The perfect small case - does it exist?

razorweb · Post by **razorweb** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 7:47 am

I am building an HTPC, and have been agonizing over the case for weeks. I've been trolling the boards here and elsewhere as well. Hopefully some of the friendly people here at SPCR can help.

The HTPC itself will consist of a 1TB WD Caviar Black or Green, a Blu-Ray Drive, and an Intel E5200. If the case ends up being mATX, the Mobo will be the Gigabyte 9400 IGP board. If the case is a mini-ITX, the mobo will be the Zotac-GF9300 board. It doesn't seem to me to make a big difference which of the two boards I use (but correct me if you think otherwise). Either setup will include 4GB of RAM.

The Law of the Case. The Case has the following requirements:

1. Must be able to enclose or include (1) a Blu-Ray Drive (either slim or full height, not important), (2) a card-reader (for my SD and CF cards) and (3) an IR receiver.

2. Must be able to house either the Zotac or the Gigabyte mATX mobo, internal hard drive, and the rest.

3. Must be small. (mATX or smaller)

4. Must be quiet!

Right now, the roadblock is finding a small, quiet case which permits a blu-ray drive, IR receiver, AND card reader on the front. Most small cases have a 5.25 and 3.5 at best, but this project seems to require three visible ports. I've looked into combo card readers/IR receivers and haven't found much.

Can someone recommend a case, or alternatively, tell me why I don't need an IR receiver, CF reader and Blu-Ray drive to be visible?

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 8:25 am

Welcome to SPCR.

You need to tells us a little more about your ideal case than just "small". Small could be like mini-itx small -- http://www.silentpcreview.com/apex-mi008 -- or up to Antec Fusion size, which is still small, relatively speaking. Also keep in mind that the case doesn't make noise. It's the components that do, and your choice of components is more critical than the case. The most important aspect of the case is airflow design -- the more unimpeded (without leaving gaping holes that have direct sound paths to the users), the better.

Having said that your e5400 + 9400igp board would be easy to cool quietly in any case that allows for a decent sized heatsink w/ 80mm fan or larger, and a quiet PSU. If the case cannot accommodate that size of HS, then quiet cooling will become more more challenging.

The Apex case mentioned above, with mods as shown in our review, is a decent option for mitx, btw. Keep in mind that a mem card reader can be installed in any case with an external 3.5" bay, and they're dirt cheap -- as low as $10 on sale.

theycallmebruce · Post by **theycallmebruce** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 8:30 am

Don't know about small cases but if the lack of the slots for peripherals is limiting your case choice, could you get external USB versions of one or more of your desired peripherals (IR receiver, card reader), perhaps eSATA for the optical drive?

razorweb · Post by **razorweb** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 8:42 am

Thanks for your reply mike. I am looking at mATX or smaller for the motherboard, the goal being to have as small a case footprint as possible while still allowing for a card reader, optical drive, and IR receiver. My experience is that if you select for cases with mATX or M-ITX, you automatically limit yourself to smaller cases. That being said, I agree there are some big mATX cases out there (the antec nsk2480 is an example of a big case that only takes mATX).

The Apex MI-008 would be great (and I've read the review many times), but it only has a visible 5.25 (for optical) and 3.5 (for card reader). Doesn't seem to leave room for an IR Receiver.

The Moneual 312 case seems to have everything I am looking for - it's not entirely clear but I think it comes with an IR.

idale · Post by **idale** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:48 pm

razorweb wrote:The Apex MI-008 would be great (and I've read the review many times), but it only has a visible 5.25 (for optical) and 3.5 (for card reader). Doesn't seem to leave room for an IR Receiver.

There's also the possibility of external IR receivers, unless of course there's a reason why you need to have it internal. Built-in IR definitely limits case selection.

On that specific case, the manufacturer's page isn't clear, but the specs say "Microsoft Media Center Remote" which I believe are all IR. It mentions iMON in the features list, though, so I don't know what to believe (iMON seems to have both IR and RF models, so it could be IR still). And nowhere mentions a built-in receiver, though it's certainly possible (I don't see anything that jumps out as an IR "eye", but that doesn't mean there isn't one).

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:58 pm

My 2 cents:

An external IR sensor might not be too bad: adjustable, especially if you end up putting the pc into a more sealed entertainment center at some point (or just at a low angle, shelf blocking, glass interfering, etc).

Black or Green? There is an alternative you know: BLUE.

edit: Welcome to SPCR!!!

rei · Post by **rei** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:48 am

The Silverstone SG05 looks promising: paired with a mini ITX Zotac 9300-ITX mobo you can build a little powerhouse or go as silent as you want. The Zotac. Even has a big-ass Scythe Shuriken revision designed for it. The mobo not the case though I think it fits.

I still have an unused 3840 (or whatever the number was when they used a SFX PSU and switched to ATX) that I was never able to use properly and it remains my favourite. I'm going to trash or take it to the EcoDepot after all these years.

Here's one where someone else has kitted it out much more awesomely than I ever could:

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p ... tcount=363

I also REALLY love my SPCR SilenT3 (Asus Terminator T3) form factor. It's a shame the custom form factor Asus mobo it comes with is so obsolete in terms of features (audio, storage chipset, no AHCI, SATA hotswap or port multiplication, onboard NIC etc.) ...I'd say it's 80% the way there.

That'd be my perfect system if Asus ever modernized it and put in a 1x PCIE slot or something and some other minor niggles.