nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Steel HTPC 2000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Aluminum front panel, plenty of build room, holds multiple hard drives, great looks, sturdy construction

Cons: poor design with regard to screw holes. Plastic grill for cards cheap and easy to break. instructions poor and not helpful

Other Thoughts: plan ahead for power supply installation, screws may not line up or you may have to reverse the direction. Flip down panel in front may not fit within media center for some, measure carefully. Get a usb IR reader for your remote that sits on top, easy to use. Overall, a great case for the money, I would buy again - it just needs some finesse to work.

Pros: Nice look (just like the rest of my a/v equipment).
Easy to install (one exception).
Nice front end options (USB ports, IEEE 1394, card reader).

Cons: No IR receiver. This is an HTPC case. Your going to want a remote. A receiver added just to the right of the reset button would have been great.
Adding expansion cards was tough because of the plastic grill. Mine snapped off while trying to get card installed.
The doors are a bit tough to open, but provide a sleek look.

Other Thoughts: I think the case has been around for a while, but a USB 3 port on the front would be a nice upgrade.

Pros: It looks nice in my rack. Solid all-metal construction. HDD and optical drive mounting was convenient as the unit swings out.

Cons: Where do I begin?

First, my PSU didn't quite fit as the fan grill would hit the rear 80mm fan on the case. Bending the grill on the PSU caused the 80mm fan to bind making it useless. The other fan is fine.

The built-in card reader doesn't work. I tried plugging it in every available USB header but failed to be recognized.

The HDD LED in the front isn't visible. You can see it working from behind the case but not visible from the front.

MANY SHARP CORNERS!!! Not only inside the case but the rear expansion slots.

Due to the front USB connectors being behind the lower door, it needs to be remained open for my infrared USB dongle to work. Would've been nice to have one built-in.

The optical drive doesn't mount flush in the front. Thankfully it sits behind the upper door so it's not visible but it also has sharp corners on the opening.

Some of the screw holes don't quite match up. They fit but are not straight. It is also missing some holes to fit my motherboard which makes plugging in cables a challenge. The board hangs on the right side and any pressure causes the board to flex.

While the included fans are a nice touch and are silent, they don't move much air.

Other Thoughts: This case could be an overall nice box for an ATX HTPC but fails in quality control.

Pros: The motherboard offset screws lined up perfectly on my ATX board. I read reviews complaining of this. Case is very quiet too. Very pleased. Easy to put together too.

Cons: none to speak

Pros: Nice looking case. Nice tilt open rack to install the hard drives. Can close the panel with a DVD/Blu-Ray disc in and not see the drive light blink while watching the movie, I also disconnect the HDD light for the same reason. Only the blue power light stays on steady.

Cons: After I opened the top front panel to open the Blu-Ray player, I cut my finger on the upper edge of the panel. This panel was machine with a very sharp edge. I took a file to all the edges (upper and lower panel). I notice while opening the case up that the screw holes does not line up, had to force it a little to get the screws back in. Installing the Blu-Ray drive the screw holes was too far off. Had to drill out the support bracket and move it over an 1/8" and pop rivet it back in place. No provision to mount a 2 1/2" SSD drive without an adapter, made for 3 1/2" drive only. Has more fan noise than I wanted, but watching Media Center you can't hear it. The tilt open rack should have the lower racks removable for easy repairs/upgrade.

Other Thoughts: I knew from the start the case was big, its bigger than my audio amp. Didn't expect a poor fitting case. Not enough quality control during manufacturing. This could have been a great case.

Pros: Case is very large and easy to work with. Had no issue fitting any of my parts inside it. This case my be larger than what you need for a HTPC. However it is one of the few good full ATX cases out their.

Cons: As others have stated this case workmanship could have been of a higher quality. Screw holes not quite matching up. You can make everything fit just need to will it into place.

Intake fan makes a clicking noise and is much louder than the two exhaust fans in the back. Brought a new fan have yet to install but again poor quality.

Hard drive bay I can see 4 hard drives easily fitting in. 6 drives? I agree with others heat and GPU may impact how many drives you can install. If you have less than 4 drives you are fine. More than that look elsewhere.

