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Sheepdisease
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HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:57 am

Hello there, my amplifier is 171 mm (H): 435 mm (W): 393 mm (D) and I am looking for a black HTPC case which is a similar width and depth to fit in an AV rack I am going to make in a space in the lounge.

The catch is that I am looking to use existing hardware and the hardware is rather large, as this will be used for gaming as well.

Existing case and hardware:

Manufacturer:
Cooler Master
Motherboard Form Factor:
Full ATX
Front/ Side/ Top Panel:
1 x Headphone
1 x Mic In
2 x USB 2.0
1 x eSata
1 x IEEE 1394
Drive Bays:
5 x 3.5" Internal
2 x 5.25" External
Expansion Slots:
7
Fan Bays:
5 x 120mm
2 x 140mm
Power Supply Form Factor:
ATX
CPU Cooler Dimensions:
"Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (Socket 1155)
79.7 x 158.5 x 120 mm (WxHxD mm)"
VGA Card Length:
"MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
116 x 39 x 270 mm (WxHxD mm) Double slot"
Dimensions:
213 x 482 x 525 mm (WxHxD mm)
Colour:
Black

What cases have space for two optical drives (may consider going down to one if I have to), a card reader on the front (could possibly consider an external multi-card reader), which will accommodate all this hardware, especially larger cooling fans?

I would expect to also purchase the following:

A new CPU cooler because my existing one is massive and likely will not fit in the case with all my other required hardware, I was thinking of something like Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B CPU Cooler 120 mm / Supported Sockets 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / AM3+ / FM1
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JustAnEngineer
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:18 am

Welcome to the Tech Report!

Full-size ATX is going to be slightly larger than your receiver. Take a look at the Grandia GD08 at 440mm(W) x 175mm(H) x 425mm(D) = 32.7 liters or the Lascala LC16M at 425 mm (W) x 170mm (H) x 425 mm (D) = 30.7 liters.
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Sat Sep 12, 2015 10:55 pm

Thank you for your reply.

Looks like the Grandia is a good candidate.

The manual for the case is pretty good. I don't suppose you can recommend an effective yet near silent CPU cooler which is 35.3 mm or less?
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:32 am

Look at the photos on page 3 of this review. At 159 mm, your Hyper 212 Evo is too tall. To stay within the 138 mm height limit, you should be able to use a tower cooler with a 92 mm fan like the Freezer i11/A11 or Hyper TX3 or a top-down cooler with a 120 mm fan like the GeminII S524 v2 (though the last one may limit the depth of optical drive that you can use).
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Sun Sep 13, 2015 6:29 am

I've been using a grandia 435 x 145mm for a while now. They are well made and well cooled, so that's a thumbs up from me.
If you're struggling to find a full ATX case that works for you, consider changing the motherboard to mATX. You're already spending enough that a replacement board won't increase the overall spend by that much. What CPU are you using?

Oh, and in the UK, you'll want to use Scan.co.uk for Silverstone cases.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Sun Sep 13, 2015 10:42 am

Might as well look at the plainer regular black ATX cases with the flat fronted doors that open to cover the optical drive bays you can lay on their sides. Just get one that has a functional side panel that holds a fan or fans instead of a window. Also you can get cheap rubber dome feet that stick on the side of the case that will be facing down for any needed air gap and to absorb any noise that might transfer from case to other components in your rack.

Fractal Design Define cases are a good example. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
Just a example they have cheaper smaller mid towers like the R4 69$
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:12 am

Thank you for your replies. I don't like the thought of having optical drives the wrong way round though I do like Fractal designs.

The CPU is Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor which has a TDP of 95W.
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:16 pm

I really like the Grandia GD08 so have gone with that, problem is that I need to find a CPU cooler which is 3.5cm in height or less which can suppoer the Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor which runs at 95w. The Akasa Low Profile Intel AK-CCE-7106HP CPU Cooler is designed for 73w. Reviews show that the Zalman CNPS2X Low Profile Heatsink should be used on sub 95w CPUs which leaves me wondering what my options actually are without restricting the number of optical drives.
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:00 pm

Your best bet is to just thumb through the Silverstone catalog which others have already suggested. I ran into a similar need in the past and Silverstone was the best option. I found that Silverstone doesn't cut a lot of corners or skimp on features either, their HTPC cases tend to use unconventional engineering to get all the full ATX components you need to fit together nicely.

