hec 7K09 Micro ATX HTPC Case?

[SLR_65]

Has anyone used the HEC 7K09 Micro ATX HTPC case?

I would like a client up on the living room tv. I thought about a Hauppauge MVP but some of the videos I have have AC3 audio encoded in them which from what I gather doesn't play well with the MVP, and I would like to be able to play DVD videos through the network on it too.

My son is upgrading his pc so we'll have a spare Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard, which is the same board I'm running in the main pc and it's running fine for everything I want to currently do.

Cost is an issue though, I want to build this client CHEAPLY!

For a case I use an Antec NSK-2480 on the main htpc and love it, it just does exactly what I want. The HEC case is a fair amount cheaper though, and it's a bit smaller case to boot. Size isn't a big issue, but a smaller case would be nice. I don't plan on adding anything to this, I'll just pull the videos off of the main htpc, so it'll just have a small hard drive and no tuner cards or anything (has onboard video and audio). It may be a bit louder than my current case but our entertainment center has a storage space with wood doors on it below the TV and I figure I could cut part of the back out for ventillation and then stick the htpc down there behind the wood doors so I think we could have a bit noisier case without issue.

The NSK isn't that cost prohibitive though so it wouldn't be a big issue if I had to use one of them again . . . I'm just trying to be cheap, but I don't want a major battle getting it put together and running so I thought I'd ask and see if anyone here as tried it.

The case is: hec 7K09 Micro ATX HTPC Case
The NewEgg item# is: N82E16811121027

Thanks!

Steve

[SLR_65]

I ordered one of these cases. It came in Thursday and I gave it a quick look. It's pretty good looking but I havent' went any further as I was busy this week.

My motherboard, cpu, etc. should be in Monday so hopefully I can work on it Monday or Tuesday . . . I'll keep ya all posted!

/Steve

[dalabera]

Hey, Let me know how it goes..
I have this case on my wishlist along with this mobo Item #:N82E16813128072
On the reviews it says space is limited, so take notes on that....

[SLR_65]

Hi Guys,

OK, I started to build the client pc today. I didn't get it quite done before I ran out of time but I have a few observations.

For the money the case just feels good - it's of a respectable thickness steel and the fit, finish, etc. looks good.

I have an Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard and the power input ends up over under the cdrom drive. No biggie, but the power supply leads are a tad short so they are stretched tight and as such end up in about the middle of the case -> right in the path of the air being pushed in from the front case fan.

I'm piecing this together from left over stuff so I'm using an ide hard drive and cdrom drive. My motherboard has the ide connectors in the corner of the board that's right in line with the case fan. The primary ide cable faces straight up, but the secondary one is bent over at 90 degrees and faces the mount for the hard drives so you gotta install that cable first and then the connector just barely presses on the mount, but you can get the motherboard screwed down. I should've taken the dremel and made a little room on that mount but I didn't have time to. Again, the ide connectors on my motherboard are in the corner right in front of the case fan and those big, wide, flat cables really block the air flow!

I think the ide hard drive will fine as I can lay the cable down and then kinda fold it 90 degrees to get it over by the hard drive and not really block any air flow, but the cdrom is another story. I don't think there's a good way to route a flat ide cable over to the cdrom drive. That's not a big issue for me as I don't plan on leaving a cdrom drive in it once I load the operating system up as I'm hiding this pc behind the entertainment center so I couldn't easily load a disc anyway.

All in all, if this is a new build with all new parts definitely go with sata drives!

The hard drive mounting is nothing special - just a metal cage rivited to the case and you screw your drive down. No rubber shock mounting hardware or anything like that. BTW, to install the hard drive just pop the front panel off - it's just four plastic snaps in each corner, press them down and pops right off.

The front panel connectors are all long enough and are well labeled.

The cpu fan and front case fan seem quiet enough but I didn't run it long, I just fired it up a couple times. I found the cpu fan wasn't running. If I gave it a push it would start up and then climb in rpms and scream like a banshee so I'm ordering a new cpu cooler tonight (this was an oem cooler that was buried under a solid brick of dust bunnies so I'm not too upset it went out, but I am surprised my son wasn't having lockups and other heat related problems!). I unhooked the cpu fan and ran it for just an instant to see how the case and power supply fan were and they seemed quiet enough. I'm not too worried about them either as again, this pc is going behind the entertainment center so there's be a little noise dampening there and my wife has a big NOISEY fish aquarium in the living room so I doubt the pc fans will be louder than it!

The only other issue is my fault. The TV output module for my motherboard comes on a little circuit board that you attach to an expansion slot back plate. This is a half height case so that TV output module wont mount up. No biggie, I can just leave it dangling out the back, but I'll probably take just a little pride and drill some holes above the motherboard ouput backplate and mount it horizontally there.

