HTPC suggestions

[Operandi]

I'm going to be building a HTPC soon out of a spare Athlon XP 2800+ that I came across and need to decide on HTPC case.

I built one machine a couple of months ago around the Lian Li PC-C30i and I really liked it, but is there anything else I should be looking at?

 

[RKS]

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[vannguyen0]

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mind you... you can only find them at dell - even though they say 5-7 days... it's more like 2-3 months.

 

[RKS]

Originally posted by: vannguyen0
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mind you... you can only find them at dell - even though they say 5-7 days... it's more like 2-3 months.

I think I saw the discussion regarding these on AVSforums. I like the full-ATX at about $250 delivered.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: vannguyen0
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big

mind you... you can only find them at dell - even though they say 5-7 days... it's more like 2-3 months.

Hmm.... they look nice but what is the advantage over the Lian Li? It seems like they cost more and offer less. Both are AL, the Lian Li has grommet issolated mounts for fans and hard drives, comes with a iMon IR remote and VFD display built right into the case and goes for $200 + shipping.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Operandi

Originally posted by: vannguyen0
little
big

mind you... you can only find them at dell - even though they say 5-7 days... it's more like 2-3 months.

Hmm.... they look nice but what is the advantage over the Lian Li? It seems like they cost more and offer less. Both are AL, the Lian Li has grommet issolated mounts for fans and hard drives, comes with a iMon IR remote and VFD display built right into the case and goes for $200 + shipping.

operandi, if you want my honest advice, get one with a front LCD. Expecially MCE

Trust me, it will add a nice touch to the htpc case, and it does help out a lot.

You can have the front LCD work as the main windows so you can access it. Most of the ones with built in lcd are even touch screen so you can just touch the start and goto your file and run it without a keyboard or mouse at hand.

This would be my first recomendation. Yeah i know its expensive, but trust me, unless your good with a dremel. I could give you mod recomendations. It comes in black too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811235008

I currently have my eye on this one for freya:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811163107

I have this guy, and he's not that bad, however i water cooled it externally.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811163076

 

[Operandi]

Yes the Zalman is really sweet but it's not in the budget, too many other things going on right now. And I'm really only doing this because a co-worker gave me an dead PC that had a 2800+ in it.

The Lian Li is looking like the leader in the sub $250 class at this point.

 

[ChefJoe]

I just finished my LC17 build (Silverstone, newegg lists for about $120). It's got plenty of room for my ATX build and still is narrow enough to fit in my home theater cabinet. I sold my old BeyondTV rig to my roommate and he decided to buy a black version of the LC17 as well. His theory was he could get a year or so out of my old P4 2.8 system and then reuse the case and modernize his HTPC. The P4 2.8 has the Thermaltake XP-120 in it and there's still about an inch of room above the 38mm panaflow.

I also considered that silverstone $250 one that aigomorla recommended... well, without the screen. It's a nice case too but if you plan to use it as a DVD player you might want to opt for a model without the doors over the drives.