HTPC case

[square_wave]

I am looking out for a good HTPC enclosure in India.

Requisites:

1. Sits horizontal
2. Looks like hifi gear / discreet rather than a loud PC
3. ATX mother board compatibility
4. Should accommodate 3.5 inch HDD (2 TB)
5. Cost less than 6000

This is going to be a music server rather than a HTPC so I do not need to take into account expensive graphic cards, sound cards, hyper performance etc. I am looking to assemble something which runs cool and extremely silent and stays out of the way.

 

[asliarun]

I am looking out for a good HTPC enclosure in India.

Requisites:

1. Sits horizontal
2. Looks like hifi gear / discreet rather than a loud PC
3. ATX mother board compatibility
4. Should accommodate 3.5 inch HDD (2 TB)
5. Cost less than 6000

This is going to be a music server rather than a HTPC so I do not need to take into account expensive graphic cards, sound cards, hyper performance etc. I am looking to assemble something which runs cool and extremely silent and stays out of the way.

A bit off-topic, but have you considered a dedicated gadget instead of building a PC? For example, you might be better off feeding a digital music player with an input from your digital storage source (HDD or NAS) via USB or wifi. I only ask because IMHO, an HTPC is overkill if you only want to use it for music, and there are really nice dedicated devices available today that will do this better and in a more user-friendly way.

 

[grubyhalo]

How about something like this for about $150:

Cheap silent USB Linux music server

Ofcourse, may not be your cuppa if you don't have a geeky bent...

P.S: Sorry for the OT.

 

[rajudhs]

Apple tv @100$
Is very good for this requirement

Other media streamers don't have fancy ui of apple

I have one and use it for music and photos

For videos I use my bluray player that can additionally stream and also play media from external hdf
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[square_wave]

Okay. I need this as a computer because I am planning to do quite a bit of ripping to lossless flac on this. This will not be a HTPC. It could be defined as a server with computer usability/capability. The music will be accessed via USB cable and goes into an asynchronous USB dac. I am thinking of accessing / playing the music using an IPOD or some other user friendly device via wifi. More of a purist implementation of a discless solution for two channel HD audio.

Plans are on the anvil now.

I am open to ideas though

 

[grubyhalo]

Would this work?

ZOTAC - It's time to play! - ZOTAC MINI-PC series Introduction

This or this to be specific...

 

[reignofchaos]

Okay. I need this as a computer because I am planning to do quite a bit of ripping to lossless flac on this. This will not be a HTPC. It could be defined as a server with computer usability/capability. The music will be accessed via USB cable and goes into an asynchronous USB dac. I am thinking of accessing / playing the music using an IPOD or some other user friendly device via wifi. More of a purist implementation of a discless solution for two channel HD audio.

Plans are on the anvil now.

I am open to ideas though

What DAC are you planning to get? A super silent case is the thing to get for this kind of application - the best case for that is Antec P180/P183. HTPC cases have small 80mm or smaller noisy fans that will screw up your noise floor. If you must have an HTPC case, you'd do best with a Silverstone LC10 or LC13 case or if you wish to splurge the Antec Fusion case. None of these are within your 6k budget - they'll end up costing around 10-12k or more. I would wholeheartedly recommend the P180 or P183 inspite of their normal full ATX tower size. They have amazing cooling and can run with just two super silent 120mm fans.

You'd want a low power CPU like a cheap Athlon II or Sempron or similar CPU and run it passive. Get a good cooler - maybe a Scythe Ninja or one of those Noctuas. All you need to ensure is that it has a proper USB implementation - the newer AMD/ATI chipset based boards are fine. You'd need 2 GB of ram, a silent drive - maybe an SSD. That should basically do the job. You may want to underclock the CPU to reduce heat output. Even a 1GHz CPU will decode flac perfectly well and even resample using SRC to 192kHz if needed.

Cheers!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I have a P183, which I bought last November.

As a Tower PC, it is extremely smart. There is touch of chrome highlight, but none of the ostentatious stuff that might someone mistake it for a gaming machine

but...

It's big. There's no way that it would hide away on the stereo rack, or even by its side.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

You may consider one of these models

1) Coolermaster Elite 360 - Not exactly hifi like gear. But very decent one with ATX compatability. Can be used both vertical and horizontal. Around Rs.1800

2) Sunbeam Acrylic HTPC - Horizonal with ATX compatibility. No Hifi looks. This will never be my choice merely for the look. Look if it is of any interest to you. Around Rs.5000

3) Silver GD-04 - Pure Hifi looks. Around Rs.6000/- and supports only mATX

4) Silverstone LC-10BE - Pure Hifi looks. Supports ATX,mATX. Around Rs.7500/-

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Whilst the acrylic is fun, if I was buying another machine, and especially for this requirement, I'd like to give Silverstone a try. If their cases are half as good as they make them look on their site, then I think they must be pretty good.

The look of the LC10-BE is extremely good, and, one hopes that the price is justified by strong construction! With a speciality quiet PSU, this could end up costing as much as my Antec combination. I could go for this on the hifi rack

How about one of these as a boot drive? 32Gb SSD. Even with Windows, it should start up in a trice.

Keep the CPU low-powered, and it should all be easy to cool quietly.

