Suggest HTPC configuration

[sam9s]

I don't get the reason behind having a costly cabinet. What is the benefit of better cooling ?
Your HTPC mobo and Processor will die out in 3 years or will get outdated by that time, So whats the need of buying a costly cabinet.

I am in PC assembling for past 10 years and don't understand the fascination with These costly cabinets ? Can some one shed some light on it.

The cabinet will be anyway tucked away neatly with Avr and stuff ?

I agree with SSD , Dont buy it , i am regretting it.................

Well since you quote me, where have I suggested an expensive cabbinet ....
True I wont not at all suggest iball or Zebronics, as those are utter crap and seriously utter crap case do affect your components. On the other hand I didnt even suggest Antec which is way to pricy for a cabinet. CM Elite series falls somewhere in between, beautiful cases with clean quality fans for a nominal price which most of us can afford ....

 

[jatinmalhotra]

Well since you quote me, where have I suggested an expensive cabbinet ....
True I wont not at all suggest iball or Zebronics, as those are utter crap and seriously utter crap case do affect your components. On the other hand I didnt even suggest Antec which is way to pricy for a cabinet. CM Elite series falls somewhere in between, beautiful cases with clean quality fans for a nominal price which most of us can afford ....

rather than fighting my intent was to find how this affects my components. Is this not the same placebo as buying costly cables that dont offer much improvement.

my generic statement is, if my components live till 3 years ( a common shelf life for pc components) then Aint i good to go with a cheaper cabinet ?

I ball cabinet has 2 silent fans, a SMPS built in and all for 1800 bucks. How is CM elite providing me better product at 3300 + rs.

I agree that Sheet quality is not good but am I gonna drop my cabinet or gonna sit on it............
My cabinet is tucked away and most of time I will see only the front side.

But everybody has a opinion and I respect that. Its just I prefer to spend less on cabinet. But I made a mistake too and bought SSD so nobody's perfect.

Edit: Looking at post just 2 threads above I now get it, if your HTPC cabinet is gonna be visible its better to get a pretty one. if its tucked away you can penny short and get a cheap one.

 

[sixthsense]

rather than fighting my intent was to find how this affects my components. Is this not the same placebo as buying costly cables that dont offer much improvement.

my generic statement is, if my components live till 3 years ( a common shelf life for pc components) then Aint i good to go with a cheaper cabinet ?

I ball cabinet has 2 silent fans, a SMPS built in and all for 1800 bucks. How is CM elite providing me better product at 3300 + rs.

I agree that Sheet quality is not good but am I gonna drop my cabinet or gonna sit on it............
My cabinet is tucked away and most of time I will see only the front side.

But everybody has a opinion and I respect that. Its just I prefer to spend less on cabinet. But I made a mistake too and bought SSD so nobody's perfect.

Edit: Looking at post just 2 threads above I now get it, if your HTPC cabinet is gonna be visible its better to get a pretty one. if its tucked away you can penny short and get a cheap one.

Agreed, you don't need to spend a fortune on these cabinets. Also everybody has different requirements. I got the I ball baby cabinet as I'd space constraint and I could not put the htpc vertical and needed a horizontal one. In the looks dept it's not as nice as antec but still worth every penny of the 1800 I paid.

If I'd to splurge then I would have got an antec as its got remote integrated which can switch on/off your htpc through remote and of course the build quality and looks can't be compared.

Depends on the hardware I got inside as well, the I ball only has one slot for hdd so if someone is planning to put say 2 x 1tb then it won't work for him. Also some bigger video cards might not fit this cabinet. I'd hard time getting the gt520 in the slot with my bluray driver tucked in already.

My advice you can buy all the stuff online, but for the cabinet you are better off going to your local dealer and taking along all you components so he can at least tell you if they'll fit the cabinet or not and if the PSU would suffice.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

For HTPC cabinet, I like to have beautiful looking cabinet, that matches other components in the rack. However Antec seems to be way too pricey. That is the reason, as a balance I thought of opting for CoolerMaster Elite Series, also I want the HTPC cabinet to be horizontal. I may try to source the cabinet from overseas, if it works out to be cheaper.

