Home Theater PC (ur....a small one)

[Sanctum]

I tried to build one of these a while back with some parts I had around, but it never worked out. Now I'm interested in dropping a few bucks and getting the right compnents to do the job. The machine will be Duron based (so no NLX cases ). Basically what I'm looking for is a micro atx desktop case approx. 5 inches tall (or thinner) with one 3.5 in. bay and one 1/2 hieght 5.25 bay. Here are the ones I have found so far that fit the bill:

Aopen H300B: http://www.aopen.com.tw/products/housing/h300b.htm

Palo Alto PA-220: http://www.paloaltoproducts.com/pc/pdfs/pa220.pdf

Procase PC-1517: http://131.103.204.139/morex/1517-5517.htm#top

Now those cases look great (and would work perfectly), but I'll be d@mned if I can find a place that sells any of them. To make things worse, I'd like the case in black....but after having such a tough time finding one that fit the spec's above I'd be willing to paint a white one. Any other case suggestions or places to buy them?

Thanks!

 

[tnguyen]

Hey,

you might want to check out directron.com they have a section for some microatx/flex cases. I think they even have a section for home theater PC's.

 

[Cerb]

Too easy and expensive, ain't it? A 300Mhz non-cyrix aught to do just fine for most anything, and why not make a small case for it? Where is the fun in buying it already done?

 

[Sanctum]

Yep Cerb....I'm actually wussing out on the home built case idea. I'd sorta like for this thing to be reliable. It seems like once I build something and the family gets used to it being around.....well they just can't live without it if it dies

I did check out that directron.com link. The have some pre made PC's that are rather small, and it looks like they carry a couple of micro atx cases....they might be a good vendor if I don't find the cases I mentioned above anywhere.

I love the size of that Palo Alto PA-220.

Thanks.

 

[Sanctum]

Yep Cerb....I'm actually wussing out on the home built case idea. I'd sorta like for this thing to be reliable. It seems like once I build something and the family gets used to it being around.....well they just can't live without it if it dies

I did check out that directron.com link. The have some pre made PC's that are rather small, and it looks like they carry a couple of micro atx cases....they might be a good vendor if I don't find the cases I mentioned above anywhere.

I love the size of that Palo Alto PA-220.

Thanks.

 

[fast_eddie]

You may want to consider the BookPC that directron.com offers.

I purchased one about 3 months ago fron Axiontech for $149.00; I added a Celeron 533 (85.00), a heatsink/fan (I had lying around), 128MB of PC133 (lying around for another box), and a 10Gb IBM HDD (out of a box that I had installed a RAID dual 20Gb Maxtors). A very nice, inexpensive system that I use for my Velleman DigitalStorageOscilloscope. I haven't had the time to try out the 'HomeTheater' features with my TV & sound system.

 

[subhuman]

You might check the HTPC (Home Theater PC) section of the AVSForum....

I think they might have stopped selling the case separately since people were making cheap clones.