Wide SFF, not tall

[imported_OrSin]

With the new shuttle P chassis and some other SFF dealer using talling case, Iwas wonder if they was going in the wrong direction.

Personal I would perfer the case to be wider not taller. Now I know, other would be perfer taller but I like using my old ones for HTPC and tall is not good for that market.

I just came across the Antec ARIA SFF Case. Final case that went wide not tall.
This case allows Micro-atx mother boards. At first I very disappionted that thier was no PCI-e micro motherboards out. But to today NewEgg has both a NF4 and the ATI Xpress 200 in micro. Both boards under $100. Thier a compusa sell on the Aira case also.

Nice barebone system setup for $150. Plus it has 3 pci ( 2pci and 1 pcie 1x) slot so it very exspandable. And comments on the setup?

PS
I'm really looking hard at this becuase Shuttle and Biostar still does not have PCIe system, with regular cpi slot yet.

 

[wisdomtooth]

I'm not a fan of cube-type cases for HTPCs. They are usually loud-running beasts with non-standard PSUs that can't be easily replaced with something quieter.

If you want microATX with full-height cards, you might want to consider the Coolermaster ATC-620. You can put a Seasonic Super Tornado in there for a nice, quiet HTPC rig. Check out this thread on an ATC-620 build. The gentleman's photos of the build HERE.

Another good microATX case is the Ahanix MCE301/302 series if you don't mind half-height cards. You can put a Seasonic Super Silencer PSU in there for quiet running as well. Check out THIS THREAD (with photos).

HTH.

 

[eastvillager]

Wide is fine for those who want to stick the pc in an a/v rack. It sucks for people who are trying to conserve space on their desktop.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Yah, but aren't you looking for wide?

The other quieting option if you want small footprint would be to go for a microATX tower that will take a full ATX PSU, and stick a Seasonic in there. I've seen those on sale at Newegg.

 

[imported_OrSin]

Maybe I will look into the tower. I can see using the tower for now and when I get a new computer (every year). I can move the motherboard into a true HTPC case. I can't see paying all this money for the shuttle and not be able to use it for other things at latter date. My current shuttle will fit in my entertainment centers, the new P chassis don't.

The xpress on board video means I might not even need a video card when I convert it to a HTPC. Does anyone know the quality of the on board video for the xpress board.

Also the xpress chip can use 4 dimms. That means I can keep my 512 chips and add more later when I need over 1GB of ram.

 

[wisdomtooth]

There just happens to be a gentleman on HTPCNews who used that Radeon XPress 200 mobo for his HTPC. Read all about it HERE.

HTH!

 

[imported_OrSin]

Not sure I will have the same problem as him. His fusion cards have the ability to use CPU or Video card to render the image. One of my capture cards use CPU only, the other does rending onboard, so neither will expect my video card to do anything but process a single. As long as the 2d video quality is good I should be ok.

Looking for tower that can fit both a micro and full size board now. When I'm done with my micro I will most likely reuse the tower for me next system.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Well shoot, that's easy... All full-ATX towers can take microATX motherboards. You can use pretty much any tower out there. Any reason why you don't want to get a proper HTPC case for it right now?

On the MSI Radeon Xpress board: I think it's a good choice. Even if the on-board X300 integrated graphics does not have much oomph, you can always add a more powerful PCI Express card like the 6600 (excellent for HTPC applications).

HTH!

 

[imported_Kensai]

Get an Antec Minuet and lay it on it's side.

 

[shortylickens]

Silverstone makes good old-fashioned desktop style cases. Most are strong enough to set a CRT on.

 

[piasabird]

If you have one video card, 1 or 2 tuners, sound card maybe, and more than one hard drive for the storage space, then you better have good cooling.