Cheap ITX case with quiet PSU

krooton · 14 Sep 2011 at 15:04

I'm looking to build a media box with a cheap Atom set up that can stay on 24/7.

As a result, I'd like something with as quiet a PSU as possible, but that can house at least 1 3.5" drive and costs £50 or less.

Been toying with the idea of either a Thermaltake Element Q or Compucase Mini ITX Case, but neither rate too well on PSU fan noise.

The cheap offerings from Antec don't cater for 3.5" drives annoyingly.

Legion · 14 Sep 2011 at 16:48

The problem is 99% of cases in the style and price you are looking at use whiny flex-atx psu's.
No getting away from it unless you change case size and shape or invest in a pico psu.

mcwildcard · 14 Sep 2011 at 17:15

This any good to you?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-OP&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=505

I have one running an E8400 and the case itself is dead quiet (once I installed a better 80mm case fan). It's a pretty titchy case as well.
It all depends if 120w is enough for your needs, it sounds like it would be.

I might be selling my case in the next few weeks, keep an eye on the members market if you're interested.

krooton · 15 Sep 2011 at 09:41

mcwildcard said:
This any good to you?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-OP&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=505

I have one running an E8400 and the case itself is dead quiet (once I installed a better 80mm case fan). It's a pretty titchy case as well.
It all depends if 120w is enough for your needs, it sounds like it would be.

I might be selling my case in the next few weeks, keep an eye on the members market if you're interested.

That looks great! Found a review that praises the psu noise highly, and I'll only be running a single core atom, so no issues with power.

Will keep an eye out thanks!

saitrix · 17 Sep 2011 at 23:01

There are cases available for £40ish which include a 60W power supply with no fan, downside being is the lack of 3.5" space. You could always make it external?

lixxus · 18 Sep 2011 at 11:09

krooton said:
I'm looking to build a media box with a cheap Atom set up that can stay on 24/7.

As a result, I'd like something with as quiet a PSU as possible, but that can house at least 1 3.5" drive and costs £50 or less.

Been toying with the idea of either a Thermaltake Element Q or Compucase Mini ITX Case, but neither rate too well on PSU fan noise.

The cheap offerings from Antec don't cater for 3.5" drives annoyingly.

I would recommend a picopsu,

I have two which i use with my mini itx. They are both 90watts.

Just buy a case and swap out the psu for a picopsu.

krooton · 18 Sep 2011 at 13:13

lixxus said:
I would recommend a picopsu,

I have two which i use with my mini itx. They are both 90watts.

Just buy a case and swap out the psu for a picopsu.

Thanks, but that's £40 for the psu and powerbrick, it would be cheaper for me to just shell out a bit more on a £60-70 case.

lixxus · 18 Sep 2011 at 13:47

krooton said:
Thanks, but that's £40 for the psu and powerbrick, it would be cheaper for me to just shell out a bit more on a £60-70 case.

I have a few mini itx cases I will be selling soon.

compucase 8k01
mini-box m350
venus 669

saitrix · 18 Sep 2011 at 22:27

krooton said:
Thanks, but that's £40 for the psu and powerbrick, it would be cheaper for me to just shell out a bit more on a £60-70 case.

You can get no name ones on auction sites for £15, then you can get a 60w brick for ~£10. So £25, then can get any case you like then, so you have £25 to play with.

Wakinglimb · 19 Sep 2011 at 09:07

For your needs, I would recommend the In-win that was linked too. If you want 3.5" HDDs, that's your best bet.

wakayoda · 19 Sep 2011 at 10:24

If your running two picopsu's do you have both linked up to one power button?

krooton · 22 Sep 2011 at 10:14

So I have my heart set on the BM648, and that brings me to another question.

I got the Intel D410PT, 1GB DDR2, and a 2TB harddrive.

The problem? I didn't realise that the D410PT only comes with a PCI slot, and no native HDMI. This makes the whole HTPC thing a bit of a nightmare.

I've managed to find a variant of the 5450 that is PCI and has HDMI, but I am not sure if this will work as intended with the PCI slot on this mobo.

Anyone know if it should be find to transmit video and audio over HDMI to my telly?

saitrix · 22 Sep 2011 at 12:32

How much is the 5450? Cause you could swap to an e350 system for probably not much more after selling the atom.

krooton · 22 Sep 2011 at 12:48

saitrix said:
How much is the 5450? Cause you could swap to an e350 system for probably not much more after selling the atom.

£40, and alas it would be even at best.

My gf bought the mobo as a Bday present, and it is well past DSR timeframe, so the company won't accept it back (even though I asked for an exchange and upgrade to an £83 Zotac with HDMI for which I would pay the difference).

If I sold it, I'd be lucky to get £40, and have to factor in delivery.

Spending £40 on a PCI card is going to cost around the same overall, and be less faff. :/

krooton · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:36

Woot, found a PCI 4350 for £27, that will do me fine.

saitrix · 22 Sep 2011 at 17:30

I use a 4350, its fine as long as you don't want to use any post processing really.

krooton · 22 Sep 2011 at 19:57

Nope, it will be a case of click avi/mkv/mp4 and watch.

krooton · 23 Sep 2011 at 10:31

saitrix said:
I use a 4350, its fine as long as you don't want to use any post processing really.

Stupid company sent me a PCIE card, even though the order part number clearly stated the PCI variant.

OOS now (unlikely that they ever had any) so looks like I just have to return and try and source another cheap one :mad:

mcwildcard · 5 Oct 2011 at 13:38

How're you getting on with this build?

krooton · 5 Oct 2011 at 14:44

Just waiting on the low profile bracket for my 5450 (didn't come with one

), and my 5m cat5 cable.

Got everything else installed and it's quiet as a mouse (installed a slim Xilence fan), but the case also came with no filler plate for the slimline drive, which is a bit annoying.

Tempted to look around for a broken black slimline drive just to fill the gap, lol.