Finally bought an HTPC case

[corElement]

Thats right! I stalked ebay for almost 8 months and forced myself not to buy an overpriced one as the US ebay has some insane deals sometimes and my sister lives there so I can send to her and get it from her.

I wanted to get the zalman hd160 plus but its not in manufacture but I got the next best thing, the zalman hd135-silver!

Here she is!

To give an idea of the exquisite finish heres a close up

I refused to buy anything other than zalman or ahanix because silverstone's asthetics is pure garbage and being a designer it matters to me.

Monoruel is crazy expensive just like zalman BUT..BUT!!

This case retails for 350 USD, I got a+ never used refurb for total 70$ shipped to my sister! Thats around 3500 Rs insread of 15000!

Super excited.

It is going to get stacked on top of my avr which is

 

[partymonger]

Freaking awesome!!!

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Congrats CorElement for your new possession. The finish is really good. Please share your experience about the delivery, courier, customs etc.

What Mobo and other configuration do you want to put in? How is the Fan noise? Will you connect it with your TV as monitor, or plan to hook it up with a small exclusive monitor?

 

[anm]

congrats. I think I need to take some lessons from you in the art of finding these great deals.

 

[corElement]

@ amit

My present gear but not present setup ( changed arrangements since I took this pic )

As you can see my present case is quite old ( bought in 1999 )
However the components are new

AMD phenom II x4 965BE
Gigabyte 895 natve ubs3/sata3 mobo
Asus xonar D2x soundcard ( better than hdav )
Ati Radeon HD5850
4 GB DDR 1600

@ anm LOL its called obsession

 

[spirovious]

Congrats, Does powersuply side touches ground?
Look out for heat.

 

[anm]

you are a lucky fellow to have a complete wall in a bedroom for your audio setup. I guess you aren't married.

 

[doors666]

you are a lucky fellow to have a complete wall in a bedroom for your audio setup. I guess you aren't married.

you gotta be kidding me.. just look at the pots outside, nice clean unwrinkled bedsheet, no dangling wires for the ccenter channel, everything so neat... noway he's single:lol:

Edit: whats the height of the cab. can it handle larger cards like essence etc, or only low profile cards.

 

[corElement]

Congrats, Does powersuply side touches ground?
Look out for heat.

oh yeah its always on the ground, dosnt get hot at all.

you are a lucky fellow to have a complete wall in a bedroom for your audio setup. I guess you aren't married.

well...im not married but my family strongly believes in avoiding buying anything that will turn to junk within a few months of its purchase along with no decorative pieces that have no relevance to the family/aesthetics.

So everythings very minimalistic on junk... more room for the good stuff. I made the in wall wiring layout and piping and everything so everything turned out as I wanted it to

If you want to have a better look, go to this url, its my thread

http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/9319-cores-elements.html

you gotta be kidding me.. just look at the pots outside, nice clean unwrinkled bedsheet, no dangling wires for the ccenter channel, everything so neat... noway he's single:lol:

Edit: whats the height of the cab. can it handle larger cards like essence etc, or only low profile cards.

I'm an avid gardener lol, i spend most of my time when out of work gardening or playing games or working out or generally out. I believe in being self sufficient and try my best to reflect it in my surroundings and aesthetic sense make my bed every morning at 6:30 and hate HATE wires all over the place..

I wanted the hd135 or hd160 plus because these 2 and only these 2 models of htpc cases reflected that sense, notice no reset button no volume knob that can go bad and no nonsense on the facia to press ( like a useless touchscreen thatll go bad in 5 year )

and in reference to your question, the best thing about this case and why i got it was its completely ATX form factor but dosnt look it. ingenious design just by dropping the psu an inch down. It will fit all cards and all standard atx psu, cd roms and gpu's the length of a standard atx motherboard ( Ati radeon 5870 isnt so it wont fit, the cd rom will come in the way but an hd5850 will, the performance difference between the two is a mere 10-15% )

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Nice catch. Your patience has paid you. Congrats !!