Zalman HD135 HTPC Case Review 6

Zalman HD135 HTPC Case Review

(6 Comments) »

Value and Conclusion

  • The Zalman HD135 Media PC case is currently going for $299.
  • Lots of space
  • Takes regular sized PSUs
  • Takes full-height video cards without riser card
  • Potentially SLI/Crossfire capable
  • Case blends in with your other living room equipment
  • Excellent build quality
  • VFD display included
  • Nice airflow
  • Can use standard sized optical drives
  • Fan controller & Fans included
  • Nice design
  • Available in silver and black
  • HDD mounting method is noisy
  • Takes fingerprints
  • Top exhaust fan may not work with all coolers/motherboards
  • Optical drive mounting has several minor flaws
Even though the Zalman HD135 HTPC Case has a few flaws I still like it a lot. Zalman has designed it to accommodate standard components which is a big plus, yet it is rather low profile with a total height of only 13.5 cm.
The airflow concept is well thought out which means I see it well possible that you run a multi GPU solution in the case. Since it works without the need of slot riser cards you can install as many add-in cards as in a regular case.
Being able to mount a standard sized optical drive is a great plus because you can save a good amount of money here compared to using notebook drives. Unfortunately there are some issues when using the case without optical drive.
Overall I would say if you are looking for a beautiful media PC case with great potential for expandability and are willing to work around the problems, you have found pretty much the ideal case. I would suggest getting the silver version to avoid having fingerprints all over the case.
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Nov 23rd, 2024 17:57 EST change timezone

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