LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C33B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Roomy and it looks great under the TV

Cons: limited to 135mm tall CPU cooler but I finally found a push/pull fan that fits :)

Other Thoughts: I've had this case forever now and recently changed all of my fans inside plus my CPU cooler because of my AMD FX8350 causing major heat issues. I had a CoolerMaster GeminiII on it at first but the down flow setup seemed to hold the heat inside the case because the original 80mm X2 and 140mm fans seemed lacking in CFM. I changed them to Artic Cooling's ARCTIC F8 PWM Case Fan and changed the 140mm fan to an ARCTIC F14 PWM Case Fan. I decide to try Artic Cooling's ARCTIC Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan for the push/pull effect to help direct the flow. Now everything is sucking in from the front and flowing out the back in unison. My case stays cool as well as my FX8350 now.. 36c idle and 50c under heavy load just like it should be :) The new fans have much more CFM yet just as quiet as the originals. If you take off the inside guards on the 80mm fans it actually gets rid of the whirring sound you hear as well. Just my two cents and I hope it helps ;)

Pros: Robust, roomy, Quiet & great design

Cons: None

Pros: Very nice craftsmanship on the PC-C33. I wanted a lot of space, and you get it with this Case. You can run a full ATX and you could put in two large Video Cards if you wanted. Fit and finish are excellent with quick removal HD Cage and 5" Drive section for further work. Looks very good in my living room. The large size just makes this easy to work on and install your componants. The smaller size cases are just too much of a pain to work with.

Cons: I did not like the stock air flow arrangement with the supplied fans, so I changed the fans around to draw air in, and I installed fan filters to keep the dust down inside the case. I also installed higher CFM fans, as I do not need a whisper quiet HTPC.

Other Thoughts: I sometimes wonder if I should have just used a regular mid tower case placed off to the side. This HTPC is nice, no question and I do not regret buying it but I did not need a rack mount set up either. Having bought it and now using it, I would buy it again.

Pros: Beautiful, Roomy

Cons: I was wanting a slightly smaller case, but Im gonna keep this anyways, it'll fit.

Other Thoughts: It's worth it. I would recommend this case.

Pros: I rebuilt an old PC in this case so it would fit in my media center. I picked this case because it was one of the few cases that would fit in my media center and accommodate a full ATX motherboard. Overall, I'm very satisfied.

Cons: My only complaint is the cost. This is definitely a $100+ case, but $150+ is pushing it. They could have removed the rack mounting hardware or the external 3.5" bracket to reduce the price, since I suspect most people will not use those. The included case fans were not very quiet, which is fine, but for the price paid I feel they should be quieter.

Pros: Design! Has clean lines, love the brushed look. I also own a Lian Li mid tower case. So many of the other popluar cases are gaudy and flasshy and look terrible, that is aimed at 12 year olds. These have an elegant and clean look.

Case is quiet, I have a 65w i5 with stock cooler, blu ray, SSD, and 4 mechanical hard drives in this case. The rubber grommets that are used to mount the hard drives isolate the vibrations keeping the case quiet.

The fans are quiet, hardly hear the thing at all.

Plenty of space inside (for a HTPC case), the drive cages being removable really help for installation. didnt have any issues getting all the hardware including a HD6850 in there.

Good internal airflow, the side venting allows outside air in, and the fans blowing out the back help keep a nice flow of air in and out. the i5 is peaking at 38C with the stock cooler.

Cons: Would have been nice to have ONE more drive bay avalable for hard drives. You get 3 drives in the 3.5 cage, then one slot on the 5.25 cage is already modified for a 3.5 drive plus the 2 5.25 bays. After a blu ray, and IR reciever I only was able to get the 4 mechanical drives in the cages, had to zip tie the SSD to the outside of the cage. Not a deal killer, as I doubt a lot of people are planning on putting 8T of storage in an HTPC.

Other Thoughts: It was apx the same width as my A/V reciever, though much deeper at 18". I knew this going in, but it means my next project is to custom build a new entertainment center. Oh well! At least my day job is in carpentry!

Pros: Bought this for my entertainment center. Plenty of room for everything I wanted to do, easy to work with inside. It may be a tiny bit loud but it's very airy and runs 24/7. I'd rather have a bit of noise than an over-heated machine. It's never loud enough to interrupt my TV viewing.

The black looks so awesome. Or rather, it doesn't look like anything and totally hides itself in my entertainment center - except for the lights (see Cons).

Cons: LEDs are insane. I taped over them right away. It's also a little deep for my particular entertainment center. I have to carefully balance it on the shelf. Not sure if my shelf is shallow or this is deep, but consider the measurements carefully.

Pros: Quiet, roomy

Cons: Front panel LEDs are overly powerful, like always.

Other Thoughts: Leave the front panel LEDs unconnected. HTPCs aren't supposed to be lit up like the front of a strip club.

Pros: Excellent fit and finish on the outside and the lights on the front panel are nicely muted. All the hardware you would need and holes line up.

Cons: sharp edges (burred) on one of the interior aluminum cages that could easily cut through wires if you're not careful. Maybe I just got unlucky, but the fans on this case are very loud. Based on other reviews, I expected quieter. You can hear this case in the next room.

Other Thoughts: Much louder than on my Silverstone Grandia. I get plenty of cooling, so I will likely experiment with disabling at least 1 of the small fans or replacing them with something quieter that I can speed-control.

Pros: Nice case with lots of room and plenty of hardware.

Cons: Small fans are a bit noisy and some of the aluminum interior pieces had some nasty burs that could cut through delicate wires.

Other Thoughts: I needed an ATX HTPC, but the noise is a bit disappointing.