New case for my Main PC and Mini-ITX HTPC/LAN Rig

Now my plan was to miniaturize all my PCs and put them in mini-ITX or micro-ATX cases but i think it wise to have one case with a full size motherboard in so there is plenty of room for future expansion.

Main PC
As im waiting for Sandybridge/Bulldozer to be released before i consider changing my trusted Q6600 i will be pretty much just switching my current system into a new case. Only thing which i think i will be changing is the hard drive. Currently im running 2 x 500GB F3s in RAID 0 with a load of other old drives for storage.

Im thinking about a move to SSD but as the size of them is considerably lower than mechanical disk drives im not sure of the best way to manage the system. Im thinking hardware wise i would get 80-120GB SSD then use my F3s in RAID 1 for storage but my windows install has a tendancy to creep quite far over 100GB due to my rather large steam collection. How do you guys manage your installations with SSDs?
I see the 600T is set to release in a week or so, think im gunna stick a pre-order in on that for my main system as it ticks pretty much all my boxes. Anyone else thinking the same?

Media Centre
I currently have a media centre for the lounge which also acts as my media NAS but i would quite liek to split the operation. I would like to give the media centre some gaming credentials so a midrange GPU however i would also like it to remain small and portable so i can pop it in a suitcase and take it up to mates house for little LANs. Casewise im really set on making it Mini-ITX have looked at the PC-PQ08 which i really like and the Lan Gear Da MOM (however this isnt released yet) but other recomendations are cool.
As for the motherboard/cpu etc which route is the best, i5/i3 or AM3 as i have spotted USB3 capable boards from both socket types?
Can anyone whip me up a spec... budget isn't massively important but i would like the whole thing (including my 600T, SSD for main computer and NAS) to be under £1000 really. I can probably creep over that but i would rather not.

The NAS rebuild is pretty simple and basic, i have a hardware RAID card and i want to stick loads of 2TB drives in it and RAID 5 them up. I will probably just keep it in my current media centre case for now but i would like a new motherboard preferably something with mega low power, its only real requirement is that it is Mini-ITX ready for moving into a NAS case in the future and it has a PCI-E x4 slot for the RAID card.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biscuit

As for the motherboard/cpu etc which route is the best, i5/i3 or AM3 as i have spotted USB3 capable boards from both socket types?

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The AM3 board, would that be the Asus M4A88T-I or have I missed out on the ideal board? I'm looking for something similar myself :)

Yeah thats the one one http://www.ebuyer.com/product/227079

As it only uses SO-DIMMs i was thining this stuff might go with it quite well
http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...prodID=1874842

You can always move your steam folder to another hdd if you find it taking up too much space

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/43...6b2f4e434aa297

Have a look at that?

I havent included the mobo for the NAS as i might wait for the new AMD low power chips

Alternatively the above mobo and ram with this

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-95W-Retail

Yes move the steam folder off.
When I do a seperate hdd windows installation, it is just windows and a couple of heavly used programs, like antivirus and internet browser, current mmo of choise :innocent:
Everything else goes onto a seperatse drive.

it does mean when you install stuff you never just keep hitting "next" and always use the advanced options to make sure you install it to the correct location.

on itx vs matx vs atx
ITX is still limited in terms of top end systems (esp as we've now lost DFI who was one of the main companies pushing the limits of ITX)

mATX is more doable option, generally I hardly use any additional expansion cards these days so mATX is not a major issue now.

EDIT: Scan still have some of the DFI motherboards in stock
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/DFi-L...-see-full-spes
thoes are the best ITX board you can get atm
there's very few AMD AM3 itx boards about http://www.ebuyer.com/product/227079 however most only go up to 95w cpu's

also should point out that the h55 ITX boards have the cpu right next to the gpu slot so cpu coolers are very limited on the boards.

it wnt be overclocked or aything liek that so i will probably be sticking with the stock cooler.

Im leaning towards that asus motherboard an a tricore athlon II at the moment, throwing bits of the order in scan and bits in ebuyer the total comes to just short of a Kbut i did put in the new OCZ Vertex 2E whch is about £200... not sure if thats really necessary.

As much as I would like an SSD in my HTPC, I have decided (for me at least) it is not worth it.

I use the sleep function anyway on my HTPC and find the HDDs perfectly adequate for what they are asked to do on a daily basis (not much!).

I havent put an SSD in my media centre thats for my main PC which i game on and stuff. The HTPC is getting a Momentus XT (hybrid drive) so it has a decent balance between the two.

