While it is a shame about the WRT1900AC and I wished I had held off purchasing a new router now that it's almost $270 (I got mine for $400), the stock firmware is fine for my current needs. Anything more than what is offered by stock is a bonus, but I'd only end up tinkering with (and probably breaking) things.
I forgot to mention my OpenVPN instance is on a remote box. It's not local :) My current 'remote access' is limited to one Windows PC with RDP. It is literally the only internet-facing port open (not default RDP port, of course). That would change once I get this HTPC up and running, though.
I got an email this morning regarding my case choice. As it turns out, the case is no longer available in New Zealand. This is somewhat of a big problem for me as all the other cases I have looked at and measured up just wont meet my hardware requirements. The case needs to fit a 11.5" graphics card and still have 5 usable 3.5" internal drive bays. The Lian-Li PC-C60B perfect in this respect.
So I guess now I have to look at other options, options that all point to ditching HTPC cases and opting for a decent mid tower thrown on its side. All my current cases will not sit flat on their sides, so that rules them out. Next I hit up computerlounge. I found quite a few that I like the look of, but I quickly noticed a trend: very few offer more than two 5.25" bays. Since I have to go the mid tower route, I thought that I might as well get a case with at least four 5.25" bays. Three bays for my Lian-Li drive bay extension and one for my optical disc drive. Turns out that many manufacturers don't offer this any more, and the only case I liked the look of that met these crazy requirements is the Corsair 550D. And of course it's not the perfect solution. The Corsair 550D is a 'silent' case and has very few cooling options.
Anyway, that's where it stands for now. A little disappointed about my original case choice, but these things happen. I may end up ditching the four 5.25" bays thing, too, depending on how the search and measuring up goes.
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