Exquisite design and quality construction combined with the stylish elegance from hair-line brush anodized aluminum exterior and hand craft in certain steps in production fit the LIAN LI PC-C34F HTPC case seamlessly into your living room and your home theater system. Inside you'll find enough space for your ATX / Micro-ATX motherboard and loads of features within or even beyond the conventional tower chassis, such as superior cooling and modularized device cages. The PC-C34F is a giant among its kind by offering you a best-in-class choice to build your media center. A multi-media controller and IEEE 1394 and eSATA ports on the front panel are also included for added convenience.
Standard ComponentsDesigned for the living room, Lian Li designer has designed the PC-C34F size to match with standard audio equipment, but there are still room for a standard size 5.25" ODD and four of 3.5" SATA HDDs. This case designed to work with ATX motherboard, and space for a standard ATX power supply.
Superior CoolingOne 80mm rear fan and one 140mm front fan run quietly in the case to remove the hot air out of the chassis.
HDD Cage Inside the CasePC-C34F features a door with a lock in the HDD front panel which secures the SATA Hot Swappable HDD Cage inside the case. Supporting four HDDs, the HDD cage makes switching the HDDs a breeze. (The SATA back panel doesn’t have any chip or micro processor on the PCB so it requires a compatible motherboard for the RAID and hot swap SATA functions.)
Silent PerformanceLian Li designer looks into detail, PC-C34F has equipped anti-vibration kit on the chassis, to absorb the noise. Like the EMI spring on the top cover, it absorbs the vibration, and the top cover still easy to remove and close.
Convenient I/O PanelAn array of connectors, including four USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE 1394 port, one eSATA port and dual audio ports located on the front panel, allows easy connection to various peripherals.
Remote IncludedMulti-media remote controller uses Wireless technology which can easily control device from any corner in the living room.
Pros: Well ventilated. Great features. Lovely looks. Very light. Great Media Center remote is included. Lots of room for SATA HD drives(*).
Cons: Poor documentation, especially the wireless receiver wiring (extra 5 pin wire goes to your mobo's USB connector). The biggest problem for me was that the SATA drive cage back panel prevented you from using a full size GPU (I have the GTX 275). I removed the plate in order to fit my GPU. I just use direct cable connection. Not a huge deal. You can still make a quick hot swap. Just not as quick if you had the back plate.
Overall Review: I could not fit the Noctua cooler in it as it was not high enough for large 120mm coolers(expected for HTPC case). But it was well ventilated enough that the stock Intel cooler performed well enough that I MIGHT keep it. I will probably still replace it with a better cooler (needs 140mm in TOTAL height or less - maybe even 130mm). 92mm is probably the biggest cooler you will fit, maybe a 120mm in blow down and you remove the cross bar support. i7 920 6 GB ( 3 x 2GB sticks) MSI X58 mobo Vista 64 bit EVGA GTX 275 (896MB) DVD-R/RW burner