I'm finally chucking the wretched XBox that has served as my living room
frontend for far too long, and building a proper machine. I want HDTV
support (only have an SDTV there at the moment, and no HD sources, but the
latter will hopefully change before long, and the former will undoubtedly be
replaced some day). That means a hefty processor; I'm planning on going
Athlon 64. I'll have a hard drive just to avoid the headaches of remote
boot, but it'll spin down and presumably not be a factor heat-wise.
The catch is, I want to put this in my armoire-style TV cabinet. That means
either:
-- in a shelf under/over the TV (~5" high X 27" wide x 20" deep, but a case
must be no more than 4.2" high to actually be able to get it in there),
which is open on the front but enclosed on the sides/rear/top/bottom, or
-- in the cabinet area, in which case it'd have a whole half of the cabinet
to itself (17"w x 19"h x 21" deep), but apart from a 1" vertical wire-access
slit in the rear, the doors will be closed and it'll be completely enclosed
effectively 24/7.
So, I see three options. I'd love advice, feedback, anecdotes,
what-have-you about which will most likely work without fear of overheating,
and give me the least grief from a stability, functionality, future lifetime
(e.g. replacable parts), and compatibility/standard-hardware standpoint (I
want to be able to use modules from ATRPMS as much as possible, like my
other boxes, not spend hours patching it every way from Tuesday just to get
something to maybe run briefly on Thursday mornings when Saturn is ascendant).
-- Slim desktop-style case, ala Minuet or Pundit-R (these *can* work
horizontally, right?). Seems like if the vents are in the right places and
the case has pretty good
-- Cube-style SFF case in the cabinet, ala Antec Aria (I've been happy with
Antec cases in the past) or Shuttle. Seems like the small case, with
clearance on the sides *and* top, would give a shot at better airflow.
-- ATX-sized desktop case in the cabinet, ala Cooler Master 620 (which I'm
using happily for another frontend), Ahanix D.Vine, Silverstone, NMediaPC,
etc. If the lack of edge clearance (the cabinet is only 17" wide) isn't an
issue from an airflow standpoint, this would be a lot easier to deal with
than a shuttle-style SFF case.
-- Say screw it and put a run-of-the-mill mini-tower in the cabinet.
Wouldn't look as sexy as the other solutions, but definitely the easiest,
and *probably* would have the best airflow overall; and hey, it'd be behind
doors usually.
With no tuners and such, the hardware demands are relatively light and I
never anticipate them growing too far (though perhaps evolving with new
video cards, new processors, etc someday) -- but I want something solid that
isn't going to give me grief, and something that'll last a while without
going completely obsolete. And, I want *full* Myth PVR/music/DVD/video
functionality -- no embedded hardware that'll only do half of what my other
frontends will.
I'm not too concerned with absolute silence in this location, though I of
course don't want an absolute jet engine either. I'm only concerned with
appearance if I use one of the shelves rather than the cabinet, though I'll
go for a decent HTPC-style appearance either way rather than a drab 1990 beige.
-spc
--
/- Sean Cier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -\
( Everyone should believe in something; I believe I'll have another pint )
\- http://www.PostHorizon.com/scier -/
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