Looking to get the Lian-Li PC-V1200B plus this weekend.

[wisdomtooth]

I built that office LC03 after I've gotten rid of my V1000, so I can't give you a direct comparison.

All I can say is that LC03 worked out so well noise- and cooling-wise (with a hot-running Pentium-4 no less!) that I'm contemplating retiring that trusty Antec Sonata I have at home (with my easier-to-cool Athlon64 rig) and switching up to an LC13.

Ask any seasoned HTPC enthusiast and they will tell you that horizontal cases are not any more difficult to cool and quiet than towers. My experience seem to bear that out.

You can go either way.. It comes down to personal preferences, really. You can always flip a coin-- Heads, go HTPC case. Tails, go tower. :laugh:

HTH.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Suzaku
How about these SilverStone tower cases? Are they good?

They are fine, but probably not as good as the Lian-Li V series. The difference is prolly pretty negligible though, the components inside will have much more of an impact then the case itself.

I see you have a A64 3200+ which is very easy run quietly with the right HS/F. At this point it really depends on the level low noise you are aiming for and what other components you plan to use, specifically the video card.

 

[Suzaku]

I am looking at the TJ01 case and it very nice and sleep with the right price. Like 88 dollars plus shipping. Looking at the silver one with the black line in the middle. If I replace the fans on this with quieter once it will run pretty quiet right?

Edit: I noticed that it's pretty POS inside though

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
I built that office LC03 after I've gotten rid of my V1000, so I can't give you a direct comparison. It worked so well noise- and cooling-wise (with a hot-running Pentium-4 no less!) that I'm contemplating retiring that trusty Antec Sonata I have at home (with my easier-to-cool Athlon64 rig) and switching up to an LC13.

Ask any seasoned HTPC enthusiast and they will tell you that horizontal cases are not any more difficult to cool and quiet than towers. My experience seem to bear that out.

You can go either way.. It comes down to personal preferences, really. You can always flip a coin-- Heads, go HTPC case. Tails, go tower. :laugh:

HTH.

You're right the form factor dosn't make much of a difference but that?s not the point. The SilverStone has weak cooling; 1 80mm fan vs. 120mm in the Lian-Li, there is no way it's going to run as cool as the Lian-Li.

Out of curiosity what fan do you use in yours?

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: Operandi
The SilverStone has weak cooling; 1 80mm fan vs. 120mm in the Lian-Li, there is no way it's going to run as cool as the Lian-Li.

That's very debatable because these two cases are very different in terms of ventilation systems:

In my Silverstone, the PSU fan is a part of the case ventilation system. On the other hand, in my old Lian-Li V1000, the PSU is isolated from the rest of the case and does not help vent the rest of the computer at all.

My LC03 with a P4 3.0C and a Radeon 9800Pro runs at at a case temp just 6C above room temp under load. My PSU with a 120mm fan helps exhaust hot air from the case. There are two additional 60mm 1200rpm Papst fans in my office machine which do not make much noise due to their slow rotation speeds.

If you isolate the PSU in the LC03 like it was done in the V1000, of course the LC03 can't compare with the V1000. Thankfully that's not the case (heh, pun intended)-- the PSU is part of the ventilation system in an HTPC, and if you pick the right PSU, you can cool an HTPC quite well indeed. (and quietly too).

The tradeoff is that the PSU is going to have a greater thermal burden, but an efficient, quality unit like a Seasonic can handle it quite easily. Heck, the 120mm Seasonics were designed from the outset to help with case venting in the first place.

If you ever build an HTPC, choose the right parts and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. 😉

I was. I didn't think my LC03 can cool anywhere near as well as a V1000 either until I actually built a machine with it.

 

[Suzaku]

Well right now I am going for cool but I have a generic POS case. I have like 3 80mm fans in the back and two in the front. The front ones draw the cold air in and the back ones exhaust it outside. Im running pretty cool 😀

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth

Originally posted by: Operandi
The SilverStone has weak cooling; 1 80mm fan vs. 120mm in the Lian-Li, there is no way it's going to run as cool as the Lian-Li.

That's very debatable because these two cases are very different in terms of ventilation systems:

In my Silverstone, the PSU fan is a part of the case ventilation system. On the other hand, in my old Lian-Li V1000, the PSU is isolated from the rest of the case and does not help vent the rest of the computer at all.

My LC03 with a P4 3.0C and a Radeon 9800Pro runs at at a case temp just 6C above room temp under load. My PSU with a 120mm fan helps exhaust hot air from the case. There are two additional 60mm 1200rpm Papst fans in my office machine.

If you isolate the PSU in the LC03 like it was done in the V1000, of course the LC03 can't compare with the V1000. Thankfully that's not the case (heh, pun intended)-- the PSU is part of the ventilation system in an HTPC, and if you pick the right PSU, you can cool an HTPC quite well indeed. (and quietly too).

The tradeoff is that the PSU is going to have a greater thermal burden, but an efficient, quality unit like a Seasonic can handle it quite easily. Heck, the 120mm Seasonics were designed from the outset to help with case venting in the first place.

If you ever build an HTPC, choose the right parts and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. 😉

I'd like to build one, and I'm sure it can be done quietly but for traditional PC roles towers make more sense to me.