Problems with average HTPC's

I can't even begin to count all the people I have had contact me for PVR help and I find out they are using small HTPC cases with extra drives and top end graphics cards without considering what the case was designed for. I often challenge these people to let me know what temperatures their system and hard drives are running at. Complete shock hits when they find out their hard drives are running over the temperature allowed by the warranty. Many have to go out and buy noisy high-speed fans to replace current ones or cut holes in their case to bring their systems back in line. I personally have tried 3 cases in search for one that can cool my hardware. I settled for one that had 3 fans and I then added two more high-flow fans to double the CFM and to keep the temperatures acceptable, but this was not low enough to make me feel happy. My once quiet HTPC case is now noisy enough that if I pause for a moment upon entering the room, from 30 feet I can tell if it's running or not. The partially good news is that the noisy HTPC case was keeping my hardware mostly cool.

I don't understand why most case manufacturers give users the false impression that their quieter and smaller cases are better for HTPC user needs. Although this is ideal, it is not easy to find. Many manufacturers, HTPC reviewers and users don't have any idea if a case can handle everything it was designed to fit. With the increasing number of complaints when people start to fill their systems up with hardware it is obvious that case manufacturers either don't care or never expected people to build high-end HTPC's. HDTV is just one example of the higher demands that are coming to HTPC's. The need for high-end HTPC cases is growing and many are failing to meet the demands. The good news is that this reviewer has found one that has more to it than just its good looks.

After more than a year of torture from several HTPC cases I had finally modified one to where it was acceptable. It had 5 fans in it and was noticeable but not overwhelmingly loud. It was able to maintain acceptable temperatures even though they were on the high side. I was fine with this, but many of my HTPC guide readers were not. As word spread through online forums about various problems with HTPC's many people began contacting me for a recommendation. I have researched over 30 HTPC cases and listened to personal experiences with many of them, but in the end my recommendation was for people to buy a tower system, not a HTPC. Some people could accept a tower and went to work on their HTPC's. Others bought cases, tried them, and reported their success only if they were low-end HTPC's. I had no success reports from anyone using a HTPC with more than 2 drives. I had to do something because I knew the requests for a high-end HTPC case would only get worse and I could not recommend any HTPC case because there were no reports of cases being fully loaded with drives and tested to prove they can handle cooling.

The most popular cases that I was asked about (But didn't know if they would work) were the SilverStone series. Many of the problems in other HTPC's did not appear in their designs. The way they vented heat from the CPU was unique from other HTPC's and gave almost no chance for the hot air to get back into the rest of the case, a problem with many HTPC cases. If any HTPC case had a chance to impress me it was going to have to be SilverStone.