For a cooler best options would include using a 120/140mm rad with the rad exhausting on the front left(bottom) fan. will have to check tube length though to make sure you have the reach or go with something custom. Noctua makes a 37mm fan which you might be able to squeeze in but at that point I would be worried about breathing room.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:16 pm

Just curious, where are you getting the 35mm measurement for max height on heatsink? The silverstone cases are deep enough where the optical drives are sitting over the ram but should not interfere with the heatsink so long as the fan is 140mm or less wide.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:36 pm

Sheepdisease wrote:
I really like the Grandia GD08 so have gone with that, problem is that I need to find a CPU cooler which is 3.5cm in height or less


I'm using an NH-L9i in mine and it's comfortably cooling a 3770K:

Image

I'm not sure why you're after a low-profile cooler though; the GD08 has room for a tower cooler up to 138mm tall. Even in my GD04 there's room for a 70mm cooler under the optical bay. A TX3 will just fit, as will any of the horizontal coolers from Scythe, Noctua, Thermalright, Thermaltake or Silverstone. With the TX3 EVO being a valid option though, I can't see why you wouldn't take it as towers are generally more effective for a given cost/surface area.
Image
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:59 am

The only reason I have been looking at low profile CPU coolers is because of the following:

Image

I am confused because some people are saying that despite this being in the manual for the GD08 they are able to get two optical drives in and not worry about larger CPU coolers?
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:18 am

Did you look at the photos on page three of the review that I linked and the diagrams on the previous two pages of the manual?
The area that you are looking at should only be a concern for dual-socket workstation motherboards.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:24 am

Yep, that diagram you linked is specifically a limitation for a dual-socket motherboard: For your board anything up to 138mm is going to fit.

A. Single CPU processor: The height limit is 138mm and there is 8mm of clearance around the motherboard’s top edge.
B. If you use a dual CPU motherboard, the CPU in front may be placed under the 5.25” drive bays to the right of main hard drive bracket. However, compatibility is not guaranteed so please refer to the diagram below:
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:41 am

Ah, what a relief! Thanks. In that case, I am looking for a CPU fan which exhausts the air from the middle to the back of the case the maximum efficiency.

Does anyone have any experience with such coolers and which do they recommend?
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 10:29 am

  • You want a tower-style cooler to direct exhaust in a particular direction, rather than a down-firing cooler than just recirculates air everywhere.
  • The TX3 EVO is the largest tower you can fit in a GD08 (it uses 136mm of the 138mm available), therefore it's the best tower for a GD08.
  • The TX3 is a decent performer compared to the equivalent 92mm-fanned competition but it's also reliable, easy to install and affordable which is why it's so damn popular :)
Of course you can get better, bigger, more potent coolers but they'll be too big to fit in any case with height restrictions, which means you can't use them in any of the HTPC cases on the market.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 11:44 am

Thank you for the recommendation, do you think it is overkill to remove the supplied thermal paste and replace it with something else? If not, what's the best thermal paste out there?
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:05 pm

Chrispy, would an AIO water cooler fit in the GD08? Seems like it should, but you've got the case. The Cooler Master Seidon 120V is $40 after MIR (I think I got my 120M for $25-30 after MIR). That's obviously more than the $15 after MIR TX3, but it opens up room around the CPU socket and would provide better cooling performance (for what it's worth) than the TX3.
The GD08 isn't exactly a "Small Form Factor" case, but I usually look good and hard at water cooling when doing SFF.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:31 pm

The GD08 has only 3 120 mounts, two on the right side which are very close the motherboard and large rads might not fit. There is also a third on the left side needed for the PSU. There are however a few siilverstone cases that have 4 x120 slots that would leave you with one slot that could fit a rad on the bottom. In those cases you need to make sure you have enough tube length to get around the video card as well as enough free space for the cable bundle and bend radius of the cables on the PSU.

If you aren't in a rush, your best bet is to do your build, and see what room you have to work with, then order the heat sink after the fact.

