Final Words
There is a lot to like about the MCE601. Its sharp looks make it a perfect match for existing home theater equipment, not only because of the clean layout of the elements on the front panel, but also because of the general structure and design of the unit. The vacuum fluorescent display is both attractive and useful because of its fully programmable nature, and the stealthy optical drive cover finishes off the rather immaculate bezel. However, we still see the fact that the Ahanix display uses a parallel port interface as a negative, since competitor's cases such as the SilverStone Lascala 10 use a USB connection, which can be totally internal.Concerning the internal layout, we were happy to find support for more hard drives and the ability to house a full-size ATX motherboard comfortably, complete with a full set of add-in cards, but were again discouraged to find that there is no true support for any other motherboard size, nor support for a standard ATX power supply. The included 350 watt SilentX supply, while certainly quiet and cool, could be insufficient in a fully-loaded HTPC, especially one running with intense multimedia hardware such as dual video cards.
Considering the high price of the MCE601, which we have found to be between $250 and $290 , we still do not feel that we could recommend this case to anyone considering building a new HTPC on a relatively modest budget. With relatively high temperatures throughout the case, it seems like a mistake to choose to use smaller fans, but since the goal in the design of this case was to create something that is small enough to fit into existing A/V components, Ahanix had to use a smaller cooling system. The good news is that the cooling hardware, case design, and included power supply lend themselves to low operating noise levels, right around 47dBA in our testing - certainly low enough to fit in comfortably in a living room situation. The noise itself is also a very pleasant, dull hum - not a high-pitched whine.
If the looks of the MCE601 simply jump out and grab someone, they would probably be able to easily justify the relatively high cost of the chassis, and would be treated to the nice expansion offered by the case. If support for non-standard motherboards, standard power supplies, or high-drain components are more important, we would recommend looking at the larger cases from Ahanix or other manufacturers such as SilverStone or CoolerMaster. Considering that these competing cases can cost half as much, the price of this case just doesn’t seem to be justified.
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ImJacksAmygdala - Friday, May 6, 2005 - link
Show me a single HTPC case that has two 120mm fans and a ATX power supply and I'll buy it. The first company that takes the Antec Sonata or SLK3700BQE design and flips it on its side with a horizontal DVD drive, HT component damper feet, and a clean HTPC face plate gets my money. Currently no such case exists on the market. Antec tried and failed with the Overture design due to the heat enthusiast systems now create, and for some reason they haven't thought about using the popular design of the Sonata and SLK3700BQE. If you go to the silentpcreview forums you can find tons of threads on these cases, and I am surprised no one has tried to mod one horizontal yet.araczynski - Friday, May 6, 2005 - link
cheap, retro wannabe, thin aluminum crap. probably made in vietnam for $0.50.but all the more power to them if they can sell this pile of sh*t to idiots.
Tamale - Friday, May 6, 2005 - link
It was a tad akward perhaps, but that is what I meant to say.. the hard drive's local air isn't really getting pushed or pulled anywhere thus keeping that area warmer than it should be..as far as the power supply, yes it offers the 20 or 24 pin connections, but no i didn't notice any 6-pin VGA connectors.
Spacecomber - Friday, May 6, 2005 - link
While these cases (Ahanix) are nice to look at, I have to agree with the consensus that there just doesn't seem to be enough good about them to justify a $300 price tag.I thought that the review was well done. I'll add just one small suggestion: more information on the vpower supply would be helpful. Maybe a shot of the label, so the power capacity on the different rails would be available. Also, perhaps add a mention of whether it is a 20 or a 24 pin ATX power connector and whether it provides the new 6 pin PCI video card connectors.
Finally, I think this sentence is mis-written, "It is a bit discouraging to see that the hard drive itself is not really any hotter than what we are used to seeing, but the warm air created from that component must not be moving much, as that area of the case is still quite warm. "
Still, a good start and I look forward to other reviews.
Space
Tamale - Friday, May 6, 2005 - link
Sorry about the broken images when the review first went up.. they should all be fixed now. This is my first review so things didn't all go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. I'm still trying to find the best ways to illuminate the cases before I shoot, but I feel the only real problem I had with most of these shots was a failure to manually set my white balance. Your feed back is highly valued though everyone.. thanks!-Joshua Buss
Tamale - Friday, May 6, 2005 - link
Zirconium - Thursday, May 5, 2005 - link
I don't care how good this case is - for the almost $300 that it costs, I can get a Shuttle cube.ncage - Thursday, May 5, 2005 - link
Cool looking case. Would definitly look like a piece for your home theater and wouldn't stick out like a normal case would but the cost is WAY WAY WAY WAY to high. If it was in the $100 range i would think about it but at this price no way. Im just going to get a super mini case from antec.Houdani - Thursday, May 5, 2005 - link
Ditto the troubles with the thermal images. Win2K, IE6.The missing images are the ones which display the temperature readings -- the ones we really care about. The mouse-over images will disply fine when you put your mouse on the placeholders, but those are just the pictures of the case innards less the thermal scores. Zoinks.
piasabird - Thursday, May 5, 2005 - link
I think a slot loading notebook drive would be better for a case like this. Might help with the air flow. I think possibly the intel chipset for the mobile desktop motherboard might be better. A centrino setup might be nice. I cant see many designs that can cool off multiple hard drives in a case this size in an efficient manner. If you have a vent on the bottom where the hard drive rack goes a low rpm fan might help. If the hard drives sat verticle they might cool better. Sitting horizontal they block the air flow.