(11 votes, average: 4.64 out of 5)
Loading ...A Look at Some HTPC Chassis Solutions
One of the major changes in the HTPC market segment and certainly one of the most visible has involved the chassis solution. In the early days of the HTPC market, chassis options were very limited and were most often just traditional PC chassis painted black and placed horizontally on the shelf. The chassis still looked and felt like typical tower PC chassis and as the saying goes “You can put lip stick on a pig, but it is still a pig.” Now, this is not to say that the today’s tower PC is ugly by any means. I think there are very attractive tower and traditional PC chassis designs; I just don’t think they make for very good HTPC chassis solutions.
Aesthetically speaking, these solutions never really fit the room decor and they certainly did not match the rest of the consumer electronics (CE) components in the same cabinet. To make matters worse, they were often too big and bulky to fit on any shelf and were typically very loud with all the high speed fans whirring away. Do you really want to listen to the hum of the fans while trying to listen to the subtle dialog of a movie? As you may guess, this could certainly hinder sales of an HTPC into the consumer market.
My, how times have changed…
Today, there is a great variety of chassis solutions to choose from with designs and prices that cross the spectrum. One thing they all have in common is that they were designed to look and feel more like AV (audio/video) or typical consumer components than traditional PC products. Furthermore, the chassis vendors have tried to take thermal conditions (think chassis airflow) and noise levels (think larger and/or quieter fans) into their design considerations. These vendors have spent a great deal of time conducting thermal studies to understand how best to manage airflow and heat dissipation. These studies have also included acoustic chambers to measure noise levels of the chassis designs.
In some cases (no pun intended), the chassis vendors have integrated an infrared (IR) sensor and remote control. This lets you take advantage of the 10-foot environment and operate the system from your couch. In addition to the integrated IR sensor, some chassis have an integrated display (LED or VFD) similar to those found on a DVD player or AVR and, on the higher end units, a touch screen display to provide more info to the user. This might include information about the media content (music or song title, DVD title or chapter, TV channel, etc) or system related info (available memory, network bandwidth, available storage, etc.)
To further improve the usability, most chassis will offer some level of front panel input and output connections. These may include USB ports, Firewire ports, Card Readers, Headphones/Mic jacks and more.
This is all good news for the HTPC customer because they are getting products designed specifically to meet the needs of this market segment. There are plenty of chassis to choose from allowing for differentiation and varying price points.
Below I am including pictures of some of the various chassis solutions. Each of these vendors offer a wider selection of chassis than is shown here, so be sure to visit their websites for more details on these and other products.
Note: These chassis are displayed in alphabetical order according to vendor and should not be viewed as a prioritized list. Likewise, this list is not all inclusive as there are more vendors and chassis than shown here.
Micro Fusion Remote 350
Fusion Remote 430
AVC-S1
AVC-S7
The GMC chassis shown both have very CE looking design style with tactile feel for the buttons, integrated display, IR sensor and remote control. The AVC-S7 on the right is a very low profile design and supports a slim line, slot load DVD player.
C-39
C-36
H1000S
H5000S
nMedia PC offers various solutions that have USB ports, Firewire port, an eSATA port and card reader up front with a drop down door along bottom edge. These models shown (H1000 and H5000) are mid profile chassis that have room for an optional display (in the black stripe area on the right).
GD02 MT
GD02
Silverstone offers this unique chassis design (GD02) with and without a touch screen. It is also not quite as deep giving it a little more room to fit shallower shelf depths. They also offer various I/O options up front with a drop down door along with IR sensors and a remote control.
DH101
DH102
Thermaltake offers their DH10x series with integrated touch screen or LED display and IR sensor along with remote control. A brushed two tone finish gives it a very CE like appearance. Being taller in design, it can take either an ATX or uATX board solution.
Again, these chassis shown are just some of the options available with plenty more to choose from. As you can see, today’s HTPC chassis are attractive and effective solutions that look and feel more like CE equipment. There are a wide selection of chassis solutions to choose from, each with its own style. Prices range from the entry level to the high end giving consumers more choice to find a solution that fits their budget and their decor.
Till next time, Happy Trails!
Jay Taylor is a Senior Developer Relations Engineer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
#1 by wpeltola - April 3rd, 2009 at 15:41
Hi Jay, I’m using the Antec Fusion Black 430 as my HTPC case. Thus far, I’ve been pretty happy with it, but it’s pretty easy to fall in love a majority of the fine cases mentioned above. That Thermaltake DH102 looks very hawt
#2 by Peter G. - April 3rd, 2009 at 16:29
The HTPC market is a great segment these days with so many new, interesting products coming out. Sadly though, when it comes to actually building a HTPC box users have some tough choices to make these days regarding their chassis. Even with all these great cases coming out there’s still much to be done regarding compatibility. Users looking to install common pieces of hardware like heatsinks, video cards, and power supplies often have to make trade-offs.
Want a quieter video card? You gotta go passive or swap heatsinks. Both tend to take up more space in the case, blocking motherboard slots. If the case is mATX or smaller, there’s a good chance the sound card or network card you’ve installed will interfere. And that’s if the card itself will fit in the chassis due to the varying length of cards these days.
Want a better performing heatsink for lower temps or quieter operation? Good luck. The height restrictions so many of today’s cases impose nix the installation of the a great number of popular heat sinks.
Great strides have been made to create better HTPC cases, but there’s still much more work to do. I don’t think it’s a matter of simply “going bigger,” but more of an issue with design optimization and better attention to these details across the manufacturing spectrum.
#3 by JoeWPgh - April 3rd, 2009 at 19:16
nMedia has come along way, but are still, for the most part, committed to 60mm case fans. The fans aren’t terrible, but still a deal breaker for me. Their provision for installing a standard MS remote sensor internally is a very nice touch (assuming the new models still do this).
