SFF case barebones with 2 PCI.

[Balthazar]

Ok I am looking to build a dual HDTV tuner HTPC box here and I am looking for a good case/barebones system.

So far the only system I can find that has 2 PCI sots is the FIC Condor.

I don't really have any problems with this other than its an intel system and the reviews point to some potential problems.

So I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good AMD based SFF barebones setup that supports either Socket A or Socket 754, two PCI slots, and AGP slot (need to put a 6600/6800 series card in for hardware decoding), and RAID.

Am I going to just have to give it up and go with a regular ATX case?

SHOULD I just give it up?

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Busithoth]

You got plenty of options. You should look for mATX cases, is all.
They go from boxy: http://www.theinquirer.net/Default.aspx?article=15983
to boxy, but smaller: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article146-page1.html
to more conventionally HTPC-style: http://www.digiconcepts.com/antec_cases_21.htm (only takes half-height cards)

matx cases will allow you agp & 3 pci slots, so you can accessorize to your heart's content.
there's also plenty of other cases, these are just the ones I've used/looked at.

 

[Balthazar]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article146-page1.html

Thats nice, and definitely more like what I am looking for.

Has the slot for card reader and all, very nice!

This is going to be an expensive project, lol.

$300 for HDTV tuners, 2x200GB 16MB buffer HDD's, 6600GT, motherboard, soundcard, ram, CPU, ugh....it will be a sexy little HDTV beast when I'm done with it though!

Thanks for those links!

If anyone has any other favorite cases please feel free to post them, I can use all the suggestions I can get!

 

[wisdomtooth]

You need to pay HTPCNews a visit.

Plenty of veteran opinions on building HTPCs on their forums.

HTH.

 

[Balthazar]

Another knockout link!

Thanks a bunch guys!