SILVERSTONE MILO Series ML06B Steel Body Mini-ITX Media Center/ HTPC Computer Case with Aluminum Front Panel

Pros: * Good design * Solid construction

Cons: *Tight Fit for some components: PSU, Optical drive - Regular sized BD-Rom drive did not fit, as it butted up against the PSU. Had no where to put unused PSU cables.

Overall Review: Despite some of the flaws, this is a great case that I recommend. Worth the money

Pros: perfect for Matx HTPC

Cons: none

Overall Review: watch your length dimensions with your power supply and your CD/DVD/Blu-ray rom to make sure you have enough room for the Sata and power cable. i didn't... and had i to use a 90deg. Sata/power adapter which barley just fit.

Pros: -Same interior layout as the RAVEN RVZ01 -Less expensive than the RVZ01 -Cleaner looking than the RVZ01

Cons: -No fans or dust filters included!

Overall Review: Upon receiving the case, I was a little surprised to find that there were no low profile fans or dust filters included (this is my only complaint and the reason why it gets 4 stars). This wasn't a huge issue for me as I was planning on using different fans anyway, but it should be noted. Overall, the ML07 is a fantastic, no compromise mini-ITX case well suited for HTPC gaming and is classier/cleaner looking than its RAVEN series counterpart. It's well constructed and is capable of housing and cooling some serious hardware. I can't speaking for its water cooling flexibility as my setup is only air cooled. My specs: -i5-4570 -8 GB ADATA XPG 1600 -ASRock B85M-ITX -Noctua NH-L12 (single fan mode) -EVGA GTX 750 Ti SC -Silverstone ST45SF-G

Pros: Slim height and short depth make this fit in great with other home theater equipment. Both HDD and power led are blue color. As others mentioned you must use standard size power supply to fit. Take note that modular power supplies are deeper than standard size (all that I found anyway) and you will not have enough room for optical drive. The mount for the optical drive has screws so you can remove it to get to the hard drive mount underneath. I opted to remove the bracket permanently with two hard drives mounted side by side in front of the PSU. I use the extra space without the bracket for storing the PSU wiring I not using. Have no need for optical as this is entirely intended to be DVR / netflix / hulu box and PS3 is used for bluray. Great box for the money.

Cons: The USB 3.0 connectors on front are a light blue that annoyed the heck out of me. Fix: Use a marker to color the front edge (NOT inside) and the connectors then blend in nicely when seen from the couch. The leds will light up the room. Fix: You can slip a piece of paper between the led and the front of case to dim them. All the front panel connections are longer than needed.

Overall Review: Only fans in my case are the PSU exhaust and the cpu cooler. Case temp maxed out at 46 C with my setup running CPU 100% for 6 hours. This case AMD 45W 3 core Gskill 4GB ASUS M4A88TD 2 x dual tuners wireless network card Antec earthwatts 380W 2 WD AV 1TB drives 32GB SSD

Pros: If you are searching for a tiny, mini-itx / small form factor case that provide support for all of your home theatre needs as well as provide a low-profile expansion slot for your tv-tuner or video card, then this is the case to buy. For me, I have always wanted a mini-itx case that allowed a single-slot, low-profile video card so that I can having a gaming htpc case for my bedroom. However, I had already purchased a silverstone ft03-mini and went ahead and got a full size card. Therefore, I purchased this case more on an impulse buy and I was not disappointed. I decided to use it for a build for my brother for multi-media use for his chess class. I needed to have a semi-powerful CPU for the chess software but also needed to keep the energy and noise level down. I chose these components: Silverstone Ml05b Gigabyte h77-itx wifi mini-itx motherboard Intel core-i5 3350p Silverstone NT06-E G-skill Ares 2x4gb 1600mhz ddr3 Sapphire low-profile 7750 Silverstone 450w 80+ bronze sfx power supply 750gb 2.5" Western Digital Black 7200rpm hdd Silverstone Air Penetrator 120mm fan 2x 80mm Arctic fans SIlverstone 80mm and 120mm fan filters *No optical drive* Unfortunately, the NT06-E was too high, even with the air penetrator mounted on the bottom of the heatsink, so I had to use the stock cooler for now. In the future, I might try the cooler master geminii m4, but for now the stock is fine. All the components fit like a glove. One positive about such a small case is that every component is so packed in that it looks like it is a perfect fit and that everything is where it needs to be. All in all though, everything fit and is functioning properly. For the most part, the case is quiet. Not whisper quiet, but enough (see cons). My fingerprints did not leave too many smudges, and it comes with included feet so prevent scratches on surfaces or itself. But I digress. The pros: - Tiny! (7 liters, a few inches less than the depth of a pillow). - Black matte finish, except for the glossy plastic front. Still looks good, gives off a mirror sheen. - Cheap! $45 for a case like this? Really impressive. - Thermals. Plenty of airflow for the major components. - Portability. Will be able to take this anywhere you want to go.

