Main work/games pc in a HTPC case?

Messiah Khan · 10 Mar 2006 at 18:51

Im considering getting a new case soonish, as im bored of my old Thermaltake Xaser3. The cases that im liking the look of are the Antec P180(In black if I can still get hold of it.) The Lian-Li PC V1100 PLUS Black and the Lian-Li PC V2100 PLUS Black. With the latter being very near the top of my price range. However I keep having an idea of building my main machine into a HTPC case instead. I mainly use my pc for web browsing, graphics and some gaming, oh and music. The main reason im considering a HTPC case is I love the look of them, especially as a good quality black one would look great amongst my stackable Yamaha AV system. The case im looking at so far is the Silverstone LC16M. Now my question is; Is this a sensible idea, and what are the downsides to using a HTPC case rather than a standard case. The main problem that I can see is lack of 3.5" internal spaces, as im ideally wanting 5-6 harddrives, although I can cut this back to 3 if needed. What is the biggest HTPC case available?

james.miller · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:01

depends on what you want to put in them. they are virtually ALL very limited with regards to cooling. I've just switched from a silverstone sst lc-03 for that very reason. 1x80mm fan at the front an 1x60mm at the back isnt enough for a serious rig.

Enough room for 3 hdd's and 2 optical drives. but the temps just made it inpractical for my opteron beast

David230 · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:06

I have the same Lascala case but with the VFD display. Tried to do something with all my new bits but as said before the case is just too impractical. Too cramped and my Hiper TypeR supply connectors were literaly on the DVD drive.

Gonna go low power with that case and use it for less power hungry apps.

Messiah Khan · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:06

Well my current rig, which would be going into it(Will obviously be upgraded over time) is an Athlon64 [email protected], 1gb ram 2x6600gt's in SLI, 1x250gb hdd, 1x27gb hdd, 1x80gb hdd, 480w tagan psu and a MSI K8N Diamond mobo. Do any HTPC cases come with 120mm fans?

james.miller · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:08

not that i know of mate

the case i switched to was a cheap thermaltake suprano. every fan in the case is now a 120mm, including the cpu and psu fan. My opteron now loads at 47c @ 2.98ghz, and not 72c @ 2.7ghz as it did in the silverstone. System tems are down around 20c also. A htpc would struggle with the heat output of two gpu's especially.

Yewen · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:27

About the best cooling HTPC type case will be the Sugo, it can cool most things but it is not brilliant again.

Towers are the way you need to go for if you like low temps or a overclocked rig.

Remember 120mm fans only come into there own on the noise / airflow ratio, 80mm fans can generally push the same amount of air but are just noisier and more expensive.

Messiah Khan · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:33

Hmm, the look of the Sugo really doesn't do it for me tbh. Looks like im going to stick to a tower case then. Does anyone have any experience with the Lian Li PC-73SLB? It looks pretty good, just wondering what its like inside etc. My ideal case would be a completely smooth black rectangle, something no too dissimilar to the obelisk out of 2001 a space odyssey

Any suggestions for this?

Yewen · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:34

How much money you got to spend?

v1100+ maybe...

Messiah Khan · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:39

Yeah, i'd looked at that one. I'd also considered the Lian-Li PC V2100 PLUS, although im not sure I like the ridged front on both of them. If the front was perfectly smooth, it would be perfect. Im fussy I know, but if im going to spend a decent amount of money on a case that im going to keep for a good few years, then I want it to be perfect. the black P180 certainly isn't bad, although AFAIK it isn't sold anymore is it?

Edit: As for budget, around £200 i'd say, anything significantly more than that it would have to be something absolutely perfect.

Yewen · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:42

Have you seen the new Lian Li's coming out...

There seems to be one that is exactly what your after...

S80, 201's there is a load, including the G70 which may be right up your street, if you have a dig around there are a few threads on here and the Lian Li website has a little bit of info.