Thermaltake DH-101 HTPC Case

[Darksaber]

The DH-101 is Thermaltake's latest midsize HTPC offering. It features the well known Soundgraph iMON Graphical VFD and a lot of extra controls. It takes a normal ATX mainboard and has space for up to three hard drives, which leaves you free to choose which components you wish to install.

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[WarEagleAU]

Never fails. Great cases with VFDS for HTPCs are usually expensive. Id like an Antec one with VFD for under $175 USD.

 

[DrunkenMafia]

These VFD's are getting much better.. They are still no match for origens 12.1in TFT... lol. But thats 2 grand!! I really want to make one of these media centres one day...

 

[ktr]

Another plus is that it can accept a full size atx mobo.

 

[cleromyvin]

Hi, and thank you very much for you're article
a have a question, is it possible to use a cpu fan like OCZ vandetta or Noctua NH-U9F ???
or what is the size limit .... thank you very much for advance and sorry for my english

 

[Darksaber]

Hi, and thank you very much for you're article
a have a question, is it possible to use a cpu fan like OCZ vandetta or Noctua NH-U9F ???
or what is the size limit .... thank you very much for advance and sorry for my english

Well if you leave that top metal cover piece off you should be able to fit most CPU coolers, as long as it is as high as the PSU. That should give you a good idea and easy comparison, as all PSUs are of equal width.

cheers
DS

 

[el_rijo]

Hi, and thank you very much for you're article .
I'm much interested in that case for mi future HTPC, but i only have a 145mm. of height on my piece of forniture in the living room. my answer is if the height of the case is incluiding feets or not? Can you help me please?

 

[mtp3]

Disappointing

I recently purchased a dh101. I was very disappointed.

1. Finish. Ok, but nothing special. Not nearly as well done as my Antec Solo.
2. Hardware. Poor. The PCI card quickmount system is cheap and does not work well. Brackets (without cards) still require screws to hold them in place. Quick mount for drives are only partially quick mount (still require a screw driver), and are cheap. I expect that I will break one soon,
3. Fans - LOUD - factory fans at 12V (no adustment and no MB header) rival a 747 at takeoff. Replaced 120mm with a Noctua and brought the 2 60mm fans down to 5 volts - still louder than I would like, but acceptable.
4. IMON LCD. Works ok - have trouble setting contrast so to limit ghosting on text crawl. Would ideally like system info to show temp and CPU utilisation. I do not need the display to tell me that I have a q6600 in the MB.
5. IMON Remote. finicky and difficult to set up. not great transmit distance and does not penetrate glass. Most be directly in front. I wish it has a remote (USB) reciever/transmitter like the micorsoft remote.
6. Airflow - does not seem to be good. Motherboard temp sensor seems to be at 45C no matter what the fans are doing (even at full 12V) - Interestingly, CPU is at 35C - 42C max under load. When I take the cover off the case, the motherboard temp drops to 36C.
7. Motherboard compatability. Perhaps this is more of a motherboard problem, but i had trouble fitting a Gigabyte ga-p35-dq6 into the case. The cooling fins interfered with the 60mm fans in the back.

 

[knownchild]

Good Case

I agree the toolless Features are cheap and more of a pain than just using screws so i just use screws anyway. Also the little clamps that attach the front panel to the actual case are cheap and break easily so be aware thermaltake does not replace these easily and does not sell them i couldn't find them anywhere if anyone knows where to buy these a link would be much appreciated. All in all this is a great case plenty of room for two 8800 GTS 512's in SLI i have owned this case for about a year and a half.