Here is a good image you can use for estimating. As you can plainly see, there is just enough room for two fans before the mounting points but not enough for a fan and a rad. http://www.custompcreview.com/wp-conten ... iew-13.jpg
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:38 pm

Some Grandia cases are deeper than others, if you want it to be shallow depth to match your AV receiver, check out the dimensions before buying. My GD04 accepts only mATX, but its the exact same depth as my receiver.
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:21 pm

@ Anovoca: I was thinking the rad would fit in one of those two bottom 120mm fan mounts. Maybe under the 5.25" bays so you don't eat up hdd slots, though I'm not sure about bend radius of the hoses to get them under. You'd probably lose the bottom 5.25" bay but how many systems have more than one (or any) 5.25" bay occupied these days. The photo you linked does seem to show that the front panel wires would impede your ability to mount a rad there though. The TX3 is the better choice here, I was just curious.
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:25 pm

Watercooling's kind of pointless in any HTPC, IMO:

Processor heat is never the problem, so just get a reasonably quiet air-cooler and move onto the bigger problem: How do I keep my GPU quiet?

I also do not have a GD08, my trusty steed is a GD04 so I'm just looking at the PDF manual to get answers.

You couldn't fit a radiator up against the motherboard, clearance is pretty tight with just the fans in place (as per Anovoca's warning about large rads, I don't think there's even room for ANY rads). Under the drive cage might work but airflow would be pretty dire and you'd be unable to run dual optical drives without blocking something close to two-thirds of a 240mm radiator or one-third of a single 120mm radiator if you used the middle fan mount. There's standoff height + 35mm of clearance with the lower optical bay in use; Let's be generous and call that 45mm even though it's probably slightly less. That means you need a 25mm slimline radiator and a slimline 15mm fan just to squeeze the radiator in there at all, and 1/3 of the radiator is completely obscured by the optical drive. might as well not bother... ;) Never mind, the 11" 6950 means that you can't use the middle fan mount for a 120mm radiator, and that was the only option since the OP needs the drive cage installed.
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Wed Sep 16, 2015 8:49 am

Thank you for your recommendations. I have experience with watercooling and I would never go back to it as I was constantly having to replace the cooling solution and could never see the point as the radiator required a large number of fans which meant lots of noise, when I thought the purpose of watercooling was to keep components cool whilst also being extremely quiet.

I am thinking of jumping ship and replacing hardware except the motherboard so I can use AutoCAD without any lag whilst rendering, using Photoshop, Lightroom, playing games without lag at approx. 50fps on highest settings for games like GTA V and COD etc, running multiple apps without lag.. You get the idea.

Please tell me what you think of the following:

http://www.ebuyer.com/
Intel Core i5 4690 3.50GHz Socket 1150 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £172.20
HyperX 16GB 2133MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL11 DIMM (Kit of 2) XMP Predator £76.89
Cart total inc vat:
£249.09

http://www.dabs.com/learnmore/component ... ntent=AW00

Bundle deal on Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB PCI-Express 3.0 DirectCU II OC STRIX

We’ve teamed up with Asus for this incredible promotion!
Upgrade your gaming performance with this incredible bundle! Asus Strix GTX 970 Graphics Card includes exclusive ASUS technologies, including DirectCU II cooling and 0dB fan technology, for total silence during light gameplay! Now use our exclusive bundle which includes the GTX 970 STRIX 4GB Graphics Card AND Grand Theft Auto V and then use voucher code DBS9RXD30 during the checkout process to buy for only £249.99!

£279.99

with code
£249.99
saving £30

Are these compatible with the GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3 motherboard? Do you think these are good value or would you recommend something else?

The MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express card I have is good because I can stream audio and visual through HDMI and I still need to be able to do this, so I wondered if it were possible with the GPU I have mentioned?
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:15 am

Z68 isn't a good chipset to choose today. Go with LGA1151, Z170, Skylake and DDR4 if you are buying a new motherboard.
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Wed Sep 16, 2015 11:41 am

I am interested in knowing what is wrong with the Z68 motherboard compared the the one you have mentioned?

Also, what about the other components I mentioned?
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Wed Sep 16, 2015 3:33 pm

For a start, Z68 is incompatible with the 4690.

