External Design (cont'd)

The right 1/3" of the bezel is composed of a sliding panel, which allows installation of an optical drive. To remove this panel, there is a black Philips head screw that needs to be removed at the top as well as two screws on the inside of the case at the sides. Included with the package is an aluminum optical tray bezel, which is attached to the drive by a double-sided stick on foam strip. To go even further, SilverStone should look into actual replaceable tray bezels instead of the stick-on solution. The bezel did stick out a bit, about 1mm or so, from the case's bezel, but not noticeable when sitting the usual distance from home theater equipment.




Click to enlarge.


Below the optical drive's tray slot, there is a button mounted on the bezel to allow users to eject the tray. We should mention that if the optical drive is pushed back as far as it can go inside the case, this button may not be able to reach the optical drives eject button to work properly, which is why we feel a replaceable tray bezel would be a better idea.




Click to enlarge.


As we look at the left side of the LC10M, we notice that there are auxiliary ports for audio and FireWire toward the front of the case. As SilverStone has done before in their Temjin 5 and Temjin 6 mid-tower cases, these ports are hidden from view when looking at the LC10M head on.

The sides of the case feature rows of ventilation holes to help air flow and cool the internal components. The left side has this ventilation array towards the back where the expansion cards would be while the right side features the ventilation holes towards the front beside the drive mounts.




Click to enlarge.


To remove the case cover, there are four screws that need to be removed at the back of the case. The cover then slides back and lifted off the rest of the case to be removed.

External Design Internal Design
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  • Larry Chanin - Friday, December 24, 2004 - link

    To follow-up on the last suggestion. I'm a home theater enthusiast and I know absolutely nothing about building HTPC's. So I found reading your reviews of HTPC cases extremely helpful. However, I have to admit I was totally shocked by the measured sound levels of both cases reviewed. In my home theater the projector measures about 27 db. Therefore HTPC's measuring in the 40's and 50's would be totally unacceptable. With the addition of noise-reducing products could one reasonably expect to quiet these HTPC's down to db sound levels in the 20's, or am I wasting my time researching building an HTPC?
  • i6hlf - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    Speaking of loud HTPC's, why doesn't Anandtech dig into the design of a silent and cool HTPC. I mean some solutions with laptop cpu, mob and cooler system must be an obvious solution…
  • Tarumam - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link

    A good looking desktop case for a change. But why would I ever want a loud HTPC? Sounds like an oxymoron to me.
  • ImJacksAmygdala - Sunday, November 14, 2004 - link

    Anandtech does a great job with HTPC case reviews. The thermal mapping, sound levels, and wire bundle/heatsink clearance is exactly what the HTPC crowd wants to know.

    As for the value memory review eetnoyer mentioned, ya I'd love to see that to although only Anandtech does HTPC case reviews right.

    Besides if they showed benchmarks of value RAM overclocking just fine with AMD64 +3200 it might effect their sponsor's enthusiast memory line sales...
  • Gatak - Sunday, November 14, 2004 - link

    I really like the thermal display over different areas of the case. Great thing to see where the hot spots arise. =)
  • Degrador - Saturday, November 13, 2004 - link

    Just thought I'd say I love the new thermal benchmarking stuff - gives a great indication of where the dead zones are (although seemingly none in this case).
  • phaxmohdem - Saturday, November 13, 2004 - link

    My first thought... Alienware MPC?

    http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/DHS_...

  • eetnoyer - Saturday, November 13, 2004 - link

    Instead of media PC cases, how about that mainstream (value) memory review that was promised a couple of months ago. I think it would have a much broader appeal to your readers. Not bashing, I've just been waiting with baited breath.

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