Case recommendations for media PC?

[megatron]

I have too many spare parts lying around here so I was thinking of building a media PC. Right now I have the following:

ATI AIW Radeon
768MB PC2100 RAM
Athlon XP 1700+
DVD +/- R/RW
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
160gb HD

I don't exactly know what will fit inside one of those mini cases or what comes onboard with the mobo, but any suggestions for mobo and case would be great. Thanks

 

[wisdomtooth]

As far as the case goes, the question you need to ask is, what kind of environment are you going to put your HTPC in?

If you are going to use it as a media server (i.e. stream movies or music from it over a network) and it won't be a part of your home theater component rack, you can use pretty much any full-size midtower or full tower ATX case.

If you are going to use it as part of your home theater component rack, then you need to use a very nice-looking HTPC case such as the ones made by Ahanix, Silverstone, etc.

Determine which case you will use, then you can figure out what mobo you can fit in it.

HTH!

 

[megatron]

I was hoping to put it in my media rack so i was looking for one of those mini cases that would look nice. I was going to stream audio and video and also use it as a DVR

 

[wisdomtooth]

In your situation, it appears a case that can take full-height PCI/AGP cards would be your best bet, assuming you want to use your ATI AIW Radeon and the SBLive, which are full-height cards. That rules out the MicroATX cases with low-profile slots.

For such a situation, I have built a few HTPCs using the Coolermaster ATC-620case, which is a MicroATX case but can take full-height PCI and AGP cards. For this case, you need to use an ATX PSU that has a 120mm fan, the best choice being the Seasonic Super Tornado because it is both very quiet (important for HTPCs), vents well, and has good power characteristics. You can fit any MicroATX motherboard that will take your particular CPU in that case.

There are other MicroATX cases out there that are also full-slot-height, but the Coolermaster ATC-620 is the only one that lets you use a standard ATX PSU (so you can throw a quiet, well-vented one in there).

You might also want to consider using a full ATX HTPC case like the Silverstones and Ahanix cases. Those are good too, though might be a bit big for your tastes.

HTH!

 

[beatle]

I have the Cooler Master Cavalier 2 and I love it. I have a nearly identical setup to yours and it works well in this case. You can also get the Cavalier 4 (without analog gauge in front) for $5 less. They are also available in silver.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Just a small note on the Cavalier... If you need a quiet HTPC, the Cavalier's non-standard PSU will be a problem. I have built a machine with Cavalier before, and the PSU is noisy. And it cannot be changed out.

If you want a full-size HTPC case and quietness is important to you, best skip the Cavalier and go with something else that takes a standard ATX PSU.

 

[megatron]

well, the SB live card isn't a big deal, just the AIW card needs to fit. I was hoping to use one of those mini-cases that are around the size of a gamecube but have no clue how much room is available inside. any suggestions on that route? thanks a ton for the suggestions so far guys!

 

[wisdomtooth]

Well... Don't know if you can actually build a PC the size of a Game Cube.

Even a Shuttle SFF box is far bigger.

 

[megatron]

my bad, the form factor i was referring to was the cube microatx cases like the one u linked..i was considering the antec aria case since its around $100...but would much prefer something cheaper

 

[wisdomtooth]

Yes, the Antec Aria (or any other similar cube-type SFF cases) should work with your full-height cards... You do need to buy a MicroATX motherboard though.

...Not sure if that actually looks like it will fit in visually with your other home theater rack components though...?