HTPC Cases, Any of them to die for?

[AMCooper63]

I've been looking at HTPC cases. Some look really nice but I wonder how they work with SageTV. I've also heard some don't work with Vista dispite the mfr's web site saying it does work. So I was looking for anyone's experience. Especially with the following cases.

http://zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Prod...ad.asp?Idx=192

http://www.moneual.com/htpc/

[AMCooper63]

I know it's bad form to reply to your own post, but I found one more case with an LCD dispaly.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...pno=cw03&area=

[AMCooper63]

Found yet another high end HTPC case.
http://www.origenae.com/en/htpc_s21t.htm

[CollinR]

I have quite all the pretty and now am all form follows function. All 4U rackmounts that are cake to pull the mainboard or HDDs, actually have a HDD farm with a 120mm fan for it, like 10 expansion slots. My Silverstone looked cool but that was the extent of it, everything was a PITA to service, pretty restricted airflow and not much room for hardware.

[Tiki]

I can tell you some things I would look for in a new case:

1. If you can afford the space for a larger case, get one that can accommodate a full-size ATX motherboard (your slots will fill quickly with multiple tuner cards, plus it's a lot easier to work in a case that isn't too cramped and it's tough to get good airflow if things are really packed in).
2. If you must use a microATX case, at least make sure you can fit a standard ATX power supply (the smaller supplies in some cases often have custom dimensions and can be very difficult to replace or upgrade).
3. Avoid 60mm fans and fan openings - look for 80 or 120mm (bigger is better). Many SFF and HTPC cases have small 60mm fan openings due to limited space, however, smaller fans must run at higher speeds to move large volumes of air for proper cooling and in general higher speed = more noise.
4. Make sure you have room for several hard drives plus an optical drive at a minimum. You will likely find that you can never have too much storage space.
5. Nice bonuses to look for are integrated memory card readers and VFD displays, but as long as your case has some front panel openings for external drive bays, you can always add these later.

[DaveWC]

Originally Posted by AMCooper63

I know it's bad form to reply to your own post, but I found one more case with an LCD dispaly.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...pno=cw03&area=

I've got this case. It's very well made, pretty large, lots of room for mobo, cards, multiple hdd and multiple optical drives. The LCD is amazing to look at. But the remote & IMON software sucks big time. The remote can't be used with an IR blaster. The case comes with it's own blaster but it's pretty specific to the LCD & IMON software. It would be nice if you could use this LCD with other software and open it up but it's pretty restrictive. Currently I use the LCD as a clone of the main monitor. The touch screen works pretty well so when I'm listening to music I can keep the TV off and touch the screen to select music or use the remote. All in all it's a spacious case, nice LCD but I would have been better off saving a good $500 and getting a standard case.

[gplasky]

Dell is carrying the Omaura cases now.

TF11
TF8
IR Kit
TF HHD

Prices are around $204 up to $221 for the cases.

Gerry

[jlmdxtv]

I picked up this Antek case. I easily removed the front plate and spay-painted it black. It's directly below the TV so I didn't want a bunch of lights or activity to interfere with my TV viewing.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article591-page1.html

Whatever case you do buy, be considerate regarding the CPU fan that you purchase. Many of them are too tall for these cases.

john

[John@TunerUK]

I have the black version of the Antec Fusion. I even have room for a large fanless cpu cooler so it's almost silent. The only noise comes from the 2 x 120mm fans, and the 2 Samsung Spinpoint HDD's inside.
When watching tv at even a low volume, you can't hear it at all.

There is only one problem with it. The screen and attached IR reciever are useless. I just unplugged them.

It's not high end by any means, but I don't think the high end cases are really worth the extra money. Much better to spend your money on extra storage or client machines.

[wirecreative]

I have the lower-end, LED display version of this one:
http://zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Prod...ad.asp?Idx=192

I love it. Big and roomy inside, and almost exactly matches my Sony AMP right beside it.

On the downside, the first one I got after a month decided to catch on fire (really just one bad wire melting at the connection point) and ruined my motherboard, but the RMA process was painless and I've been running its replacement for 9 months with no further scares.

[mikesm]

Fry's has the Fusion 430 case with PSU and VFD, IR reciever etc.. for $99 AR - which is an excellent price for this case.