sheroo - M-ITX HTPC and Pink Cube build in progress

[yassarikhan786]

Looks fantastic and very clean

.

 

[sheroo]

Looks fantastic and very clean

.

Cheers Mate.

OK so onto my next project(s). I bought these cases ages ago for a couple of nice quiet ITX builds, and am only just getting around to doing something with them. One will be a budget build for my daughter, the other will be a HTPC. Not sure if the HTPC will replace the main one in the living room or I'll just end up keeping it in the study. I plan on trying to use MediaPortal, so at some point will be setting up a MediaPortal server with some old kit as well.

More pics to follow...

 

[yassarikhan786]

Wow, those look really sleek. Where did you buy them from?

 

[sheroo]

Wow, those look really sleek. Where did you buy them from?

LinITX

They've currently got the red and white for a bargain price of ... wait for it ... £22.80 each.

 

[yassarikhan786]

LinITX

They've currently got the red and white for a bargain price of ... wait for it ... £22.80 each.

Nice, thanks

.

 

[Azurite]

Nice and clean build Sheroo. Those fans looks very good in that case.

 

[sheroo]

Nice and clean build Sheroo. Those fans looks very good in that case.

Cheers fella, I think they look better than the stock CM ones. Just add a bit more eye candy. When you look through the top grill the leds from the 200mm top and the 120mm rear kinda dance around. Looks really sweet. I think this build is a keeper - well as least for another year anyway.

 

[sheroo]

OK, so here is the spec of the HTPC that I will be building into the White case.

Motherboard - Asus P8H67-I Deluxe

CPU - Intel i3 2100

Cooler - ProlimaTech Samuel 17

Memory - Corsair 8GB 1333Mhz DDR3

HDD - Corsair 60GB Force GT

GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD6570 Ultimate (fanless)

PSU - PicoPSU 150XT & external power brick (don't trust the inbuilt one with all my lovely hardware

)

 

[S_I_N]

looking good Mate

 

[wassupdoc]

That enforcer looks awesome with the xigmatek fans, i love the way they are white leds in an orange fan, just looks so much better

Also very interested in your media pc build, will be doing one myself soon...

 

[sheroo]

looking good Mate

Thanks Dude.

That enforcer looks awesome with the xigmatek fans, i love the way they are white leds in an orange fan, just looks so much better

Also very interested in your media pc build, will be doing one myself soon...

Cheers Fella.

Yeah those fans are about the best looking around atm imo. I have a couple of 80mm ones that I might use for the HTPC build - but they might be a bit of a waste if you can't see them fully.

 

[sheroo]

I just thought that I would give you a bit of a look around the HTPC case before I start putting any components in.

Its a CFI A8989 Cube Case and the specifications are as follows:-

Chassis Material: SECC

Front Panel Material: ABS

Dimension: (L) 303 x (W) 200 x (H) 166mm

Drive Bays: 5.25” x 1 (exposed) and 3.5” x 1 (hidden)

Front I/O: USB 2.0 x 2 and HD Audio & MIC x 1

Cooling Fan: 8cm fan

Power Supply: 150W ATX with FCC/CE (Internal)

Power Connections:

1 x 20/24 pin ATX Power

1 x 4pin 12V AUX Power

2 x Molex HDD Power

1 x SATA HDD Power

1 x Floppy Power

​

Here are some pictures of the case:-

I'm not going to be using the supplied PSU, as I think the little fan in it will be too noisy. I'd rather use a PicoPSU 150XT with an external brick. I used one for my previous HTPC build, and it worked flawlessly resuming from S3 sleep and everything. Its also a lot smaller, completely silent and will give me much better airflow, as the supplied PSU won't be blocking the vent in the front of the case.

Here it is with a DVD drive to give you an idea of the space left, if you decide to add one:-

I make that just over 11cm from the floor of the case to the top of the DVD drive. One of the main reasons I choose this case over its rivals is the amount of internal space you have to play with, by Mini ITX standards there's tons of room.

The front panel is pretty basic stuff, no high quality viscous dampening going on here:-

And here she is all stripped down:-

My first job it to remove that grill on the rear 80mm exhaust, as it looks a bit too restrictive. Then fill the hole where the rear power kettle lead would have gone and work out the best way to mount the plug for the external power brick.

Thanks for looking.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Nice. The inside does look pretty spacious and with the external power brick you will have more room than usual to play with

.

 

[dipzy]

nice choice of hardware really like the white case

looking forward to seeing how this build turns out

 

[sheroo]

Nice. The inside does look pretty spacious and with the external power brick you will have more room than usual to play with

.

nice choice of hardware really like the white case

looking forward to seeing how this build turns out

Cheers guys - I'll be getting the tin snips out tomorrow.

 

[S_I_N]

looking good did you paint the red part or did I miss something lol. and dayum mate thats a tiny case. Oh and another thing Drink Dr Pepper its better 4 you

 

[sheroo]

looking good did you paint the red part or did I miss something lol. and dayum mate thats a tiny case. Oh and another thing Drink Dr Pepper its better 4 you

No, I have 2 cases a red & a white. Just used the red case to for the overview as I'd already stripped down the white one. No I don't really drink Coke - but it just seemed to fit as the can is red & white.

 

[S_I_N]

ok lol I was like damn thats a great paint job on plastic lol. But still DR Pepper FTW!!!!

 

[sheroo]

ok lol I was like damn thats a great paint job on plastic lol. But still DR Pepper FTW!!!!

I think if I could paint that well - I'd be able to make a livin' out of it - lol.

 

[MaXiMiZe]

Awesome. Loving the cat as well