I learned long ago (I think it was building a 486 box) that full-sized, well-built cases are a dream to work with. But I’m about to reorganize the den to make it more child-friendly, which means moving one of the PCs up off the floor and onto the shelves. It’s currently housed in a mammoth Antec P183, way oversized for putting on high.
What are those specialized-looking HTPC cases like to work with? Roomy? This is an older PC, but it’s got a full-sized ATX board with couple graphics cards in it, so space and airflow are mildly important. Plus, I’m a curmudgeonly bastard and hate working in tight spaces or fighting to get drive cages and the like to fit where they should. Are they okay to work with or should I screw room symmetry and stick with the Antec?
Aren’t those desktop cases? Never heard of HTPC. Desktop cases came in the super low profile and the taller standard desktop. The old Packard Bells and HP’s were in the low profile desktop cases. Very tight to work in. The standard desktop was fine. I built several at work with ATX motherboards.
Check whatever case you buy that it is ATX compatible.
I took it to be a low profile case,if it was something else I wouldn’t know. I don’t think they are any harder to work on due to the way hard drives fold out of the way. I once made the mistake of thinking any motherboard would fit in a full sized case. I became much more careful with my purchases after that, you get what you pay for.
Put the P183 on its side with a cloth or tea towel underneath to prevent scratching. Job done.
Really, HTPCs work best with ITX and mATX motherboards and half-height or rotated GPUs. You might be interested in the forthcoming PiixL Jetpack if you’re looking for an excuse to upgrade.
None of those are both much smaller than what you have and also can support full height graphics cards and an ATX motherboard. HTPC cases that are not just a regular case turned sideways save space either by reducing the Z-height (so half-height cards or a 90 degree adapter), or by using a very small motherboard and screwing with the traditional layout. Generally cases that reduce the Z-height are micro-atx compatible, and those that screw with the layout, or do both ,are only mini-itx compatible. Notice full atx on neither of those lists.
The ones that work the best IMO are the mini-itx ones that end up being box shaped (and not all that small) - like the cooler master elite 130 or Bitfenix Prodigy - those have decent cooling and can fit a powerful full height graphics cards. Most of the low profile “micro-atx” supporting cases I have seen have awful cooling for, or no way at all to, use a full height powerful graphics card at all.
Main reason for rethinking the case is that we’re about to give the four-year-old relatively unfettered access to the room. The existing case will fit up on top of the shelves, but it’ll stick out by a good margin and look like crap. Plus, though putting a BR drive on its side doesn’t make it unworkable, it does make for occasional hiccups (we have a BR standalone, but want to move that to another room).
The Cool Master boxes might be a better bet. I’m not trying to hide the PC so much as get it on the top of the shelves with minimal visual impact.
You might also consider the Shuttle SFF units. It’s the size of a loaf of bread and you can fit a full-length GPU inside (make sure you use one with a blower fan).
If you’re going to be putting the system unit out of the way, you’ll find the optical drive inconvenient to access, so you should consider an external USB 3 optical drive. Indeed to minimise cabling, get yourself a powered USB hub and cable that to your PC then plug most things into the hub.
I used one but it wasn’t mini or micro, it was full sized. It’s a Lian Li brand, which Newegg doesn’t seem to have anymore (they have the brand just not the same case).
Nice to work with, and airflow has been top notch. And it’s pretty silent. And it looks badass sitting under my TV. But since it was full-sized, I can’t help with the work area issue.