where to get a HUSH case?

[dgr]

hello

I'm building a living room system, based around:

30 inch philips lcd

Sony DAV system (dvd playback, RDS radio, audio cd, SA cd, acting as a reciever)

HTPC (dvd recording off digital tv card, digital editing of camcorder movies, network play and hard disc play of divx and mp3, internet and games)

This means I only have 2 boxes under the tv but can do pretty much anything .


the problem is the case for the HTPC must be pretty small, but must cope with:

a decent cpu
a digital tv pci card
a decentish sound card
a decent graphics card
must be quiet!
must be hifi component shaped! (ruling out shuttles).

i've been looking at the hush, i think i can get away with it provided the sound from the MB is good enough (digital out to DAV system).



Do HUSH sell the case on its own? how many pci/agp cards will it allow? and will it be quiet enough?

[dgr]

oh and do you reckon the sound thruogh the digital output of soundcard would be noticably better through a dedicated soundcard? bearing in mind the DAV system will cost around £600+ (I'm actually trhinking of a bose lifestyle system...)

cheers!

dgr

[scottxxx]

Hi,

Don't know about the hush cases, but ebuyer and aria.co.uk were selling some microATX cases about the size of a VCR/DVD Player for about £44, chrome and black or a white version I think. Was temped to get one, but went for the Shuttle SN45G instead. They had the power supply too, but you'd need low-profile cards I think, although it will accomadate 4 cards I think - 3pci and 1agp since thats all most microATX boards have. Don't know how quiet it is, or how much space if left for some quiet cooling bits, but it could fit the bill.

The new ViaKT600 chipset has a new onboard sound which looking at the VIA website looks good, but don't know how it compares to the nforce soundstorm.

I've got the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card, and its by far superior to just about any other sound card out there. I upgraded from my Sound Blaster 128 though, so a big leap but the quality improvement was obvious, especially using the 24-bit MAD plugin for winamp. The only problem is it's connected to my receiver via the SPDIF, and the drivers wont support EAX or A3D with the SPDIF output enabled, so I'm stuck in stereo in games, but 7.1 DTS for movies, and great sounding music. The only way to get round would be to have 3 pairs of wires, and connect it using analog outputs instead of digital. It would probably sound better than just the digital since the DACs on the sound card are probably better than my Aiwa receiver, but its extra cost and 5 more wires, and my receiver doesn't have 6 channel input. Its worth it if you want top-quality sound, (I've got some B&W DM series speakers, and it really does make quite a difference, but on PC speakers you probably wouldn't be able to tell between onboard and a dedicated sound card), but beware that the drivers mightn't allow you to have dolby digital in games if you're connecting it digitally.

The nforce soundstorm audio would do the job, especially as it encodes everything into dolby digital, but probably wouldn't be as good as a high-end dedicated sound card, but its free on board, so it can't hurt to use it and see.

Hope that helps,

scott

[dgr]

cheers for the info!!!!!

[Planet]

I posted some questions and answers on a recent thread.

I'm sending an email to Hush about getting the case seperately, but I'm expecting a big fat no.

The Hush ATX uses a riser card, so only 1 AGP and 1 PCI slot are available.

The motherboard in the Hush ATX is a FIC P4M-800T which has AC97 codec 5.1, but no digital output that I can see. Ditch the on-board sound as it will suck [my opinion] when connected to your AV system. Hush give the option to go for the Audigy 2 ZS which opens a plethora of options and improves the sound dramtically. Plus you will be able to play DVD-A, something I doubt the bog standard mb will.

So, your questions!
- decent cpu - 2.8Ghz should be fine
- digital pci tv card - you'd have to fit this yourself removing another card. See the graphic card below.
- decentish sound card - on-board will suck probably, opt out and fit another of your choice (or the A2ZS & 9800SEAIW bundle).
- decent graphics card. Hush give you few options, the only worthwhile is the 9800SE AIW. Softmodding it *may* be a bad idea due to the extra heat. But here's where you get your tv input. Input a Svideo signal and output a RGB or component signal to your telly. Use powerstrip to 'pixel snap' to your display. Works magic with lcd and plasma tv's .
- must be quiet - I'm with you on this one! The only sound you will get is the hard drive and dvd drive. Quieter than a PS2 and Sky+ box, yes please!

You pays your money (quite a bloody lot in the Hush case) and you get what you get. They are doing a review on the Hush ATX here on Hexus soon (hint hint!)

As for Bose, read this first!

[dgr]

cheers planet.

it seems to me the only option is to fit a digital tv card in it and get a usb sound card, e.g. the creative extigy...

as far as bose go, i'm not an audiphile but the lifestyle systems do sound good - i should know, i sell them! i'm not thinking a lifestlye 35, just an 18 or 28. though i am leaning further townards some other setups, its all getting a lil confusing...

anyay, cheers.

dgr