grandia ATX HTPC Case - SST-GD07B USB 3.0 - Scan.co.uk or http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fractal-design-node-605-atx-computer-case-w-o-psu might be options?

Are looks important? If not then I would just lay your existing case on its side and sort out the noise :)

As above if you separate the PC and the storage then it will increase your options quite a lot.
 
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Is there such a thing as a quiet 7850?

It sounds like this PC's in the wrong room to me.
 
What is it that is noisy? A new case probably won't make much difference if the components (CPU, GPU and PSU fans) are making the noise and you just stick them in the new case...

If it is case fans then what are you running temperatures like? You can probably just unplug some of the case fans.

Horizontal cases with 120mm fans are relatively rare :( Something like Kustom PCs HTPC Cases is even more expensive and probably way over the top just to solve a noise problem....

Silverstone GD07B Grandia ATX HTPC Case - SST-GD07B USB 3.0 - Scan.co.uk or Fractal Design Node 605 ATX Case no PSU - FD-CA-NODE-605-BL - Scan.co.uk might be options?

Are looks important? If not then I would just lay your existing case on its side and sort out the noise :)

As above if you separate the PC and the storage then it will increase your options quite a lot.


Separating the PC and storage might be an idea, but would gaming from a NAS be feasible?
The noise is a combo of the air movement and the H60 cooler (has a rattling/grinding noise when placed vertically)

Also, the coffee table is currently being used to house the amp/cd player, with the sub on one side, and the tower on the other: the idea would be to move the sub towards one of the corners, the equipment stack towards the other, and move the table back into the room.

I found one which would have been perfect, and only about £50, but unfortunately only Newegg sell it. I might go for it on Ebay, but that puts the price up to £65 inc shipping. It was perfect though, 120mm out for the H60, and 2x80mm for the rest of the case.

I might have a little experiment with the fans in a few weeks when I have a day off :)
 
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why don't you get a silent PSU and a fan controller and make it quiet...
 
I've realised that probably 50% of the noise comes from my cooler, which is apparently faulty, and the other from the sheer air volume. My current fan controller only lets me set them to 800-1200 rpm, so I may just buy a new controller bay.

Looks like the solution may be an RMA on the cooler, then a new fan controller, then some nice, quiet fan, and maybe consider a htpc case once everything else is shipshape :)

Thanks for the help guys
 

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