The Streacom FC5 HTCP case is getting quite some attention on different forums. I wanted a fan-less HTPC and really liked the minimalistic design of the FC5 so I built a client with it. Here is my experience with this case.
It was shipped in a brown box, with a really nice black box inside. I wonder about that because it got about 3 seconds of my attention. The packaging is solid, with foam and a protective bag to make sure the case get's to you in perfect shape.
Unpacked, in real life, the case looks just as cool as on the pictures. I have the WS version without the ODD slot. The summum of minimalistic design. It just keeps bugging me that the on/off switch is in the front on the right, I would really expect that to be on the left side.
Small things I noticed about the build while putting this client together;
The all black finish is beautiful. Even the cooling blocks to fix the heat pipes are black rather than silver as shown in the Streacom gallery, but the plate for the PCI card is silver. OK it is on the back of the unit, you will never see it, but ... I still replaced it with a black one!
The studs to fix the MB are forced into the bottom plate, one of them was under a slight angle. The MB screw had to be somewhat forced in. Not a big deal, but that shouldn't happen for this expensive a case.
When picking the components for this build it became very clear that there are simply not enough mini-ITX boards compatible with this case. I did not find one that met my criteria so I had to go for a micro-ATX. A shame. On the other hand I'm really happy with the Intel board I choose and the fit of the passive cooling system is perfect.
Since I also used a SDD rather than a HDD, there are no moving parts. When I first powered it on I thought it wasn't working, no sound what so ever. Installed in the living this total silence is a real blessing, more so even then I had thought.
While in use with MP for hours the maximum core temperature gets to around 48 C. You can barely feel the heatsink in the outside of case being warm. I'm just a little weary of the chip set temperature. The standard Intel cooler is under-dimensioned for a case without airflow. The Zalman replacement I bought can not be fixed to the MB and is about 2 mm too tall. I'm looking for a way to use to the heat pipe cooling.
All in all I can recommend this case!
It was shipped in a brown box, with a really nice black box inside. I wonder about that because it got about 3 seconds of my attention. The packaging is solid, with foam and a protective bag to make sure the case get's to you in perfect shape.
Unpacked, in real life, the case looks just as cool as on the pictures. I have the WS version without the ODD slot. The summum of minimalistic design. It just keeps bugging me that the on/off switch is in the front on the right, I would really expect that to be on the left side.
Small things I noticed about the build while putting this client together;
The all black finish is beautiful. Even the cooling blocks to fix the heat pipes are black rather than silver as shown in the Streacom gallery, but the plate for the PCI card is silver. OK it is on the back of the unit, you will never see it, but ... I still replaced it with a black one!
The studs to fix the MB are forced into the bottom plate, one of them was under a slight angle. The MB screw had to be somewhat forced in. Not a big deal, but that shouldn't happen for this expensive a case.
When picking the components for this build it became very clear that there are simply not enough mini-ITX boards compatible with this case. I did not find one that met my criteria so I had to go for a micro-ATX. A shame. On the other hand I'm really happy with the Intel board I choose and the fit of the passive cooling system is perfect.
Since I also used a SDD rather than a HDD, there are no moving parts. When I first powered it on I thought it wasn't working, no sound what so ever. Installed in the living this total silence is a real blessing, more so even then I had thought.
While in use with MP for hours the maximum core temperature gets to around 48 C. You can barely feel the heatsink in the outside of case being warm. I'm just a little weary of the chip set temperature. The standard Intel cooler is under-dimensioned for a case without airflow. The Zalman replacement I bought can not be fixed to the MB and is about 2 mm too tall. I'm looking for a way to use to the heat pipe cooling.
All in all I can recommend this case!