Antec Fusion 430 HTPC Case

[JackNaylorPE]

Well you didn't really miss it, that was one of the points is that you had the flexibility do do that "if one wanted to". I'm not so much thinking of popping in Hard Drives like old 8-tracks tho....just that when ya outgrow one box, ya can pop one out and stick it in another.

I had a P2P data server in the SOHO here with 5 machines on the office side and 4 on the home side. The old server has been relegated to backup duty....and I don't miss it much.

If I was to get an HTPC for "downstairs", I might start out just using the existing NAS up here.....but eventually I'd wanna have a dedictaed NAS for media server.

 

[rhysee]

The review was ok ,,just that .. The temps were all in Farenheit.. which was unprofessional I feel , get with the program we use Celsius these days just like Toms previous articles.
A bit more detail into Windows Home Server and hows its setup maybe would be better and a video showing how it works ?.. Just my thoughts..

 

[BillLake]

Hardware not software review plus no Windows Home Server was used or injured doing this review : )

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The review was ok ,,just that .. The temps were all in Farenheit.. which was unprofessional I feel , get with the program we use Celsius these days just like Toms previous articles.

I always prefer both. In US of A, we stuck on the F thing.....and while most are comfy talking about CPU temps in C, when ya start talking "ambient air temp", all we can identify with is 65 - 72 cause that's what are thermostats are set for and if in C then we gotta do math. So in the interests of folks on both sides of the pond, I much prefer 24C (75F)

 

[Spiny]

Could ya PLEASE do an ATI HDMI based HTPC sometime soon? I don't understand how tech sites keep overlooking HDMI. I would think a one cable solution would beat the mess of wires ya got there.

I've actually built into this case twice, using boards providing integrated graphics with HDMI out.

The first time was with a Abit Fatal1ty I90-HD. The build was fine but the board isn't certified for vista & I got a load of blue screen crashes in the ATi video driver.

I replaced the board with a Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H which is nVidia 630i/7100 based. (No BSOD so far - *crosses fingers*). The only problem is that the HD LED dosen't seem to want to come on.

Overall, I'd thoroughly recommend the case. It's probably an idea to try some quieter 120mm fans like the Akasa Ambers.

I'm getting temps of around 36C with a E6600 and Zalamn CNPS8000 cooler (which is nice & quiet btw).

 

[BillLake]

I like the ASUS M2A-VM HDMI and Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H for AMD CPU with HDMI and for Intel the Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H is OK but the ASUS P5E-VM HDMI is very nice and I sometimes think that nothing runs intel CPU's like intel chipsets. I really liked the GeminII heatsink for this install as it adds no fans and since it is a raised surface type it allowed more airflow over the northbridge contributing to greater cooling of the Northbridge without adding noise via any fan.

 

[jaguarskx]

I'll not build an HTPC / MMPC until I find case with multiple (2 min, preferably 4) exterior Hard Drives on the front panel. An internal HD (twin HD cage in case ya wanted RAID) for the OS and programs and exterior hot swappable HD's for content.

If you are willing to dish out the money, you can get something pretty close like the SILVERSTONE Silver Aluminum CW03S-MT ATX Media Center for $699 excluding shipping cost. Note, that's just for the case without a PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163106

The case has an exterior hard drive bay and a bay for a floppy drive. You should be able to install hard drive in the floppy drive bay, thus giving you two external hard drive bays. That in addition to the external bay for a DVD drive.

Personally, this is about $300 more than I would like to spend on a case. Then again, if your expectations or requirements are high then you should also expect to pay a price in proportion to your expectations / requirements.

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The case I will most likely buy for my next HTPC is the SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum Crown Series CW02B-MXR ATX Media Center for about $390 + shipping:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163084

It won't met your requirements since there is no external bay other than for the DVD drive bay. Internally it can house 6 hard drives for a current potential total of 6TB. Underneath each of the two drive cages is a duct which will fit a 90mm/92mm fan to cool the hard drives.

The case itself will be tall enough to install my Scythe Ninja+ HSF which is about 6" tall alone. One of the things I love about this HTPC case is the fact that the rear exhaust fan is 120mm which is pretty rare; actually make that unique for a HTPC case. Larger fans tends to quieter since they do not need to spin as fast as smaller 80mm or 60mm to move the same amount of air.

Another unique thing about this HTPC case are ports in the back to passthrough tubes for a liquid cooling solution if that's your thing. Not really important to me.

 

[TerFar]

I've been using an Antec NSK2400 (similar to Fusion, identical layout but no HTPC display or knob) and agree with most of the article.

I fitted an ATi X1650XL (with passive cooling) and a Core2Duo 6420 with a Thermalright SI-128 cooler used passively. The only fans are the 2 x120mm case fans running on slow setting. It is whisper quiet and runs extremely cool. In fact the SI-128 was so cool that at first I though it was not making intimate contact with the processor! (Shows the thermal improvement of the Core2Duos over my previous Prescot P4 3.4GHz.)

There is just room to mount a 120mm fan to the top of the SI-128, but it would be so close to the case lid as to be unable to produce any air flow without making some vents in the lid.

It is also necessary to mount the SI-128 onto the motherboard before installing it into the case. With my Asus P5B-VM DO, there is just room for this to fit in the case. The edge of the block just touches the rear-most fan: but as the fins are orientated in that direction, it means the fan is extracting the heat directly from the heatsink - though sideways rather than upwards.

My only critism of the case is that Antec should have mounted a third case fan along side the other two fans (there's room for three in line) so that the disk drive chamber is better ventilated as HDDs can get very hot.

However, because the case fan are in the (right) side and not at the front/rear or top, it makes installing it in a unit as shown in Tom's review a bit of a problem. I am certain that much of the temperature increase recorded in the review was the result of reduced airflow because the side vents were virtuall blocked rather than simply being in an enclosed space.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

A step in the right direction methinks though just think of the room they'd have if they placed the optical drive under the LCD and arranged the rest of the 5-1/4 slots vertically. Again, my "ideal" would be for someone to come up with a HTPC case and a NAS designed to aesthetically match the HTPC case. That gives the best of both worlds.

 

[BillLake]

Truely what I would like to see is the VFD moved to the middle and doubled in size, then move the ports under the optical drive behind a door of some type. That way the display would be veiwable and greater distance and the ports would be hidden.