3R Mstation HT-1100 (cont’d)
To begin the installation of our test bed, we first attached the mounting plate to our modular power supply, and then secured the plate with an attached PSU to the exhaust duct with two screws.
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Compared to other cases in this roundup, this power supply install was just as easy, but unfortunately, if any switches are on the back your power supply, as is the case with ours, they will be virtually inaccessible once the unit is installed. We were able to put our MadDog unit in “quiet mode” by barely removing the supply (enough to push the switch with a thin screwdriver) while the unit was running, but it wasn’t a “user friendly” move by any means.
Next, we placed our optical drive and hard drive into the drive cage, only to realize that it’s actually much simpler to put the hard drive in after the cage and optical drive have been installed into the case.
The only downside to this approach, however, is that the mount points on the right side of the hard drive become almost impossible to get at, but if cable routing isn’t a problem between the cage and the power supply, the hard drive could go into the bottom position as well. One would just have to be sure that it doesn’t get too close to the motherboard to make cable attachments difficult.
An oddity of our DFI motherboard is that the board only has one IDE channel connector, and it’s lined up along the side of the board, making installation into same cases particularly difficult. In the HT-1100, it is pretty much impossible to install the DFI board with an IDE drive, so we used our serial ATA optical drive and hard drive instead.
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Other than our side-mounted IDE channel, the full-size ATX board fits without any problems. One snarl that we did run into, however, was that we had to remove the single 70mm exhaust fan before the motherboard could be laid down. This probably wouldn’t have been an issue had we installed the motherboard before the other components, but it wasn’t that big of a deal anyway.
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The final steps of installing our video card and connecting all the cables were easy enough, thanks to the familiar layout and abundant space inside the Mstation. Even our rather large Golden Orb II cooler fits without problems. All in all, the install process in the HT-1100 is smooth, straight-forward, and simple.
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In addition to the chassis, this case comes with a remote to control common routines in Windows Media Center Edition.
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The remote has more than enough features to get the most out of your HTPC, and the cursor controller pad in particular has a nice layout for the best ease-of-use.
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BigandSlimey - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
These guys http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/HTPC_case...">http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/HTPC_case... have been designing their cases in conjunction with the HTPC guru's at avsforum. I'd suggest anyone planning to build a HTPC to go to http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=...">http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=... and do some reading, there's a lot to consider.I'm also surprised at your omission of the Ahanix cases http://www.ahanix.com/ahanix_product_list.asp?cid=...">http://www.ahanix.com/ahanix_product_list.asp?cid=... which IMO look a lot better than any of the options on your article.
See also: http://www.origenae.com/products_htpc.htm">http://www.origenae.com/products_htpc.htm
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-case.htm">http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-case.htm
ceefka - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Those Origenae look very nice. I meant the X15 in my earlier comment. This one will cost around 500 bucks. Expensive, but very pretty.lukecon - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
All well and good on the review love AnandTech's review but I think you guys forgot something - The TV tuner in your system - I mean it is a Home Theater PC.Tamale - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
The tuner shouldn't really pose any additional problems with a particular case, and the 6600GT we use gets as hot or even hotter than most video cards with built-in tuners.Perhaps the cooling in an HTPC would be changed dramatically though if another expansion card is also in the system.. hmm.. I'll have to think about that one. Thanks for the comment.
BigLan - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Actually, tuners can get pretty toasty, maybe not as hot as a video card, but they don't have active cooling on them. An MCE-500 dual tuner stuck in the last slot with no airflow could be a problem.If you are adding a soundcard as well, it can also impede airflow which exacerbates the problem.
tkr2099 - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Very nice review! I'm planning on building a HTPC this holiday season, so this review could not have come at a better time. Thank you, Anandtech, for another extremely well written and helpful review!tayhimself - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
IMO Silverstone especially and less so Ahanix are specialized HTPC vendors. Either you didnt know this, didnt bother to do research, or didnt get a free sample from them. None of which is a terribly good thing.AFAIK no 3R systems cases have been available in North America since about 3 years ago when newegg carried a few. Theyre a Korean manufacturer of quality cases that are quite popular in Australia (I'm in Canada FYI).
Also, why the POS power supply along with the lousy thermaltake heatsink with a hot P4 system? Not too many people are building HTPCs with P4s, and they tend to use better components than Mad Dog and ThermalTake (no offense to the *bling* obsessed).
The measurements dont jive with the subjective measurements as a 9 dB difference between the loudest and quietest is almost twice as loud.
A poor review, that doesnt belong on AT. I could probably write a better review and I've never done one before.
MPE - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
I could probably write a better review and I've never done one before.Cop out - not to mention inconsequential, immature, ad hominem, and probably false.
tayhimself - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
ad hominem? Go to http://dictionary.com">dictionary.comceefka - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Isn't that just perfect? If you can get these temperature numbers with P4, you know that a 90nm s939 is going to do just fine.There are so many cases to chose from. Even with built in LCD screens (not cheap btw). Maybe AT can inlcude HTPC's in their entry/mid-range/high-end reviews and builds. On the other hand, this could be a totally different category by itself. You'd also have the opportunity to chose platform.
This brings forth the next question: How long before Apple makes a Home-Pod, HTPC based on Mac ingrediënts. They should be able to make/develop one by now.