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List Price : $119.99
Price : $114.99
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- Aluminum/Steel ATX Media Center/HTPC Case
Product Description
Redefining the styling direction of a genre once again, SiverStone LC13-E can be seen as an impressive fascia that is both beautiful and purposeful. Behind it, is a chassis offering an extensive array of hard drive / optical drive configuration and excellent cooling characteristic. Among cases that are built on compromises, the LC13 is the first choice for those who need the most freedom with their HTPC.
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I have been using this case for a couple of months now, and, while I would stand by the four star review (one star downfor relatively loud fans and no thought to cable management), I like it a whole lot better than I did at first.
After some small-fingered gymnastics to get a large gaming mainboard and a huge pci-e video card tucked in here with my non-modular power cables, the very last thing I wanted to do was open this thing up again, but I was getting tired of listening to my previously quiet cpu heatsink fan kick into jet mode halfway through a netflix movie. It was so loud that the fairly loud fans the case comes with became irrelevant.
So, I needed to work on the airflow. Since I was going to have to pull this big baby out of its space anyway, I decided to swap out the original fans and see if I couldn’t get the airflow higher at the same time I was trying to get the noise lower.
Now, I originally put a KN8 SLI motherboard and an enormous video card in here without removing the center hard drive cage, but it was really tight all the way around. Bad idea – even though I had stuffed the excess power cables in there, it was too cramped and tight for the fans to move any air. Although the case is large, there really isn’t very much headroom for the cpu cooler, so going with a completely passive one of those wasn’t an option. Instead, I bought 2 80mm silent fans to replace the two rear case fans and also bought two silent 120mm fans for the front and one side of the case. Removing the center cage gave me enough extra room to tether my power cables to the reinforcement bar. Now, my heat sensitive cpu fan never gets above a whisper.
The case is solid and reinforced. I put a fairly heavy 28″ lcd tv on top with not a groan or a strain or a whimper. If loud fans bother you, figure that into your costs. But the case itself is gorgeous and extremely well made. Setting it up could not have been easier. The PCI covers come right out – no cheap punch-outs. The cables are well-marked and seem to be of good quality.
Overall, I’m very happy with this case. I’d be happier if it came with quieter fans, but this is an amazing htpc case for the price.
Rating: 4 / 5
I just finished putting this computer together yesterday, it is essentially the same components of my two year old workhorse, but now with Win 7, 2 new solid state drives and more memory for 64-bit. The ECS 570Slit-A ATX motherboard fit perfectly, the OCZ 1,000W power supply did too. I also put in 3 3.5″ SATA HDDs with no problem.
The two 5″ bays are being used by the DVD-ROM and a Ultra fan controller/USB ports that I wanted to have.
The 2 x 2.5″ only one is being used for now with an ULTRA 2.5″ dual SSD drive. It has expansion for two additional SSD’s!
I could have added another standard internal HD but decided not to in order to store the extra wires from my power supply.
Putting this together takes time thinking about it: airflow, noise reduction, and more importantly wire distribution. I run some wires under the motherboard to minimize clutter: i.e: rear fan; front audio; on/off and reset switch wires, and USB.
I also used…and this is something I’ve been doing for a while…I use scotch brite pads to filter the air coming into the case. I used 4 pads total, and then used filter element white paper behind the slotted expansion doors. This not only blocks dust, but noise coming out. For anyone wondering about heat…I used heat controllers to keep an eye, but never have problems.
Overall, everything fits tight, but fits. I have two nvidia 7600GS video cards in SLI mode and they fit with room to spare.
If you’re building from scratch, my advice is buy notebook SATA HDD or SSDs and insert them using the 2.5″ dual bays from ULTRA which I also recommend, this way, you free the middle area for a fan if you need it (I did not) and it allows longer video cards.
This thing looks great as an HTPC and I read someone who said that this did not have a rest button: it does, but it’s inside the panel, so what I say?!
Job well done to SilverStone!
Rating: 5 / 5
After 2 months of research selected this case for all-in-one HTPC/gaming PC computer. Excellent layout, can house full size ATX board and 12″ long PCI-e graphics cards(one hd cage will have to come out). Doesn’t look Out of place on modern A/V audio rack. Excellent build quality, looking at another ITX silverstone case for smaller project.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have been building computers for a long time, but this was my first one built exclusively for a HTPC. When ordering the components, i really thought that i was going to have to sacrifice by not using a tower, but this turned out to have plenty of room for my needs.
It is larger, but it’s not any larger than my stereo receiver (Onkyo TX-SR806), and with the fold down front that covers the main i/o section in the front, it blends right into the rest of the HT setup. It was able to accommodate a full size ATX motherboard with plenty of room for various components. So far i have two hard drives installed – and it worked well, but with a longer video card in it, i’m not sure i can put hard drives into the middle section without them touching the card – i’ll find out when i need more storage space. That’s the only complaint i have for the entire case. I thought the smaller fans in the back would be an issue, but the loudest thing in my case, i believe, is the power supply fan – and even then, it’s very quiet and you can’t hear it unless you’re within two feet of it, which i never am when watching movies.
I’m really glad i tried this case and it is serving me well.
Rating: 5 / 5
I recently purchased this case to build my very first HTPC or Home Theater PC. I used a CoolMax 950W power supply (which is shown in the product photos as Customer Submitted Photo), Asus Crossfire II motherboard with AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE and dual Radeon 9470’s and an SSD drive mounted in 3.5″ bay and also one LG BluRay optical drive.
As for the case itself, its a great looking case and has a great feel to it with its Brushed Metal and cool Blue LED lights for power and HDD activity. I wouldn’t recommend this case if you are planning on using aftermarket CPU Coolers since none of the coolers taller than 140mm will work. I stuck with the AMD stock Phenom II CPU cooler from the manufacturer. It performed better than any of the low profile aftermarket coolers I tried.
DO NOT buy this case if you plan to include multiple hard drives and optical drives AND you plan to use dual graphics cards. There is NOT enough room. I did have to remove the middle 3.5″ Drive bay for needed room for cables to go as many others have mentioned in their reviews.
**I recommend that once you decide on what kind of CPU and motherboard you want, decide which CPU Cooler you plan to use. If you use anything other than stock, you should buy a case that will fit your Height dimensions of your intended CPU Cooler. If the CPU Cooler you wish to use is great for overclocking and is 160mm tall then don’t buy a case that is 150mm in height from motherboard mounted side of case to opposite side. In other words, buy a case that will fit your chosen items other wise you may not have many options.
Rating: 4 / 5