Il post up pics of what i propose later on when im home from work, let me know what you think.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...20at181629.png
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...20at180431.png
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...20at180501.png

Is how it stands at the moment

Total £998.23

in a change of heart i think im just gunna soup the crap outa my main PC

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...20at224300.png
With the OCZ Vetex 2e
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225416

So much for waiting for Bulldozer / Sandy Bridge ;)

Yeah i got a bonus from work and its burning a hole!!

I really dunno what to do if im honest, that case isnt actually that small.
HELP ME

what spec's the existing media box?

Methanoid has a nice looking mitx server case for sale in this thread which has 4 hot swap bays (you could run the NAS OS off USB or a 2.5" drive - either SSD or mechanical).

It sounds like otherwise you want a small, easily transportable rig to double as a media box and lan box? What kind of res are you likely to play at, and what kind of games? If you could manage with something like a 5570 rather than a 5770 / GTX460 it'd give you more options in terms of a smaller computer...

EDIT:
Here's an Atom motherboard that would meet your server requirements too: D510, takes standard DDR2 DIMMs, PCIe X16 slot. Should be fine for a NAS, and it's "only" £85. Add some cheapish DDR2 and you could have your entire NAS for ~ £200 (plus hard drives) there.

Yes that's a nice miniITX NAS case

While I like the overall look and layout of the 600T the price is way too steep for my pockets

The other cases that have recently caught my eye are the Phantom and HAF 912
The Phantom is a bit big for my tastes these days (maybe if I could afford watercooling) the HAF 912 I think would make a nice blank canvas for modding, however I'd want the cheaper basic HAF 912 not the HAF 912 Plus (I'd be repainting it anyway so why pay extra for something I'm going to redo)
However in another of thoes bizar twists of incomprehensible decisions of case manufactures, the Plus version only seems to be available in the US and only the Plus version in the UK. :shocked2:

I was going to sugest the lain-li PC-Q08 or PC-Q11 for the portable system if you go ITX

Although I'm now a bit confused as to what you're looking at doing?

Motherboard for the NAS is sollddddd.

Current spec is my old IP35-E with an E1200, 1GB DDR2 667MHz and a HD5450.

I will be playing a mix of modern and old skool games really and at a res of 1080p, as i said it will be a LAN box so i may well go to an iSeries this year. Really needs to have some juice in the GPU!

Damn my stupid 5870 why does it have to be so big!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pob255

Yes that's a nice miniITX NAS case

While I like the overall look and layout of the 600T the price is way too steep for my pockets

The other cases that have recently caught my eye are the Phantom and HAF 912
The Phantom is a bit big for my tastes these days (maybe if I could afford watercooling) the HAF 912 I think would make a nice blank canvas for modding, however I'd want the cheaper basic HAF 912 not the HAF 912 Plus (I'd be repainting it anyway so why pay extra for something I'm going to redo)
However in another of thoes bizar twists of incomprehensible decisions of case manufactures, the Plus version only seems to be available in the US and only the Plus version in the UK. :shocked2:

I was going to sugest the lain-li PC-Q08 or PC-Q11 for the portable system if you go ITX

Although I'm now a bit confused as to what you're looking at doing?

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I'm really not sure myself mate... im starting to warm to uATX i7 idea but i would like a smaller case for it if i did.

I would wait for Sandy Bridge and Bulldozer TBH. These are both made on a 32NM process and hence should be more efficient. For an SFF build I would go with a CPU which has a TDP under 100W.

For the NAS perhaps a 45W X2 245e or X3 415e is worth considering.

over a dual core atom with a dedicated RAID 5 card would it really be necissary? It wont really be doing much other than SMB shares to be honest.

I suppose the Atom may do the job.

Regarding your media PC a Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 and a Core i3 530 around the same price as an Asus M4A88T-I and an Athlon II X3:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225558...edium=products

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...-733MHz-Retail

It will be faster than the Athlon X3 and is also more energy efficient.

However,as mentioned before by Pob255 CPU cooler choice is a bit limited.

As i said i wont be overclocking or anything so the stock cooler will be adequate. Think i might just go in small with the media centre then go all out mini super computer with my main PC when/if sandy bridge/bulldozer prove themself to be worthwhile. il just have to get a decent cheap midtower to tide me over as my case is really nackered!
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...SU-Best-Seller maybe?

