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| Any nice shallow microATX cases? http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16664 |
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| Author: | grante [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:25 am ] |
| Post subject: | Any nice shallow microATX cases? |
I'm thinking about trying to build a diskless (maybe even fanless) HDTV frontend based on a microATX board w/ an NVidia 6150 and a low-power AMD X2 CPU. However, I can't find any decent small cases. All the "HTPC" cases are pretty large. In particular they're all deep (front-back). I'm current using a Shuttle Zen as a combined FE/BE. At 10.5" deep it just barely fits in the spot I've got for it. The "mini" HTPC cases start at about 14-15" deep and go up from there. They've also all sorts of crap I don't want like a volume knob. Who the heck uses a volume knob these days? And when I get my new HDTV with a total depth of about 8", who wants a box sitting under it that sticks out 2 feet into the room? The shallowest case I can find is the Antec Aria at 13". It won't fit on the current shelf unless I knock a big hole in the back of the cabinet (which, I admit, is an option-- it would make cooling and cable management a bit simpler. Even 13" is pretty deep compared to a flat-panel TV when you ahve to add another 3-4" to allow for reasonable cable bend radius. What would be cool is a tower-like case that's meant to sit with the broad side "forward" with cables coming out of the back/side in a hidden way the way many HDTVs do Top view Code: back
+-----------------------+ +---------------------- |<- microATX mounted vertically I/O | | +------+ +----+ | +----------------| | PSU | optical drive <- vertical DVD drive | +----------------| +-----------------------------------+ front It dosn't have to be cheap, it does have to be quiet. Anybody seen anything that would work well for a small, shallow HDTF front end? |
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| Author: | mogator88 [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:27 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
Like you said, just turn a regular case sideways. Just put a smoke glass door in front to hide it, or maybe a door with speaker grill cloth. I know there's a guy who builds custom cases out of wood, that's an option too. Wait a minute, why wouldn't a mac-mini work? I thought KM could install on an Intel mac. |
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| Author: | kmkittre [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Silverstone makes some fairly shallow cases: http://www.silverstonetek.com Look specifically at the LC02 and LC04. |
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| Author: | grante [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
mogator88 wrote: Like you said, just turn a regular case sideways. Just put a smoke glass door in front to hide it, or maybe a door with speaker grill cloth. I know there's a guy who builds custom cases out of wood, that's an option too. I could probably build one from aluminum, but the opportunity cost would be pretty high, and due to lack of tools, the result probably wouldn't look all that great. Quote: Wait a minute, why wouldn't a mac-mini work? I thought KM could
install on an Intel mac. Last I read, HDTV playback wasn't working on a mac-mini. If I'm wrong, then a mac-mini would be pretty nice. |
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| Author: | grante [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
kmkittre wrote: Silverstone makes some fairly shallow cases:
http://www.silverstonetek.com Look specifically at the LC02 and LC04. Ah ha! I'd always been clicking on "micro ATX" category headers on web sites, and since the LC02/04 will actually accept a regular ATX board, I wasn't seeing those two. Those aren't too bad at all. The LC02 is only 11.6" deep. That's about as good as it's going to get for micro ATX. With a micro ATX board at 9.6x9.6 mounted horizontally, 10.5" is probably about the absolute lower limit for depth without going vertical. Another option I just found is the Lian Li PC-V300 http://www.boxgods.com/dept/htpc-sff/in ... cle&ID=212 http://www.silverpcs.com/product_info.p ... cts_id=424 http://paininthetech.com/2006/07/05/lia ... se-review/ It's a 'shuttle' style micro-atx box, but the external drive bays face sideways (either side). So, When you set the box sideways, the dvd spits out the "front" -- it sort of looks like it almost belongs that way. Sitting sideways with the cables coming out of the "left" side panel, it's only 11" "deep" with no requirement for cable bend radius (though an inch for ventilation is probably a good idea). They Lian Li is a lot bulkier/boxier than the LC02, but that also means you can fit a lot more stuff inside should the need arise. |
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| Author: | mogator88 [ Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Another alternative is to buy a laptop. There's a lot of deals at the moment, and you can connect with a VGA cable. |
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| Author: | grante [ Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
mogator88 wrote: Another alternative is to buy a laptop. There's a lot of deals
at the moment, and you can connect with a VGA cable. That might be an option providing the video chipset/driver has Xvmc support. AFIACT, the vast majority of laptops have ATI video chipsets, though there are a few NVidia and Intel chipsets being used now. A lot of laptops aren't really any shallower than 11-12", so they're about the same depths as some of the ATX cases. Another problem with laptops is that they don't tend to be very quiet under load. |
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| Author: | BJefferys [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
Take a look at the Hipermedia cases. http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/media.html MnDBnDr |
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| Author: | kmkittre [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:18 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
BJefferys, do you have any personal experience with MythTV and the Hiper cases? I found a barebone case on Newegg for $300, it's pricey, but looks real nice. However, according to the Newegg reviews, Hipermedia is not very Linux friendly. Specifically, they could not get the VFD to work under Linux and Hipermedia was not amenable to providing information for someone to write a Linux driver fro the VFD... Newegg Reviews |
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