 

[manniraj]

For HTPC cabinet, I like to have beautiful looking cabinet, that matches other components in the rack. However Antec seems to be way too pricey. That is the reason, as a balance I thought of opting for CoolerMaster Elite Series, also I want the HTPC cabinet to be horizontal. I may try to source the cabinet from overseas, if it works out to be cheaper.

I got this cabinet for my htpc. Felt lazy to go and look at the local market here in Bangalore so ordered online the site last year and got it for around 6k. It is slightly over priced but the looks are superb and matches perfectly with your black gear of other components in your rack. You can also have a look at the antec case for 4k in the same site. If you have the time then you can get at a cheaper price if you can get it locally.

Thanks

 

[ukjeyaraj]

How does this look [KRAFT] "MJAV GOLD" HTPC Micro-ATX TYPE CASE/Quick Shipping/Worldwide | eBay

Anyone heard of this before?

 

[manniraj]

How does this look [KRAFT] "MJAV GOLD" HTPC Micro-ATX TYPE CASE/Quick Shipping/Worldwide | eBay

Anyone heard of this before?

Looks very nice but do check it out regarding the shipping as it is a Chinese item. The shipping itself might me double than the cost of the item. Pay by paypal and save the hassles. I had booked a small slim sata cable from HongKong last year which never reached me as the shipping in India will be done by India Post which you may not track. You can track till it reaches India and there after its there in the hands of God hyeah:. As I paid by paypal I asked for a refund and the seller immediately refunded the total cost.

Thanks.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Its USD90 inclusive of shipping. If I am luck , may save in customs, otherwise I may need to pay around Rs.1500 for customs. But still undecided about buying this. Looking for something locally. Will be hitting lamington raod shortly for the cabinet.

 

[sam9s]

I ball cabinet has 2 silent fans, a SMPS built in and all for 1800 bucks. How is CM elite providing me better product at 3300 + rs.

I agree that Sheet quality is not good but am I gonna drop my cabinet or gonna sit on it............
My cabinet is tucked away and most of time I will see only the front side.

No argument here unless one uses one long enough to realize what crap an 1200-1800 bucks cabinet becomes over a period of time. Evey cabinet has couple of fans, HDD enclosure, bays, etc ..... then what makes them expensive, is it just the sheet??? ....lozzz ... in a long run durability counts. I bought CM690, and since then have upgraded my PC three times (with a one big upgrade form C2D to i7), within the last 3 years, and I have never looked back. My cabinet is been rock solid since then. (Same goes with my HTPC cabinet and my NAS cabinet), These ibals and zebronics, all start to show defects after a prolonged use, fans either stop working or becomes noisy, if they are LED fans LEDs stop working, connectors becomes loose, enclosures start to shake, making the entire Cabinet dull and noisy ........

anyway .... lets agree to disagree here ... My personal opinion is to spent atleat some amount on cases as well, and not to compromise so much..... so as to go for these cheap iballs and zebronics ...... if it does not suit your need, so be it, ... people who do consider my posts, would definitely make a point of it.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Please opine on these configs

Config-1

Pentium G620 - Rs.3300
Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 - Rs.5900
4GB DDR3 - Rs.1500
2.5" HDD (any size above 160GB) - Rs.4000
ODD - Currently none and will add blu-ray in future
Antec ISK 310-105 - Rs.5000

Total - Rs.19700

Config-2

Pentium G620 - Rs.3300
Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 - Rs.5900
4GB DDR3 - Rs.1500
HDD (existing 1TB HDD) - Nil
ODD (existing DVD-RW)- Nil
IBall Atom Nettop 009 - Rs.1500

Total - Rs.12200

Also CPU+MOBO can be replaced with Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3(APU) and the price of combo will be still around 9000 or less.

