SlverStone LC11

[Keith]

Ok, they are getting closer to AV component style cases, anyone tried this one yet? USB ports are a bit ugly but the rest of the ports are hidden to the side nicely.

Feature Highlights:
Micro ATX motherboard (compatible with P4 3.2GHz+)
Integrated audio
Drive bay (external) – 5.25� x 1
Drive bay (internal) – 3.5� x 3
Expansion slots/Riser cards AGP x 1, PCI x 2
I/O Ports (font) – USB2.0 x 4
I/O Ports (side) – 1394 Firewire x 1, Earphone jack x 1, MIC x 1
Cooling fans – 80mm intake (front) x 1, 80mm exhaust (left side) x 1
Power supply – 240W with 80mm exhaust fan

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11.htm

~Keith

[Velcroman]

looks great, huh?

[nanook105]

I agree - that looks sweet. Interesting how they provide an adapter to turn the PCI cards sideways to keep the case low profile

[RobertH]

Interesting is that the mobo hangs upside down, better hope the retention clips on the cpu hold well

Ie Back shot:


thats an odd way to design a case, never seen one like that before....

[Keith]

...they provide an adapter to turn the PCI cards sideways...

I don't think it is uncommon to have PCI riser cards in low profile cases but to supply an AGP on it as well I don't think is as common.

...Interesting is that the mobo hangs upside down...

I didn't even catch on to this one.

You think with all that fan that it would keep it cool enough to support 2x250/1x500 and a video card?

I found a review that I am in the middle of...http://www.hardwareseeker.com/resour...html?rid=85556

~Keith

[Velcroman]

Sort of like the upcoming BTX spec, which has a riser to put the graphics card sideways and inline with the cooling unit.

[Keith]

Still trying to figure out how to use the other PCI slot if there is something in it, it does not look like this is to route the slot somehow.

Unless they are for external USB ports?

[RobertH]

that card thingy with the wires goes into a second pci slot, the riser cant provide 2 slots from one, the wires provide the irq / hardware interface of the second port on the riser, so technically it takes up 1 agp and 2pci on the motherboard

[Keith]

Interesting, so you think they just stuck it there to make it look nice for the picture - now that could makes sense.

I have had two PCI slot risers that come from one slot but probably do not give you any bus mastering capabilities. I think that micro-atx only has two PCI and one AGP, yes? It is nice that they give you full slots available. The AGP offset method is a bit crude but it works!

Hard to beleive that a PCI bus only uses 8 connectors of all those edge connectors of a card tho. Ah didn't see the silkscreening - those are only the unique tabs of the slot and the rest are bridged from the adjacent slot - very nice.

~Keith

[dequire]

I just bought this case, and will post my thoughts after the holiday break when I get mine up and running

[jacuff]

I have bought this case and I have it up and running. Its very nice, but here are a few tips I would like to share so you don't have to spend an extra hour or so setting it up.

First, check the switch on the power supply. I took it for granted that it would be set at 115. It was on 220, so when I powered it up, none of my IDE devices would power up unless their cable was unplugged from the motherboard.

Secondly, the hard drive mounting cage is a real pain. I found there was not enough room between it with the hard drives mounted and the front intake fan for my round IDE cables to be plugged in. I turn them over, but their's also not enough room for the power cable to be plugged in. I had to go back to using the regular flat IDE cables. This probably won't be a problem from those of you using SATA hard drives.

Thirdly, I found it better for the front fan to be traded with the side fan. This is because of the way they are powered up. One uses the three pin connection from your motherboard, and the other uses the regular 4 pin connection from your power supply. I couldn't get power to the side fan because it used the motherboard connection. Swapping it out with the front fan made all the difference.

This case is very good. Now that its running, I would highly recommend it. Its very cool (looks and temperature wise).

Oh in previewing, I actually lost the first message and just now remembered I had something about the AGP/PCI riser. Getting them in was also a little bit tricky. I don't plan on upgradeing my PCI cards for a while. The only down side is that using this case, you are really limitted to just using 2 PCI cards and an AGP card. Your third PCI slot becomes useless.

[mojo69]

Looks nice, but way too pricey for my blood.

[pcjr]

I've been looking at HTPC cases. This is the best looking and functional one I've seen, especially considering its low profile. A few improvements though would have been nice, like putting the USB ports behind a lid cover. Also, there are 3 hard drive bays, but since I would only use 2 at the most, it would have been great to have the second and/or third bay made into an exterior bay for a VFD or LED display and/or memory card reader. I believe the cage for the 2nd or 3rd bay is right above the USB ports, a perfect place.

I'm wondering though, is if there's a way to mod it so that it can be turned on by a remote (like a real A/V component) like some other HTPCs. If I could use my ATI Remote Wonder that would be great but I could settle for another remote too. Would anyone know how to do this?

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by pcjr

I've been looking at HTPC cases. This is the best looking and functional one I've seen, especially considering its low profile. A few improvements though would have been nice, like putting the USB ports behind a lid cover. Also, there are 3 hard drive bays, but since I would only use 2 at the most, it would have been great to have the second and/or third bay made into an exterior bay for a VFD or LED display and/or memory card reader. I believe the cage for the 2nd or 3rd bay is right above the USB ports, a perfect place.

I'm wondering though, is if there's a way to mod it so that it can be turned on by a remote (like a real A/V component) like some other HTPCs. If I could use my ATI Remote Wonder that would be great but I could settle for another remote too. Would anyone know how to do this?

Just wondering why you would even want to turn off a true Home Theater PVR / Server PC anyway? I just leave mine on all the time. It's always ready to record, play back or serve to another PC, 24/7.

[pcjr]

Originally Posted by Rich A

Just wondering why you would even want to turn off a true Home Theater PVR / Server PC anyway? I just leave mine on all the time. It's always ready to record, play back or serve to another PC, 24/7.

Well I think they are energy suckers. The LC11 uses 240W just for staying on. I'd like to treat it like my other A/V component which I can turn on/off via remote if I want to. Hmm, though come to think of it, it would be great if the device can power itself on 5 minutes before a scheduled recording starts.