Best Mini-ITX case

[Influencer]

I have a rather cheap Mini-itx case that I'm using for my new(ish) htpc. Thing is, its friggin loud. When I say loud I don't mean "oh baby, turn the tv up another couple notches", I mean "IS THE VOLUME MAXED YET??? I STILL CAN'T HEAR IT".

 

I swear the FAA is going to come investigate me for trying to take off in a jet. Ok, one more comparison, the PSU actually drowns out my vacuum cleaner.

 

Anyway, I've thought about getting another PSU or possibly changing out the fan in the current PSU. But while I'm investigating these options(which neither I think will end up being great, flex-atx PSU's can only hold so big a fan, and 35mm seems to be about it), I'm considering getting a new case.

 

These are my prerequisites:

Near-silent; I can't hear the CPU fan when the board is out of the case right next to my head, it generates nearly no heat, so the PSU fan is going to be the focus here

Small; The current case I have is 9.6x9.6. I love how small it is, but its too loud. I'd be willing to go a bit bigger if it meets other requirements.

Not too flashy; I'm not into tons of LED's, I want to forget the HTPC is even there

 

Now for some info:

Doesn't have to be huge and roomy inside, Its going to house the PSU, Motherboard + ram, and a single 2.5" laptop drive. Room for much more than that is wasted real estate on the entertainment center

I'm not incredibly picky about looks, but I want it to blend in, meaning I don't need a ton of LED's and bright colors, simple is better.

 

If you have any other ideas let me know, I'm always open to other possibilities. Maybe one day I'll get one of those nice small zotac's or something that I can mount on the back of the tv, but for now, Que Sera, Sera.

[Helmonder]

I would go totally fanless in the licingroom, that is possible but not cheap.. A zotac will be cheaper..

 

 

[batt01]

Zotac Nano about 200.00 you can barely hear it. Barebone

Use Openelec on SD card instead of hard drive, will run cooler, therefore less heat, less fan noise.

or

Zotac Nano xs 249.00 Even more quiet and smaller. Uses M-Sata instead of laptop drive.

Less heat, less noise, mo money.

 

Use included VESA mount to attach to back of TV. Totally out of sight.

 

I have put together five Zotacs for HTPC use for family and friends. No noise complaints.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173027

[Influencer]

Doesn't have to be fanless, I cam stand a quiet fan, 2 kids and one on the way there is usually enough ambient noise in my house I'd never hear it.

 

I like the zotac cases but don't need another system at this time, I already have a fusion e350 board that plays he extremely well, just need a nee case.

 

I did some more searching and found the m350 case, looks nice and is small. Plus its cheap. Just glanced over it last night but I'll be looking at some reviews today.

 

Currently I'm using the antec fusion case and I love it, the front display is nice but not totally necessary, the AV style volume knob makes it look like AV equipment so it doesn't stick out like a pc. The different compartments for the PSU and harddrives helps with heat. All in all the thing is silent but huge. It barely fits on a entertainment center shelf. Thats the main reason I'm moving to another build.

 

And I can't go HDD free and boot from a flashdrive because I want emulators and roms stored locally.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far, they are giving me stuff to look at and consider!

[PeterB]

Not a small case, but I believe that it meets all your other requirements - I have two Silverstone ML03B cases, housing Asus E45M1-i Deluxe boards.  The power supply I have installed is the Seasonic SS-300ES.

 

It's not silent, but I almost have to put my ear on the case to be sure that it is running.

 

There are two front-panel leds - one for power, one for disk activity - but they don't have to be connected.

Two inconspicuous front-panel buttons - one for power, one for reset, two usb3 sockets and two 3.5mm audio sockets.

 

So, back to the size - I just comfort myself with teh fact that it's a standard 440mm width, which fits well with a stack of other A/V gear.

 

I searched for a long time and the ML03 came nearest to matching all of my criteria, which are similar to yours.

[burtjr]

Have you given a Pico power supply thought? I'm not sure what you have in your HTPC, but I have a 150W Pico running an I3-2100t, WD 1TB green drive, 60 gig SSD, 8 gigs of memory, a Hauppauge 2250 tuner card and a USB remote and keyboard. My system running 1080P playback is around 45W with 32W at idle. I have had no issues in the year I have been running this setup.  This option may allow you to keep the case you have now.

[garycase]

I built a small HTPC with this case -- it's VERY nice and virtually silent:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112370

 

VERY tight to build in ... but you only do that once 

[lionelhutz]

This is my case. 8K01;

 

http://www.compucase-hec.co.uk/pccase_mini-itx_8k.htm

 

I chucked the little internal fan on the side and I chucked the PS and used one of these;

 

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/130W-mini-ITX-ATX-Power-DC-PicoPSU-AC-adapter-120W-Y5-/170926277956?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item27cc000544

 

I then cut the fan off the CPU heatsink and screwed a 120mm fan to the top cover instead. It runs cool and quiet and it's a nice small size too.

 

 

[PeterB]

Use Openelec on SD card instead of hard drive, will run cooler, therefore less heat, less fan noise.

 

Why?  I have no storage on my OpenELEC systems - no drive, no flash - I boot over the network from my unRAID server and all the files are stored on the server.  This does mean, of course, that there is a vast amount of empty space in my ML03 cases!

[Influencer]

Use Openelec on SD card instead of hard drive, will run cooler, therefore less heat, less fan noise.

 

Why?  I have no storage on my OpenELEC systems - no drive, no flash - I boot over the network from my unRAID server and all the files are stored on the server.  This does mean, of course, that there is a vast amount of empty space in my ML03 cases!

 

Please point me to the appropriate tutorial for this, . The main htpc has to have storage for emulators, but the systems in other rooms do not so I'm interested in this.

 

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions, I'm looking through them all,

 

Main reason I haven't gone for a pico yet is for the price I could probably get another case as well, I'm not 100% in love with this one. I like the size but that's about it.

[PeterB]

Now, if this had been available when I was deciding on my hardware for OpenELEC ....