HTPC case without an optical bay

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar

Post Reply
fubarbundy
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:34 am

HTPC case without an optical bay

Post by fubarbundy » Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:48 am

Hi all. Does anyone know what cases if any are available with the following features:
  • Hifi component form factor (~45cm wide, <45cm deep, <18cm high
  • No optical bay (
  • Mini-ITX or MicroATX
  • Plenty of 3.5" bays (5+)
  • Space for 1 x 2.5" drive
  • Ideally space for a dual-slot graphics card
  • Well-made
  • Clean/minimal design
  • Ideally black
If it weren't for the fact that I want to put it on my existing hifi shelf, the Lian Li PC-Q25B would be my ideal case... can anyone help me? Does such a case even exist? :D

Thanks :)

lapon
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 8:09 am
Location: Stony Brook, NY

Re: HTPC case without an optical bay

Post by lapon » Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:50 am

That's quite a specific set of requirements. Can the HDD's go into an external enclosure, as 5 is a lot of 3.5" spaces in addition to the 2.5" drive. I don't know of any cases that have fewer than one 5.25" external bay, I guess case makers worry that you have to install the OS somehow. Most cases in this should be able to fit a dual slot graphics card. I have seen these shorter cases that have the 5.25 external side mounted, so it cant be see during typical use. Sorry I cant be more helpful!

aurania
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 09, 2012 12:02 am

Re: HTPC case without an optical bay

Post by aurania » Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:51 pm

A stacked pair of Wesena enclosures would do nicely. One for the motherboard and CPU and one for all the hard drives:

Image

Image

Olaf van der Spek
Posts: 434
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:10 am

Re: HTPC case without an optical bay

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:40 am

lapon wrote:I guess case makers worry that you have to install the OS somehow.
USB and external ODDs exist for that.

Post Reply