 

[reignofchaos]

You can get a Corsair Force 40GB for around 5500 rupees. Its based on the Sandforce SF-1200 controller and pretty damn fast for the price.

Yup that silverstone does look beautiful and should fit on a hifi rack. But it has tiny fans which might be noisy.

 

[kapvin]

You may consider one of these models

1) Coolermaster Elite 360 - Not exactly hifi like gear. But very decent one with ATX compatability. Can be used both vertical and horizontal. Around Rs.1800

2) Sunbeam Acrylic HTPC - Horizonal with ATX compatibility. No Hifi looks. This will never be my choice merely for the look. Look if it is of any interest to you. Around Rs.5000

3) Silver GD-04 - Pure Hifi looks. Around Rs.6000/- and supports only mATX

4) Silverstone LC-10BE - Pure Hifi looks. Supports ATX,mATX. Around Rs.7500/-

HI ukjeyaraj, do you know where, any / all of these are available in Mumbai.

thanks in advance

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yup that silverstone does look beautiful and should fit on a hifi rack. But it has tiny fans which might be noisy.

Small box, small fans: I guess it is inevitable. if they are under control they may not need to spin very fast!

I read this on another forum, recently... "a music machine does not need lots of hose power; even a 400Mhz machine will do the job". Well, I should have read that before I went shopping!

 

[grubyhalo]

Hi Square,
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm pushing this product, but I'm not. With the given specs, is there any reason why this won't work for you? It doesn't look that bad and is passively cooled. I have short-listed this model for my need for a music-pc to run XBMC and MPD and I'm curious to see if I'm missing something.

Zotac ZBOXHD-ID41-PLUS

Specifications
NVIDIA ION GPU (w/512MB DDR3 memory)
Intel Atom D525 CPU (1.8 GHz, dual-core)
Intel NM10 Express chipset

Inside the box
ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID41 PLUS
Power brick & cable
VESA monitor mount (w/4 screws)
Stand
DVI-to-VGA adapter

Hard Drive & Memory
250GB 5400RPM SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drive
2GB DDR3 SO-DIMM (Up to 4GB)

Display Outputs
HDMI (1080p w/8-channel audio)
Dual-link DVI
HDCP compliant
VGA (with DVI-to-VGA adapter)
NVIDIA nView multi-display technology

Front Ports Headphone/Audio out jack
Microphone jack
6-in-1 Memory card reader
(MMC/SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/xD)
1 USB 2.0 port
WiFi LED
Hard drive LED
Power button

Features
NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
NVIDIA CUDA technology
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 acceleration
Microsoft DirectX 10.1 compatible
Microsoft DirectCompute ready
OpenGL 3.2 compatible
OpenCL compatible
Integrated 802.11n WiFi

Dimensions
Length: 7.40in - 188mm
Width: 7.40in - 188mm
Depth: 1.73in - 44mm

Rear Ports
eSATA
2 USB 3.0 ports
2 USB 2.0 ports
10/100/1000 Ethernet (RJ45)
Digital S/PDIF output
Power connector

 

[EthenHunt]

Is Zotak Mini PC available in India? Whats the cost of the above model?
Also, can it bitstream audio thru HDMI?

 

[ukjeyaraj]

HI ukjeyaraj, do you know where, any / all of these are available in Mumbai.

thanks in advance

Primeabgb at Lamington Road carry these. I have not purchased there. If you are from Mumbai, I am sure you will know about Lamington road and you will get all these at Lamington Road.

 

[grubyhalo]

Is Zotak Mini PC available in India? Whats the cost of the above model?
Also, can it bitstream audio thru HDMI?

I am not sure about the bitstream through HDMI bit, but I'd be very surprised if it didn't.

Here's a list of retailers and 'e-tailers' for Zotac in India:

ZOTAC - It's time to play! - Where to buy

 

[spirovious]

Primeabgb at Lamington Road carry these. I have not purchased there. If you are from Mumbai, I am sure you will know about Lamington road and you will get all these at Lamington Road.

Yes.
Buy PC Cases

 

[anm]

I earlier imagined the same combo [rip+play] would be quite necessary for me too. But later I settled to ripping on my laptop [as it is less frequent] and keep player dedicated to player. Right now I am using appletv as a player.

Okay. I need this as a computer because I am planning to do quite a bit of ripping to lossless flac on this. This will not be a HTPC. It could be defined as a server with computer usability/capability. The music will be accessed via USB cable and goes into an asynchronous USB dac. I am thinking of accessing / playing the music using an IPOD or some other user friendly device via wifi. More of a purist implementation of a discless solution for two channel HD audio.

Plans are on the anvil now.

I am open to ideas though

 

[asliarun]

Okay. I need this as a computer because I am planning to do quite a bit of ripping to lossless flac on this. This will not be a HTPC. It could be defined as a server with computer usability/capability. The music will be accessed via USB cable and goes into an asynchronous USB dac. I am thinking of accessing / playing the music using an IPOD or some other user friendly device via wifi. More of a purist implementation of a discless solution for two channel HD audio.

Plans are on the anvil now.

I am open to ideas though

I'll throw in yet another idea

If you are planning to stream your audio through wifi, you don't really need the PC or HTPC or media storage device in your listening room. You can have the (potentially noisy) PC in another room, and receive it in your listening room through a Squeezebox or similar device.