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In search of a Storage / HTPC / Gaming Case..

I

imported_ST

Senior member
Hope some folks can help me out. Here's my dilemma:

I presently have a Silverstone LC17 case house in the living room as my main HTPC / Gaming system. It works great is adequately quiet with the 6 fans inside (1 92mm CPU, 2 92mm fronts, 2 80mm rear, 1 80mm side). It has served me well for the past half year, but recently, I'm starting to get low on HDD space again from the DVD archiving , HDTV recording feeds, so i have to put in another HDD.

With this opportunity, I will be upgrading with 2 more HDD's for a total of 4 x 500GB HDD's and 1 x 400GB HDD. While the LC17 supposed can house up to 6x 3.5" internal HDD's, the 7800GTX card is blocking the 2nd HDD cage (see http://htpcnews.com/forums/uploads/post-6-1129778838.jpg ) because of it's length. I've searched far and low for another viable *standard* HTPC case, but most do not come with sufficient HDD storage space, so now I'm exploring the option of *normal* cases (towers / desktop).

My criterias are as follows:
- 6 x 3.5" HDD storage space
- 120mm front and rear fans (for acoustic considerations)
- available black face plate

Can anyone offer some reasonable suggestions for cases that fit this mold? It has been surprisingly hard sans the Stackers and P180's of the world.
 
Unless I've misread your post, something as simple as an Antec SLK3000B could do the job, combining the internal and exteral slots, 3.5" and 5.25". You'll have to add an intake fan, and might want to replace / downvolt the rear fan. I think that it would fit your video card and the drive cage, but to be sure, hop down to a local store and do a measurement / test -- it should be a very common case.

Alternative: One of the larger Antec tower cases. EATX form factor if you have super-long card.

Alternative: Thermaltake Tsunami. Similar in design to the Antec SLK3000B.

Recommendable addition: Thermaltake iCage for cooling 3 3.5" HD's in 3 5.25" external slots. Needs grill or door in front to cover up the fan. Replace the LED fans and downvolt them if desired.

It's possible that a large full-tower server case would make the most long-term sense (esp. with multiple iCages in front). I have a Thermaltake Kandalf that I use as a storage server, but it doesn't meet your cosmetic requirements. Perhaps another of their models might.
 
Thanks for all your suggestions. Anybody have experience on the Lian Li V1100 Plus?

Look like I can situate that case on its side (like a desktop) and it seemingly has tons of storage space as well as 120mm fans! 😛
 
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