HTPC case

Hades

Hades

Hades

Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
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Surrey
I'm looking for a nice HTPC case for an mATX motherboard. It needs to take at least two PCI cards, preferably using a riser so the height of the case is low. I've come up with these so far. Can anyone suggest anything else and which do people prefer. Don't want full ATX size and don't want normal height. I'm leaning towards the LC11. This will be a MythTV build :)

Budget is up to £150-ish.

Silverstone LC02

Silverstone LC04

Silverstone LC11

EDIT: just found the LC11M too:
Silverstone LC11M with VFD


EDIT: Don't mean to open a can of worms because silver is obviously best for a normal PC case. But what would look best under a TV? Silver or black? Don't have a new plasma yet so not sure what colour that will be.
 
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Get black. And I would buy a full height case so you can fit PCI and PCI-E. Those slim MATX cases won't allow PCI & PCI-E at the same time. So useless if you want a decent graphics card (perhaps onboard won't be sufficient in the future therefore want to add one) plus a couple of PCI. So you're stuffed.

I have a MATX HTPC, in Silverstone TJ-08. It's not a HTPC case, but I don't care. It's black and that's all that matters (and I have no racking space for horizontal cases) at least I can - and have- used a PCI-E and PCI soundcard at the same time with this case.

oh those slim cases don't support standard ATX PSU, so if the included one goes bang need to go to SS. If they have smaller fans that means more noise. The cases themselves have smaller fans. My TJ-08 has standard ATX space plus 2x12cm fans, so quieter and better cooling than 2x8cm
 
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Good point but I should have explained that I'm probably getting the Asus M2NPV-VM AM2 motherboard and undervolting and underclocking a CPU. the motherboard has onboard nforce graphics including s-video and optional hd output so no need for a PCI-E card. This will be a dedicated MythTV box so I won't need a lot of power and will see if undervolting the fans helps. Long term I'll probably fit a rackmount in the garage and put the Myth server there and convert this to just a client (and other clients in other rooms - hence the server).
 
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I've got the 11-M and it's a wonderful case. I'm not a fan of the black one due to the iffy looking wood panel bit on the front, but in silver it looks mint :)
 
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