Looking for a case with NO drive bays

[RobsTV]

Have tried many cases for HTPC setup, but now that I am using external USB 2.0 DVD/CDRW and external USB floppy, all cases have ton's of wasted space.

Case still needs to be tall enough for 4 full height card slots.
One hard drive.
Quiet and great cooling.

Have been primarily using Maxtop Spycase.
Instead of internal 5 1/4" and 2nd 3 1/2" bays, better cooling layout would be best choice.

Do they make anything like this?

 

[lobadobadingdong]

something likethis is about as close as your going to get. (it hides the drive bays)

 

[L00PY]

I have this case (and paid nearly twice that price for mine) and think it should work for you -- just leave the door closed (and the light unplugged). One thing that's not obvious from the product description is that the two rear fans are 80mm -- not the 60mm size you usually find. You may want to mount the hard drives in the 5-1/4" slots because the normal HD spaces are somewhat of a deadspot as far as airflow goes.

 

[Zepper]

A case like the Athenatech A100 series .

TWIMC (and you know who you are):
Damn it, will you STOP USING 'This' or 'Here' for your link proxies to products!!! Put the name of the gosh darn case (or whatever) in there. Those of us that have most case types filed in our heads DONT NEED TO WASTE TIME GOING TO LOOK AT SOMETHING WE ALREADY KNOW inside and out!!!
Even though the Silverstone IS tres chic and worth another visit. I was trying to keep that source to myself - dang ATers...

THANK YOU!

.bh.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: Zepper
A case like the Athenatech A100 series .

TWIMC (and you know who you are):
Damn it, will you STOP USING 'This' or 'Here' for your link proxies to products!!! Put the name of the gosh darn case (or whatever) in there. Those of us that have most case types filed in our heads DONT NEED TO WASTE TIME GOING TO LOOK AT SOMETHING WE ALREADY KNOW inside and out!!!
Even though the Silverstone IS tres chic and worth another visit. I was trying to keep that source to myself - dang ATers...

THANK YOU!

.bh.

New Yorkers and grammer police :roll:

 

[RobsTV]

Thanks for the replies!
I am not looking to hide anything, but instead think that wasted space for bays that are not
used, would be better if bays were not there at all, and overall size could then be reduced.
Also must be desktop since it is a HTPC and will fit into entertainment cabinet, just like a stereo or VCR would.

1. The Biostar IDEQ200V is a barebones system with motherboard. Not just a case.

2. The SilverStone GD98-LED TINY "TOWER" is no better for drives than Maxtop currently in use.

3. The Athenatech MicroATX Mid-Tower Case.
Wow! That IS my Maxtop, but with a different front cover, and the Maxtop case is designed as Desktop
not a tower, plus Maxtop is priced $12 less (although doesn't look as cool).
Maxtop Spycase


Thought about going with this InWin D500 as it should run cooler, but after more research was able to find this
Antec ARIA which is almost as smalll as the Shuttle and Biostar SFF systems, but able to accept any uATX board's.

Thanks again.

 

[RobsTV]

Updating my search.

Gave up on a case with no drive bays.

Bought an Aria.
Not impressed, as it is not small.
Aria has only one thing going for it. 300w power supply.

Comparing to the Maxtop Spycase I was using,
Maxtop Spycase front was 5.75"x13.5", or 77.625 square inches.
Antec Aria case front was 7.5"x10.25", or 76.87 square inches. (too tall)
As you can see, not much difference in total frontal area.
Length was another matter, as Maxtop measured 14", while Antec measured 12.25".
Yes, Maxtop was longer, which is a good thing, as it has much better air flow and room.
If my bad math serves me right, that gives total cubic inches of Maxtop = 1087, Aria = 942.

Thanks to Zepper, I did some more checking on the Athenatech A100.
The internals are identical to the Maxtop Spycase, but Athenatech took the time to make it better.
Instead of a huge LED, Athenatech used a thin one.
Case top (when used as Desktop) has a nice screen vent (or blow hole).
One of the two 60mm exhaust fans has 3 pin connector for motherboard monitoring.
Floppy is concealed.
Power supply is better, even though both rated at 200w.
Great reviews all over the place.
Power supply can be upgraded.

After building a dozen or so HTPC's with the Maxtop Spycase, the Athenatech A100 is now my case of choice, and is preferred over even the Antec Aria. Looking at the Aria black front and overall appearance, compared to the A100BB Athenatech overall appearance, and the Aria looks like cheap plastic black front, while the A100BB looks very nice and professional.

Thanks for the help in my search.