HTPC case

Dublinflyer

Why is is so hard, and expensive, to get any sort of decent looking case. There are a few options out there but any of the ones I would like to have sitting there looking at me all night are a few hundred euro. :mad:

Knasher

I'd imagine it is because the market currently that large so there isn't as much mass production, hence lower economies of scale. It is also very much a luxury item, so generally sellers know that their customers will be willing to overpay for them.

It is annoying all right, and if the steam box takes off, then I'd imagine it will change.

Dublinflyer

Dublinflyer wrote: »

Why is is so hard, and expensive, to get any sort of decent looking case. There are a few options out there but any of the ones I would like to have sitting there looking at me all night are a few hundred euro. :mad:

Yes unfortunately most of the affordable cases are very nasty looking.

What size are you looking for? mITX?

Dublinflyer

I am open to the size of the case as space is not a real problem, I am very shallow in that I just want something good looking. ;-)

I found this and it's not to bad.
http://quietpc.co.uk/st-f1c-evo

Wabbit Ears

It's a big old case but I always though it beautiful, think I paid 140 ish for mine

google Antec fusion remote black

Duggy747

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

It's a big old case but I always though it beautiful, think I paid 140 ish for mine

google Antec fusion remote black

I've the same, paid about the same price, it's big but it sits perfectly under the TV and I find it aesthetically nice looking . Only problem with mine was that the top cover was a complete bastard to open due to a slightly bent clip.

Other than that, very happy with it. I did used to use the LED display to show up news feeds but I found myself reading it while trying to watch something so I just put it to a standard CPU Usage monitor. :pac:

BigEejit

Duggy747 wrote: »

I've the same, paid about the same price, it's big but it sits perfectly under the TV and I find it aesthetically nice looking . Only problem with mine was that the top cover was a complete bastard to open due to a slightly bent clip.

Other than that, very happy with it. I did used to use the LED display to show up news feeds but I found myself reading it while trying to watch something so I just put it to a standard CPU Usage monitor. :pac:

Its a very large case for something that only fits a uatx mobo. But I did like the separation of the case into the different sections. The fans were noisy and the display was too bright, so had to replace the fans and unplug the display......

Eventually I got an android media player and it works fine and is tiny, plays movies off my nas (which is where the, mobo, cpu and ram ended up from my htpc). fusion remote case is in the garage now gathering dust.

Duggy747

Yea, no doubt it's a chunky bastard of a case.

Never had a problem with the fans myself, have them set to low which leaves the machine at a low hum and are drowned out once something is on the TV. The HTPC was to be a media center + gaming machine so I needed good airflow which it delivers on for me with low to mid temps on gaming.

I can see where the display might be too bright for some people though and the iMon software for the remote was a complete joke at first as it would have certain buttons stick causing the whole machine to go haywire until I killed the iMon process.

Eventually got it working fine by twiddling some compatibility components and disabling some bits at startup as I found out it wasn't friendly with Windows 7 64bit at all. If you touched the volume dial then all hell broke loose but's all good now, though.

Never used the remote too much unless I was too far away (too lazy) to reach for the wireless mouse / keyboard.

Then I finally got an Android phone so I do all the controlling from that now anyways :pac:

slave1

Dublinflyer wrote: »

Why is is so hard, and expensive, to get any sort of decent looking case. There are a few options out there but any of the ones I would like to have sitting there looking at me all night are a few hundred euro. :mad:

Shouldn't be a couple of hundred euro, I stick with Silverstone and there's a variety of them on Scan as well as other makes, well less than €200.
If you're making an order with Scan register with AVFORUMS and telephone your order to Scan as they do cheaper shipping for forum members.;)