nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Steel HTPC 3000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Decent design, looks good. Enough room inside for a full ATX motherboard and decent video card, surprisingly enough supplies more then ample cooling for a decent system-even when inside a enclosed entertainment center.
Theres room for 6 hard drives, installation was fairly easy for the most part for the type of case (see cons) case is nice and solid, and easy to move if needbe. The front temperature/fan LCD is a nice, albeit cheap feature, as well as the doors over the media card reader and optical bay. The 3 USB ports, media card ports, and firewire built into the case a definite plus, had no issues with bad standoffs or cheap backplate like others complained about. The instruction booklet actually proved somewhat useful, which is rare among computer case manufacturers, even the name brands often have lousy instruction manuals. It is a bit tight, so not for a gaming machine or major overclockers, but makes for a great HTPC case or around the home system.

Cons: Cable management. I put in a modular power supply, and still had issues with cables-barely got my 4850 hooked up to the PCIE power cable, and that was after having to move a hard drive. It can be a royal nightmere, but not impossibe. The LCD panel itself, the wire was barely long enough to fit on my motherboard fan controller, and wasnt grounded to well-with most cases, if I touch the case and static electricity zaps, their fine, not this, it shorted out part of the LCD making it hard to read up close. Not a big deal though, from a distance its still readable and I dont really use it anyway.
the 80mm fans are slightly larger then normal, and one of them interfered with my PSU installation-I had to remove it and replace with amasscool I had on hand to get my PSU to fit. Again, just a minor annoyance but one that should have been thought of ahead of time.
The Optical bay does not line up properly with the case-left a small crack. Not noticeble unless the panel doors open though

Other Thoughts: It can be mounted sideways-there are two ways to do it. First, take a flat head screwdriver, and pop the rubber feet off the bottom, and reapply to the side of the case. The glue should hold just fine, any glue left on the bottom can easily be cleaned off with your fingernails. If the glue does not hold, rubber feet are cheap at your local hardware store. The LCD panel doesnt adjust, but its not needed anyhow-mines on for no more then mere decoration. Worth the $40 I paid for it. due to cable management, if you do a lot of modifying (constant upgrading) I can see where the cable management can make that a pain-but for a HTPC case that doesnt get modified much, you build it and leave it, its a great value.

Specs: OCZ 550 watt Fatal1ty modular PSU, gigabyte mp61p-s3 motherboard, AMD athlon 64 x2 6000+ CPU, 6 gigs of Patriot ddr2 800, ATI Saphire 4850, Hitachi 500 gig hard drive, LG blu-ray burner/player, windows 7 ultimate.

Pros: This case is going to be more then enough for most HTPC needs, the design is perfect. I had zero cable management issues with my Corsair 650w Prof series. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the entire drive mounting piece comes out by undoing two screws very top and bottom which makes accessing everything amazing!

Cons: No Cons that I can think of!

Other Thoughts: When I received the case it was missing the MB standoff screws and one of the 80mm fans had a crimped cable, so for a sec i was like blah. I sent nMediaPC a email and had a response within a few hours on a Saturday even within 48h parts were being shipped to me, thats customer service right there. If I could give them 6 stars I would be inclined to!!!

Pros: Looks. Room for regular ATX board, with 8800GT video card. Three fans. Lots of screws for everything.

Cons: Fan speed monitor made my CPU cooler run faster when hooked up, so I decided not to use it.

Other Thoughts: Other reviews made me leery about this case, but I gave it a try as a shell shocker, and I'm glad I did. The mobo is attached with the typical brass stand offs, so no problem there. Worked so well, that I bought a second one.

Pros: Full ATX Support
Standard ATX PS Support
Surprisingly high quality
Fans are relatively quiet
Drive-Tray Design is very efficient imho.
Cool brushed aluminum faceplace

Cons: Its a lot bigger than I thought it might be, but I mean... its not like they are trying to hide its dimensions or be misleading about that.

Other Thoughts: Got this case on shell shocker for $30, and I have been thoroughly impressed. The 3-egg rating made me kind of leery, but I can assure you this is a high-quality case. It has a nice brushed-aluminum faceplate and features a convenient design. I really liked the fact that it accepts standard ATX power supplies so you don't have to deal with any of those junk proprietary ones, as well as full-atx motherboard support and full-height PCI slots. I cannot comment on the LCD though, as I thought it was kind of dumb and left it unplugged. Everyone also seems to be complaining that it cannot be used horizontally, and even though it probably wasn't designed for it, you could easily put some rubber feet on the side and use it horizontally, provided you don't use the LCD like me, or rig that sideways too.

Pros: Looks sleek and stylish. Features, like rubber grommetted HDD bays, three case fans, enough room for extended ATX board and my 8800GT video card.

