This is part 5 in a series about building an Eco-Friendly Economical Windows Home Server.
Part 1: In search of an Eco-Friendly Economical Home Server
Part 2: In search of an Eco-Friendly Economical Home Server 2, Electric Boogaloo
Part 3: A Cheap and Green Windows Home Server
Part 4: Ordered parts for Eco-friendly Economical Windows Home Server
Part 5: Can I get a Mulligan on the Case Order?
Part 6: Adding a 1TB Drive to my WHS
After some post-mortem review of my order I’m feeling some buyer’s remorse. The case that I ordered for my eco-friendly economical Windows Home Server box wasn’t as small as I remembered to be. At 15.4” x 7.1” x 14.8” (HxWxD) it is a little smaller than the case of my Dell Dimension 5150 but it is nowhere near the size of the HP MediaSmart servers at 9.8” x 9.2” x 5.5”. But it was still cheap at $39.99 and free shipping!
If I were looking for something a little more compact and a little more stylish while still fitting into my budget theme (and if I had a Mulligan) I would probably opt for something more like one of these Athenatech cases:
Athenatech A100SC.200 Black/ Silver Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 230W SFX Power Supply – Retail
13.5” x 5.8” x 14.5” (HxWxD)
$42.99
Shipping: $11.99
Athenatech Black Steel A100BB.270 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case – Retail
13.5” x 5.8” x 14.5” (HxWxD)
$49.99
Shipping: $11.99
Athenatech Silver/ Black Steel A106SB.200 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case – Retail
14.5” x 5.8” x 15” (HxWxD)
$62.99
Shipping: $15.99
The A100SC and the A100BB are both 2 inches shorter, more than 1 inch narrower, and about the same depth as the CompuCase 6K28BS and I think they look a little sleeker, too. Swapping for either of these would increase the build price by $15-$20. The A106SB is not quite as diminutive as the other two but it still comes in 1” shorter and 1” narrower than the CompuCase 6K28BS, but looks a lot nicer for a $35 price increase. Any of these three cases would look just as good set horizontally or vertically. I like the looks and reviews of these cases, I may keep them in mind for a future budget Media Center/HTPC build. Or I might just go ahead and order one of these now for my WHS box and store the previously ordered case for a future project.