Help building living room PC

B

Brashen

Gawd
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
695
Hey [H],

I've been meaning to build a living room gaming PC, the problem I had was choosing a small factor pc case that looked presentable.

Until I came across Streacom F12C. It looks sleek and from the vid builds I've watched, could hold a fair decent amount of hardware. Except for the GPU.

The case doesn't have enough height room for a 980GTX, which is what I'm planning to use. So my question to you is,
would a PCI-E 16X 90 Degree Right Angle Riser Card mitigate this?

Thanks all.

Cheers
 
I have a fractal design r5 BEHIND my 65" samsung TV. Works great actually.
 
Brashen said:
Thanks, but that really doesnt help me.
Click to expand...
Just giving you another option. I built some small living room PCs and they are such a pain to work on I don't think I could do it again. Hiding a PC that is easy to work on isn't a bad idea .
 
mls1995 said:
Just giving you another option. I built some small living room PCs and they are such a pain to work on I don't think I could do it again. Hiding a PC that is easy to work on isn't a bad idea .
Click to expand...
Thanks man, but I dont have the option to hide it as the console I'm placing it in is open, ergo I need something clean. :)

Cheers for the suggestion.
 
Brashen said:
Thanks man, but I dont have the option to hide it as the console I'm placing it in is open, ergo I need something clean. :)

Cheers for the suggestion.
Click to expand...

Ok. Well in my experience the silver stone grandia series is the easiest to work with if you have room. Better GPU airflow than average too.

Best of luck.
 
With the card at 90° it won't be in line with the mounting location the case provides. Am I missing something ? You would need to do some serious moding and/or custom machining
 
TheHobbyist said:
With the card at 90° it won't be in line with the mounting location the case provides. Am I missing something ? You would need to do some serious moding and/or custom machining
Click to expand...

that's what I was thinking but I'm not sure. It certainly doesn't sound like fun.
 
Brashen said:
That looks cool, apart from that nasty logo on the front. Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm interested to see if my solution would work.

Cheers
Click to expand...

... The Fractal logo is "nasty"? Seriously?
It looks like a piece of hi-fi equipment. I guarantee nearly everything else you have in the rack has logos on it too.
 
silent-circuit said:
... The Fractal logo is "nasty"? Seriously?
It looks like a piece of hi-fi equipment. I guarantee nearly everything else you have in the rack has logos on it too.
Click to expand...

Another recommendation for the Node 605....really, the logo is much more subtle/faded then the official pics make it look. I've had one for a few years and I'm still very happy with it. It's not as easy to work in as a modern ATX case (cable management is a pain), but no HTPC case is.
 
strend said:
Another recommendation for the Node 605....really, the logo is much more subtle/faded then the official pics make it look. I've had one for a few years and I'm still very happy with it. It's not as easy to work in as a modern ATX case (cable management is a pain), but no HTPC case is.
Click to expand...

Poor airflow though in reviews, much worse than silverstone grandia
 
Thank you guys for the suggestions, but I'm interested in the Streacom designs because they are minimal and have clean lines.

The rest have superfluous "design decisions" that to my eye at least (I'm an Art Director) are childish and gratuitous.

Its just a personal preference.

So from what I gather is that the back panel would have to be cut to accommodate the GPU's IO?

Cheers
 
If you like clean lines and minimalist go with a Ncase, its smaller, cheaper, and you won't have problems fitting a gpu.
 
Brashen said:
Thanks man, but I dont have the option to hide it as the console I'm placing it in is open, ergo I need something clean
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they don't make them anymore, but I had an Antec Remote Fusion at one point that looked good beside my receiver.

Have you looked at Wesena or OrigenAE cases? They have models that fit most modern components and look nice in a media rack, but are pricey. Luxa2 had some nice looking cases too (If you can still find/afford them).
 
Brashen said:
Thank you guys for the suggestions, but I'm interested in the Streacom designs because they are minimal and have clean lines.

The rest have superfluous "design decisions" that to my eye at least (I'm an Art Director) are childish and gratuitous.

Its just a personal preference.

So from what I gather is that the back panel would have to be cut to accommodate the GPU's IO?

