HD-160 Case - Exterior
Like any good HTPC case, the HD-160 makes a great immediate first impression, with a simple, uncluttered front and general design characteristics that should blend in well in any home theater situation.
Click to enlarge.
A few promininate features include the VFD display, volume knob, and the hidden media slots/ports access. Also note the large vent on the top towards the rear. In this next more head-on shot, the clear labels are easier to see. Without a lot of extra buttons or features on the front, the HD-160 should be a breeze to use, even for a complete beginner to the HTPC realm, and the volume control is a nice touch that only adds to this concept.
Click to enlarge.
An extremely close-up picture shows the brushed aluminum finish of the case fairly well, and also the nice integration of the VFD display. The Zalman symbol in the upper left corner is chrome-finished with miniscule horizontal etchings, and is on its own set-off area.
Click to enlarge.
The lower left corner houses the power and reset buttons and standard dual LEDs, without anything out of the ordinary really worth mentioning. The feet of the case itself are also visible in this picture, and once again, fit the standard HTPC look just fine.
Click to enlarge.
The lower right corner has a flap, which covers an included 17-in-1 card reader and typical ports as well. When open, it's nice to see that the ports aren't crammed together too tightly so that using all of them at the same is difficult. This is the only externally available 3½" drive, so if one would want a floppy, they'd have to replace the card reader drive.
Click to enlarge.
The overall construction of the case is superb. With the slight exception of the volume control, (which still feels fairly good) everything feels solid and fits together very tightly. Another close-up shows the thickness of the front bezel and the quality of the Zalman symbol slightly better than before.
Click to enlarge.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
48 Comments
View All Comments
SonicIce - Saturday, April 1, 2006 - link
yeah i was just joking around man. you did a good job reviewing it the way you did.JoshuaBuss - Monday, April 3, 2006 - link
Thanks man, I never am sure on these little 'comments' sections.. I tend to get a lot of crap here.. haha.I kinda guessed that you were joking actually, but wanted to take the time to clarify why exactly I cable it the way I do anyway. I suppose for a lot of people, they might've read your post and NOT thought it was meant in jest.
4AcesIII - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
Thermaltake's Mozart and Bach cases have that thing beat hands down at less money. And why not tell us that the vfd and remote are farmed out to Imon by Soundgraph? Anyone notice how the vid cooler eliminates use of slot next to video? If you're going to do that why not get something that puts the hot air out the back like some other after market vid coolers do? This is nothing other than a big black box with alot of stuff bought from others to put into and with it and not especially attractive either but that sorta follows Zalman's history in my opinion. Go ahead and buy it if you want a Yugo get something else if you want quality.segagenesis - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
I think this is the HTPC case I've been waiting for. Screw how big it is... I want as quiet as possible.topher42 - Saturday, April 1, 2006 - link
Take a look at the OrigenAE X11.ScarletGrayFire - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
It's about time we have an HTPC case capable of quietly cooling a high-performance HTPC! This case fits right in the audio rack, and with three 80mm fan locations and enough room for a quiet CPU HSF, one can run an Athlon FX CPU with a state of the art video card. Also, an Arctic cooling vga cooler will push some of the heat in the PCI card area out the back of the case. Word is that this case is actually manufactured by OrigenAE.mbhame - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
Those pictures are awful. What gives??JoshuaBuss - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
care to elaborate? any particular pics? I thought most turned out very good actually..?Howard - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
It's spelled "exemplary", and I only see 3 discrete copper heat pipes (re: Zalman 9500).JoshuaBuss - Friday, March 31, 2006 - link
Thank you. I don't know what I was thinking.. I knew it was three all along..heh.