Cons: If you are looking to purchase a mini-itx or small-form-factor case (sfx), then you already know that it will aleady come with some issues, such as cable management, airflow, and finding correctly-sized components. So I can't dock anything for that. These are a list of minor issues, but they are not anything worth subtracting an egg for. Just comes with buying a sub-$50 case. - The decision to use a slim, slot-loading optical drive is the current trend for Silverstone's sfx cases. Silverstone themselves sell both a slot-load DVD and a slot-load Blu-Ray drive, so they are probably doing it for marketing reasons. Unfortunately, it's hard to find these drives for any reasonable price: Silverstone's slim, slot-load dvd drive: $70 Silverstone's slim, slot-load Blu-ray drive: $170 - Top panel requires a lot of force to remove it, almost to the point of being afraid if I will bend or warp it. Don't be scared - just pull it off! - A little more difficult to install motherboard I/O shield; little metal clips were in the way and had to snap it on with more force and a little maneuvering, but it worked out alright. - A lot of venting can be too much venting. The case's noise was my main concern when buying. I have set the fans on low and have filters, and with the two 80mm fans and the 120mm fan installed, the sound would be imperceptible from just a few feet away if it wasn't for the sfx power supply. Silverstone knows that their line of SFX power supplies are almost exclusively the only ones that are of quality and match the case. Unfortunately, their models include an 80mm fan that doesn't have any thermal sensor to throttle it when it's not needed. Therefore, the 80mm fan is on a high setting all the time, which produces unnecessary noise. Otherwise, it is actually pretty good (I set all the fans with filters and on intake to get positive pressure). - Video card airflow? (see other thoughts).

Overall Review: I have been searching for a tiny, gaming htpc case like this for literally years. You can search through mini-itx cases over and over but you won't find anything similar. You can find the Inwin BP-series, which offer extremely compact dimensions but are extremely limited on power supplies and airflow, especially for the graphics card. (Pixxo's mini-itx cases are very similar but do provide the venting on the side for the video card, in case anyone is interested. Buy that one rather than the Inwin). You can search for mini-itx cases that provide single-slot graphics solutions, but they are either full-height (Lian Li) or have no venting on the side to provide enough air flow to prevent overheating. The only exception is the Antec ISK 300 series, but the power supply is so shabby that you have to mod it to get it to be enough. You can search for mini-itx cases that accomodate TFX or larger power supplies, but they generally come with full height graphics solutions and are much too large (Cube or square shaped, targeted towards having high-end components rather than low power, quiet parts. Can you say Lian Li, Silverstone Sugo, Thermaltake SD101, etc?) I believe that this case fufills the gaming htpc niche for cases that are horizontal and give the standard theatre look. I would highly recommend this case - fantastic features, great price, and looks nice!

Pros: Excellent looking case with lots of features. USB 3 in front. Low profile, ample space inside for upgrades.

Cons: Atrocious quality on semi-touch sensitive power button. It broke within the first 3 months and I am the most gentle, OCD person there is so I was definitely not rough-housing it. Now we have to leave the top of case open, use a wooden stick to hold the silicon sealant (yes, that's what they had secured the button with) in place while we hit power for it to turn on. Absolutely ridiculous for an otherwise great case.

Overall Review: Can't recommend this to anyone with a serious quality issue like that. :-\

Pros: The case is well constructed and surprisingly there was more room in it than I had expected. * Solid construction * ATX Power supply * Front plate (don't see all the DVD logos, card readers, usb ports, etc)

Cons: There were a few cons that were troubling. * Need more mobo mounts (weren't options for mounts near power supply) * Little air flow over hard drives (buy quiet 80mm case fans) * Tight between power supply and back of DVD * Rubber mounts not the greatest

Overall Review: This is a very good case with a few minor problems that can be worked around. The design would benefit with a fan mount between the drives. If you can afford it I would recommend building your system with SSD and 2.5" drives. Bought this case because I could use my existing hardware and it would let me use my Ceton card. That meant using my 2 existing 3.5" drives. Because this system is going to reside in the living room I wanted it to be quiet so I didn't install any additional fans. When I powered the system up within a few minutes the drives were running at over 55c. Thankfully I had a couple spare fans laying around but I couldn't get the temp on the drive under the DVD down until I figured out how to mount a fan in the middle of the case between the drives. Once I did these things the system is running well and I'm happy. One other thought. While the case is roomier than I expected you may want to be careful in what power supply you choose. I chose a SeaSonic non modular power supply because they've performed well for me over the years, tend to have stable power, and are well built. One thing SeaSonic does is wrap their cables in mesh. With all the cables it adds up to a lot of bulk. I was able to bury a lot of the unused cables under the DVD between the hard drive mount and power supply. Even with that, there were some challenges trying to keep air flow over the drives. I wonder how a modular power supply would work with the tight clearance with the DVD drive.

Pros: * Solid, mostly steel case, cross brace for added strength * Very attractive, will blend nicely with your stereo gear * USB3 on front panel * Well ventilated, accepts up to 4 80mm fans * Accepts standard size PSU's * Brushed front will avoid finger prints

Cons: * Tight build, Silverstone could have added an inch or two more depth to alleviate this. *Difficult to stash away extra PSU wires. Recommend modular PSU if possible. * 80mm fans only * USB3 cable is heavy, difficult to position if MB header is towards the front (mine was). This could be a real problem if using a full 3.5" HDD. I installed an 2.5" SSD so had enough room. * Sketchy drive "tray", basically a heavy plastic stand that must be removed to mount HDD or SSD. Watch those nearby front panel wires when reinstalling. Did not install a 2nd HDD below the optical drive so can't speak to that. * Did I say the case is a bit shallow? Measure your PSU and optical drive first. Basically you have a total of 340mm to work with. My BR drive is 185mm so I opted for a Nexus Value 430 silent PSU. It's only 125mm so allowed for the longer optical drive. Standard PSU's are 140mm which will limit your optical drive to 170mm (the extra 30mm--about 1 inch--for connections). * Low profile cards only (not really a con for knowledgeable HTPC builders but just be aware) * No 3.5" front slot to install card reader. An external USB card reader will be required if needed.

Overall Review: Replaced Antec Minuet case for more attractive HTPC. This case certainly meets that requirement. It blends in nicely with the rest of my gear. Build was very tight so take your time and measure your PSU and optical drive carefully. This is an entry level, slim HTPC so do not expect the world. I give it 4 eggs since it achieves most of what it is designed for. Another inch or two depth would have solved most of the cons.