SilverStone Lascala 10M: An Exclusive Look at SilverStone's Newest Creation
by Purav Sanghani on November 13, 2004 8:26 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Cooling
As we stated in our first look at the HTPC case, cooling is just as important in HTPC cases as it is in mid-tower cases that we have been reviewing for some time now. Home theater components such as receivers and power amplifiers give off a great amount of heat when powering audio equipment at high volumes and tend to transfer that heat to other components. We rarely see a receiver or an amplifier with cooling fans, but only large heatsinks to dissipate that heat effectively off of their components.
Click to enlarge.
PCs, on the other hand, require better cooling methods for the hardware to operate efficiently and also, to lower the risk of damage due to extreme temperatures. We still have yet to see a fan-less design work as well as that with fans, so we will rely on the latter until that time comes.
Click to enlarge.
The LC10M comes with three fans, an 80mm at the front as an intake and two 60mm exhausts at the back just behind the CPU on a standard Micro ATX motherboard. The front intake fan operates at 2050RPM with a 21dBA sound level. The rear 60mm fans operate at 3600RPM at their peak and produce about 25dBA at that range.
SilverStone claims the LC10M to be one of the top performers in its class when it comes to thermal conditions, but we will let our benchmarks decide for us.
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Larry Chanin - Friday, December 24, 2004 - link
To follow-up on the last suggestion. I'm a home theater enthusiast and I know absolutely nothing about building HTPC's. So I found reading your reviews of HTPC cases extremely helpful. However, I have to admit I was totally shocked by the measured sound levels of both cases reviewed. In my home theater the projector measures about 27 db. Therefore HTPC's measuring in the 40's and 50's would be totally unacceptable. With the addition of noise-reducing products could one reasonably expect to quiet these HTPC's down to db sound levels in the 20's, or am I wasting my time researching building an HTPC?i6hlf - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link
Speaking of loud HTPC's, why doesn't Anandtech dig into the design of a silent and cool HTPC. I mean some solutions with laptop cpu, mob and cooler system must be an obvious solution…Tarumam - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
A good looking desktop case for a change. But why would I ever want a loud HTPC? Sounds like an oxymoron to me.ImJacksAmygdala - Sunday, November 14, 2004 - link
Anandtech does a great job with HTPC case reviews. The thermal mapping, sound levels, and wire bundle/heatsink clearance is exactly what the HTPC crowd wants to know.As for the value memory review eetnoyer mentioned, ya I'd love to see that to although only Anandtech does HTPC case reviews right.
Besides if they showed benchmarks of value RAM overclocking just fine with AMD64 +3200 it might effect their sponsor's enthusiast memory line sales...
Gatak - Sunday, November 14, 2004 - link
I really like the thermal display over different areas of the case. Great thing to see where the hot spots arise. =)Degrador - Saturday, November 13, 2004 - link
Just thought I'd say I love the new thermal benchmarking stuff - gives a great indication of where the dead zones are (although seemingly none in this case).phaxmohdem - Saturday, November 13, 2004 - link
My first thought... Alienware MPC?http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/DHS_...
eetnoyer - Saturday, November 13, 2004 - link
Instead of media PC cases, how about that mainstream (value) memory review that was promised a couple of months ago. I think it would have a much broader appeal to your readers. Not bashing, I've just been waiting with baited breath.