Tiniest ITX case with full sized optical drive?

[jorwex]

Hey All,

I wanna build an htpc with a bd-rom drive, but all of the cases that seem to fit the bill will only take a slim optical drive. A fullsized drive could cost $65 these days, but a slim one costs significantly more. The ideal image in my mind is something the size of say, a mac mini, but I know even that relies on a slim drive. For another example, I really like the Antec ISK 300-65, but it takes a slim drive only. The Apex MI-008 is ugly I think (at least from the pics I've seen), but it's a step in the right direction. The Silverstone Sugo SG05 are a bit tall for my taste.

I guess an alternative would be if anyone knows of a non-crappy cheap slim drive, but I haven't found one yet. I plan on using the Zotac Mini ITX 9300 Wifi and the Shiruken Cooler.

This case issue is the only thing holding me up from pulling the trigger, with the exception of zotac coming out with the next revision of that board that supports wake on usb (looks like they've fixed the atom based boards http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3611).

The Antec fusion and micro fusions are nice looking, but they're almost double the width of the size I'd really like, and they take micro atx.

So if I go that route (if I can't find a nice itx case), then there's no reason to pay for an ITX board, right? Better cooling maybe?

-jorwex

P.S. the Antec Minuet is kinda nice. It's still 12.something inches wide and not 8.7" like the ISK300
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Mjk=

 

[Zap]

Minuet is micro ATX.

Lian Li makes a mini ITX case, but you'll probably think it too tall as well.

The Apex MI-008 is available with a number of faceplates, and is even the chassis used in the Rosewill MI-01 mini ITX box. Athenatech makes the A1089 series case with a few different styles (plus Rosewill versions too). Your other options are Foxconn and In Win. Beyond that, everything is slim opticals, and yes they are expensive. Have you ever tried to price a slim optical drive that was a BluRay burner (not just player) as well as slot load? :shocked:

 

[hans007]

the in-win bm-6xx series can take a full optical drive if you unscrew some parts inthere. you lose a 3.5" bay by doing that though. i think its basically the smallest one.

i've had the lian-li and its pretty big, might as well get a microatx.

 

[aigomorla]

i dont think they make cases in tin.

that being said, what about a shuttle xpc?

I should move this in SFF, as you'd probably get better answers there, but i'll let it sit here for a bit to see what feed back you get.