Small HTPC Case

Peerzy · 6 Dec 2013 at 13:41

I've got the following components;

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
OCZ Agility 3 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-240G)
Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11)
Asrock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £119.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

and I'm looking at getting rid of the following from my build;

MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black

I'd like to ditch the graphics card altogether as I no longer game and put everything I currently have in a very small small quiet case and use as a HTPC.

Could people spec me the best (quietest and smallest) case?

I can go for THIS if I want to keep the optical drive but ideally I'm going to get rid so would want something smaller.

Peerzy · 7 Dec 2013 at 12:55

Could someone move this thread to the case forum as it's specifically about cases.

RJC · 7 Dec 2013 at 13:03

What size are you looking for?

A few options below, but some take the small optical drive so you would need to remove your optical drive now rather than the option later.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Lian Li PC-Q02B Mini-ITX Cube Case with 300W SFX Power Supply - Black £99.95
1 x Silverstone Sugo SG05 HTPC USB 3.0 Case with 300W Power Supply - Black (SST-SG05B USB 3.0) £86.99
1 x Lian Li PC-Q03B Mini-ITX Cube Case - Black £59.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 130 RC-130-KKN1 Mini ITX Case - Black £45.95
Total : £313.39 (includes shipping : £17.10).

Peerzy · 7 Dec 2013 at 17:58

RJC said:
What size are you looking for?

A few options below, but some take the small optical drive so you would need to remove your optical drive now rather than the option later.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Lian Li PC-Q02B Mini-ITX Cube Case with 300W SFX Power Supply - Black £99.95
1 x Silverstone Sugo SG05 HTPC USB 3.0 Case with 300W Power Supply - Black (SST-SG05B USB 3.0) £86.99
1 x Lian Li PC-Q03B Mini-ITX Cube Case - Black £59.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 130 RC-130-KKN1 Mini ITX Case - Black £45.95
Total : £313.39 (includes shipping : £17.10).

Much smaller than all 3 of those, it's going under a TV so needs to be around the size of a PS3 or smaller really. I'm giving up the graphics card and willing to give up the optical drive as the PC will be used for media storage and being hooked up to the TV.

Basically I know I can aim for THIS and keep an optical drive, I want to know if I can go smaller and lose the drive or is it not worthwhile?

Small and silent HTPC is what I'm going for using my existing components, no gaming.

RJC · 7 Dec 2013 at 21:33

I don't think there is anything that much smaller, of you go too small then you my need to look at a different PSU, ie the brick type.

The Silverstone is a good case for the price, you could build and leave the drive out.

vanandjuanunited · 14 Dec 2013 at 20:22

Silverstone ml03 possibly

The Deuce · 15 Dec 2013 at 22:02

Fractal Node 304

Amp34 · 16 Dec 2013 at 00:07

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-015-SR&groupid=2362&catid=2382

Streacom FC8 EVO?

Smaller than a PS3 and totally silent (if you discount the mechanical HDD - I use 2 SSDs in mine and have It attached to a NAS for the rest). They also do an HTPC version which is slimmer but more expensive. Once you go completely silent you don't go back...

it's powered by a pico PSU.

There is one negative though, it can only just handle the CPU you have, if you torture the thing for a while the temps begin to run away so I underclocked mine by 5%. Not that it would affect every day browsing/video watching etc.

SilverStone Rep · 16 Dec 2013 at 07:50

If you are willing to sacrifice 3.5" drive and move to a SFX PSU, then ML05 is something you can consider as well. It has a horizontal profile that should fit nicely under a TV. OCUK should have it in stock soon.

For reference below is a comparison of sizes on case models mentioned in this thread so far:

36.3 litres - BitFenix Prodigy
19.6 litres - Fractal Design Node 304
18.6 litres - Cooler Master Elite 130
16.2 litres - SilverStone ML04
15.7 litres - SilverStone ML03
10.8 litres - SilverStone SG05
10.3 litres - Lian Li PC-Q03
7.1 litres - SilverStone ML05
6.9 litres - Lian Li PC-Q02
6.0 litres - Streacom FC8 EVO