HTPC Style case

[TechXero]

Hey guys.
 

I love coming here and asking for PC stuff, I get replies really fast. Thanks for that. Now am posting to ask if anyone can help me find the smallest/slimmest HTPC Style case for ATX Form factor as I already have an older PC I want to use in it and it's a Full ATX system. Budget is no more than $55/40GBP...

 

Example to get you started (this case is way too steep at $400)

 

[Anomnomnomaly]

Take a look at the silverstone range... they do some lovely HTPC cases that are full ATX... I've got the GD08 myself and have had it for a few years. It's tall enough for a noctua tower cooler too (but the slightly smaller one). Comes with 3 120mm fans, filters on the bottom and both sides.

[TechXero]

16 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

Take a look at the silverstone range... they do some lovely HTPC cases that are full ATX... I've got the GD08 myself and have had it for a few years. It's tall enough for a noctua tower cooler too (but the slightly smaller one). Comes with 3 120mm fans, filters on the bottom and both sides.

I am checking. But they are expensive at 145GBP. Need something around 50GBP

[Vejnemojnen]

something similar? 

https://skinflint.co.uk/chieftec-uni-uc-02b-uc-02b-350gpb-a1351202.html?hloc=uk

 

Looks decent enough with the included PSU.

[TechXero]

2 minutes ago, Vejnemojnen said:

something similar? 

https://skinflint.co.uk/chieftec-uni-uc-02b-uc-02b-350gpb-a1351202.html?hloc=uk

 

Looks decent enough with the included PSU.

Yes exactly. That looks really nice. I knew I came to the right place

[Anomnomnomaly]

30 minutes ago, TechXero said:

I am checking. But they are expensive at 145GBP. Need something around 50GBP

Yeah... for £50, you're not gonna find anything decent. My first HTPC was in a cheap case and it was a nightmare for airflow. It's worth spending the extra.

[TechXero]

Just now, Anomnomnomaly said:

Yeah... for £50, you're not gonna find anything decent. My first HTPC was in a cheap case and it was a nightmare for airflow. It's worth spending the extra.

If I had extra to spend I wouldn't be asking. I have recently built my main rig for 1500GBP. Don't really care about airflow as this thing won't do anything except store some sruff and run Retro Games like Retro Console Emulation.

[Anomnomnomaly]

28 minutes ago, Vejnemojnen said:

something similar? 

https://skinflint.co.uk/chieftec-uni-uc-02b-uc-02b-350gpb-a1351202.html?hloc=uk

 

Looks decent enough with the included PSU.

Specs are a little vague on that... and it's got a 350w SPU included and some fans.... I'd expect it to be garbage and you'd need to replace the PSU and fan immediately anyway.... pushing up the cost... What's the clearance for a cooler, can it fit an AIO... this is basic information that's completely missing from the info provided. 

[TechXero]

Just now, Anomnomnomaly said:

Specs are a little vague on that... and it's got a 350w SPU included and some fans.... I'd expect it to be garbage and you'd need to replace the PSU and fan immediately anyway.... pushing up the cost... What's the clearance for a cooler, can it fit an AIO... this is basic information that's completely missing from the info provided. 

I will be getting a low profile CPU cooler by Noctua. As PSU will see if one I already have would work on this case.

[Anomnomnomaly]

2 minutes ago, TechXero said:

If I had extra to spend I wouldn't be asking. I have recently built my main rig for 1500GBP. Don't really care about airflow as this thing won't do anything except store some sruff and run Retro Games like Retro Console Emulation.

What about this one?

 

[TechXero]

1 minute ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

What about this one?

 

The GD09B? It's one I was considering. Just seeing if a slimmer one can be found.

[Anomnomnomaly]

Just now, TechXero said:

The GD09B? It's one I was considering. Just seeing if a slimmer one can be found.

It's about the size of a home cinema amp, not as deep as the GD08 I've got and doesn't have as many storage bays.... But for an extra £18 over the cheapo one mentioned before... I know which one I'd choose. 

[TechXero]

2 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

It's about the size of a home cinema amp, not as deep as the GD08 I've got and doesn't have as many storage bays.... But for an extra £18 over the cheapo one mentioned before... I know which one I'd choose. 