All in all it's a tight fit, the power supply is smallish, the power supply wires are a tad too short, it's hard to route everything for good air flow, and it's a half height case. Still, it's a good looking case of decent build quality (reasonable thickness metal, no sharp edges, good finish, etc.).

If this were my main htpc with tuners, big hard drives, needing to be pretty quiet, etc. I'd probably look at another case. For a cheap client build with basically just a motherboard and hard drive running in a sort of noisey environment I'd say it would work fine - in either case though remember it's a half height case!

I'll post a little more as I get it built and up and running.

If ya got any questions, etc. just post and I'll do my best to answer them.

BTW, if I had it to do over again I'd probably still buy it as this is just a cheap client build, but I would think long and hard before doing it as my Antec NSK-2480 is a much nicer case in my opinion (but twice the money).

Take Care,

Steve

[Oyster]

Hi SLR 65, I couldn't help to notice you said you had a 'spare' M2NPV-VM motherboard. May I ask if you are willing to sell it? (I have one know and my setup is really fast and want to build another.)

Thanks

[SLR_65]

Hi SLR 65, I couldn't help to notice you said you had a 'spare' M2NPV-VM motherboard. May I ask if you are willing to sell it? (I have one know and my setup is really fast and want to build another.)

Thanks

Hi Oyster,

The spare board is the one I'm using in the client . . . I ordered a new motherboard for my son's machine and that left his old one spare so I'm now using it to build the client.

TTYL,

Steve

[SLR_65]

An update.

I haven't had much time to work on the client, that evil work has got in the way of my play time!

I got the operating system loaded though and have loaded up GBPVR so I've spent some time with the machine now. I had the client running right next to the main htpc and this case is slightly louder than the NSK-2480, but not by too much.

It's a whimply power supply, so I wouldn't push it too hard, and flat IDE cables are hard to route in the case without blocking air flow. I would suggest SATA drives, but IDEs can be used if you give cable routing some thought.

All in all, it's not a bad little case for a low end machine. Again though, I'd suggest the NSK-2480 if you have the cash.

Steve

[SLR_65]

An update on this case - it's been working fine for me but recently I keep flipping over to the aux input only to find the htpc is shut down. I would hit the power button and it'd fire right back up and would run for hours so I figured someone just shut it down by accident. Lately though it's happening more and more often and last night it was shutting down while we were watching it and it started smelling hot.

I filled out the RMA form on CompuCase's web site and emailed it to them and they sent me an RMA today, said I could just send the power supply back instead of the whole case, and said they'd send a new one as soon as the old one arrived.

If it goes out again and is out of warranty I will probably not replace the power supply again. It's just a whimpy power supply and I don't think you'll ever get one to last years. I did see on NewEgg where Seasonic makes one though, so maybe someone does.

I ended up hiding the htpc behind the entertainment center so I think if the power supply goes out again I'll just go to a standard case with a standard power supply.

To tell ya the truth though, I just picked up an NMT and it's tiny with no fans so it's dead silent. I"m going to play with making it run GBPVR, if it runs it well (which with all the good reports I've read on this board I'm sure it will), I will probably just use an NMT as a client and convert the client back into a pc for my wife to use.

Anyway, there's the update - I'll post back how long it took to get a replacement and if there were any hassles or anything.

/Steve

[pBS]

i got a couple of these and happy with them so far...no dead power supplies, but i did replace one with a 80PLUS model from antec.. it's a "TFX" form factor power supply, so there are some alternatives available...
heat has been a problem, but that's only cuz i packed it full as i'm using it as my main HTPC with 2 capture cards and a video card and 2 hard drives and a bdrom..and a VFD..
i had to cut a hole in top as one of my capture cards gets as hot as a video card so there's tons of heat generated over my card slots...drilling some holes over cards would have sufficed but i had a nice grill and fan to put there so i made it fit a 80mm thin fan...
but airflow completely not a problem if used vertically..breathes great upright..

all in all i've been happy with it, tho i wouldn't recommend it for a fully loaded box..better as a client or one or two card/single harddrive setup..

to make it silent, replace front fan with a more silent model...it's right up front so easily heard, and wasn't a great fan included tho it blows a lot...

[SLR_65]

Quick update - I'm in the US and it cost $10 to ship it back to CompuCase via priority mail (too heavy for first class).

I hadn't noticed the front fan making noise, it's the power supply fan I notice more, but I have ours standing upright behind the entertainment center with the back facing out so I can get to the hookups easily so the power supply is the closest to the edge. (I even put a power switch on the back so I don't have to get to the front for anything).

If it goes out again and isn't under warranty I'll think seriously about replacing it, though if I could find a reliable power supply to put into it I might do that.

/Steve