Usage
Just like I said the installation took about 45 minutes to an hour. After you are completed you are relieved, but hopefully you did not plug something in wrong, because you will have to disassemble the case to fix it.
Turning on the case is definitely a sight to see. All 4 of the installed fans light up with very bright! The fans are UV blue and the case is a UV case so they really complement each other. Everyone that has seen the case since I’ve built it has been like, “Wow that’s really cool!”. The fans are a bit loud, but if you are using this for a media center you will not really notice. Although some fan speed control would have been nice.
Final Thoughts
This really is one of the better acrylic HTPC cases that I’ve seen. It supports a full ATX motherboard, up to 8 hard drives and has ample cooling. We all know that HTPC’s will have a lot of media on them so the idea that I can put a ton of hard drives in here really appeals to me. With all those hard drives installed it’s going to get quite hot inside, luckily you have 4 fans that will keep things nice and cool.
One of the biggest selling points of this case is the look of it. Clear cases have always been popular and if you are looking to impress people at a LAN party and clear case is an easy way to do it. The blue UV LED fans definitely help that cause. When this case is lit up it really looks awesome!
Now there are some downsides to having a clear case. First you are going to see everything inside, which means all of the dust and whatever else gets inside the case. Also the way this case is designed if you need to swap out components it’s not going to be as easy as with a normal case.
The thing that really upset me with this case was the instructions. They could possibly be the worst directions that I’ve had for a case that needed to be assembled. Not only were they hard to read and understand they totally left out important details like when to install your optical drive and the rest of your hardware! I think Sunbeam should really invest more time into the directions and make them easier to understand.
I found this case online for around $90, which is what you should expect to pay for a case like this. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Sunbeam Acrylic HTPC Case a 7 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Can hold up to 8 hard drives
– Can fit a full size ATX motherboard
– Great cooling
– Looks awesome!
Cons:
– Some of the worst directions ever
– It’s clear which means you can see all the dust inside
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