The 4690 is a 4th generation socket 1150 processor, so you need a 1150 board to compliment it. The Z68 is a 1155 board to be used with 2nd and 3rd generation processors.
If you're not getting a K-series i5, there's no need for an expensive Z97 motherboard - you could use a B85 or H97 board instead as long as they have the features you want. However, I would seriously question what you hope to gain by changing from an i5-2500K; It's a fast chip and the 4690 is barely any quicker!

For the tasks you've mentioned:
AutoCAD without any lag whilst rendering, using Photoshop, Lightroom, playing games


I can confirm from first hand experience that a 4690 will make so little difference to those tasks that I'd be AMAZED if you could spot any improvement in blind testing. We're talking less than 10-15% faster, at best, but more commonly 5% faster. If you want to multitask better, either upgrade to an i7 which can manage eight threads instead of four, or alternatively just change your processor affinity whilst rendering (via a shortcut icon, rather than manually each time) so that there is a thread free for other things to run smoothly whilst your renders run. Even on an i7 with eight threads you will experience lag in AutoCAD if all eight threads are in use for rendering. Our Visualisation team use processors capable of running twelve threads but they only ever render locally using ten threads so that there is some headroom to do other stuff (like email and modelling) at the same time. AutoCAD only uses one thread, so on an i5 2500K you should put three threads on rendering, and on an quad-core i7 you should put six threads on rendering.

As for the 970, it's a good card, and that's a good price, but the Strix is pretty huge (too tall for HTPC cases I think) and it just recirculates the hot air back into the case, which is bad for a horizontal HTPC case once you get over about 150W. The Strix 970 uses around 175W.
In my experience with HTPC cases, a quiet, exhausting blower is the better option and I've tried several different types ranging from open, to partial-blower, to full-exhuast varying from 140W to 275W. Basically, you don't want the graphics card to be dumping anything more than about 150W into the case, ideally far less.

This is better for the same money (cheap but reviews say it is quiet).
I'm using these which are super high-quality and near-silent, but you pay a bit more for them.

The 970 is a faster card than you need but a good investment, but if your TV is a 1080p TV you could easily save £100 or more by getting a GTX960 instead. At only 120W of peak power consumption I don't think you need to worry about an exhuasting blower and this one is on offer this week. I'd still recommend the £319 swanky GTX 970 from OCUK which uses the incredibly quiet GTX 980 reference cooler and top-quality components but it is almost double the price of that Gigabyte GTX 970 and it's definitely not twice as fast!
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Wed Sep 16, 2015 4:37 pm

Chrispy_ wrote:
For a start, Z68 is incompatible with the 4690.

The 4690 is a 4th generation socket 1150 processor, so you need a 1150 board to compliment it. The Z68 is a 1155 board to be used with 2nd and 3rd generation processors.
If you're not getting a K-series i5, there's no need for an expensive Z97 motherboard - you could use a B85 or H97 board instead as long as they have the features you want. However, I would seriously question what you hope to gain by changing from an i5-2500K; It's a fast chip and the 4690 is barely any quicker!

For the tasks you've mentioned:
AutoCAD without any lag whilst rendering, using Photoshop, Lightroom, playing games


I can confirm from first hand experience that a 4690 will make so little difference to those tasks that I'd be AMAZED if you could spot any improvement in blind testing. We're talking less than 10-15% faster, at best, but more commonly 5% faster. If you want to multitask better, either upgrade to an i7 which can manage eight threads instead of four, or alternatively just change your processor affinity whilst rendering (via a shortcut icon, rather than manually each time) so that there is a thread free for other things to run smoothly whilst your renders run. Even on an i7 with eight threads you will experience lag in AutoCAD if all eight threads are in use for rendering. Our Visualisation team use processors capable of running twelve threads but they only ever render locally using ten threads so that there is some headroom to do other stuff (like email and modelling) at the same time. AutoCAD only uses one thread, so on an i5 2500K you should put three threads on rendering, and on an quad-core i7 you should put six threads on rendering.

As for the 970, it's a good card, and that's a good price, but the Strix is pretty huge (too tall for HTPC cases I think) and it just recirculates the hot air back into the case, which is bad for a horizontal HTPC case once you get over about 150W. The Strix 970 uses around 175W.
In my experience with HTPC cases, a quiet, exhausting blower is the better option and I've tried several different types ranging from open, to partial-blower, to full-exhuast varying from 140W to 275W. Basically, you don't want the graphics card to be dumping anything more than about 150W into the case, ideally far less.

