Which case to buy for HTPC?
#1
Hello, I've managed to narrow the cases down to these three,
I want to be able to fit a dual core processor+motherboard which supports hdmi. 2x 2TB Hard drives, tv card and 2x2gb ram and blu ray drive, not sure if i need a gpu at this point. Anyway these are the cases :

MSI Media Live:
http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=proddes...od_no=1113

Piano Black Media Center MicroATX Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150277

Antec NSK 2480 MATX Desktop Case Black & Silver - With 380W EarthWatts PSU:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130945

Doesn't really matter about the form factor, which do you recommend!?
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#2
I have the Antec Minuet..

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141001

Really nice.. has P4 - 775, 2Gb machine with 210 Nivida... does 1080 nicely.... Mrs just not over keen on it (xbox home) so will probably end up on ebay very soon... Sad
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#3
I bought an Antec Fusion Remote Black. I'd recommend it to anyone for an HTPC case. Fits in really nicely with out A/V hardware near your TV. It's mini-ATX but I've put in a micro-itx atom with nvidia Ion. Kind of designed my HTPC to be always on and as low power as possible (low RPM hard drives etc.).

Only problem I've found is minor; the HDD light is one of those eye-scorching blue LEDs, so I unplugged it because it's pretty distracting blinking while you're watching something.
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#4
I just bought Silverstone Grandia GD02B-MT. I needed a new case to fit with my TV setup. I saw that there was a nice XBMC plugin YATSE (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=68936). Nice case, touchscreen and only 36cm deep.

Image
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#5
http://us.shuttle.com/
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#6
The media live is not a case, its a barebones computer (and an outdated one at that)

I have had the antec case for a couple years and am very happy with it (Its only flaw is that you can't hat ATX motherboards and some heatsinks are too tall) The fans are very quiet, but one of them has started making a little noise.

The Fusion that nickritus mentioned is a similar case with more features (VFD, "volume control", and remote)

If I had to do it again I would get the silverston lc-17 (EDIT: or the lian li pc-c32B) to allow for a larger heatsink, ATX motherboard and rack mount capability.
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#7
pre1014 Wrote:If I had to do it again I would get the silverston lc-17 (EDIT: or the lian li pc-c32B) to allow for a larger heatsink, ATX motherboard and rack mount capability.


I 100% disagree about those larger cases.

I have had an Antec NSK2480 for over a year and I am replacing it because it is just too big. At a case that size I was too tempted to have too much local storage (to not waste space!) and full blown GPUs (when a 9500 GT plays everything I have almost by itself). I ended up filling the thing with 3TBs of HDs I had laying around and gave it to my future father-in-law as an all-in-one media center (as he has a HUGE entertainment center on which it rests) and I went back to the drawing board.

My findings:

If you are looking for a frontend (aka not more than a HD or two like you say), then look at the:

LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C36B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

or a

SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum GD05B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811163166

for MicroATX cases

For Mini ITX cases something like the

CHENBRO ES30068-BK-150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

or the

Thermaltake Element Q VL52021N2U
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Are all good (and smaller) cases. Sure it means a half-height GPU maybe, or some good cable management, but in the end it really makes it not just another computer in the living room. My thinking is if my HTPC's size is giving my PS3 an inferiority complex, then I failed at one of the goals of a dedicated HTPC.

What did I choose? Not to threadjack, but none of the above. I plan on making my own thread explaining my new build, but suffice to say I went with a G-Alantic GA620iBK-A2 Pro

http://www.e-itx.com/g-alantic-ga620ibk-a-120w.html

Good luck!!!
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#8
I've been considering cases myself. I've been wanting to upgrade to a small xbmc box for awhile(been using a full tower for awhile now, and still got my xbox going strong in my bedroom.) I'm trying my best to hold out for the Nvidia Ion2 boards to come out before I buy anything but while I'm waiting I've been looking for cases. I don't want anything huge. I personally like the size and look of the case included in this deal http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundl...mbo.361278 the top part can be removed and it will look like a normal case. I like it because it can have a 3.5 hdd and a slim dvd/bluray. There are smaller boxes out there but all seem to use the 2.5inch hdd and I'd prefer to go with a full size hdd.

I'm also considering http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811133091 tho I dont like the whole logo look onthe front. If I get it I may try the sugar cube trick to get it off, but if it's plastic it won't work. Maybe I'll just make an xbmc logo sticker to put over it.

I'm also considering this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product again the mounting joint on top comes off and it looks like a normal case without it. This is abit wider than the others but it has space for 2 hdd's and a full dvd. It seems about the same size as a dvd player and hides the dvd drive behind a flip down door. I think it'd go well in a living room. Espeically if you get a motherboard with an external power supply and then you could mod this case to hide a usb ir remote receiver(maybe, not owning one its hard to tell by the pics, but I'm hoping)

I can't make my mind up on the case I want. The case listed by Poofyhairguy looks real good but that's about twice what I have budgeted for a case.
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#9
Riffmaker Wrote:I'm also considering this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product again the mounting joint on top comes off and it looks like a normal case without it. This is abit wider than the others but it has space for 2 hdd's and a full dvd. It seems about the same size as a dvd player and hides the dvd drive behind a flip down door. I think it'd go well in a living room. Espeically if you get a motherboard with an external power supply and then you could mod this case to hide a usb ir remote receiver(maybe, not owning one its hard to tell by the pics, but I'm hoping)

Wow. That case is pretty nice. Looks very high end for the price.

Found a cheaper (and slightly different but actually nicer) version of my case on Newegg for WAY cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product
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#10
poofyhairguy Wrote:Wow. That case is pretty nice. Looks very high end for the price.

Found a cheaper (and slightly different but actually nicer) version of my case on Newegg for WAY cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Thats a nice mark down. Tho seems that particular case only has 2.5" drive bays. It seems abit odd they'd list "limit 5 per customer" on an open box markdown. Usually open boxes are returned items by customers with buyer's remorse and they typically only have one in stock at a time at newegg on such deals. This seems like they have alot of open boxes on this one item... seems fishy to me. If you end up getting one let me know how it works out and if a 3.5" hdd can be fitted inside. Looks like a really cool case.
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Which case to buy for HTPC?0