December 2004 HTPC Case Roundup

NMediaPC HTPC 100 (cont'd)

Finally, the last of our HTPC cases uses thumbscrews to secure the top panel. We unscrew the two thumbscrews to see if there are any tool-less features inside the case.

Internal Design

From the outside, we could tell that it would not be able to support standard ATX boards, since the HTPC 100 chassis had such a small footprint, and we were correct. In fact, upon opening the top cover, we saw that the internal layout seemed extremely cramped, even for uATX boards!

The drive bays in this chassis are designed a bit different than the others. To begin, the 3-1/2" drive bays are positioned so that the drives will be mounted vertically. There are a total of two bays, but one is occupied by the flash memory card reader, which leaves room for only one HDD. There is also a single removable 5-1/4" drive bay in the middle part of the front of the case, which will be used for the optical drive.

Click to enlarge.

The motherboard tray, of course, will only support uATX boards due to the small size of the chassis. We should expect to see other manufacturers design HTPC cases to support only the smaller components in time.

The expansion slots use standard screws in the HTPC 100 chassis also. We were certain that NMediaPC would carry the thumbscrew idea to the inside of the chassis, but were disappointed to find otherwise. Hopefully, future models will carry more tool-less features and we shouldn't be too sour, since HTPCs have only just entered the market.

Cooling

With the HTPC 100 chassis being as small as it is, many would think that there may not be a need for many fans to cool the system. NMediaPC has included only a single 60mm fan mounted at the back of the case where we have seen a pair in the first 3 HTPC cases. We will see if this single fan is indeed enough to compete with the rest of the cases.

Click to enlarge.

The HTPC 100 also comes with a 270W FSP silent power supply almost identical to the SilenX unit in the D.Vine 5, but the obvious lower power output.

Construction

The HTPC 100 chassis combines plastic and steel in its construction. The front bezel is entirely plastic, but has an excellent glossy paint job to give it anything but a bland look. This glossy paint is also carried to the rest of the outer shell of the chassis.

The rest of the shell, as well as the internals of the case, is constructed from 0.8mm steel. We did not find any sharp edges inside the case around the drive bays or anywhere else. NMediaPC's case manufacturer did a great job in folding over the edges.