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Posted by 99Flake - Mon 25 Sep 2006 14:10
I must say I am glad that the manufacturer replied to point out that although it is a large case, it is in fact of the same size as a decent AV amp. I was very surprsed when you said it wouldn't fit on an AV rack, I have an AVR1800 which sits on my rack with enough room for a CD player to fit on it with spare room.
Posted by errata - Mon 02 Oct 2006 21:27
I'm surpised Origen did not comment more on your test components, general purpose PC parts with a hot extreme edition CPU should not be on anyones list for a HTPC chassis styled for the living room. You can do better reviews that this one:mrgreen:
Posted by dave87 - Tue 03 Oct 2006 01:16
errata
I'm surpised Origen did not comment more on your test components, general purpose PC parts with a hot extreme edition CPU should not be on anyones list for a HTPC chassis styled for the living room. You can do better reviews that this one:mrgreen:

Isn't that the entire point though - throw the hottest things at it and see how it copes? Surely thats better than them having the most low tdp processor on the market and show overly optomistic temperature readings?
Posted by kempez - Tue 03 Oct 2006 11:26
Kind of agree with Dave but kind of agree with errata.

someone who made an HTPC out of a P4 would have to be very uninformed :p

Also the HSF used with this kind of case would not be a stock intel HSF…if you'vesplashed out on a case this expensive then you quite obviously want the best…
Posted by errata - Mon 09 Oct 2006 20:15
dave87
Isn't that the entire point though - throw the hottest things at it and see how it copes? …

Hmm like buying a MINI Cooper and testing it by seeing how fast it goes full of Sumo wrestlers. Only appropriate if your SUMO!:mrgreen: Can only compare it to something else equally full of SUMO.
Posted by strike-2 - Mon 03 Dec 2007 16:48
Keep mind, though, that demands on Multimedia PC's are growing very rapidly.
A friend of mine (no, really!) has Vista MCE on a X2 4200+ with 4GB RAM and it's barely holding on…
Personally, I also have a X2 4200+ and a X2600Pro with 2GB RAM, just to be able to play Full HD videos with a decent frame rate.
My current case (Cavalier 4) came with a 350W power supply that died within 2 months.
I now have a 400W ATX Zalman in there, so I can't put the cover back on.

I'm seriously considering this case myself. (v2 has fixed the bit about the slot covers, BTW)
My only worry is the noise from my DVD drive not being absorbed by the case.
Posted by directhex - Mon 03 Dec 2007 16:54
having a single, large, heavy, noisy machine is a very Windowsy thing to do
Posted by Steve B - Mon 03 Dec 2007 17:03
directhex
having a single, large, heavy, noisy machine is a very Windowsy thing to do
QFT :)
Posted by directhex - Mon 03 Dec 2007 17:05
Steve B;1279990
QFT :)

it's true though. my first htpc was a single machine, born in a silverstone lc11, then moved into a coolermaster cavalier to fix the horrible bugs with the lc11 design

now?

the plan is a stacker and a mac mini. the former's got room for an 8-disk RAID. the latter has a core2 duo and DVI/optical out, and is trivial to hide away in any tv room
Posted by dangel - Mon 03 Dec 2007 18:01
Still not got on with doing it then? ;)

Horses for courses - if you've got the space (and do it right) it can be a lot less hassle in some senses (not to mention not having two sets of hardware running).
A box the size of a AV amp just wasn't an issue for me - probably because i'm not linuxy enough?
Posted by directhex - Mon 03 Dec 2007 18:05
dangel
Still not got on with doing it then? ;)

Horses for courses - if you've got the space (and do it right) it can be a lot less hassle in some senses (not to mention not having two sets of hardware running).
A box the size of a AV amp just wasn't an issue for me - probably because i'm not linuxy enough?

maybe you can afford a bigger house than me O_o

or never have people sleeping in the living room, who bitch about the noise o_O
Posted by dangel - Tue 04 Dec 2007 09:13
directhex
maybe you can afford a bigger house than me O_o

or never have people sleeping in the living room, who bitch about the noise o_O

Or a bigger AV rack.. The Telly has to sit somewhere after all.. Tis not sciencing of the rocket after all.. But you're right - i've never had people sleep in the living room who bitch about the noise - cos there ain't any :mrgreen: Nice try :rolleyes:

People serious about home cinema will have a whole bunch of kit to find space for - in my case a centre speaker, sky+, dvd player, AV amp and HTPC sit on the rack. As I said, horses for courses - don't assume that what suits you is perfect for everyone (not that you'd make such a mistake..).
Posted by strike-2 - Mon 10 Dec 2007 07:44
Uhm, guys…

I never said that machine is the only one.
The media is stored on an Asus WL-500g, which serves it up via samba (for the windoze machine), wizd (for the Pinnacle), and Twonkyvision (for the PS3).
The machine even copies the data to a second drive at 4am, just in case the disk fails.

There's also a nslu2 that hosts my important files (documetns / photos ), also with a 2-disk set-up.

The only reason my mediabox has such a powerful proc is that it has the innards of my former game machine, because the Athlon 2400 in it was not powerful enough to decode Full HD.