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A
Closer Look:::...
Once
the hard drive is in position you can mount your optical
drive. This is held in place from underneath with four fixing
screws.
As
you can see, not all DVD drives will work with this case.
The first drive I used fouled on the top of the opening
and its eject button completely missed that of the case
eject button. Another problem was that I had no DVD drives
here with a a front bezel flat enough to attach the aluminium
stealth strip to. This is likely to be a widespread problem
for users and some kind of adhesive spacer to allow the
front bezel to be removed completely and the spacer used
in its place might have been an idea worth considering.
You could also use a grinder or something similar to flatten
off the bezel but that means you can't use the drive in
other systems later without it looking unsightly.
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The
final step if to install the motherboard and operating system
which follows the same procedure as for any motherboard.
As I'm waiting for a mini-ITX board to get here I figured
I'd try a micro-ATX board with a lowly Duron 700 in it but
the power demands were too great. About half way through
boot-up the system would just cut out completely on me,
even with no expansion cards fitted which was a bit of a
surprise.
There
is room to physically install a micro-ATX motherboard in
there, and this would probably be a cheaper option for most
people, but unless SilverStone beef up the power supply
a notch you're going to have to stay in spec which limits
your options a little.
In
Use:::...
Naturally
system noise was very subdued. In fact it's about as quiet
as the cooler you choose to fit thanks to the external power
supply. With some mini-ITX boards featuring passively cooled
CPUs this means a totally silent PC is an option. Just don't
expect it to play Doom3!
What's
slightly worrying is the lack of airflow around the hard
drive, particularly as the MOSFETS on the power interface
card alongside it can radiate a fair amount of heat which
won't help. A nice-sized vent below the rear I/O aperture
would have been beneficial. There is a small one there just
above the power socket but it's not really big enough to
help much.
Conclusion
The
3DVelocity 'Dual Conclusions Concept' Explained: After discussing
this concept with users as well as companies and vendors
we work with, 3DVelocity have decided that where necessary
we shall aim to introduce our 'Dual Conclusions Concept'
to sum up our thoughts and impressions on the hardware we
review. As the needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts
have increased, it has become more difficult to factor in
all the aspects that such a user would find important, while
also being fair to products that may lack these high end
"bonus" capabilities but which still represent
a very good buy for the more traditional and more prevalent
mainstream user. The two categories we've used are:
The
Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely to put
price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or
warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates
beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may
be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their
needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast,
in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently
and reliably within their advertised parameters.
The
Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all the things
that the mainstream user cares about but is more likely
to accept a weakness in one or more of these things in exchange
for some measure of performance or functionality beyond
its design brief. For example, a high priced motherboard
may be tolerated in exchange for unusually high levels of
overclocking ability or alternatively an unusually large
heat sink with a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered
acceptable if it offers significantly superior cooling in
return.
The
Mainstream User ~
Quality
build and classic looks make the LC06 a winner. It's not
the easiest mini-ITX case to fit components inside but for
most fit-and-forget users this is a minor annoyance.
Hard
drive cooling is questionable, and you may be unlucky enough
to find your optical drive doesn't fit the opening or won't
operate off the eject button, but having tested several
most seem to fit fine.
At
£99 plus VAT, my biggest complaint is that it's too
expensive, in fact much too expensive. It's a niche market
though and sometimes the laws of supply and demand stink!
It
doesn't have, and wasn't designed to have the biggest feature
list around, but if you want a sturdy, elegant home for
that new Epia or similar motherboard, this is certainly
one to shortlist. It's also available in black if this suits
your decor or other components better.
The
Enthusiast ~
If
you're happy to grind down the front of your optical drive
to stealth it (if you need to), then the LC06 is a very
nice case that looks right at home rubbing shoulders with
your Hi-Fi and your other components.
The
low available power
and generally weak ventilation may mean reeling in your
plans for a high-power hard drive and CPU without a little
modification, but as a general purpose MP3 or file server,
DVD player or even more fully functional entertainment device
you should be able to coax the system into handling a reasonable
workload with some clever hardware choices.
The
aluminium construction certainly helps the LC06 to dissipate
some of its heat but it's not really effective enough when
the going gets tough, particularly if it's sat on some other
heat-radiating component like an amp.
If
I were to mention that you can buy a Cooler
Master WaveMaster, Themaltake
Tsunami, or even SilverStone's own excellent Temjin
J05S-T can be had for the same or less money, then I'm
sure you'll understand where I'm coming from when I suggest
the LC06 is way, way overpriced.
A
great case spoilt only by its lackluster ventilation and
high price, but still worthy of consideration if you can
take advantage of its unique features like stealthed optical
drive and silent power.
We're
always looking for ways to make our reviews fairer. A Right
To Reply gives the manufacturer or supplier of the product
being reviewed a chance to make public comments on what
we've said. They can explain perhaps why they've done the
things we were unhappy with or blow their own trumpet over
the things we loved. It's easy for us to pick a product
apart but sometimes things are done a certain way for very
specific reasons.
Should
SilverStone decide to exercise their "Right To Reply",
we'll publish their comments below:
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