This is better for the same money (cheap but reviews say it is quiet).
I'm using these which are super high-quality and near-silent, but you pay a bit more for them.

The 970 is a faster card than you need but a good investment, but if your TV is a 1080p TV you could easily save £100 or more by getting a GTX960 instead. At only 120W of peak power consumption I don't think you need to worry about an exhuasting blower and this one is on offer this week. I'd still recommend the £319 swanky GTX 970 from OCUK which uses the incredibly quiet GTX 980 reference cooler and top-quality components but it is almost double the price of that Gigabyte GTX 970 and it's definitely not twice as fast!


I REALLY appreciate your reply so thank you :) LOTS of information.

I am confused, are you telling me to forget about changing the CPU and replace the RAM and GPU instead? It's probably just because it is late that I am not fully understanding but could you just clarify what your advice is?
 
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Wed Sep 16, 2015 7:04 pm

If there is nothing wrong with your motherboard, then an i5 2500K is plenty fast enough for a modern system: Sure, it's 4 years old or something but CPU development progress has kind of stalled. If you dump £500 into a fancy Skylake processor, 16GB of shiny new DDR4 and a new Z170 motherboard, your PC will be 15-30% quicker in CPU-specific tasks like software rendering and Photoshop, but it'll be almost insignificantly faster for gaming or AutoCAD. Maybe 10% if I'm being kind - hardly seems like a good use for the money....

So yeah, Unless there's something wrong with your Z68/2500K combo, or unless the Z68 motherboard is lacking features you want, my personal opinion is to not bother changing it. You could certainly overclock the 2500K if you haven't already but even that is probably unncessary.

I'm about to turn in for the night but I'm sure there are plenty of TR readers who would second the suggestion of a modern, quiet graphics card rather than a CPU/Motherboard/DDR4 upgrade. For an HTPC it's also nice to have a wireless keyboard/mouse/gamepad if you don't already.

Why don't you list everything you already have (or have already ordered) and give us your budget. There are lots of knowledgable folk on TR here with gaming HTPC's (myself included) who can suggest what they've found useful and nice to have. As an example, here's my current HTPC and things in BOLD are things I consider important for a sofa PC.

  • Silverstone GD04, black with all-PWM fans and a PWM hub.
  • Some 580W PSU. Might be BeQuiet or Seasonic, can't actually remember anymore, but it's quiet.
  • Basic, cheap Asrock Z77 motherboard; onboard audio not used because all sound is passed over to the surround receiver via HDMI.
  • i7-3770K, wastefully not overclocked, running under a Noctua NH-L9i
  • 16GB RAM
  • Windows 10
  • OCUK GTX970 using the GTX980 board and reference cooler
  • 240GB old (and actually pretty rubbish by modern standards) SSD
  • 6TB of network-attached storage in another room
  • DVD-RW that never gets used: All hail Netflix, iPlayer and 4OD.
  • Logitech TK820 wireless keytrackpad thing
  • Old Microsoft Bluetrack 4000 wireless mouse that works on anything, sofa, glass coffee table, my belly etc....
  • Four XB360 gamepads (two wired, two wireless) for local co-op gaming.
  • Bluetooth dongle for my headphones - useful for late-night action-movies or gaming whilst the SO is trying to sleep.
  • Fairly decent (but nothing special) 60" 1080p Samsung TV and surround system.

As you can see, a lot of my system is a few years old but there's nothing I could upgrade that would make a meaningful difference and my money has been spent on peripherals that improve the sofa-bound experience instead.
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Sheepdisease
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Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Thu Sep 17, 2015 2:34 am

Thank you so much once again for your input.

