[Polydwarf]

I'm speccing out a new htpc to replace my aging system, and have a question regarding case finishes.

Personally, I'm looking to get a matte black finish, not shiny piano. I've heard the Apex MI-008 is shiny, even though the pics I've seen tend to make it look matte.

Can anyone shine some light (har har har) on this?

If it is shiny, are there any other suggestions for relatively cheap mini itx cases (I don't have a need to go the micro atx route, as I don't have a lot of stuff to put in it); I've looked at the list in the sticky, but a little leery about the pics I've seen online given the MI-008's.

I'm looking for something that is matte black and isn't gaudy (my definition of gaudy : the red stripes on the Thermaltake Element Q). LEDs on fans is something I'd like to avoid or replace if possible, so the sugo might be in (I think the front fan has an LED, but I don't know about replacability)... Although, I'd also like to have a full height 5.25 tray so I don't have to try and find a slim bd rom.

[WhiteLighter]

Would this case from Lan Gear fit to what you are looking for? It a black anodized brushed aluminum case. The external bay looks like a slim bay drive but it's just a face plate for the standard 5.25 bay drive.

[Polydwarf]

Yep, it looks like it would.

Two problems, though... First is cost... Second is I'm in the US so getting it here would be a pain

I'm kind of wondering if my aversion to micro atx is warranted. My local Fry's Electronics has a few different Silverstone cases in stock and I could also scratch my "Gotta have it now" itch.

[WhiteLighter]

I just noticed that their link to US store is broken. How about the Lian Li PC-V351B?

[Mallet21]

I'm kind of wondering if my aversion to micro atx is warranted. My local Fry's Electronics has a few different Silverstone cases in stock and I could also scratch my "Gotta have it now" itch.

You could do a lot worse than a Silverstone case. mATX is nice in case you do ever want to expand and it also saves on wear n' tear as your components will stay cooler.

[WhiteLighter]

I'm kind of wondering if my aversion to micro atx is warranted. My local Fry's Electronics has a few different Silverstone cases in stock and I could also scratch my "Gotta have it now" itch.

I just picked this SilverStone case last Saturday from my local Fry's

[Polydwarf]

I just noticed that their link to US store is broken. How about the Lian Li PC-V351B?

Yup, that'd work too.

I just picked this SilverStone case last Saturday from my local Fry's

Isn't it great living in a major metro area

Honestly, I was leaning towards mini itx more for cost savings than for space savings. If I'm getting up into the $100+ range on a mini itx case anyways, the cost savings are pretty much gone.

Which tells me I should just go to Fry's after work and make them happy by buying a bunch of stuff.

[WhiteLighter]

Isn't it great living in a major metro area

I still like to be just in the outskirt of the metro area

Honestly, I was leaning towards mini itx more for cost savings than for space savings. If I'm getting up into the $100+ range on a mini itx case anyways, the cost savings are pretty much gone.

I'll be going for a mini itx or even a nettop for the bedroom HTPC. But for the living room, I would like it to be uniform as much as possible (same size, or at least same width) of my cable receiver and AVR.

Which tells me I should just go to Fry's after work and make them happy by buying a bunch of stuff.

I normally drop by Fry's on my way home from work just to browse around, it's like an anti-stress therapy for me

[voip-ninja]

I'm speccing out a new htpc to replace my aging system, and have a question regarding case finishes.

Personally, I'm looking to get a matte black finish, not shiny piano. I've heard the Apex MI-008 is shiny, even though the pics I've seen tend to make it look matte.

Can anyone shine some light (har har har) on this?

If it is shiny, are there any other suggestions for relatively cheap mini itx cases (I don't have a need to go the micro atx route, as I don't have a lot of stuff to put in it); I've looked at the list in the sticky, but a little leery about the pics I've seen online given the MI-008's.

I'm looking for something that is matte black and isn't gaudy (my definition of gaudy : the red stripes on the Thermaltake Element Q). LEDs on fans is something I'd like to avoid or replace if possible, so the sugo might be in (I think the front fan has an LED, but I don't know about replacability)... Although, I'd also like to have a full height 5.25 tray so I don't have to try and find a slim bd rom.

The finish on the MI-008 that I ordered was matte, but the front bezel is a shiny black plastic. When you take it out of the carton there is a piece of plastic to pull off of it because it is extremely scratch prone.

Personally I thought the MI-008 looked like crap, and I also had a problem with the PSU on it overheating due to the way it is positioned (and my choice of cpu cooler to work with it).

I spent $35 on a low profile cooler + $50 on the MI-0008. For about $75 more I got a Wesena ITX-7 and a 150 watt Pico PSU. The Wesena absolutely cleans the floor over the MI-008, it actually looks like a piece of real AV gear and not a PC.

[eskro]

if you like the MI-008

there's also the $70 ELEMENT Q case that could suit your taste
http://goo.gl/BOLxk

or even the $57 ROSEWILL RS-MI-01 BK
http://goo.gl/32vrH

[voip-ninja]

Be aware that the Element Q is huge, much larger then MI-008.

[Polydwarf]

The finish on the MI-008 that I ordered was matte, but the front bezel is a shiny black plastic. When you take it out of the carton there is a piece of plastic to pull off of it because it is extremely scratch prone.

To be honest, I'm pretty sure it was a post you made in another thread that got me wondering about the finish on the case in the first place. In the pics on Newegg, it certainly doesn't look shiny.

if you like the MI-008

there's also the $70 ELEMENT Q case that could suit your taste
http://goo.gl/BOLxk

or even the $57 ROSEWILL RS-MI-01 BK
http://goo.gl/32vrH

Thanks for the Rosewill suggestion, Eskro... It definitely has possibilities.

I dislike the Element Q... To me, the red stripes on the front make it look like a 48 year old marketing exec tried to design something "Exxxtreme" for all those hip kids, and it just doesn't match anything else in my entertainment center.

[voip-ninja]

This photo of the MI-008 might help understand the plastic/shiny of it.

[eskro]

To be honest, I'm pretty sure it was a post you made in another thread that got me wondering about the finish on the case in the first place. In the pics on Newegg, it certainly doesn't look shiny.



Thanks for the Rosewill suggestion, Eskro... It definitely has possibilities.

I dislike the Element Q... To me, the red stripes on the front make it look like a 48 year old marketing exec tried to design something "Exxxtreme" for all those hip kids, and it just doesn't match anything else in my entertainment center.

well, at least i tried

[Polydwarf]

well, at least i tried

Hehe. I really do appreciate the suggestions. I know a lot of people have the Element Q, I just don't particularly like the looks of it. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

I'm starting to think a little... bigger about my whole setup at home. I'm toying with the idea of building an esxi whitebox machine to do fileserver, asterisk, linux server for random stuff, and maybe one or two other machines. Then, build a media pc to do playback.

I've got a C2D E6300 doing everything now (running linux, kvm hosting a couple of virtual machines, xbmc, etc) without much problem. But, the chip is old, and I'm looking for something with better efficiency and less tweaking (hdmi sound off the builtin geforce 9300 on my p5n7a-vm in anything other than stock ubuntu is doable, but annoying). Unfortunately, the hard drive controller on the mobo isn't recognized in esxi, so I can't just repurpose it

Ah well, I'm done hijacking my own thread (for now)