Spec me a HTPC case

matt_fsr · 18 Jan 2009 at 11:31

I'm wanting to get a HTPC case setup with a new Micro ATX board, 4450e AMD CPU, and 2Gb RAM - the hard drives etc I already have.

I love the look of the Silverstone Lascala 13B case, but its just a bit too deep for me! I dont want to hack my stereo cabinet up, so the max depth for me is really 37cm, and the Lascala is 43cm deep.

Anyone know of a similar style case, in black, ideally aluminium fronted but not essential - that is less deep than the Silverstone? Budget can be up to £100 or so, might stretch a little further for one with built in PSU.

Ta!

Dr Malone · 18 Jan 2009 at 15:30

I have a hiper media centre case:

http://www.meetthegeeks.org/product.aspx?pid=242#

and it fits extremely well with my hifi system. It's only 27cm deep, comes with a PSU and it really blends in well with my kit. It isn't as well built as the silverstone but it's the only HTPC case I have ever found that is truly slimline and the same width as proper Hifi. If you like the look (it is not that similar to the silverstone in truth) then I think it's the best HTPC case available for those that want to stack it with proper Hifi.

I can get some with it stacked with the rest of my kit if there is any interest, these pictures are from when I was building it.
The front is not aluminium and you cannot get more than one hard drive in. You also need a laptop optical drive and a 1U cooler and are limited to one expansion card which will need a riser; But it is well under your budget and it can be found for 50 quid, so you could spend the difference on a 1U cooler and optical drive.

Gregeff · 18 Jan 2009 at 17:55

How about one of these:

http://atechfabrication.com/products/mini_client_2500.htm

ah sorry £100 limit thought you said £1000....

matt_fsr · 18 Jan 2009 at 18:28

Gregeff said:
How about one of these:

http://atechfabrication.com/products/mini_client_2500.htm

ah sorry £100 limit thought you said £1000....

*drools* A god among PC cases

Now that I do very much like...

Sadly, I may have to get a one with a fan and suffer the noise!

Dr Malone - any chance of some other pics of that case, and the front in particular? Also, how high is it? It looks very slim, so might be a bit tough cooling the CPU with such a low height?

Dr Malone · 18 Jan 2009 at 20:46

I have a 1U cooler on the chip. Hiper also make these if you want one, (you will need one). I also have a fan mate on to keep the noise at roughly zero. On most motherboards the fan will be right under a mesh on the top.
Hasn't overheated in over a year, runs indefinitely even stacked how it is. I stress tested it by running two prime 95's and TMPEG for 24 hours. No problem. These days it sits in hibernate mode until we want some music.
Including the feet it's 53 mm high. As you can see it's barely thicker than the IO shield.

It's mostly black. It's mirrored at the bottom, but you can't really tell. There is a hiper logo on the left hand side, but again it's not intrusive. There is one button right in the centre to turn on and off (no reset) and underneath that is a blue LED. Too bright for me all the time so I hooked it up to the HDD led instead.

Here's one with the flash off, which is better as looks stealthy, and more how it actually appears. It needs a clean!

Front IO. - note no headphone etc.

And one showing the mesh over the CPU cooler.

Best i can do with the pictures. Hiper also do systems with mobo, cooler etc. which are not as minimalist (so not for me) but still quite nice.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article756-page1.html

matt_fsr · 19 Jan 2009 at 10:45

Many thanks for the pics mate - it looks great, I like the style, size, pretty much everything about it - although my own preference might be for a slightly bigger cooler in a taller case, but I have a fan mate I can whack in if I get one.

What cooler exactly are you using? I'm going to be dropping in an AM2 4450e, possibly undervolted and underclocked a little as well, so hopefully heat shouldnt be too much of an issue.

Dr Malone · 19 Jan 2009 at 18:58

It is a coolermaster 1u copper cooler, I think it might have been sold to me as a hiper part; honestly I am struggling to remember now but I got it from the same place I got the case.

Mine is the 939 version they do a similar one for am2 which bolts through the four holes onto the backplate, you will need a mobo that you can do this with. - There is plenty of choice for 1u coolers though.

Yeah, I would have thought that a 1U cooler wasn't up to it on a small case but I haven't had any issue with CPU temps, only the noise of the fan, and hence the fan mate. Sometimes I can here the little fan on the PSU, but not often.

The dimensions of the case were what sold it to me and I haven't been disappointed either in appearance or how hot it gets. The hard drive area feels very hot, but again no issues. You might want to consider a laptop HDD if you are really worried about temps.

That said, you should feel how hot my audiolab pre and power amp get. These have been running permanently for about three years and were made in 1990! We have quite a bit to learn from passively cooled hifi i think.

b|gf|sh · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:07

Lian-Li PC-C37.

Here's a pic from a setup on AVSForums:

/me wants.

Gregeff · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:35

b|gf|sh said:
Lian-Li PC-C37.

Here's a pic from a setup on AVSForums:

/me wants.

Yeh I just got one of these, hopefully build this system at the weekend. However I was a little diapointed that it was bigger than I expected (and bigger than the OP requires) It's also not as well made as my PC70...

My Build:

Lian Li PC-C37
Seasonic S12II 330Watt
AMD 4850e
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Low Profile
ASUS M3A78-EM 780G Socket AM2+
2Gb PC6400
1TB Western Digital Green Power

At a later day:
Blueray Drive
Dual Digital TV Card.

Dr Malone · 19 Jan 2009 at 23:32

Mm, very nice!

43cm wide and fairly standard parts. A good compromise if you can't have or don't wan't an ultra slim case.
How does the depth do with you matt_fsr, at that depth it's pretty close to perfect for you?

matt_fsr · 20 Jan 2009 at 14:33

Dr Malone said:
Mm, very nice!

43cm wide and fairly standard parts. A good compromise if you can't have or don't wan't an ultra slim case.
How does the depth do with you matt_fsr, at that depth it's pretty close to perfect for you?

Depth looks nice.... but i'm afraid *YOINK* :eek:

at £117 with no PSU, kinda touches it about 30% over my budget - compared with that nice little Hiper case which is a bargain for £50!

Another thing is that although the Lian-Li definately looks nice, I do prefer a case front either without audio/USB jacks, or hidden away ones - seeing as I might use then 2/3 times a year at most.

I'll let ppl know when I decide to place an order, ta for the advice though - time to spend some of that christmas cash!