please help my decide on a HTPC case. PLEAAAASE

james.miller

james.miller

james.miller

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right ok then. im building a HTPC and obviously, it needs a case of some kind. choices choices choices, there are a few cases i like, but there's always a drawback isnt there?


The silverstone cw01 - ~£200

lovely case, looks well made and not too busy. two optical drives, looks to be enough room for just about any graphics card, decent cooling for a HTPC case. The hard drive rack is a good idea, a plus for cooling, but it means only 5 drives can be installed instead of 6 like the:

Silverstone SST-LC17 £75

same basic design and layout as the cw01, except the hard drive cradles. cooling isnt as good and space for a graphics card is limited with the middle cradle installed. crucially though, its less than half the price. usb ports are behind the front flap instead of on the faceplate.


of the two, i love the price of the lc17 but the cw02 looks to be the better case. but £200 lol. also, do you guys think they are a little...plain? a case with a display would be nice, but they are vastly more expensive

i need more suggestions though. and i have some specific requirements:

  • must be black
  • full ATX
  • Room for at least two hard drives
  • preferably two optical drives
  • room enough to fit a 8800gts at least
  • decent cooling
  • brushed alu front, to match my onkyo 805 amp


what else should i be looking at?
 
What components are going into this case?

If the cooling and space would be enough, the LC17 looks like a good choice. Exterior is very nice, especially for a £75 case. £200 seems quite a lot too me for a HTPC case.
 
$loth said:
What components are going into this case?

If the cooling and space would be enough, the LC17 looks like a good choice. Exterior is very nice, especially for a £75 case. £200 seems quite a lot too me for a HTPC case.
Click to expand...

well, i will probably end up getting a c2d of some description. probably the e2160, a feature full motherboard and an 8500/8600 or the equiv. ATI with HD video decoding. im not totally decided on the components yet.


the only minor issues with thoses cases is the lake of display really. other than that the lc17 looks to be a great case :)
 
not enough room for expansion imo. cooling for a high end graphics card isn't adiquate enough, and the ventilation for the psu is poor and its more expensive than the lc17
 
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LC17 would be my choice.

Good value, decent cooling and specs. The CPU should be fine as it's a C2D, plus your GPU should be fairly compact as i'd be surprised if you'd ever consider an 8800 for an HTPC.

Plus you'll have £125 to spend on something else!!!

Like... a zalman reserator so you'd have a nice silent system too.

gt
 
gt_junkie said:
LC17 would be my choice.

Good value, decent cooling and specs. The CPU should be fine as it's a C2D, plus your GPU should be fairly compact as i'd be surprised if you'd ever consider an 8800 for an HTPC.

Plus you'll have £125 to spend on something else!!!

Like... a zalman reserator so you'd have a nice silent system too.

gt
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oooh a reserator. now there's an avenue i hadnt considered.

no, i very much doubt id try and shoehorn an 8800 in, not unless i can get a gts for sensible money:D
 
I'm in the same postition and I am looking at the Antec Fusion.

However looking at that CW01 is making me think.

200 is a tad pricey though and no PSU
 
yeah this is it. i want a case that looks as good as the CW01 with the same features for around £100-110 maybe. can it be done? i havent found anything lol.
 
Out of the 2, I'd say the LC17. There doesn't seem to be enough difference between the 2 for £125 extra.

gt_junkie makes a good point about a nice passive/semi-passive water cooling setup with the change, as noise will be a concern.
 
Take a look at the 2900Pro when it comes out. All the HD decoding goodness of the 2900XT just a little slower on the performance side. Overclockable though given decent ventilation. If it suffers from the same leaf blower though you'd have to look at the thermalright cooler for it to keep it silent which brings it up to GTS 320 price.

I reckon any C2D even the 2140 would be plenty for media programs. Decoding would be handled on the gfx card so it wouldn't really have much work to do. If you're looking at ripping DVDs onto the harddrive then it might be a little slow encoding though.
 
Darg said:
Take a look at the 2900Pro when it comes out. All the HD decoding goodness of the 2900XT just a little slower on the performance side. Overclockable though given decent ventilation. If it suffers from the same leaf blower though you'd have to look at the thermalright cooler for it to keep it silent which brings it up to GTS 320 price.
Click to expand...

thank you ill look it to that:)

I reckon any C2D even the 2140 would be plenty for media programs. Decoding would be handled on the gfx card so it wouldn't really have much work to do. If you're looking at ripping DVDs onto the harddrive then it might be a little slow encoding though.
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if i did that, id be buying bigger hard drives and leaving the transfers unscathed. quality is absolutely paramount here. it will be connected to a sony 40w2000 and an onkyo tx-sr805 :)

easyrider said:
I have a 2140 here.Enough for running Power Cinema at stock?
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easily. it should do everything required of it when paired with a hd decoding graphics card:)
 
Like both the cases just depends on what you decide you can afford if you feeling flush go for the pricey one I'm sure you won't regret it.

Bit concerned for you on the spec front though, you seem to be putting a lot of gear in a HTPC which all equals heat and noise which is going to be your biggest problem. There is nothing worse than wuring fans during the quiet bits of movies or songs. I'd look at a seriously at your spec and try and strip it down do you really need two optical drives and really modern spec graphics cards etc. I think everything you will actually doing will be easily attainable with much lower specs which would open up micro-atx and a wider selection of cases.
 
i know what your saying. ive always managed great performance being pretty silent and i know i can do it with this one. with these cases, the drives are in such a place that it wont affect cooling greatly. i can do with one drive, buti was hoping to get hd-dvd and bluray in there. if ther's a great case with one optical slot, then i can always use my 360's hd-dvd drive untill a combi drive is released:)

a low end c2d with a decent cooler on will be silent, and they are very cool running. it'll all be fine with an 8600 in there, i promise. i could do a gts silently as well. id put money on it:)

Terabyte drives?
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hehe. couple of 500's at the least.

i dont mind the size of the case at all. i like a bit of 'rack presence' and if it squares up to my onkyo well thats just dandy lol

keep em coming guys:)
 
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Darg said:
All the HD decoding goodness of the 2900XT just a little slower on the performance side.
Click to expand...

Just be aware that the 2900XT and 2900Pro do not have UVD hardware accelleration and have to use the shaders

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content...eAssets/ATI_Radeon_HD_2000_Handout.pdf

ATI Avivo HD video and display architecture present in HD 2900, 2600, 2400
UVD (Unified Video Decoder) only present in HD 2600, 2400
Click to expand...

Thus pretty much the same as with nvidia

Pure Video HD architecture present in G80, G84, G86
VP2 (for full H.264 decode) only present in G84, G86
 
easyrider said:
So 2400 ok for HTPC then?
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yep:) if you want to play hd video and have a hd decoding card, then yep again:) or hell, just overclock it a little lol


anyway, ill soon let you know. ive just bought one for my lc17. should be arriving tomorrow
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