Other Thoughts: Just keep in mind the size. This will be by far the largest 'media device' you will have on your shelf.

This is the first and probably last time I will buy this brand based solely on the quality.

Pros: Does not look at all like PC case. FX-8120 runs very cool @ 8-22c in this case that has plenty of ventilation for typical restrictive HTPC areas. Very good and Quick tech support via email.

Cons: No variable resistors on HDD and Power LEDs instead nMedia paints a very thick black paint on HDD LED to the point it was not visible at all. No mention of removal of front panel to remove paint from HDD LED in supplied user guide.

Other Thoughts: My system:
This case
Asus M5A97 R2.0
FX-8120 8-core CPU
CoolerMaster Gemini II 120mm CPU Cooler
32G G.Skill Sniper 1866 RAM
Hauppauge HVR 2250 TV Tuner
Thermaltake 675W PS

Pros: The case is built of solid steel, with some great thought behind the layout. It looks nice and has room for everything. It can hold 6 HDDs comfortably, and there's adequate cooling for a fairly hefty build.

Cons: Some of the screw holes don't line up just right. Again, it's solid steel, it didn't get bent a little in shipping. It was drilled (by machine) WRONG. I was able to get all my screws in with some coaxing. I had to get each one started then go back and tighten them. Regardless, it should be better than that.

Other Thoughts: A little better attention to detail on the part of the manufacturer would make this case 5 eggs without a doubt.

Pros: Very clean streamlined look. Love the Aluminum front bezel. Power and reset buttons look and feel quality, Power button blue LED looks great. Plenty of room for 6 drives + DVD/Blu-Ray ROM, so says the manual.

Assmebling three ATX and one MicroATX version (1000B) into my audio component tower. The first one arrived today and it looks amazing, whisper quiet too after installing 120MM fans with (L/M/H) switch....set all fans to low.

This setup will look extremely nice next to my HDTV, when complete. These cases will house, One Smoothwall Express firewall (appliance), One MCE HTPC, One Ubuntu Server (FTP,SSH,VPN,Subsonic, etc. etc.) And last but not least a Windows 7 all purpose system for the house.

Can't wait for the rest of these cases to arrive.

Unfortunately there are some cons.

Cons: Misaligned screw fittings and warped drive cage.

PCI and PCIe cards don't fit properly when you try to tighten them down.

Small case "buldge" on top in rear of case, after closing it up. I can't see it in my audio rack, but I know its there.

Manual

Other Thoughts: Every screw fitting, and I mean every one is misaligned. I was able to get everything tightened down though. Just kind of pain. Also, the Hard Drive Cage (the manual calls this the "Bracket") was warped.

The Manual...heh, well this is kind of funny and bloody infuriating at the same time. Not only does the Manual refer to the removable drive cage as a bracket, but it mentions sliding the optical drive into a "Bracket, then locking the drive mount into the A or B position" I cant remember which right now. Whaa? I started looking for an additional optical drive mount/bracket and locking mechanism. I couldn't find any of these things and almost boxed everything up and RMA'd it thinking I would never lock down the optical drive. So I spent 15-20 minutes looking at every inch of the removable drive cage until I found two small screw holes underneath the optical drive slot labeled A & B.

Pros: The materials of the case are really solid. You do not have a plastic or thin aluminum front. The case seems well built and sturdy.

Cons: I would not recommend this case if you are using a larger graphics card, and an SSD because of the following reasons: 1. When mounting your SSD, at least in my case, it requires specific screws with its 3.5 bracket. This makes it difficult (but not impossible) to use with the rubber screw holes that use a specific screw with a buffer. The problem is that this screw is too large for my mounting bracket. 2. If you are using a graphics card that is longer than 9" forget about it mounting into your system WITH the optical drive. I ended up having to leave the case open and the optical drive hooked up and left on top of the case just to install windows and the drivers for my MB. I then unhooked the optical drive to finish my cable management and to seal the case.

Other Thoughts: The case fits nicely in my TV stand and even though I gave it a 2 egg review, I think its well built. However, BE ADVISED, if you are wanting to run a high end graphics card that has significant length to it look elsewhere.