As some of you may know I'm in the process of building a HTPC that I'll hook up to a nice TV and that will also used as a file server for backup and music streaming purposes. No gaming.
For the hardware I'll use my old AMD Opteron 170, 2GB DDR-500, DFI NF4 ultra (which I'll buy a northbrige heatsink for, the current one is way too loud). For the graphics I'll buy a passive HD3470 or HD 3450 which will work nicely with GPU acceleration when I finally get a blu ray drive.
Now to my actual questions. I need a decent case for all this. It has to be pretty silent, have good airflow and have enough space for my current 6 HDs with the possibility of adding more down the road (I'm 80% full now). Also I want something that is not flashy. No windows or fancy lighting. This will be placed in a living room. Right now I'm looking at towers instead of dektop/htpc cases. I don't really see any advantage to HTPC cases especially since they suffer from being craped and badly ventilated. I have enough space to use a full tower.
The cases I was thinking about specifically are
- the Cooler Master COSMOS 1000
- the Lian Li PC-V2100A Plus II
The Cosmos has loads of great reviews, but I do like the design of the lian-li a lot. It is way more expensive though and I'm having a hard time justifying that for just a slightly better look
For the PSU I'll probably get a Seasonic M12-600. It is a little overpowered (and probs overpriced) but it has a nice modular design with loads of connectors and is pretty quiet, so I'm willing to spend the extra €. Not 100% set here though so please make suggestions if you have a better idea
For the case fans I'll get some Scythe SFlex, Papst or Noctua.
That seems to be it for the moment.
For the hardware I'll use my old AMD Opteron 170, 2GB DDR-500, DFI NF4 ultra (which I'll buy a northbrige heatsink for, the current one is way too loud). For the graphics I'll buy a passive HD3470 or HD 3450 which will work nicely with GPU acceleration when I finally get a blu ray drive.
Now to my actual questions. I need a decent case for all this. It has to be pretty silent, have good airflow and have enough space for my current 6 HDs with the possibility of adding more down the road (I'm 80% full now). Also I want something that is not flashy. No windows or fancy lighting. This will be placed in a living room. Right now I'm looking at towers instead of dektop/htpc cases. I don't really see any advantage to HTPC cases especially since they suffer from being craped and badly ventilated. I have enough space to use a full tower.
The cases I was thinking about specifically are
- the Cooler Master COSMOS 1000
- the Lian Li PC-V2100A Plus II
The Cosmos has loads of great reviews, but I do like the design of the lian-li a lot. It is way more expensive though and I'm having a hard time justifying that for just a slightly better look
For the PSU I'll probably get a Seasonic M12-600. It is a little overpowered (and probs overpriced) but it has a nice modular design with loads of connectors and is pretty quiet, so I'm willing to spend the extra €. Not 100% set here though so please make suggestions if you have a better idea
For the case fans I'll get some Scythe SFlex, Papst or Noctua.
That seems to be it for the moment.
Last edited by max (2008-03-24 07:26:02)
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