DailyTech - CES 2013: Silverstone Offers Up New Compact HTPC Cases, SG10 Tower Case

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Hardware CES 2013: Silverstone Offers Up New Compact HTPC Cases, SG10 Tower Case
Jason Mick (Blog) - January 10, 2013 2:25 PM

5 comment(s) - last by tastyratz.. on Jan 11 at 11:37 AM

Silverstone continues is campaign to conquer a variety of system building niches

Silverstone Technology, a Taiwanese maker of computer cases, power supplies, and other peripherals was hard at work at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show. After last year emphasizing its positive-pressure airflow designs, this year Silverstone's focus was on expanding in the HTPC niche and revamping one of its most popular cases -- both responses to customer feedback.

On the HTPC side, Silverstone is following up on its ML03 case, which was a top seller last year. To fulfill the growing demand for HTPC form factors among system-building enthusiasts, Silverstone is adding one smaller and larger case -- the ML03 and ML05.

The ML05 is a mini-ITX case, which uses a small form-factor (SFX) power supply. It has a PCI-Express slot, but it will need a short/half-height graphics card due to the size constraints. A slim optical drive mount is also included, which can pin a slim DVD/CD/Blu-Ray drive above the motherboard/CPU heatsink.

_{Silverstone ML05}

The ML04 gives you quite a bit more room, housing a microATX form-factor motherboard and a full ATX power supply. There's a brushed aluminum faceplate, a hidden optical drive slot, one 5.25" drive bay, dual 3.5" drive slots, and four 3.5" bays.

_{Silverstone ML04}

The ML04 will ship in Q2 2013 and be priced at $70 USD, according to our conversation with a Silverstone product expert (The Tech Report was told that the unit would ship in April at a price of $99 so there may be some confusion regarding the price). The petite ML05 will ship in Q1 2013 (the next couple months) at a $50 USD price point.

Silverstone also showed off its new SG10 cases, which gives the best-selling SG09 case a makeover. Where the SG09 went for a "car grill" look with a plasticky faceplate, the SG10 aims for a "bookshelf speaker" style. It features a 7-millimeter thick aluminum front panel, which is very thick as far as this style of case goes. It also features removable filters for the fans, for easier cleaning.

_{Silverstone SG10}

The SG10 will ship in Q1 2013 and will bump the price to $119 USD (versus $100 for the SG09).

_{[All Images © Jason Mick and DailyTech LLC]}

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HTPC

By kleinma on 1/10/2013 2:34:14 PM , Rating: 2

I was so ready to build a HTPC, but then I decided to try a Raspberry Pi for 35 bucks, running a customized XBMC 12.

While it certainly can't do all the things a full HTPC can, it was 35 bucks, and works extremely well. My movie and TV show collection all sit on a server in my house, so storage is no issue. Connections to streaming content in XBMC are a little slow to load, but seamless once anything is playing back. Everything is controlled from an app called Yatse on my android. I love it, and it cost me next to nothing to implement.

RE: HTPC

By zlandar on 1/10/2013 3:57:37 PM , Rating: 2

For some people not being able to use a tuner like Prime or Ceton is a dealbreaker.

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RE: HTPC

By tastyratz on 1/11/2013 11:37:55 AM , Rating: 2

same
although I find it frustrating that my extender options are limited to just xbox 360's...

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RE: HTPC

By EnzoFX on 1/10/2013 9:11:37 PM , Rating: 2

That is severely limited for even just the few extra things I'd like an HTPC to do. I mean things outside of the media center app itself. I love the move to ITX regardless, it isn't just for HTPC, these are potential desktop replacements for a lot of people. As far as HTPC goes, I'd go with a NUC or a GTV settop box. Definitely not any of these overpowered things. A file server to serve up the media of course.

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