Sunbeamtech Acrylic HTPC Case

When the lights go out...

I couldn't resist.  Taking out a few 12 inch UV CCFLs I held these up over the Sunbeam Acrylic HTPC case so we could see it lit up empty.  The way the edges glow makes for a nice effect.

Load her up

Enough play, time to drop a system in.  Some HTPC cases I have worked with in the past are quite cramped.  Usually eliminating the possibility of oversized coolers or VGA cards.  Not having had my morning coffee yet and feeling a bit grumpy, I decided to start out by making it hard on the Sunbeam case.  Selecting a Kingwin RVT 12025D Cooler that sits 129mm tall, an elongated Thermaltake Toughpower 1200w PSU and a Inno3D iChill GeForce 8800 GT whose Accelero X1 cooler stretches the card's height 36mm beyond the PCB, I figured we'd find the case's limitations pretty quickly.  Surprisingly, they all fit.  As you can see below the tightest fit for these three supersized components was the Inno3D iChill 8800 GT with the lid having barely 2mm of clearance.

  

Two other questions you may have we looked into as well.  The first being, your VGA card cannot be longer than 255mm long.  That's about 10 and 1/4 inches.  Anything beyond this length and you but into the left side HDD rack.  Now you do have the option of removing that rack to make room.  Having tried this we were able to install a HIS HD3870 X2 VGA card but it was still  a tight fit with the optical drive with hardly any room to spare.

The second question is about the strength of the upper lid.  No, you cannot stack a CRT monitor on this acrylic chassis and expect it to hold or not crack.  We did however sit a 22" LCD monitor on top and didn't have any problems.  But as always with plastic... be careful.

Firing it all up we were rewarded with a nice yet subtle light show.  The effects were not overpowering while giving enough light to make for a truly unique look.

Conclusion

Sunbeam Technology is well known for its wide range of niche products.  Their new Acrylic HTPC Case only furthers my impression of Sunbeam's high quality and reasonably priced specialty items.  The included UV LED 80mm case fans create quite a conversation piece while keeping the focus on where it needs to be - a functional home theater PC.  By using UV LED fans in a UV case, the lighting effects are subtle and can easily be "tuned out" while you are enjoying a movie.  Conversation piece can't and shouldn't be confused with Center Piece.  Construction of the case from the kit required no large amounts of time, skill or patience.  Easy and quick to put together and no surprises is just what I like to hear with any build kit.  Lots of room for up to eight hard drives, the ability to take extended PSUs, VGA cards and oversized coolers coupled with excellent ventilation spell out a real winner here.  Congrats to Sunbeam on a new and fun take on the HTPC.  Priced at $80, I'm sure this case will be a success to them and a pleasure for its audience.

Pros:

• Truly unique HTPC Case

• Included four UV LED fans

• Solid construction

• Easy to put together

• Tall enough to handle up to 130mm tall coolers

• Deep enough so that extended power supplies won't cramp the drive racks

• Roomy enough for longer VGA cards

• Excellent ventilation

• Nice lighting effects

• Holds up to eight hard drives

• Center mounted case fan

Cons:

• No fan filters

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