Not sure about a nice miniITX case for media centre use either. Am i pushing it with this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Antec...-with-150W-PSU

Sounds to me like what you really need is a NAS, a dedicated HTPC, and a more portable main PC that can be carted to LANs.

If you're happy with the Atom board that sorts the NAS (you could even cannibalise the DDR2 from your HTPC ;) ).

Your IP35's a lovely board, but I guess not really Media Centre material. Personally I'd go for the ASUS AM3 / Athlon II 'e' combo, but CAT's suggestion of H55 mitx + Core i3 530 has plenty of merit too (you *don't* want the cheaper Pentium G6950 as it *doesn't* have PureVideo HD for decoding).

The stock cooler with a 45W AMD is small, quiet and more than adequate for HTPC duties. For general HTPC duties you won't *need* anything beyond a Sempron, but for general system responsiveness I'd go for at least a dual core, and if you want to go for a three or four core build there's nothing to lose if you stick with the 'e' editions as they're all rated to 45W. Also don't forget that a lot of Athlon IIs will run stably when undervolted, which will trim that bit extra off the power draw (it is only a bit though).

For you main rig, I'd really suggest hanging on until we know exactly what Bulldozer / Sandy Bridge are going to bring. The only thing I'd seriously think about is upgrading the GTX260 to a 1GB GTX460, and I'm not even convinced that that's a worthwhile upgrade, tbh.

If you need a new case now, I'd keep the cost down as much as possible - particularly if you're thinking of going mATX for your next build, as you won't be able to cycle it through. So guess what, kids - I'm going to pimp the Casecoms again ;) - ebuyer have stock of the 6788, 6988 and 9188, which AFAICT are all exactly the same case with different front bezels. They're very well built and specified for their price - having built into one I can highly recommend it. In fact, looking at the Silverstone you've linked to they look incredibly similar, but ~ £10 cheaper - the Silverstone does have a nicely understated from bezel though, which the Casecoms... well, don't ;) The other obvious case suggestion is the Antec 300 - now, personally I'm a huge Antec fanboy, but I think even I'd go for one of the Casecoms first - however I don't think you'd regret the Silverstone or the Antec if you chose them instead :)

For your media centre case, I'd seriously suggest browsing linitx's range - they often have interesting things in there that other shops might not. I can't lie - I'd personally love the combo of this case with this motherboard - not particularly practical or powerful, but *incredibly* cool ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

Sounds to me like what you really need is a NAS, a dedicated HTPC, and a more portable main PC that can be carted to LANs.

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I think thats on the mark... back to my original original plan before i got the cash :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

If you're happy with the Atom board that sorts the NAS (you could even cannibalise the DDR2 from your HTPC ;) ).

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1GB should still be enough? ill probably just be running WHS/Xubuntu/FreeNAS. Unfortunately Mith had already sold that case so i will have to get it new for an extra £20 :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

Your IP35's a lovely board, but I guess not really Media Centre material. Personally I'd go for the ASUS AM3 / Athlon II 'e' combo, but CAT's suggestion of H55 mitx + Core i3 530 has plenty of merit too (you *don't* want the cheaper Pentium G6950 as it *doesn't* have PureVideo HD for decoding).

The stock cooler with a 45W AMD is small, quiet and more than adequate for HTPC duties. For general HTPC duties you won't *need* anything beyond a Sempron, but for general system responsiveness I'd go for at least a dual core, and if you want to go for a three or four core build there's nothing to lose if you stick with the 'e' editions as they're all rated to 45W. Also don't forget that a lot of Athlon IIs will run stably when undervolted, which will trim that bit extra off the power draw (it is only a bit though).

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If its a dedicated HTPC then il go for the cheapest option thats still capable so i reckon dual core Athlon II on the AMD motherboard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

For you main rig, I'd really suggest hanging on until we know exactly what Bulldozer / Sandy Bridge are going to bring. The only thing I'd seriously think about is upgrading the GTX260 to a 1GB GTX460, and I'm not even convinced that that's a worthwhile upgrade, tbh.

