Thermaltake Silver 0.8 mm SECC Chassis Mozart Sx VC7001SNS ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: This is the ultimate HTPC bundle. The included software is decent for starting out. The front LCD is bright and visible from all angles. Included remote takes over all mouse functions. The riser card fit seamlessly into my motherboard and gave my 6600/PVR-150 combo a new life. Smooth construction of the edges. Front panel "clicks" out to expose the CD drive. Not an inch of real estate is wasted on the inside of this case. Great airflow as well.

Cons: The included fans are a little louder than I would suggest for an HTPC application (I've replaced them with Stealth fans). The case itself is a little longer than most of the stereo equipment I've got, but it's equally high and wide to my stuff. Included remote works great only if you're directly in front of the case.

Overall Review: If you're building a home theater PC, this is the case you're looking for.

Pros: Sweet looking case. matches the rest of my media center. Aluminum bezel adds to the appearance. Thin and wide

Cons: Softare is junk - Use LCD Smartie. Floppy drive screws are in a difficult place to reach, Fans only have 4 pin tail, would rather have had 3 pin to plug into mobo. riser card offers 2 PCI slots but you can only use 2 because of the cards extension cables (could be used if the card being installed has no cappaciters on it)

Overall Review: ensure that the PCI x16 slot is the 6th slot else riser will not mmount correctly. I had no problems with the panel door latching. If you are putting this into a media center cabinet - beware this is a very deep case

Pros: Very solid metal construction, it should help with heat disipation and noise reduction.

Cons: To wide (18.5 inches) it is wider than most of my audio/video components, will not fit nicely with them most of them are 17" wide. Specs in website were wrong, it says 17.4'' wide, it is actually 18.5" wide.

Pros: -Very slim design with riser card. -Built in media software/receiver (works best with Media Center) -Heavy gauge steel. Nothing on that case feels flimsy -Surprisingly easy to work in compared to other smaller cases.

Cons: -A bit wide, 18.5" to be exact (regular entertainment centers can fit this fine, they are 19" standard. if yours isn't it's because you bought a bad one) -Stock fans sound like a harrier is about to land on your house (easily fixed by spending a few bucks on silent fans) -Drivers and software don't work out of the box, everything needs to be installed first for your display to work right. Thermaltake has outdated software on their website which will hopefully be updated.

Overall Review: For the quality and craftsmanship of this case it's a very good deal for what it's supposed to be: A SLIM case that can fit every standard. I'm running a micro ATX board with a PCI-e slot at #6. Unfortunately it's a SLI micro ATX board and won't be able to use any PCI addons (3 x pci-e x16 slots) but I don't need any. My cable box does the DVR, and my on-board audio decodes just fine via optical to my receiver. You can supposedly use your harmony remote with this. I'm going to try that out.

Pros: Great looking, fits perfectly with other stereo equipment below TV. Able to fit all hardware flawlessly (taken that you know what to buy- read other thoughts). Perfect for Media Center application

Cons: Does not support PCIE-1x, all openings where either for PCIE-16x or PCI. Had to replace the case fans because they were too noisy. CD Door is weak.

Overall Review: You need to do research before buying your mobo or other hardware (make sure PCIE-16x slot is correct). Cable clutter can be an issue if you are not using a Micro ATX mobo.

Pros: Very slim format, 2 internal hard drive bays, decent internal layout, showy front display, looks real cool.

Cons: Media Lab sucks compared to vista media center, iMON (the supplied remote and reciever software) randomly locks up allowing only a few remote keys and constantly signaling "prev track", couldn't ever get the hardwired hotkeys to work, front bay door latch very flimsy.

Overall Review: I use this case with vista media center, its a really nice case even for the cons because of the height. I use the microsoft remote reciever instead of iMON because of the problems and I just disable iMON. I'm running a quad core processor in it and havent had any cooling problems. The video card will be installed fan-down so if you have a double height fan, you wont have any pci slots. The front display is multifunction so it can display AP news, computer information, weather, etc. I just leave it on the time/date mode (which stays on even when the pc is off) because being in a entertainment center, it does no real good to have the news in tiny font. VERY IMPORTANT: MicroATX motherboards MUST have the pciexpress16 slot in the right position otherwise the riser card WILL NOT FIT, meaning no video card or pci cards. There are instructions here that show what I mean.

Pros: The case is slim, stylish

Cons: remote won't work. It seems like there is a firmware problem with these remotes. When you press any keys on the remote, the front display on the case will display a message "command not definded" or "previous track". I've try all version of softwares, and tried both XP and Vista, just can't get them to work!!

Overall Review: I order 3 cases to buil 3 identical htpc. All the remotes came with it are not working. Very disappointed.

Pros: Very stylish, slim case. Looks right at home in your media center. Included remote has nice feel to it.

Cons: VFD display is a newer product and does not work with Linux at all presently. So don't expect to use this with MythTV. I had the same problems with the drive bay hinge. It's just a terrible design. Fortunately you don't need to really use it unless you need access to the 3.5" drive.

Overall Review: Included case fans are a _little_ bit noisy, so I would consider replacing them. The Zalman CNPS8700 cpu cooler is a nice fit (anything under 68mm tall should be ok) but if you CPU socket is just 1/4" over more it will bump into the case bar.