 

[bijaymohanta]

Please opine on these configs

Config-1

Pentium G620 - Rs.3300
Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 - Rs.5900
4GB DDR3 - Rs.1500
2.5" HDD (any size above 160GB) - Rs.4000
ODD - Currently none and will add blu-ray in future
Antec ISK 310-105 - Rs.5000

Total - Rs.19700

Config-2

Pentium G620 - Rs.3300
Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 - Rs.5900
4GB DDR3 - Rs.1500
HDD (existing 1TB HDD) - Nil
ODD (existing DVD-RW)- Nil
IBall Atom Nettop 009 - Rs.1500

Total - Rs.12200

Also CPU+MOBO can be replaced with Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3(APU) and the price of combo will be still around 9000 or less.

One alternative you can do is the non-usb 3.0 version mobo. check this: GIGABYTE GA-H61M-D2H LGA 1155 Micro ATX Motherboard. the costing will be drastically reduced.The mobo-cpu combo will be around 6.5k. Just have a look, whether u need the USB 3.0 or not.

 

[reignofchaos]

The first config is perfect. However I'd add a discrete GPU to it - once available, the kepler GK107 based Geforce GT 630 seems perfect.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

One alternative you can do is the non-usb 3.0 version mobo. check this: GIGABYTE GA-H61M-D2H LGA 1155 Micro ATX Motherboard. the costing will be drastically reduced.The mobo-cpu combo will be around 6.5k. Just have a look, whether u need the USB 3.0 or not.

Thanks for the suggestion and link.

I am looking for a Mobo with optical and/or co-axial out too. Rightnow I am also looking for mini-ITX.

 

[baijuxavior]

If you are looking for mini-ITX then Gigabyte GA-E350N USB3 is a good choice. It has HDMI, DVI, VGA and optical outs. Supports 2 USB3 ports also. It also comes with two quick charge usb ports using which you can charge your ipod/mobile phone very quickly even when the system is in shutdown mode. Another great option is Xpress Recovery using which you can backup your system partition and restore if something goes wrong. You can also add a dedicated GPU, but make sure that the cabinet you select supports expansion cards. Many mini-itx cabinets don't have this option.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Yes cabinets are problem. Antec ISK 310-150 also has only low-profile expansion slot. But I think bothe GA-E350N-USB3 and GA-H61N-USB3 has decent on board GPU and may not require dedicated GPU, as this PC will never be used for any gaming.

None of the cabinets mentioned above are readily available anywhere. I need to check with local dealer.

 

[reignofchaos]

^^If you are planning to run madVR, stay away from AMD Fusion based boards. I have one and can honestly say they just don't have the horsepower. A Pentium + H61 + discrete NV gpu is a far better bet.

Also even if you think you don't want madVR, once you start tweaking your HTPC, sooner or later you'd wanna try the awesome scaling options in madVR and you'll hate your fusion purchase.

Also the antec is a spectacularly built case for that price. Only issue is that you need to use notebook hard drives and slim optical drives with it. Won't take full size hard drives or optical drives.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Not finding Antec ISK 310-150 online with available stock. If necessary I can add GPU later (1 low-profile expansion slot is available)

If unable to get this cabinet, I may settle for Iball or some other small one available in market.

I am yet to confirm the availability of mobo (both intel and amd).

 

[manniraj]

Not finding Antec ISK 310-150 online with available stock. If necessary I can add GPU later (1 low-profile expansion slot is available)

If unable to get this cabinet, I may settle for Iball or some other small one available in market.

I am yet to confirm the availability of mobo (both intel and amd).

Hi ukjeyaraj

Did you try this site. It says add to cart so I presume the stock is available. But I suggest just give a call to them and then put the order.

Thanks

 

[ukjeyaraj]

I already checked it. Its given "Against order: Product listed but dispatch depending on availability". Tomorrow I will give a call to them.

 

[manniraj]

I already checked it. Its given "Against order: Product listed but dispatch depending on availability". Tomorrow I will give a call to them.

Oh then did you check this case. I like this case as well. May be not comparable to the antec one but a nice one at that price.

Thanks