Logisys Home Theater Acrylic Case

Examination:

The case is constructed entirely out of clear acrylic. It accepts mATX (micro ATX) form factor (and some baby ATX) motherboards and SFF (small form factor) power supplies. The case features one 5.25” drive bay and two 3.5” drive bays (one for floppy drive, one for hard drive). Of course this is insufficient for a gaming rig or power user workstation, but it is meant for a home theater system and so should be fine for its purpose. In the front and back of the case are two (total of four) 60mm blue LED fans. These fans keep the system cool and also serve to illuminate the case. One of our concerns though was that the small fans may produce a lot of noise and could be distracting, but we'll find that out later when we get the system running. In the front of the case, there are also two USB ports, a microphone, and speaker port. These should prove to be very useful for connecting any peripherals to your HTPC. Also located at the front of the case are two silver buttons for power and reset.

Overall the materials in the case were all of good quality. One problem we did see was that there was no direct cooling provided to the hard drive. This is needs to be improved because hard drives are likely to fail under poor cooling conditions. We were also disappointed to find that there was no tool-less features of any sort. But since this is an HTPC case, we assume that once the system is assembled it will rarely need to be taken apart, so tool-less features in this case would not be so important.

Installation:

Aside from the fact that we weren't using a SFF PSU for testing today, the installation went very smoothly. To install the motherboard we simply had to secure the supports into the case, replace the I/O panel, and position and secure the motherboard. After that was done we unscrewed and removed the drive cage. The hard drive was then attached to the drive cage, which was the placed back into the case. After the motherboard and hard drive were installed and all the necessary cabling was connected, we were ready to fire it up and take a look at this case in action.

Performance:

Since this case is meant to be a HTPC case, then that means it would be sitting next to or near a TV. We suspected at first that the blue LED lights may be too bright and could be distracting. We would soon find out. Everything was finally set and ready to go. We connected the power supply to the outlet, turned it on, and then hit the power switch. The light in fact was very pleasant. It wasn’t too bright such that it was distracting nor was it so dim that it was useless. The fan noise was of acceptable levels and should not distract people while watching movies.

Conclusion:

Overall this case would be a nice addition to anyone’s home theater setup. The clear acrylic made the case look very nice and the LED fans added to the appearance. The fans also moved sufficient amounts of air at acceptable noise levels. A few problems with this case need to be addressed however. One is the lack of hard drive cooling. A second problem was that the whole installation process required tools. While installation was certainly nowhere near being difficult, tool-less features are always a plus. However if you decide to go with this case then we would suggest that you invest in some form of hard drive cooling to prolong the life of your hard drive and protect your data.

Pros:

· Clear acrylic construction
· Blue LED fans
· Acceptable noise levels
· Removable drive cage
· Front USB ports
· Front microphone and speaker ports

Cons:

· Lack of tool-less features
· Lack of hard drive cooling