For a living room PC, I would REALLY like to see better fan speed controls. Of course this led me to go with a mini tower and micro ATX motherboard to ensure generous fan headers on it, and pretty much no other compromises. Not quite as elegantly small...but not obtrusively large.
@Soda - I was going to say something similar about the size. I think this is the case you buy for a lan box, I don't see it as a great option for HTPC, because it's a little too big. If I were going to build an HTPC, I don't need a full ATX PSU, I don't need space for extra long graphics cards, I just need a mini itx case with enough breathing room for an A6-5400K. Now, if I were to build a lan party box, this is what I would choose.
I just purchased one of these last week and put it together over the weekend. I went with a passively cooled Radeon HD 7750 for my graphics card, so the loudest component in the case is a 1 TB WD Black drive which isn't even that loud. It is indeed a great little box.
I agree with @Thrax about it being unique, but with the easy availability of network storage, that particular advantage is not really relevant to me. That's why they make different cases for different people though =P.
Why would you spend an extra several hundred dollars for a multi-bay NAS when you could put all of that storage right in the PC? Those economics, my friend, doesn't make sense.
Putting your media in your HTPC is folly. The HTPC should by as tiny as other requirements permit and your files should live on another computer in the house. Gigabit or Wireless N are perfectly capable of handling 1080p streaming requirements.
If you've got your media on the HTPC, now you've gotta worry about attaching backup drives to it unless your media library is expendable.
I wouldn't mind another of these cases and a spare $1000 or so to build a DIY-Drobo with a pile of drives. Basically our house looks something like:
* WDTVLive streamer, XBox 360, & TiVo on the TV * 2 macbook pros for wife & me * Misc other gadgets like a transformer tablet, a chromebook, phones, chumby * 1 new gaming PC (using the Node 304 case)
And, all the above backs up to or otherwise uses data from:
* Synology DS210j NAS w/ 1.5TB storage
And that synology also does things like serve music to my phone while I'm out, occasionally fly the pirate flag for obscure TV shows I can't find on DVD, give me a VPN to home LAN, etc. That little synology box does a crapton, but it could use an upgrade.
Look at the e-peen contest generated from this itsy bitsy case! I love it! I guess I should not tell you all I'm still using a DVD player and streaming netflix from a 1st generation Wii all in glorious 480P?
lmorchard
{web,mad,computer} scientistPortland, OR Icrontian
Comments
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=480&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=64&g=spec
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=561&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=63&g=spec
http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=61&area=en
http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=153&area=en
http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=82&area=en
just saying there are other options for M-ITX and a shitload of 3.5" HDDs
With that said, I really do like the design of the Node 304
If you've got your media on the HTPC, now you've gotta worry about attaching backup drives to it unless your media library is expendable.
I mean my setup at home is:
Server w/ 10TB Raid5
Gaming PC with some fancy RevoDrive PCIE
HTPC with 64GB SSD which has Windows and XMBC basically in this case http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=283&area=en
* WDTVLive streamer, XBox 360, & TiVo on the TV
* 2 macbook pros for wife & me
* Misc other gadgets like a transformer tablet, a chromebook, phones, chumby
* 1 new gaming PC (using the Node 304 case)
And, all the above backs up to or otherwise uses data from:
* Synology DS210j NAS w/ 1.5TB storage
And that synology also does things like serve music to my phone while I'm out, occasionally fly the pirate flag for obscure TV shows I can't find on DVD, give me a VPN to home LAN, etc. That little synology box does a crapton, but it could use an upgrade.