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I thought i had updated my rig thingy, i actually have a 5870... which is why finding a miniITX case is so damn difficult. Im curious how long i am going to have to wait for bulldozer, knowing AMD it could still be a while away. As for sandy bridge, isnt is supposed to start off as a lower end model and the 1366's are still going to be at the top of the spectrum for a year or so? Especially seeing as you cant really overclock that much with sandybridge from what i have read.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

If you need a new case now, I'd keep the cost down as much as possible - particularly if you're thinking of going mATX for your next build, as you won't be able to cycle it through. So guess what, kids - I'm going to pimp the Casecoms again ;) - ebuyer have stock of the 6788, 6988 and 9188, which AFAICT are all exactly the same case with different front bezels. They're very well built and specified for their price - having built into one I can highly recommend it. In fact, looking at the Silverstone you've linked to they look incredibly similar, but ~ £10 cheaper - the Silverstone does have a nicely understated from bezel though, which the Casecoms... well, don't ;) The other obvious case suggestion is the Antec 300 - now, personally I'm a huge Antec fanboy, but I think even I'd go for one of the Casecoms first - however I don't think you'd regret the Silverstone or the Antec if you chose them instead :)

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Cheers for those links, Assuming i dont make the i7 plunge and if they fit my HD5870 il probs just go for one of them

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

For your media centre case, I'd seriously suggest browsing linitx's range - they often have interesting things in there that other shops might not. I can't lie - I'd personally love the combo of this case with this motherboard - not particularly practical or powerful, but *incredibly* cool ;)

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Have to say im not overwhelmed by many of their cases, i do like the cube ones but reckon they might look a bit daft in my lounge. Would be nice to have an expansion slot available to me so i can still use my HD5450 for a bit of hybrid crossfiring i suppose, might give me enough of a of a boost to play some of the lower end games. Also gives me some space for future expansion.

I quite like this one too
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Aplus...SU-Card-Reader

Actually having a 6788 I'd say don't go for it unless as a fairly basic dedicated gaming system
ie motherboard, cpu, one or two gpu's, single optical drive and no more than 1 hard drive or 1 HDD + 1 SSD
And a modular psu and probably custom cable lengths are a must if you want to put more in there. (esp short sata cables)
The case is just that little bit too narrow with 4 hard drives in it trying to get the right hand side panel one is a real knightmare, which requires laying the case on it's left side or two people to squish the cables flat enough to get the panel lined up and back on.

What I'm getting confused about atm is how many pc's you're after and what roles they need to fore fill.

Your current p35+e1200 would make a fine nas box, yes it's not small but a nas box can be stuck out of the way some place out of sight and a case like this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...m-Fans-w-o-PSU
which uses 9x 5.25" bays and hard drive cages means you can pack in a heck of a lot of hard disks.

if you want to do a small form factor gaming/lan pc, then that DFI motherboard I linked to is still currently the single best you can get in terms of cpu + gpu potential
Pair that up with a silverstone SG07 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...e-2-Full-Slots a 5970 or gtx480 and a i5 760 and you will have the best small form factor gaming pc possible at this time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biscuit

1GB should still be enough? ill probably just be running WHS/Xubuntu/FreeNAS. Unfortunately Mith had already sold that case so i will have to get it new for an extra £20 :(

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I would probably go with 2GB if you\'re considering WHS - mine is currently using 1GB of RAM, with 1GB spare, and nothing particularly dramatic going on.

Quote:

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If its a dedicated HTPC then il go for the cheapest option thats still capable so i reckon dual core Athlon II on the AMD motherboard

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Dedicated HTPC - for 1080p content, I would advise at least 2.8GHz dual core, based on my testing. GPU acceleration can be a bit hit and miss, so I wouldn\'t rely on it, but if you want to you can get away with slower. As you can see, I went for a triple to make sure I was covered, but it isn\'t particularly necessary.

As for cases, I really like my HTPC case. It\'s not too expensive, fairly understated, and looks okay next to a television. The only thing I would say is that it is very small - a bit of a pain to work with, but not too difficult. The big problem is cooling it. I really need to take it to bits and rethink the cooling but I just don\'t have the time at the moment. It can only fit one fan, and it\'s 60mm, so it\'s pretty hard to pump the hot air out of the case. I\'m not saying don\'t bother - it ticks a lot of boxes as an HTPC case - but bear in mind that the smaller you go, the harder it is to cool, so it will probably take more effort/money to make it suitable for your usage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pob255

What I'm getting confused about atm is how many pc's you're after and what roles they need to fore fill.

Your current p35+e1200 would make a fine nas box, yes it's not small but a nas box can be stuck out of the way some place out of sight and a case like this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...m-Fans-w-o-PSU
which uses 9x 5.25" bays and hard drive cages means you can pack in a heck of a lot of hard disks.

if you want to do a small form factor gaming/lan pc, then that DFI motherboard I linked to is still currently the single best you can get in terms of cpu + gpu potential
Pair that up with a silverstone SG07 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...e-2-Full-Slots a 5970 or gtx480 and a i5 760 and you will have the best small form factor gaming pc possible at this time.

