December 2004 HTPC Case Roundup

Ahanix D.Vine 5 (cont'd)

To get to the inside of the D.Vine 5, we need to remove the top cover. To do this, we need to remove a total of 6 screws, 3 on either side of the chassis. This is a very tedious task and we believe thumbscrews on the back would have been a better idea.

Internal Design

As we open the D.Vine 5, we notice the drive bays are positioned at the front of the case in the center. The number of bays is limited to a single 5-1/4" drive bay and one 3-1/2" bay for a single HDD. There is a lot of unoccupied space inside and we feel that it could have been utilized by extra drive bays.

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The motherboard tray does not allow a wide range of motherboard types besides ATX form factor with only 6 holes for motherboard stand-offs.

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There are a total of 7 expansion slots to accompany a full sized standard ATX motherboard. We also would have liked to see some tool-less features here such as thumbscrews to secure any expansion cards to the motherboard and case.

Cooling

The D.Vine 5 has a total of two 60mm fans, which will help keep this HTPC quiet, but may not be enough to cool the system as well as many mid-towers can. The two fans in our sample model differed greatly. The first is an ICE DC brushless fan, model PL61S12LL, while the second is a SilenX, model 620-15-12. This model does seem to be an earlier one and the fans included with those shipping now should be the SilenX 16dBA silent case fans. We also notice that the area under the drive bays is used as ventilation to circulate air and passively cool components.

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Besides these fans, the only other device for cooling is the included Ahanix SilenX HTPC 300W power supply. It has a single 60mm fan used as an exhaust of course.

Some believe that an aluminum construction will bring about much cooler thermal conditions. This is definitely not true. No matter the material of the case, the temperatures will remain the same unless the case is designed for improved airflow, which can also be done with steel cases. With the D.Vine 5, air will flow in from the the vent below the drive bays and will travel to the back of the case out through the two 60mm fans mounted at the back.

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Construction

The D.Vine 5 is made entirely of aluminum, from the front bezel to the back panel; all is aluminum, which makes this HTPC case extremely lightweight. We did not see any security features such as key locks and we did not expect any, since this is an HTPC case to be used mainly in the home.

We also assume that the use of aluminum throughout the D.Vine 5 will definitely lead to a higher selling price than if steel had been used.