Cheers
Click to expand...
yes a 90 degree adapter or ribbon will work and yes you will need to mod the case(cut out pci slot area), build a bracket/plate to fill the pci slots and something to support the card's ass end. I took a look at the case on their site and it looks like it would be very easy to do. it would only require a dremel or jigsaw, a drill, a few screws and a piece of metal or plexi(edit: hell even thin mdf would work!). plus the balls to tear into that sweet case! then just put a fan or two in the side to blow across the gpu. it'd be a fun weekend afternoon project!

ps: this will also interfere with mounting 3.5 hdds in the side panel location. but you should be using ssd anyways ;) and if you do, post pics!
 
The original Fractal logo was huge, there were a lot of people asking them to change it so they made it smaller and moved it to the lower right.

I've had no issues with cooling in my build. I had 4 HDD's and one SSD. I used on board video so a video card wasn't installed so that helped.

How hard are people pushing their HTPC where heat becomes an issue?
 

Attachments

  • 605 large.jpg
    605 large.jpg
    54.8 KB · Views: 42
Hey all

Sorry for the late reply, but life happens in the way of fun.

Anyways thank you all for the suggestions:

drklu Seems like an interesting case, but still that little front hub kinda bothers me. Cheers

@incredadamible: I keep getting an error page when looking for the cases you mentioned. But cheers for the suggestions.

pendragon1: Yeah.... 'm not that ambitious and have never modded a case before, apart from soldering some extra brackets on an old server case and doing some wire rerouting, I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to it. Thank you for taking the time to assess what I'd need to do.

HDriscoll I'm not sure but I plan to do some heavy gaming so heat might be an issue with it. Cheers

I came across the DAN case...that thing would be ideal but I can't seem to find it anywhere, and none seems to want to part with theirs hahaha.

Cheers again guys
 
incredadamible said:
Pretty sure they don't make them anymore, but I had an Antec Remote Fusion at one point that looked good beside my receiver.

Have you looked at Wesena or OrigenAE cases? They have models that fit most modern components and look nice in a media rack, but are pricey. Luxa2 had some nice looking cases too (If you can still find/afford them).
Click to expand...


The Ncase M1 is still being made. Check the website. I have one on order now should be in next week. The 90 degree riser may work, There is one used in my Silverstone Fortress FTZ01 no
problems. Hopefully someone who owns the Streacom F12C will see this and confirm if it will work.
 
Brashen said:
@incredadamible: I keep getting an error page when looking for the cases you mentioned. But cheers for the suggestions.
Click to expand...

Not sure what page you are looking up. The Wesena and OrigenAE cases are very similar to audio components and should look great in whatever space you have...but they are pricey. If you want to see what they look like, go to google and do an image search. There is a store page I found online (I am not affiliated in anyway with this website...just a link)... here . They sell the Wesena and OrigenAE cases (as well as Streacom). The other cases I mentioned are probably no longer made, but you may have luck on eBay or used somewhere online.

These were the cases I was looking at years ago when considering a HTPC build. I ended up buying the Antec Fusion Remote, but decided to go a different route and got a Mac Mini. Small, high WAF, and does everything I need (no gaming though)...I still have it hooked up and use it daily!

Aguda33 said:
The Ncase M1 is still being made. Check the website.
Click to expand...

My main PC is in the M1, it is a great little case...however, it doesn't look like a piece of AV equipment, so it may not blend in to the living room decor as well as OP wants.
 
I would look into getting a case from OrigenAE or HD Plex. Both brands are extremely well made and look great in the living room with a very clean lines. I had Wesena/Streacom and quality does not compare to OrigenAE or HD Plex counterparts.

Just throwing it out there as well, A-Tech Fabrications have some cool cases, but are not cheap at all.
 
AP2 said:
I would look into getting a case from OrigenAE or HD Plex. Both brands are extremely well made and look great in the living room with a very clean lines. I had Wesena/Streacom and quality does not compare to OrigenAE or HD Plex counterparts.

Just throwing it out there as well, A-Tech Fabrications have some cool cases, but are not cheap at all.
Click to expand...

The A-Tech cases are interesting...not 100% on the fanless cases, especially in a performance oriented system. The HeatSync 3500 looks to be there only option if you want a "standard" case without the external fins.

I honestly can't count how many times I almost bought the OrigenAE S16V, I just couldn't justify spending $400+ on just the case. Just looking the case up again for this thread brings back the longing...I still can't justify spending $400+ on a case. At $200, even the M1 was a tough decision!


htpc_shot2.jpg
 
I had my Ncase M1 in my entertainment center for a year or so and most of my friends just thought it was a speaker or something tucked away in there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top