Doug's Quiet Wood Case Mk II - HTPC Edition
Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:03 pm
So I recently put a bunch of zoomy new parts into my wood tower case (see gallery thread) and I have all the parts of the old socket A system sitting on the coffee table. Now it occurs to me that the old system would run MythTV very nicely with the addition of a Haupppage dvr card and possibly a larger hdd. I'd just need a case. Thing is, htpc cases capable of holding full atx motherboards are, umm...rare? Anyways, it seems to me that it would be fun to build another case. This time the goal is something sleek glossy black that would look nice in a stack of home theatre equipment. This places a hard constraint on width at 17.5" and makes shallower preferable to taller. With an atx mobo the only possible way to get the psu on the back plane would be to tip it on its side, which would push the height up to ~7.5" (current design is 6 3/8"), so I'm thinking of a slightly unconventional layout:
MSI K7N2-G board
Athlon XP 2100+
512MB ram
Gigabyte 6600GT
Seasonic Super Tornado 400
WD Caviar 80GB (may be tossed for a newer larger quieter drive, depends on how audible the whiny bastard ends up being)
Hauppage PVR 500 (the only new equipment)
could possibly have a sound card added at some point
All exhaust is on the right side. A 120mm fan moves air from the cpu area, and the psu sits sideways venting air through large slots. This means the power cord socket will have to be removed, longer wires added, and mounted seperately on the back. A dvd drive will be stealthed into the front. Power switch and led positions are not yet final. The finished product will have routered edges (3/8" radius, probably) and a gloss black finish. Material is 3/4" mdf sides and 1/2" mdf top and bottom, though I might yet decide to go 3/4" or possibly 5/8" all around in spite of the height penalties for doing so.
The main intake is at the rear between the silentpipe 6600GT and the hauppauge dvr card. Smaller intake ports are cut just above the rear I/O panel and on the left side next to where two hard drives can be suspended below the dvd drive.
And a shot from the front with the dvd drive removed for visibility. The psu is softmounted high enough that the bottom intake is unrestricted, with exhaust ducted to the vent slots.
So, comments, ideas? I'm not entirely sold on my airflow plan, but the size constraints limit the layout a great deal. I'll be putting the thing on rubber feet, so I could theoretically go with a seperate bottom intake for the psu. I don't think the system will generate enough heat to make psu spin-up an issue, though, and with the horizontal layout meaning no convection to move the warmer air to the exhaust fan, a few more total cfm through the case seems like a good idea.
All the moving parts will be softmounted to try to avoid resonance issues, and since this thing will be sitting with audio equipment I'll probably bow to the EMI whiners and put in some sort of foil shielding. It would make for a shiny case interior complimentary to the black exterior if nothing else.
MSI K7N2-G board
Athlon XP 2100+
512MB ram
Gigabyte 6600GT
Seasonic Super Tornado 400
WD Caviar 80GB (may be tossed for a newer larger quieter drive, depends on how audible the whiny bastard ends up being)
Hauppage PVR 500 (the only new equipment)
could possibly have a sound card added at some point
All exhaust is on the right side. A 120mm fan moves air from the cpu area, and the psu sits sideways venting air through large slots. This means the power cord socket will have to be removed, longer wires added, and mounted seperately on the back. A dvd drive will be stealthed into the front. Power switch and led positions are not yet final. The finished product will have routered edges (3/8" radius, probably) and a gloss black finish. Material is 3/4" mdf sides and 1/2" mdf top and bottom, though I might yet decide to go 3/4" or possibly 5/8" all around in spite of the height penalties for doing so.
The main intake is at the rear between the silentpipe 6600GT and the hauppauge dvr card. Smaller intake ports are cut just above the rear I/O panel and on the left side next to where two hard drives can be suspended below the dvd drive.
And a shot from the front with the dvd drive removed for visibility. The psu is softmounted high enough that the bottom intake is unrestricted, with exhaust ducted to the vent slots.
So, comments, ideas? I'm not entirely sold on my airflow plan, but the size constraints limit the layout a great deal. I'll be putting the thing on rubber feet, so I could theoretically go with a seperate bottom intake for the psu. I don't think the system will generate enough heat to make psu spin-up an issue, though, and with the horizontal layout meaning no convection to move the warmer air to the exhaust fan, a few more total cfm through the case seems like a good idea.
All the moving parts will be softmounted to try to avoid resonance issues, and since this thing will be sitting with audio equipment I'll probably bow to the EMI whiners and put in some sort of foil shielding. It would make for a shiny case interior complimentary to the black exterior if nothing else.