In our opinion, a HTPC case should look like a piece of A/V equipment, both the shape and the colour. The problem with many rectangular cases is due to the shape, motherboard or peripheral options are somewhat limited.
I've been hunting down a solid HTPC case for quite a while for my MCE project, but at the same time I wanted the ability to use a full size ATX board with the latest hardware. I actually did have a lot of choices that fit our criteria, but today we're choosing to take a look at the Silverstone Lascala SST-LC10B, which was . This case falls on the lower end of the premium price scale and it seems to be pretty popular among other review sites. Let's see if it'll be popular here at VL.
Silverstone Lascala SST-LC10B – Exterior
Despite the HTPC, or desktop form factor, the Silverstone Lascala SST-LC10B is quite massive. The front facade is aluminum, but the rest of the chassis is constructed primarily out of steel, which is stronger than aluminum, but also heavier. This makes the LC10B quite sturdy, and despite the steel construction, the case only weighs about 18lbs prior to outfitting it with PC parts. For colour options, our LC10B came in black (hence the "B" in the name), but the LC10 also comes in silver.
As mentioned earlier, the front bezel is 100% aluminum. Facing the LC10B head on, the left side features the power button, reset button as well as the activity LEDs. If plugged into the motherboard's front panel pins, the power and HDD LEDs light up blue when they are in use.
Just beneath the buttons are four USB 2.0 ports. These ports are exposed, and given how clean the front of the LC10B is in general, it would have been nice to have these ports covered. Next to the ports on the side of the case are the audio and FireWire connections.
Moving on to the right side is the DVD compartment. Despite having the capacity for two 5.25" devices, the LC10B will only allow for one external device in it's stock configuration. Given that a DVD burner hardly costs anything these days, this is not much of a big deal.
Moving on to the rear, we can see the cutout for the power supply on the left, with the IO back plate to the right, followed by the expansion slots. Removing several screws will allow you to access the interior of the case. We're pretty used to thumb screws around here, so we were a little disappointed these were left out, but other than to save on manufacturing costs, we figure Silverstone didn't intend for the user to crack open the PC too often once it's setup.
Interior and Installation
The top cover is a three sided sheet, meaning the top and sides of the case are one part and come off together. We mentioned the case's sturdiness earlier, and some of that can be attributed to the three cross bars on the two edges and the middle.
Tool-free is not the name of the game here as you're going to have to keep that Phillips head screwdriver handy for almost every key component. Silverstone does provide a basic, but detailed and straightforward instruction sheet that outlines the order and procedure of installation.
Motherboard installation is simple enough, though there will be one screw that will appear to be inaccessible which is the one that will be beneath the CDROM tray. Thankfully, there is a cutout for a screwdriver to slip in, but we do suggest using a magnetic tipped one to make life easier. Depending on your motherboard, some ATX power connections may end up beneath the optical drive tray. This will force you to bend the wires in order to make it fit. This was not the case with our EPoX board, but it was so for our nForce 4 SLI board.
The next step is to install the hard drive and optical drive. To install both, you need to remove the HDD rack. Installing the hard drive is as simple as putting in four screws. Before putting the HDD rack back into the case, you need to install the optical drive.
You need to undo two screws that secure the right half of the front bezel to the case. Once the screws are out, you can slide the bezel to the right exposing the outer bay. Slide the optical drive into place without screwing it in, and close the bezel back up.
There is a metal faceplate and double-sided tape included with the case. I would suggest peeling off one side of the tape and sticking it on to the faceplate. Hold the faceplate in the bezel's drive opening and push the optical drive into the other side of the double-sided tape until it sticks. Once that is done, adjust the drive accordingly and screw it into place. With that done, you can then put the HDD rack into its spot.
There is room to put three hard drives on the HDD rack, but I wouldn't feel comfortable putting more than two. However, Silverstone does hide one cage for a single drive beneath the optical drive. I do find it's a bit troublesome connecting the power and SATA/IDE connection once the drive is in place, so we recommend plugging those connections in before pushing the drive back in.
NEXT
