Silverstone CW02B HTPC case review - Page 3

Thanks sethhobrin for reply.
I did install 92mm fan under 1 bay, where I put only 2 drives so far: WD750 GB RE2 and new Samsung F1 1TB.
It should be enough for now.
I placed PS to intake air from outside - will see how it's doing. One of the reasons to do that is I am going to install CPU aftermarket Heat sink Thermaltake CL-P0401 110mm Full-Range Fan CPU Cooler and Video Card cooler :Thermalright HR-03 GT with 92mm fan.
So, all area should get enough air around MB.
Plus 92mm fan under HDD's + 120mm Case fan.
I think it should be more then enough air circulation inside.

I got few ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 Fan Controllers as well and may reduce speed of some fans if anything going to be noisy.

I got LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 and this drive didn't fit 100%. As I did increased holes of the brackets to bring it closer it looks too low as well. As I said yesterday, I am not sure it will be able open door.

I may test it later tonight.

Here is my setup so far:
1. SILVERSTONE Crown Series CW02B-MXR Black
2. Intel Q6600
3.EVGA 512-P3-N805-A1 GeForce 8800GT KO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready
4.CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
5.LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06
6.GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard
7.SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
8.Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD7500AYYS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
9.Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply
10.Thermaltake CL-P0401 110mm Full-Range Fan CPU Cooler
11.Thermalright HR-03 GT
12.Logitech diNovo Edge KB
13.MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse
14. Few ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 Fan Controller.
15.LINKSYS WUSB54GS USB 2.0 Wireless-G Network Adapter with Speedbooster.

Now, tell me it's overkill

Thanks

Hmm I have the same DVD writer laying at home in the box. I'm putting my PC together tonight so I'll let you know if mine fits. I dont see how it wouldn't fit. I am pretty sure the optical drives are supposed to be standard dimensions, sizes, screw spacing, etc.... thats wierd. i sure hope mine fits.

My specs:

CW02 Case
Q6600
Gigabyte X38-DQ6
Scythe Ninja Rev B /w Scythe Silent Fant
2 x 92mm Scythe Silent Fans under drive cages
1 x 150GB Western Digital Raptor 10k rpm
5 x 500gb western digital Se16 Drives
3ware 9650se hardware raid controller(4 ports)
2 x 1GB Mushkin PC8500 1066mhz Extreme Performance memory
EVGA 8800GTS 512MB G92
Logitech MX5000 Laser Bluetooth keyboard and Mouse
Gyration MCE remote
700watt Thermaltake modular PSU
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06


Sounds like we are building almost identical PCs!

Yeah, sounds pretty similar
I was really reluctant to go with the bigger HDD, so when you add to the cart 1 HDD 200$ and another for 279$ it looks very expensive.
Let me explain you a trick: I ordered one drive 2 weeks ago and another HDD a week later - So, i saw in a cart only 200$ and week later 279$ - it was easier to push a button

Please let me know how is your Lite On fit, OK?

By the way , what the reason you didn't buy LB HDD/BR drive for 300$ ? I decided that 35 $ DVD drive will be good enough for another 6-8 month and then I'll buy HDD/BR combo may be for 100-140$ ? And I'll take my time to backup my DVD collection this time as well.
Thanks

I run a PS3 with HDMI to my high end home theater system so I don't need to run blu ray on my htpc. I figure I can get a better picture and audio from blu ray on my ps3 than this PC. Will be using this strictly for a backup server, watching DVDs, photos and playing games.

I'll let you know about the burner tommorrow.