My favorite HTPC cases to date are the Antec Fusion for mATX, and the Silverstone LC-17 for ATX. But neither of those are perfect products either. The Fusion’s LCD/LED readout is absolutely useless and (to me) is an ugly wart on an otherwise nicely styled case.
The LC-17 has no dampening for HDD mounting, no provision for an internal remote sensor, and needs a little work to improve ventilation.
I agree that the HTPC cases have come a long way in the last 2 years, but it seems like they’re not quite there yet.
#4 by ilovejedd - April 3rd, 2009 at 22:40
Pretty sure the Lian Li PC-C36 doesn’t have IR. The new models from Lian Li are the PC-C38 and PC-C39.
Anyway, good info!
#5 by Jay Taylor - April 4th, 2009 at 01:34
@ilovejedd, You are correct. The C-36 was a late addition to the blog post. It does not support IR. I will get that corrected shortly. Good catch.
#6 by Maverick0984 - May 11th, 2009 at 22:14
I am pretty sure the PC-C39 sports RF, not IR, therefore not being attachable to a standard harmony remote…unless you have an RF version of course.
#7 by KAMonnig - April 10th, 2009 at 11:51
I have to agree with Peter G especially:
“Want a better performing heatsink for lower temps or quieter operation? Good luck. The height restrictions ….nix … popular heat sinks.”
Most medium to high perfromance thermal solutions today wont work in HTPC or in a small uATX Lanbox they are all too tall.
The ‘low profile’ ones available are some combination of;
1) Too loud
2) Occlude the ram slots
3) Still taller than ~100mm
4) Expensive
5) May not cool well, you can’t tell from the manufacurer ’specs’
It’s not that there is no space in these cases to put in a thermal solution. It’s that the space available is not utilized
#8 by Jay Taylor - April 10th, 2009 at 13:03
@KAMonnig, There are some solutions out there that do work.
Noiselimit has their Silent Flux Media cooler that measures about 60mm tall and uses a radiator type implementation they call Bubble Pump technology. It also has an 80mm fan that is relatively quiet. I have used it in several designs and it handled up to a 95W CPU without difficulty and this was installed in a couple of low profile chassis.
Though I have not used it, the Scythe Mini Ninja has also been touted by many in HTPC circles as a pretty effective solution as well.
#9 by Chad Stamper - April 19th, 2009 at 14:00
Hi Jay, I ran across this while trying to find a decent way of integrating Google Calendar into my HTPC. Looks like I need to take another look at WMC. I have actually had an HTPC for about 5 years now using Snapstream as my DVR and XP Pro as the OS. I linked to some info on my current setup… and yes, the site is dated, I’m working on that.
Also, I looked for you on Facebook, surprised I didn’t see you. Hope all is well.
#10 by Jay Taylor - April 20th, 2009 at 11:00
@Chad Stamper, Hi Chad,
Yes. MS has done some pretty good stuff with their Media Center UI. Win 7 looks to continue to improve the UI and make it a more robust solution for the HTPC space.
You might want to look at my Plugged In post, I believe there is a plug in available for Google Calendar.
Ahh, facebook. My wife is a Facebook junkie and a Myspace junkie before that. I just never really got into the Facebook/Myspace thing. I am on Twitter though (Java_Jack).
Regards,
Jay
#11 by Michael Christsen - April 29th, 2009 at 23:57
I will agree that HTPC cases have come a ways, but are still far from being CE grade. Long term A/V component companies like SONY, Yamaha to B&O and Marantz have their formulas that produce consitant and appealing designs. I have looked at Antec, Thermalake, Silverstone and the like, and are relatively disappointed trying to find a case to match evenly into my SONY equipment (ES class DVD, Receiver, CD Change, etc). The Moneual 312 case is the closest as it provides a simple unassuming design. It is too bad Omaura failed becuase they had the right ideas. I hope that the future holds better choices and would be stoked if the A/V players got into the action more seriously. I am going to head back to reading you contributions to an MSI-7411 thread on AVS. Keep up the great work!
#12 by Jay Taylor - May 1st, 2009 at 10:49
Thanks Michael.
While I agree that HTPC chassis have not fully aligned with traditional CE equipment, I think that is in part due to the different requirements of the HTPC. Now, I do think we will continue to see the HTPC move ever closer to the look/feel of AV equipment. As we improve CPU, chipset, GPU power and performance and increase functionality, those will impact chassis design. Likewise, as HDD, ODD, PSU technology improves, those too will impact chassis design.
I think it is exciting to see how all these changes are coming together to make the HTPC a viable and aesthetically pleasing box in the living room.
#13 by NZRegs - July 27th, 2009 at 07:02
i see you’re missing the Zalman HD160 case from your lineup. I really like the zalman case as it matches my Onkyo Amp for size and is not quite as long (420mm) as all the other cases (460mm) and therefore fits in my entertainment unit perfectly, see it in action here:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2314765699_9026208d0d.jpg?v=0
Zalman link here:
http://zalman.co.kr/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=190
#14 by Jay Taylor - July 27th, 2009 at 09:17
@NZRegs, Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately, there is just not enough room in the blog to list all the nice HTPC chassis out there. Therefore, I used what I had immediately on hand to provide some guidance.
Zalman, Luxa, Origen, and so many others have nice HTPC chassis solutions on the market. The purpose of the blog was to give readers an idea on just how much the chassis industry has changed to provide solutions to this space. There is something for just about any budget and aesthetic environment.
I do appreciate you providing the link though. The easier it is for readers to find a solution, the better.
Regards,
Jay