I think I have put together a comprehensive list of hardware for the HTPC:

Silverstone Grandia GD08 Home Theatre Server Case - Black (SST-GD08B USB 3.0)
Akasa AK-FN057 Apache Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM x 3
Silverstone SST-CP06-E2 Flexible SATA Power Cable 2x Connectors with Capacitors
Silverstone SST-CP06-E4 Flexible SATA Power Cable 4x Connectors with Capacitors
Silverstone SATA III Cable 50cm Angled / Straight - Black x 5
Corsair HX620W Modular Power Supply Unit
Gigabyte Z68X-UD3P-B3 Intel Z68 DDR3 ATX Motherboard - Socket 1155
Arctic Silver ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier - 60ml Kit
SHIN ETSU X23-7783D 2g Tube (6.0 w/M-K) HIGH QUALITY THERMAL PASTE WITH SPREADER
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
Cooler Master RR-TX3E-22PK-R1 Hyper TX3 Evo "High Performance, 3 Direct Contact Heat Pipes, Universal CPU Cooler" Black Fan
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express 116 x 39 x 270 mm (WxHxD mm) Double slot (use HDMI for audio connected to AV)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM)
Asus My Cinema-P7131 Hybrid DVB-T PCI TV Tuner card
Crucial BX100 2.5-inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive - 250 GB (for OS)
WD SE Enterprise 2 TB 3.5-inch SATA Internal Hard Drive x 2 (planning RAID configuration)
Rii i8+ 2.4GHz Mini Mobile Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad Mouse , Backlit LED, Rechargable Li-ion Battery (for use as a volume/media controller and casual browsing)
Startech USB 3.0 Multi Media Flash Memory Card Reader
Pioneer BDR-209DBK 16x SATA Internal BD/DVD/CD Burner - No Software x 2

N.B.
I will be connecting via Ethernet to my router directly with this machine.

I have a gamepad somewhere in amongst old hardware. I have a number of keyboard/mouse combinations I can get out when required.

I have a huge number of other HDDs, fans and cables from old builds if required. I have an array of connectors for attaching all sorts of storage drives to the PC externally and a NAS HDD enclosure (I know that it connected via SATA but can't remember if it could be connected by Ethernet). I don't like the thought of having HDDs running constantly (for all the old HDDs) so I prefer to backup on command. My PC is configured to sleep when not in use and I use the Microsoft Insomnia application to force it to remain in operation when required.

I have a huge music collection and need lots of storage for RAW images from my Canon 5D Mark II for pre/post-processing. I have a lot of photographs from years gone by which I cannot afford to lose. These need to be reliably backed up.

I have reinstalled operating systems more times that I care to admit and therefore also like to keep a progressive backup image in case I encounter problems.

This new HTPC needs to do everything, from gaming in 1080p at full settings with no lag, playing music, receiving/recording freeview channels, editing images, dealing with AutoCAD, keeping important files safe and so on.

A.V. Equipment
Yamaha Natural Sound AV Amplifier [DSP-AX8635E]
Mission Floorstander Speakers
Tannoy 5.1 Surround Speakers

Visual Equipment
PCW120MET 120" HD Projector Screen 16:9 Widescreen Tab-Tensioned Electric Motorised w/ RF Remote
OPTOMA - HD141X Full HD Home Cinema 3D Projector

I find that it takes a long time to boot up and it shocks me about how long it takes to load applications and the lag I encounter when playing games.

I am not sure of budget in all honesty, particularly as you suggest I wont see much improvement by spending several hundred pounds. I am concerned that I may be investing in a GPU which ends up being redundant should I decide to upgrade in the future to a 1151 motherboard to enable me to take advantage of newer hardware, but equally would prefer to spend less if I can achieve the outlined specification. I would be happier in the knowledge I had purchased a GPU which could be used on a newer board at a later stage if possible.
Last edited by Sheepdisease on Thu Sep 17, 2015 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Location: The Heart of Dixie

Re: HTPC Case with Similar Dimensions

Thu Sep 17, 2015 5:15 am

For gaming performance, replacing your Radeon HD6950 graphics card with its graphics processing unit (GPU) would help your system more than upgrading from your existing Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge central processing unit (CPU) would.
£170 for Radeon R9-380 4 GiB, £250 for Radeon R9-390 8 GiB or £250 for GeForce GTX970 3½+½ GiB seem to be the choices at the two UK e-tailers that I checked. I didn't see any Radeon R9-290 4 GiB cards in stock. Those have been priced very attractively over the summer.

Any PCIe graphics card should work with any motherboard that you're likely to encounter.
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