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no USB3 though... kind of a necissity for a SFF PC IMO as there wont be any room for an additional card.

Unfortunately i dont actually have unused storage anywhere in my flat to hide the NAS so it needs to sit in my entertainment unit. I could keep it in the current silverstone GD01 case but I cant use the IP-35-E as the only PCI-E x4 slot is the x16 one used for the GPU and i need one for my RAID card:(

The thoughts at the moment are:

Main PC: Either give this a full i7 uATX workover (uATX over ITX form factor is to keep some upgradability but in a still in a more portable package) or wait out for Bulldozer/Sandybridge and just get a new cheap case to keep me going for the moment. Also thinking of putting an SSD in there is i can get a decent recomendation for one sized 80-128GB. if the full upgrade route is taken, USB3 is a necessity for both the case and the mobo.

NAS: low power mobo/cpu with a PCI-E x4 expansion for my RAID5 card. May use a NAS case from LinITX or may keep in existing GD01. Eventually will have 4 x 2TB drives (F3 atm). No real necessity for USB3 but it would be nice if possible.

HTPC:
Mini ITX system with reasonable grunt for some lower end gaming, single opical drive for Blu-Ray drive and space for a low end GPU upgrade. No real necessity for USB3 in the case as it should be pretty small with fairly good access to the rear but i woult like it in the motherboard as there will be no upgrade room.

My current bits are

Main rig: Check my system drop down

NAS/Media Centre: GD01, IP-35E, E1200, 1GB 667 RAM, HD5450, Couple of hard drives.

Other bits: PERC RAID card

Sorry this is all a bit ambigious and ideas been thrown around... its a bit muddled up in my head too.

Budget is around £1k and i would like to keep under it but can slide if necissary

Biscuit,

Have you considered the NZXT Vulcan @ £55 delivered. It makes a fantastic gaming LAN case, with a carry handle. 120mm intake, 2x120mm top and 92mm rear fans.

It can fit 2x 5970's to your 5870 won't pose a problem.

I built a Q6600 / 4Gb RAM / HD 4870 512Mb as my second rig in it and it silent at idle fitted with a AC Freezer 7 Pro rev2, the two supplied stock fans fitted to the top and 2 Xilence Red Wing (92mm + 120mm) fitted to the front and rear exhausts - which I can highly recommend.

It also has an on/off button for the supplied LED fans (subtle orange glow) and built in fan controllers to cover all 4 fan positions, you can also add a 200mm fan to the side panel if you so desire - available at coolermaster parts website for about £13 delivered if memory serves me right.

Thanks Cpt.White but im not too keen on the styling of NZXT cases, im more of a minimalist brushed aluminum type of guy!

Completely agree, but it's tucked away in my living room and the all black front means it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biscuit

... Have to say im not overwhelmed by many of their cases ...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biscuit

... im more of a minimalist brushed aluminum type of guy!

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Amazed you didn't fancy the Noah in Silver then ;) It'd also give ypou the chance to fit a (single slot) discrete GPU, too, with an appropriate riser. Oh, and you might need to think about a Pico-PSU or more powerful DC-DC board too, of course... ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

Amazed you didn't fancy the Noah in Silver then ;) It'd also give ypou the chance to fit a (single slot) discrete GPU, too, with an appropriate riser. Oh, and you might need to think about a Pico-PSU or more powerful DC-DC board too, of course... ;)

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oooh i missed that one but i do like it :D

So if i got that case then

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=10916

and would i also need a new transformer adapter?

hmmmm.

I was about to say probably. And if you added a discrete GPU I'd say definitely: you'll need more than the 80W available. But with just a 45W Athlon II and an 880G motherboard, I'm not sure you would need more than 80W. I ran some power draw tests on my HTPC when I picked it up this time last year: in single and dual core modes (gotta love unlockable Sempron 140s!) and at stock volts *and* heavily undervolted. The Sempron is a 45W CPU, I'm pretty sure that unlocking it turned into near enough a 65W dual core. Here's the results.

Just to add a few provisos: I was using an ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO, which appears to be one of the power-hungriest 785G mobos available (it has a few extra chips, sideport memory etc: all pulls extra power). The PSU was a 5 year old, 300W model, running at very low load (=< 33%), and therefore *very* low efficiency. Even given that, at stock volts the 45W Sempron only pulled 86W from the wall at full load. Later on in that thread I did some rough calculations that suggested that my PSU was about 50 - 60% efficient. So I'm inclined to suggest that without a discrete graphics card you might actually get away with the 80W PSU after all.

