It seems like a natural evolution for PC's and home entertainment centers to merge and become one.  However, you do not need to go out and buy a home entertainment PC from one of the big OEMs, just build your own.  Today we are looking at the Antec Fusion black quiet media center case.  This case will allow you to build your custom home theater PC exactly how you want it.  Imagine your home theater PC that can play Blu-ray and HD-DVD's and has the power of a gaming rig.  Let's see what the case is made of.

Features:

• Aluminum plate front bezel with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Volume Control to work with media center applications. 

• Windows MCE & VISTA® compatible IR receiver included for use with remote control.

• Triple chamber structure to separate heat and noise of power supply, hard drives and motherboard for cooler and quieter operation

• Quiet high-efficiency 430 Watt ATX12V v2.0 power supply with universal input and active PFC

• Removable HDD brackets with extra soft silicone grommets to reduce vibrational noise

• Advanced cooling system:
  - 2 x side mounted 120mm TriCool™ 3-speed fans

• Low profile desktop height to fit in any environment

• 3 Drive Bays
  - Front Accessible: 1 x 5.25"
  - Internal 2 x 3.5"

• 4 Expansion Slots

• Motherboard: Micro ATX form factor (9.6" x 9.6")

• Front-mounted ports for easy multimedia connections
  - 2 x USB 2.0
  - 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire®, i.Link®)
  - Audio In and Out

• Durable 0.8mm cold rolled steel construction

• Unit dimensions:
  - 5.5"(H) x 17.5"(W) x 16.3"(D)
  - 13.97cm(H) x 44.5cm(W) x 41.4cm(D)
• Net weight:
  - 18.7 lb
  - 8.5 kg

Packaging and Contents

 

     The case came well protected.  Foam packaging on both sides and a small square of foam over the large control knob to keep it nice and safe.  The contents were a little bare, but you don't really need a whole lot.

 The Outside

     The front of the case is very elegant.   This case will blend in with most home audio equipment.  The case comes in your choice of black or silver.  From left to right the components are: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with remote control receiver, optical drive bay with matching cover, firewire port, 2 USB ports, microphone jack, audio jack, hard drive activity light, reset button, illuminated power button and the big knob is the volume control.

     On the right side, there are two TriCool 120mm fans that provide the cooling.  The 120's are going to provide a lot of airflow at low RPMs.  This will keep the noise to a minimum.

     The rear of the case shows all the standard stuff you would expect with a PC, motherboard IO opening, four expansion slots and power supply. 

     On the bottom, you can see the large round feet that are normally found on home video/audio equipment.  There are some more air intake grilles which will keep the hard drives nice and cool.  The white grommets are the anti-vibration mounts for the drives.  These were soft and  work very well at eliminating any drive noise being transmitted through the case.