Hmm.. I am starting to think you are right, for $50 won't find much... I have till end of March to decide. So will keep looking...

[Anomnomnomaly]

1 minute ago, TechXero said:

Hmm.. I am starting to think you are right, for $50 won't find much... I have till end of March to decide. So will keep looking...

Don't forget to factor in any delivery charges too.

[TechXero]

Just now, Anomnomnomaly said:

Don't forget to factor in any delivery charges too.

I have Prime + UK address so yeah I rarely pay for shipping...

[Anomnomnomaly]

1 minute ago, TechXero said:

I have Prime + UK address so yeah I rarely pay for shipping...

I'm thinking about rebuilding my mediaserver in the GD08 at the moment... because I'm still running windows 7 on it. Last rebuilt about 6-7yrs ago... so it's time... and a new MB would give me some extra SATA ports for more storage. 

[TechXero]

Just now, Anomnomnomaly said:

I'm thinking about rebuilding my mediaserver in the GD08 at the moment... because I'm still running windows 7 on it. Last rebuilt about 6-7yrs ago... so it's time... and a new MB would give me some extra SATA ports for more storage. 

Yeah I have 10 drives in my main rig. Totalling 80TB approx. Media server as well as my everyday gaming system... The new rig will act as just for redundant storage + Retro Gaming

[Anomnomnomaly]

Just now, TechXero said:

Yeah I have 10 drives in my main rig. Totalling 80TB approx. Media server as well as my everyday gaming system... The new rig will act as just for redundant storage + Retro Gaming

Well.. you've made my 30TB seem insignificant now.    The case will take 12 drives but the GPU obscure 2-3 of them and I've got 6 plus a bdrom installed.

[TechXero]

Just now, Anomnomnomaly said:

Well.. you've made my 30TB seem insignificant now.    The case will take 12 drives but the GPU obscure 2-3 of them and I've got 6 plus a bdrom installed.

Lol... Well, they are currently all full to the brim. Need to start getting rid of a few movies... Still I am wondering if I should go with the i5 ATX build I got laying around with 32gb DDR3 RAM or build a whole new micro ATX one with Ryzen from scratch which will take much longer as I cannot afford it right now.. That's what I got so far --> Here

[Anomnomnomaly]

On 2/17/2020 at 7:51 AM, TechXero said:

Lol... Well, they are currently all full to the brim. Need to start getting rid of a few movies... Still I am wondering if I should go with the i5 ATX build I got laying around with 32gb DDR3 RAM or build a whole new micro ATX one with Ryzen from scratch which will take much longer as I cannot afford it right now.. That's what I got so far --> Here

I've actually run out of room on the MB for more drives... it's an old Asus M5 AM3+ board and only has 6 sata slots and 2 PCI-E... one of which is taken up with the GPU and the other with a USB3 expansion card for the front USB3 ports (no onboard USB header)... I've even had to unplug the BDRom at the moment.  If I removed the USB3 card, I could put a SATA expansion card in there and had some more drives.... but I'd also need to replace some of the modular cables with molex connectors for sata ones as I'm already using all of them.

 

But I do need to rebuild it soon as it's still running windows 7... and I'd rather go Ryzen 3900X, X570 on my gaming rig and retask my current 2600x B450 for that system... At least them I'd have plenty of PCI-E expansion ports for an extra SATA card... I could then add smaller drives as that's what's holding me back right now... the cost of large capacity HDD's... I've currently got 2x 6TB and 1x 8TB Purples and 2x 4TB WD desktop class as well as a 250GB SSD.

 

I was considering buying a couple of these

Because they're so much cheaper than a normal 8TB drive, and I can simply pull the drives from them... £125 per 8TB vs £160 for a basic desktop class... and it's rare to find them that cheap.. they're normally £20-30 higher... and haven't dropped in years.

 

[TechXero]

Nice !!!! I just remembered that I had some more parts sitting around gathering dust :

 

- Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor

- ASRock X99M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard

- G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory

 

 

Would like to build around those. What do you think of this Setup ?