Cons: Not toolless, but they include plenty of screws including some nice "shouldered" screws for the grommetted hard drives.

Other Thoughts: I want to thank the others who reviewed this case because they helped give me some idea of what to expect, but they also scared away enough folks that I got a great shell shock deal. The motherboard standoffs are the standard brass ones that all mobos have, so I don't understand that hoorah. I like this case- no, it's not a $200 Corsair, but it is a nice product and an even better value. I liked it enough that I bought a second one.

Pros: Just got this new case. I wanted a case I could lay down and build a nice HTPC. This was a great deal on a Sunday Shell Shocker. Nice aluminum front and steel contruction. We will see about the LCD sensor

Cons: The jury is out on the LCD sensor and tape

Other Thoughts: Newegg still rocks watch those Shell Shockers everyday or you might miss a great deal. The case was $79.00 then $59.00 then 29.99 on Shell Shocker. Woo bargain!

Pros: - a lot of room for hdd, but it's hard to get to/install them
- built in card reader

Cons: - it makes an impression of a horizontal case, it is not, it does not have rubber legs on back side, if placed horizontally, it scratches furniture and itself. Lower front panel door (if placed horizontally) does not open unless front side of the case sticks out of a furniture edge. Top front panel door threatens to damage you optical drive by hooking a disk holder, have to lift the door every time disk goes in. Finally temperature display isn't rotatable and shows in vertical position.
In other words this is not a horizontal case by any means.
Think twice if you are buying it as a horizontal case.
- they tried to save on wires, case wires barely can reach connectors whether it's temp sensor or fan
- fans are noisy!!! 1 fan on bottom, two on back make an impression it's going to take off, had to turn them off.
- as it's said in other reviews it makes an impression of cheap box
- still it's a mystery for me what this front black grill is designed for? steals so much space

Other Thoughts: That's not an HTPC case. Skip it.
This is very bad desktop case. Skip it.

Pros: This case is massive; you could almost fit TWO ITX MBs in it.

Cons: This case is massive; even with a ATX MB in it there is a lot of dead space.

Other Thoughts: The big hole in the front of the case doesn't have the same wow factor in person as it does online.

Pros: Easy install. Front USB ports, hidden front port panel, hidden Optical drive panel. Perfect for my needs.

Cons: It's a little large for my media center. This is not an issue with the case, just the furniture. Not a con, really, just an observation.

Pros: All connections are labeled allowing for an easy installation; to a point.

When the drive cages are removed there is ample space for a standard full ATX motherboard and power supply as well as an easy installation.

The thermocouple in a nice addition to this case and attaches easily to a heat pipe with the included tape. The length of the thermal couple lead is acceptable.

The airflow design is pleasing for the most part with the dual 80mm fans pulling outside air across the HSF. The other vents in the case allow for good circulation with only one large dead spot behind the front LCD/card reader/left drive cage area.

There is a front 120mm intake fan (above) actually works counter to keeping the case at optimum temperatures with video cards are installed; it was reversed.

This case is capable of comfortably housing SLi or CrossFire setups with moderate sized video cards but considering the small internal volume of the case heat evacuation and noise could become a problem

Cons: The most aggravating issue with this enclosure is the Molex connectors. These connectors are of such a poor quality that using a small screwdriver or paperclip may be necessary (was necessary) to line up the connector pins. This was the case with all Molex connectors; both male and female.

The front panel fan speed indicator wire is shorter than it should be necessitating its removal to change memory sticks.

The dual rear fans having insufficient cabling causing some wiring problems in a case that has no real accommodations for cable management.

The fact that this case does not have a horizontal option is not acceptable. Most of the major receiver manufacturers (Sony, Onkyo, Yamaha) have the same width (17? +.140? -0.00?) and this enclosure looks great in a horizontal position but you must make two concessions.

The fan speed/thermocouple readout can not be rotated to match an orientation other than vertical which makes for a funky appearance and the optical bay door is not

Other Thoughts: The level of workmanship is such that if nMEDIAPC could (would) fix the few issues mentioned above they would have a case worthy of Award but as it stands they have a lot of potential held back by cheap parts. I can not say enough about the fabrication work to out weigh the negatives of this case. For the HTPC/Media box using integrated graphics or a low-mid level card this case would be fine, but then arises the big sticking point: Why the full height and room for six drives if you are limited in component selection? This case is two design weaknesses and a few too many pennies saved in component costs away from being top of the line.

nMEDIAPC has many fine looking products but they do not appear to be ready for the prime time when it comes to total quality. To be fair this case was low priced, designed for vertical installation, never intended for horizontal use, so it should not be knocked down a notch for that; it is not really a flaw. The elec