LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C37U Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Great, solid case, I like the design, layout, everything is well built. You get what you pay for. Fans can be moved to several locations, very open to work in there. Runs my Core i3-530 on a DQ57TM motherboard as an HTPC very well, with an HDHomeRun tuner.

Cons: The fake CD cover thing is a bit cheesy. I didn't care that much and changed it out for something different, not difficult to do.

Pros: -quiet
-well-crafted
-simple and attractive
-includes PSU
-includes super quiet fans
-lots of room

Cons: -could and should have been 80mm fans
-could be more tool-free
-PSU accomodations (see other thoughts)

Other Thoughts: The power supply part of the design is my only real beef with this case.
-case comes with TFX PSU, when ATX would provide more clearance to optical drive, and exhaust fan
-PSU vent is poorly located with respect to atx PSU, IF top-flow is the consideration.
-case should have been designed (vent and mount pattern) for PSU to draw air from the bottom of the case.

Pros: * Looks good

Cons: * Lack of thumb screws for frequently removed items. Both the support bar and the 2nd HD bay require the removal of 6 small screws.

* Power Supply only has 2 SATA power cables. This limits case to 1 HD and 1 BluRay (I guess you could grab an adapter).

* Power Supply is bar far the loudest fan in this case, could be better.

Other Thoughts: I have purchased several Lian-Li cases in the past and this is the most unfriendly in terms of use. The case has a handful of thumb screws but you can expect to need to use a screw driver a number of times - just to get stuff out of the way to be able to place the motherboard. It would have been much better if the support bar and the 2nd hard drive holder used thumb screws. Instead they used a total of 6 small screws to hold these items in. The look of the case is great (although its very deep - just barely fits in my entertainment center). Also - as another reviewer mentioned in order to fit the Ceton tuner you will need to actually cut out/shave off some metal in the back in order to slide in a CableCard.

Pros: Looks nice, quiet

Cons: Black part of metal frame overlaps back of the expansion card slots. Got a cable card inserted into a tv tuner and it was locked in there, couldn't remove the tv tuner card. Had to pry the steel case to remove the cablecard. Now the case cover cannot be reattached properly, it is pretty much ruined in that regard. Cable card and the tuner made it out alright, though the slot the card was in got warped so moved it to another pci-e port.

Other Thoughts: If I had known this day would come I would have gone with another case. Poorly designed, needs some help.

Pros: This case looks pretty good as an htpc and is definitely quiet given the fan sizes. The case material is very nice (Aluminum) and the cutouts are clean. Nice addition to the media center in general.

Cons: Power supply is not secured well and bent back plate during shipping. I'm guessing many of them come like this based on how it was packaged. After 5 months, the power supply is now dead with a burned electronic smell. Luckily the plate comes off so I can fit a regular PSU in there instead of the junk they send with the case.

Other Thoughts: The case is aluminum, so it is understandable how damaged the case was when it arrived due to the power supply flopping around inside. There were small dings in the top (barely noticeable) and you have to be careful with the aluminum. Don't try to force things or you will regret it. Case screws are also of high quality so things fit nicely. Don't expect the PSU to last long; it is garbage.

Pros: The casw works as advertised with some small glitches.

Cons: Previous reviews are correct...modifications will be required to the expansion slots if you plan to use a cablecard tuner. I recommend modifying them from the get go to avoid any future entanglements with expansion cards.

The included power supply is not the best. It is an ITX model that covers up two fan mount locations. A micro ATX model would have been much more user friendly for customers as it wuld have resulted in only one fan mount being covered. The power supply is an item that the manufacturer made special for Lian Li. They have no replacements in stock, nor do they have plans to produce them in the further.

Other Thoughts: It’s a head scratcher for me to see how an engineering team would develop an HTPC case that has a compatibility issue with one of the most widely used PCIe tuners (Infinitv 4) on the market today. Only time will tell what other expansion cards may be affected by this design flaw.

Pros: The case is well built, and comes with all the accessories you'd expect. The brushed finish looks great. The power button has a nice 'click' and doesn't feel cheap. The power supply is adequate for a low-power HTPC. I can just barely hear the fans in the case, but it is quieter than the fan in my DLP TV. Copper posts are already present, so just drop in the motherboard and go.

Cons: If you plan to build an HTPC with a Ceton InfiniTV 4, be prepared to file away a couple millimeters of aluminum at the top of the slot so you can get the CableCard in. There are only 2 SATA power connectors, but 3 drive bays (optical plus two 3.5 inch bays)

Other Thoughts: The case has a couple shortcomings, but overall well worth it. It's about the same size as the Motorola cable box its replacing, and looks great next to my Marantz receiver.

Pros: This case is very nice and built very solid.

Cons: The price is high but this thing looks amazing in your media center so I can not complain

Pros: spacious in 2 dimensions. quiet. reasonably priced for lian li.

Cons: power supply only has one line with 2 SATA heads. very low profile makes expansion card selection difficult (must have 3" bracket). power supply is only secured where it contacts the case -- the far end is loose (though in practice it doesn't matter). odd hard drive mounting makes it impossible to screw in both ends of a small 2.5 -> 3.5 adaptor (most SSDs).

Other Thoughts: MUST use SATA power adaptors if you plan to use both drive bays and/or three SATA devices. Be sure to order with case if none are on hand.