Stealthy HTPC: Two Cases To Hide Your Inner-Geek

[Guest]

I always thought it would be neat to take a small wine cooler/refrigerator and stuff a two or three motherboards into it and make a decent 24 core machine that didn't look ugly.

 

[Jung]

I have the Lian Li case. I put a icore7 and a Gforce GTX275 in it. It was hell to put together, but it sure looks handsome under my desk.

 

[Andraxxus]

Those are some nice case.

 

[Firehead2k]

One of the things that only become apparent when you actually use HTPCs at home is annoying LEDs at the front of the case. The Lian-Li case seems to have one of those LEDs that might as well function as a searchlight. These HTPC case manufacturers should take a hint from TV/monitor manufacturers on how to make status light non-obnoxious.
So far I have not yet seen any HTPC cases that can face the person watching in a dark room without it being extremely irritating.

 

[Guest]

Good point on the LEDs being a pain. I don't have a PC setup for my living room (yet) but I do have an external HD hooked into the USB on my Phillips DVD player. Even the one small green LED was such a distraction I had to cover it up with a tiny slice of duct tape.

 

[niknikktm]

You really think a BRD would have made the test more valid? A fitment and thermal test? Where a BD-RE has the same size as a DVD-RW?

Why is that?

Encoding or transcoding high definition video requires much more CPU and Graphics performance, so there is a valid concern for themal dissipation. My main point however was that while this review was adequate just for the cases in and of themselves, the application of a non-HD HTPC is pretty much obsolete at this point. If anyone is taking the time and spending the money to put together a HOME THEATER PC, Their going to be looking at something that can handle high definition chores.

 

[Guest]

I've got the Red Lian Li case running an ASUS Rampage Gene II ROG MB, 6 Gig Memory, 2 TB HDs, 4870 ATI and top of the line power supply. Looks great, runs very quiet and smooth, stays cool. Love It!

 

[Major7up]

I don't like either of them at all...I would much rather have a unit that resembles a receiver.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]major7up[/nom]I don't like either of them at all...I would much rather have a unit that resembles a receiver.[/citation]

Then look at the reviews list, there are at least three of those over the past year. This article addresses two cases that didn't fit into those articles.

 

[niz]

I wish they'd stop putting all those fugly card reader/USB/firewire slots right on the front of most media pc cases.
It looks really ghetto and makes it obvious its (just) a PC.
It wouldn't be hard to put them under a nicely disguised cover or something.