Recommend a Micro ATX HTPC case?

paulst10

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Hi, I'm thinking of building a HTPC as I have a few PC parts and my mate is selling a Micro ATX Gigabyte 78lmt with an AMD 4100 CPU..

I have sourced most of the bits I need but unsure on which case to get, some look too cheap and others are way too expensive, ideally I'm looking to spend around £50, it must be black and preferably a horizontal case with a maximum height of 25cm.

I suppose it's also possible to just buy a normal vertical case and lay it on its side?
 
What sort of space are you looking to put the HTPC in? One of the main difference between an HTPC case and putting a tower on its side will be the depth of the case. I have an HTPC (also using a Gigabyte 78LMT) in a Silverstone HTPC case (Silverstone Grandia HTPC Case - Black - SST-GD05B USB 3.0 - Scan.co.uk). The dimensions of this case pretty much match that of an AV Receiver and so will fit into TV units, and I've found the build quality to be very solid.

The other thing to consider is how your going to ventilate the HTPC, as just because you can fit it into the space, doesn't mean that it will be happy there. My Silverstone case came with 3 side facing case fans and a vent in the top (which my Scythe Big Shuriken exhausts out of) so I have left about 50mm on the side and taken the back off my tv unit.

In any case (no pun intended), I would look at the Silverstone range.
 
Hi, I'm thinking of building a HTPC as I have a few PC parts and my mate is selling a Micro ATX Gigabyte 78lmt with an AMD 4100 CPU..

I have sourced most of the bits I need but unsure on which case to get, some look too cheap and others are way too expensive, ideally I'm looking to spend around £50, it must be black and preferably a horizontal case with a maximum height of 25cm.

I suppose it's also possible to just buy a normal vertical case and lay it on its side?

I bought one of these a few months back
fractal design node 304
fractal design node 304 | eBay
paid about £40 for it second hand ,
and worked out perfectly to fit inside my tv cabinet
come's in just under the 25cm which is what your looking for , ( i think it's about 22/23 cm )
just fitted a evga gtx 950 ssc , with out any problems , will also fit gigabyte g1 970 too.


scrap that the mobo you have will be to big for that case :blush:
got my mini and micro's mixed up .
 
Last edited:
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What sort of space are you looking to put the HTPC in? One of the main difference between an HTPC case and putting a tower on its side will be the depth of the case. I have an HTPC (also using a Gigabyte 78LMT) in a Silverstone HTPC case (Silverstone Grandia HTPC Case - Black - SST-GD05B USB 3.0 - Scan.co.uk). The dimensions of this case pretty much match that of an AV Receiver and so will fit into TV units, and I've found the build quality to be very solid.

The other thing to consider is how your going to ventilate the HTPC, as just because you can fit it into the space, doesn't mean that it will be happy there. My Silverstone case came with 3 side facing case fans and a vent in the top (which my Scythe Big Shuriken exhausts out of) so I have left about 50mm on the side and taken the back off my tv unit.

In any case (no pun intended), I would look at the Silverstone range.

Thanks, been looking at these two..
Cooltek G3 Home Theater Case - Black/Silver - CTC-JB-G3A-SILVER - Scan.co.uk
Silverstone Milo Desktop Case - Black - SST-ML03B - Scan.co.uk

I rather like the silver on the first one, plus it takes a full ATX mobo if it was ever needed. The second one seems to be a slimmer version of what you have plus it's cheaper :)

As far as ventilation goes.. it will be sitting in an Alphasson AD3/105 which has open back and sides so that shouldn't be a problem.

What OS do you use on your HTPC? I was thinking of just installing Windows 7 on it as then it can be used as a PC as well, rather than using XBMC or Linux etc!
 
I use W7 ( will upgrade to W10 next year just before the free year is up ) , with kodi and mediaportal < for all for my mp4 and mkv files .
 
Do AMD processors still run hot? Are they a good option for a HTPC build?

As mentioned I'm probably looking at an AMD 4100.. Is this going to be quick enough as I've noticed a few benchmarks where it doesn't look that impressive..
 

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