HTPC Case and PSU
How your case looks is important. It is going to be visible on your TV cabinet or in your rack, so it is important that you like the look of it. Most people opt for a horizontal case for their HTPCs rather than a vertical case, so it fits in nicely with the rest of the home theatre components.
Some cases come with inbuilt LCD screens, while others don’t. The LCD screen in a case looks nice and fancy, but isn’t really that useful. Once you have configured a remote to work with your HTPC, you are probably going to just sit on your couch and point and click, using the TV as the screen. Your HTPC is probably going to be in your home theatre equipment rack, so you are not going to get up and press a screen. However it can be useful if you are suing your HTPC to play music, and don’t want to have the TV on, as then you can see your music on the LCD screen.
Some cases come with an inbuilt IR receiver and remote. This will save you some money as you won’t have to buy a separate remote. However don’t base your decision solely on whether the case comes with a remote, as you can buy a remote for your HTPC, or even use the universal remote that you have to control the rest of your home theatre setup. See the Remotes section for more details.
Small Form factor Cases
If you are going for the smallest Home Theatre PC that you can build, then you want an mATX case. These look nice, small and slimline next to your TV. However if you are going to go for high end equipment, or plan on fitting a lot of hard drives into your HTPC, then these are not for you. The small size of the case won’t allow enough air to move around, and thus won’t cool your system down.
Some small form factor cases also won’t fit full sized PCI cards or require slim line DVD drives. Currently slim line Blu-Ray drives are quite hard to source, and are more expensive than normal sized Blu-Ray drives. So if you don’t mind the slightly bugger size, a full sized ATX case would be recommended.
Don’t forget that if you buy a mATX case, you need to have a mATX motherboard, while a ATX case can support both mATX and ATX motherboards.
Picking a HTPC Case
Picking a case for your Home Theatre PC is about picking the case that has the right requirements for you. For more information about picking a case, see our HTPC Case Suggestions.
HTPC PSU
Cases can come bundled with a PSU. This saves money as you don’t have to buy a separate PSU. If you buy a good quality case from a reputable company, these PSU’s are usually good quality and reasonably quiet. As the room where HTPCs are usually situated are not the quietest anyway, a silent PSU is not usually necessary.
However if you are very concerned about quality and quietness, you should buy your CPU separate to your case. Reliable, high quality and quiet PSUs that are recommended are:
- Antec NeoHe
- Coolermaster RealPower Pro
(don’t mistaken these for the eXtreme Power series as they are known to be quite noisy).
- Seasonic S12
- Corsair HX-520
The Corsair HX-520W is the most recommended as it is a good all rounder for the price. It is quiet and reliable, and also modular. Modular means that the extra cables that you aren’t using can be removed. This is especially good in a HTPC case where there isn’t a lot of extra room, and less cables means better airflow so your HTPC will be cooler and quieter.
HTPC Fans
Different cases come with different sized fans. Try to go with a case with 80mm or 120mm fans. The bigger and more fans a case has, the better the airflow will be, so it will keep your HTPC case cool. Two 80mm fans will generally be cheaper than the 120mm fan, but will be noisier. 80mm fans is a sufficient size for a HTPC, but the bigger the better, as Large fans = slower speed = quieter.
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