Small gaming htpc case help

Hi, I want to get rid of my big midtower and get a much smaller build instead. The problem is finding the right case. There's no rush as I want to do the build for when trinity is released in a few months.

It will be a htpc, but it does have to be gaming capable(within reason), so an expansion for a single slot card should be present. I could get an external blu-ray drive, but would prefer internal. A picopsu would be fine, as would an ordinary psu.
I'll be looking to get a better cpu cooler and some (better) fans where possible.

I've been looking at quite a few cases, and a few have caught my eye:

Chieftec FI-01B



Streacom F7C (Wesena also has variants of these)



Inwin bp655



Antec 310-150



I'm worried about the heat issue with these, and also the inwin one will make me have to get a smaller cpu cooler because of the 5,25' ... do full sized blu-ray players but that aren't as deep exist?

Any more suggestion on cases? I don't like the look of the cube ones, but I won't mind a m-atx case if it's not too wide (IE the psu on the side tends to do that). No need for a lcd display, but if it's not too glaring it won't matter.

Also, if there's a small itx case which can have such great airflow as I could overclock, there would be no need for an the expansion slot.

Thanks for any input.

It is a nice looking case, and certainly doesn't look like cooling would be a big problem in it. But big is the actual problem nonetheless, just too big of a tower. Really looking more for a desktop one (the images of the other cases just were set upright, I wouldn't use them that way probably).

I don't agree with that at all. I don't mean needing to put a 7990 in there, nor playing ultra 1080p with all antialiasing and whatnot enabled. With good fans, heatsink and fancontroller it could be quiet enough when using it for other things.

Yep, that's what I plan on using... or rather trinity which is the followup to llano. It should be out in a few months at most.

Yeah, I suppose I might have to. Just would be nice to test out the crossfire with integrated ability, should give a good boost with a modest compatible card.

Would prefer layflat, but depends on the size.

Less than 300mm tall I guess, and preferably less than 400mm wide (preferably much less on both :P)

Up to around 300$ on the case.

Definitely a small and cheap option.
Got any experience with the t3500 case also from morex?
Also quite liking the look of the lian-li q09.

Well I will be much happier spending 50 bucks over 300 if I'm happy with the 50$ option. But I don't think that either the microtower you posted, or the morex case are too ugly. The morex one is tiny so it's easy to hide anyway, and the tower wasn't very glaring apart from the lights which is easily removed.

Which case did you get?

Oh, forgot to update the thread. I decided to go for the inwin BP655, which I regret a little. The case fan is very noisy(going to replace it tho), and the psu fan could be more quiet too. I've fitted it with a g850 and a geforce 210 that I had lying around. I'm going to chuck a 7750 in it once the low profile gets available. Apart from the fan noise, the case is behaving quite alright. Tizi's option would probably have suited me better tho.

I'm still on the market for another case tho as I decided to get rid off another pc (old optiplex 620 one). That E-17 is very slick looking, definitely going to keep it in mind.