2. The Case

Finding the right case for this build was very important to me. I had chosen so poorly in the past that I put a lot of effort into finding a case that would fit my needs. My research eventually led me to Silverstone's array of home theater PC cases. I was impressed with the design, construction and options. After pouring over my choices, I finally selected the SST-LC16B-M because it was classy, and spacious without losing that distinctive home theater component look. The cooling system options were reportedly well designed and adaptable to my needs. There were two near silent low RPM 80 mm fans pre-installed in the rear of the case, and there were fan mounts in several critical places if I found that my system was generating too much heat.

The only drawback was that at $270, it was one of the most expensive cases that I had ever bought. Silverstone cases aren't sold locally where I live so I wasn't able to look at it in person before I bought it. I compensated by reading as many professional and customer reviews as I could get my hands on trying to determine if it was worth the money. It wasn't long before I felt satisfied that the SST-LC16B-M was the case for me.

The SST-LC16B-M contains no plastic parts. Everything down to the optical drive eject button is either brushed aluminum or steel. Weighing in at nearly 17 lbs, it has a solid feel to it that I didn't expect while looking at the review pictures.

The Silverstone SST-LC16B-M HTPC case

The brushed aluminum covered front panel contains 4 USB 2.0 ports and a 1394 port along with audio and microphone jacks. There is a full set of multimedia playback controls including a large function knob on the right side of the front bezel. With the included iMon software these buttons can be used to control the bundled Multi-Median Media Center software.

In the middle of the front panel there is a USB powered vacuum florescent display mounted behind a screen so that it is not visible unless displaying text. Vacuum florescent displays are different than standard liquid crystal displays. They are able to display clear and easy to read text by controlling a flow of electrons against a phosphorous material, which reacts to emit light. LCDs require a backlight to display text which can be more distracting and more difficult to read at different angles.

The inside of the case is easy to work with. There are three hard drive racks that are removable for easy installation. There are 80 - 92 mm fan mounts in front of the hard drive racks, which are designed to pull air from vent holes in the bottom of the front bezel. There are also screened vents on both sides of the case to vent air for the power supply and the CPU. The CPU vent can accommodate an 80 mm fan if necessary.

Another angle with the front panel open.

A look at the HTPCs from all three articles