Does such a HTPC case exist?

[Pedroc1999]

Sounds good. But be sure the cpu cooler has some space. Consider looking up the height. Remeber to leave some room between the top of case and cooler

 

[Pedroc1999]

Also make sure to fit it quite titly in some places. This will insure u can add another small hdd in the gaps

 

[FuturDreamz]

Sounds good. But be sure the cpu cooler has some space. Consider looking up the height. Remeber to leave some room between the top of case and cooler

The Phanteks is 45mm tall, and it's going to have a huge vent right on top of it.
My model has the motherboard as high as possible, but once I figure out the thickness of board and risers to use it'll sit a little bit lower.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Yeah that should work

 

[FuturDreamz]

When I finally get around to making it it will be AWESOME.

I just need to figure out the front ports, but to do that I need to actually FIND front ports, that specify the cutouts needed.

Most likely I'm just going to have to buy the parts, and then measure them in order to finish designing my case.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Im sure youl find something close to what you wish. I cant look today as im gonnq go sleep. What are the demensions of the cutout

 

[FuturDreamz]

Dimensions (internal) are: 2.5" tall, 13.3" wide, 8.2" deep
I imagine the walls will be about 1/4" thick

All front ports and buttons would be in the space to the right of the fans and above the optical drive, which is about 5" wide and 2" tall, and the ports and their cables can extend up to 2.5" into the case, but I can adjust the depth as needed.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I fiddles with the "Haswell" case, and here's what i got:

Dimensions (internal): 73.9mm (2.9") tall, 184.3mm (7.2") wide, 197.5mm (7.7") deep
supports one slim optical drivve and two 2.5" drives below the motherboard (one 7mm below the ODD, the rear 2.5" can be taller, even the 14mm versions). Air get's sucked in from the top and pushed out through the sides, allowing for very good ventilation. THe front fans are kind of superfluous now to think about it.

providing you use a 200W picoPSU, this system can be pretty powerful (though maybe not as a gaming rig):
Intel i7-3770
Kingston 240GB SSDNow V+200
Phanteks PH-TC90LS fan + heatsink
WD Green 2TB 2.5" (15mm tall)
Intel H77 Mini ITX Mobo
2x Samsung 4GB DDR3 ram

 

[FuturDreamz]

I think I might have found it: http://www.travla.com/business/index.php?id_product=83&controller=product

it supports flex ATX PSUs that can go up to 400W (but I won't need that), a 3.5" drive, a slim optical, and looks like I can squeeze a 2.5" drive into it without affecting ventilation.

it had ok venting (compared to some other cases), so with the Phanteks heat sink it should handle an i7 fine (problably not overcloocked though).

I'm a little disapointed I can't find a similar case that supports GPUs but this should do (ironically they have one, but it relies on picoPSUs that only go to 120W) Intel HD 4000 is OK for HTPC use but I hope Intel doesn't take too long to offer GT3 in the high-end Haswell desktops, as they are supposed to be comparable to a Nvidia GT 650m (on mobile chips - desktop version may be better because power constraints aren't as severe)


I did figure out why I've never seen a case like my preferred design: It has a potentially fatal flaw. You cannot put anything on top of the case that would obstruct ventilation. To be honest I consider it fairly unlikely that something would be put on top of this case, especially because it will be tucked into a A?V cabinet. But it can happen.

 

[FuturDreamz]

Hi again, boy does time fly fast.

I recently discovered the Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini (and a MSI twin), which is a GTX 670 on a 7.5" long board. This may finally make my preferred idea doable:

Rough Dimensions: 385mm(15") wide by 205mm(8") deep by 65mm(2.5") high. I'd have to get the parts and the right riser in order to create the final case.

Supports a SFX PSU, Mini ITX board, and a SFX 670 GPU. I finally gave up on ODDs, bluray is a cludge on Windows anyways. There will be a ssd and a 2.5" hdd, currently below the GPU with an air gap.
I'd suppose each section would end up having it's own ventilation, and I can create vents and fans where necessary.

I'm thinking that with an i5 it would be a fairly balanced system. Able to handle steam and some basic home server tasks.

Any thoughts on this case design? thanks.