Brief HTPC Introduction

As Home Theater Personal Computers (HTPC's) find their way into the average home, more and more case manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon and making HTPC cases. But before you go and buy that cute little box at your local computer store you should think twice about what you are going to put hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of Audio/Video computer hardware in. As cases get smaller and quieter, the amount of hardware they can cool also decreases. Even common and trusted case manufacturers who have been successful in the tower and mid-tower case markets are having major problems with HTPC cases.

Many of the problems being found in most HTPC cases involve heating and venting. As cases become smaller, the fans inside of them are being made smaller. Smaller fans have to spin faster to move the same amount of air but doing so increases audible noise. Many HTPC's not only have smaller fans but they are also being made to spin slower to make the systems quieter. The choice for a HTPC case often comes down to if you want a small quiet case or a larger case that can handle more hardware. Most small (Less than 17x5x20inch) HTPC cases work fine for a basic HTPC with a single hard drive, lower end processor and a low-end or built in video card. But many people need more than these low end HTPC systems. HDTV, multiple TV tuner cards and playing the latest 3D games are a stretch for the small cases. It even seems that many larger HTPC cases are not good choices for more hardware as many have too few or too small of fans to move enough air through the case to keep the hardware cool. Others HTPC cases just have bad layouts and bad location of the power supplies that are heating air as it enters the case. Many of these problems are ignored by buyers as most users never check the temperatures in their systems and only care about how it looks. Currently market for a high-end HTPC case is also smaller than low-end but this is going to change quickly in the next few years as HDTV becomes more widespread.

To start, the average home computer does not have enough processing power or disk space to be a HDTV PVR. At 4-9GB an hour, HDTV can quickly take up more disk space than any single hard drive you can buy. Being able to display HDTV takes between 2GHz and 3GHz depending on what video card you have. If you want to do commercial detection, transcoding, or use other HTPC software all at once, you need have quite a bit of hardware.

Most people think a HTPC should service 2 purposes -- To hold their computer hardware and to look good. That's like saying all a luxury car needs is a nice paint job. Here is the list of what should be looked for in a HTPC case.

1. Will it hold all my current and future computer hardware?
2. Does it have enough power? (If your HTPC case comes with a power supply)
3. Will it cool everything I have now and will want later?
4. Will it be quiet?
5. Does it look visually pleasing?
6. Is it functional and easy to install computer components?
7. Is there a good chance I can modify it if I find out I need an extra fan or drive?