Of course, if you added a discrete card, I'd strongly recommend the pico-psu *and* a new power brick, just to be sure.

totals up to £155 with the FSP 150W adaptor (they dont have the 102w one in stock) :o thats a lot of moolah!

That's been the main thing that's stopped my mITX build plans, tbh. If you want a reasonably priced case and PSU you end up getting something that's not really any smaller than you can do with mATX; if you want something *properly* small you have to pay through the nose for it *sigh*

Although I still reckon that pico-itx set-up *might* be worth the cash just to watch people gawk as I pull out a full x86 PC the size of a DVD drive... ;)

EDIT:
And dammit, now that I've worked out the 80W supply would be enough for a 45W Athlon II plus mitx 880G board I'm really going to struggle with the temptation to buy it :D

Personally I don't see usb3 as that big a deal, there's not natve support for it in win7 yet (although the widows7 updater makes getting and installing drivers a whole lot easier)
And while it does give a big boost to transfur rates
The main benefit for a gaming based system would be portable hard drives but e-sata fills that roll well and will continue to do so untill we start seeing portable SSD drives as hard drives are still far from saturateing sata 3Gbit/s
And eSata 6 is availible which is faster than usb3 (although noting is currently fast enough to use it)
The other key benefits of USB3 is lower power demands (turning it seff off when not accessing a connected drive) but that's an issue for laptops not desktops.

Untill we see more AMD based ITX you'll not be seeing usb3 on them as intel is refuseing to support it in their chipsets untill some time in 2012 (because they are trying to develop and push their own proprietary altenative system (Light Peak http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Peak) although there are currently rumors that Intel have backtracked and are going to put USB3 into the "Cougar Point" chipset, but which boards it will effect and how it will be implimented is still unknown)
The big problem here for ITX is that the only way to get USB3 atm is with the addition of an additional controller chip (the one made by NEC is currently most popular) and the space issues of ITX make it very hard to squeeze it in (a long with the additional traces and other components needed)

At the same time an mATX does make a lot of sense, not just the upgradeability but lower costs as well.
Just as long as you're happy to sacrifice size and protability for it.

For what you're saying I'd say your best bet is probably 2 matx systems

1 - gameing & portable/lan case
Silverstone SG03 or SG04 (handel version)

2 - NAS + media center case
Not sure what case you'd want here, you'll need to measure up available space, then look for something with plenty of hard disk space and matx in that size.
many of the big media center cases take full ATX and +4 HHD, so it will come down to space.

bloody spanner in the works you pob :p

Happy to spanner ;)

There's days when the obvious spanner hits you in the face and there are days when you hit someone else with it.

The Lian Li PC-Q11 looks like a nice ITX case:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1523097

Silverstone have also launched a new mATX case called the Fortress FT03:

http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/06/...fortress-case/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

The Lian Li PC-Q11 looks like a nice ITX case:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1523097

Silverstone have also launched a new mATX case called the Fortress FT03:

http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/06/...fortress-case/

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Silverstone and Lian Li are really stealing the show at the moment with regards to design.

Im not sure i like the FT03 at the moment, i really wanna see more of it!

Il take pics of my entertainment thing tomorrow so you can see what i have to work with.

The Fortress03 does look good http://forums.hexus.net/computex-tai...-up-there.html
But I'm not sure when it's offically out.
The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't really look like the 01 or 02

Side note the Raven 03 looks really good too. (well layout wise, I'm not 100% on the styling)

its very eye catchign but too many angles :/

Tj11 is more my thing but its bigger than the moon!

As it stands at the moment.

Main Rig: I really liked the FT03 so i think im going to wait for that to come out before i make any decisions, hopefully BD & SB wont be far behind so it will be easier to make that decision. The SSD i was looking at has already dropped nearly £10-15 over the last few days, is this just a slight dip or are these getting cheaper already?

Media Centre: Seeing as i am not going down the route of a system with gaming credentials i think im going to keep this as a single low power device.
Here is what it looks like at the moment.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...r/DSCF0085.jpg
Its a pretty nice case which fits in well in its space. There is room for a fair few hard drives in it so i think i might just juice it up with a mATX mobo, a new CPU, a low end ssd and lots of 2TB drives.

I was looking forward to making an ITX rig but nevermind!