HTPC case recommendations and making it silent

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xeefus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
328
hola, I just felt like putting my computer in an HTPC case and put it next to the TV and play some racing games on it. so I'm going to do that...

I want a black or silver one that can fit my 9800GT with a zalman VF900-Cu cooler on it.
max price 200euros (am in Sweden so europe would be much prefered)
no LEDs or anything, just a clean case that has got a nice display that I can see my music playing on.
suppose there is no remote control bundled with any case so I guess I could use one of those too? a nice looking one that can change song, mute and raise/lower volume

comp specs are
Q6600 with stock cooler
p5k-premium black pearl stuffstuff...
4 harddrives
2 pci-cards (network + soundcard)
the longest card is the graphics card which is .. 9 inches I believe?
normal atx psu (ocz nonmodular stealthstream or something)
going to have only one optical drive, not bought yet but just one. bluray most likely.

but, my main concerns are that every single one of them have these superugly brushed alu fronts... in my price range

and that I want to build it as silent as possible, which I basically have no idea what to do to achieve that. some isolating materials and silent case fans I suppose? my current case fans are horribly loud and I'm getting sick of that. rubber hangings for the harddrive any good? anyway, I just want some directions on how to make a silent case that doesn't make my computer burn.

not very picky about performance and airflow as long as it meets my criteria above

I apologize for my messy writing but I'm tired and hungry, and thanks in advance!
 
That's really awfully lot to cram into small case...
And most HTPC cases are made for microATX mobo.

xeefus said:
the longest card is the graphics card which is .. 9 inches I believe?
Click to expand...
HD5870 is 11 inches if you're thinking about newer high end cards.

and that I want to build it as silent as possible, which I basically have no idea what to do to achieve that. some isolating materials and silent case fans I suppose? my current case fans are horribly loud and I'm getting sick of that. rubber hangings for the harddrive any good?
Click to expand...
Then direct noise escape paths with fans visible behind mesh in front are big no... especially that stock cooler on CPU part isn't good sounding.
And at least soft HDD mounting with rubber grommets is mandatory or HDD vibrations will be all over the case using it as loudspeaker.
Also fans should be preferably 12cm sized. (because smal fans are either running at high speed or barely moving any air)
 
it doesn't have to be small, just as long as it's lying down. just as long as I can fit everything without any problems and a nice cabling layout and being able to have it silent.

with longest card = the longest pci/pci-e/agp/expansion-card that I have in my computer, so just that have to fit.

thanks!
 
I wonder if you can polish it so it doesn't have the brushed look... cause it is quite nice

marcoi: that seriously is the most awesome case design I've ever seen. I have to do some research to see if it can fit my stuff. how do I know if it takes standard ATX psu's?
it would look awesome in my room.

thanks!
 
xeefus said:
I wonder if you can polish it so it doesn't have the brushed look... cause it is quite nice

marcoi: that seriously is the most awesome case design I've ever seen. I have to do some research to see if it can fit my stuff. how do I know if it takes standard ATX psu's?
it would look awesome in my room.

thanks!
Click to expand...

i looked it up and found a review, it has serious amount of room in it. try to google for the review to see pictures. I really wanted to get that case, but money was tight haha so i went with a case on sale at newegg.
 
Lian Li cases are quite nice... too bad most of them have brushed fronts. not very expensive in Sweden either, which is nice.

but I'm still mostly curious about the nMedia one. thanks a lot for the info marcoi! it does look like it would fit my things, and I think I'm going to try to get one of those.
can't find it in Sweden, and newegg doesn't ship here either. hmm. could you perhaps help me find a way to get it to Sweden?

thank you veeeery much once again
 
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