Hardware advice needed

[mattm58]

I'm rebuilding my htpc because my current setup just doesn't fit, and I keep stubbing my toes on the thing since it sticks off the front of the shelf.

I've already got a 200GB HD, a PVR250, and an Athlon XP1800+. What I need help with is finding a decently prices case and motherboard that I can add to this. I'd like it to fit in with the rest of the home theater components, so I was figuring that it would probably be a micro-atx form, not the cube style itx form. Some of the micro-atx cases though don't seem like they would be tall enough to put the pvr250 in, are they?

Does anybody have any recomendations about cases and motherboards? I'd like to keep this fairly cheap, since we're expecting our first child in about a month or so...

[stanger89]

If price is no option you could get something like a Digitalis Vision II (my dream case) or a Ahanix Dvine, or an Atech Fabrication case. Those are all very nice cases that would feel right at home in any component rack. They all handle full ATX motherboards but are also quite expensive. You could also get an Antec Overture which is a nice looking case although it doesn't have quite the Hifi component look. It also fits a full ATX board and is much less expensive than the previously mentioned cases.

For a motherboard I'd go with something like an NF7 (ATX) or NF7-s (uATX). My roomate has an NF7 and is quite happy with it. The nForce2 chipset seems to be the one to get right now. You could get an NF7 and Overture for under $200.

[mlbdude]

I recently upgraded to this case:

http://www.directron.com/atc620.html

Super nice and accepts full size cards and power supplies. It is Micro-ATX though (which is good since it will keep the size down) but is about the size of my Sony reciever.

You should be able to find lots of M-Atx boards for around $50 for your CPU. Definately stick with the nVidia chipsets (at least not VIA).

[Crazedz]

Originally posted by mattm58
I'm rebuilding my htpc because my current setup just doesn't fit, and I keep stubbing my toes on the thing since it sticks off the front of the shelf.

I've already got a 200GB HD, a PVR250, and an Athlon XP1800+. What I need help with is finding a decently prices case and motherboard that I can add to this. I'd like it to fit in with the rest of the home theater components, so I was figuring that it would probably be a micro-atx form, not the cube style itx form. Some of the micro-atx cases though don't seem like they would be tall enough to put the pvr250 in, are they?

Does anybody have any recomendations about cases and motherboards? I'd like to keep this fairly cheap, since we're expecting our first child in about a month or so...

stanger89 and mlbdude both have very good options i'd go with one of them.

As for the question about if the micro atx cases youv'e seen would fit a pvr 250 the answer is depending on if the slots on the back of the case are side sitting or straight up and down. All the micro atx cases i have seen that are straight up and down will only fit low profile cards like the Yuan mpg 600 tuners and low profile video cards so no on them. Side mounted ones though will fit a full sized card but your limited to the pci slots as their are no side mount agp adapters. Thats a downside unless you want to use a pci video card or a pvr 350 or xcard for the video output to tv.

At any rate the micro atx cases do look nice though and if you were starting out without a tuner card and video card then it would be a good way to go just buy low profile cards like the yuan and an Nvidia or Ati low profile card and you'd be just about set. But since you already have a pvr 250 it's really not the route to go.

Here's the story at my venture down the Micro ATX road.

I got a Metis 266 case that works very well with the yuan tuner with my old 1.4 gig Athlon. My brother and i tried his barton 2500+ on it and it saw it so it will work with a newer barton chip as well. I got it for $113.50 for case and mobo shipped so it was a nice price and looks great but as i said is practically useless without cards made for such a case.

I acctually made the mistake of not noticing myself that the case was low profile only and since the place i ordered from charges a restock fee plus the cost of shipping back made it not practical to do. Since i had a PVR 250 already i found myself in the spot of having to try to make it work. I was going to cut the back of the case and make a box to allow for full sized cards but then discovered the Yuan tuner (someone else on the forum asked about it and i decided to order one out and give it a try) and ordered one of them instead. Im pretty happy with it and decided to go that route for my living room based system. So i will probably use the pvr250 in my desktop system maybe with sagerecorder linked to the living room system via network.

For my DVCR i guess i'll be selling that pitty it was a very nice card but just doesn't play well with sage.

Anyway if i was starting out from scratch again just getting the stuff i would go the micro ATX route again their's some pretty nice cases out their that look like they would fit in perfectly with other living room components. The only remaining problem right now is that the Yuan remote doesn't work with sage and isn't currently supported by girder so i have to get another remote to use on the system. I would have gotten a different remote anyway as the Yuan one sucks to begin with.

So their you have the story of my venture into micro atx land