I did my build last night and I am up and running. I did not have to do anyting special with my liteon dvd writer. it fit fine. I only used 3 screws though on the top part because something in the case is off a hair. the button works though and the tray comes out without a problem.

sethhobrin
Thanks for reply. I ended up with glueing small piease of aluminium to the eject button of the lite ON drive to allow me to rise drive about 2 mm and I put 2mm washers on all 4 stands for the drive bracket. Now it opens good, however I am not sure I like the sound of the front door opening. It's a little "scratchy" sound. But it's not so bad.
Somebody removed their front bazel of the drive - I didn't. I don't see front bazel intefere with anything.

sethhobrin
You use the same MB as I am.
Do you have any problem with sound?
I am trying to get audio on Fiber optic and tried Coax as well - no audio. Updated latest Audio drivers , but there is no help so far.
One thing I did stupid - I ordered Vista 64 bit. I was going to order 32 bit, but when ordered so many parts I probably didn't pay attention that I actually ordered 64. I discovered it after installation and it's too late to return it, since package is opened.
Can be Audio output problem due to the OS?

I didn't play too much with the iMon - I see it's running some information, will play with it later.
Another thing I noticed, when started DVD first 10-20 sec video looks slow and freezing a little. No clue why.
CPU running about 3% and Memory around 900MB from 2GB available. Will check it again.
Really pis$^&*( off with wrong OS purchased.
I hope if I will run it as HTPC only few SW will be installed - may be it's ok? Any thoughts?

One more thing: I tried to connect my HTPC to Sony 52XBR4 by DVI to HDMI cable - no video. PC input works though.
Anybody else has similar setup with Sony TV on HDMI input?
Thanks again.

Hi, i'd like to ask sth important to me.

Does this case support 21cm long PSU?

thnx

thnx
its ok for me to put the disks on the other side.

i tried to calculate the length from pictures and i think its ok. the PS is modular so i will have only what i need. i will order it tomorrow and i hope i stay satisfied...

has anyone managed to fit a long video card like the 88000gtx along with the lg combo (bluray-hddvd) drive into this case?

Has anyone had trouble with getting this to turn on and off via remote? My LCD is working fine (albeit uselessly) and the iMon and iManager software is all installed but when I hit the power button on the remote (or on my Harmony) it wont turn on.

I am fighting with this one myself.

probably have the iMon setup for MCE remote (like the harmony). It will not turn on/off the PC that way. If set to iMon remote, it will turn on/off, but harmony won't work.

Tried to reprogram the harmony using "learning", but NG.

My only thought is to see about setting up a "hotkey" for turning on PC (works with both ps2 and usb). I have a RF keyboard so not sure how that work out. Just got the build running last week.

Good luck

I'm curious how you took out the HDD cages.. I made the mistake of installing my Hdd's on the left.. now my Ultra120 I cannot get to the right cage without totally taking apart the computer.. if you can write something up on how to take out the Hdd cages.. that would be appreciated.

Ok.. so just picked up the Harmony 880 .. how do I set it up to work with the imon IR in this case ? anyone ?

It is not worth the aggravation to remove the HDD cages, I took one out to put in the Fan. It does not line up properly which leads to frustration.
For the other side, I did not bother to remove the HDD cage while installing the fan.

Now I had this when it first came out if they had changed it in newer models I don't know.

Read post 27 on first page of this thread.

In iMon you can pick which remote you want use. Set it for Windows media center remote (if you have programed the Harmony for Microsoft)

Actually the remote for the CW02 is made by Soundgraph so I selected that and then typed in iPAD and it found it and it works. I like it better that way.. cus I dont really use the media center of windows since I have Beyond TV.

You mean after you put it back it the cage did not line up properly ? or the fan ? The reason I want to know how to take it out is I want to avoid having to take out my MB and Heatsink to add new drives ... I took a look at post #27 but did not see any detail on taking out the cages.

{ignore 1 of 3}

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{ignore 3 of 3}

I was going to get this HTPC case (Silverstonetek CW02) and pair it in my rack with the Marantz AV8003 and MM8003 (http://us.marantz.com/Products/2290.asp) since they look similar.

I will be using 2x nVidia 9800GTX video cards and the new Auzentech Home Theater HD sound card [http://www.auzentech.com/site/produc...heater_hd.php] will be sandwiched between them on the motherboard

My question is this; with most HTPC cases costing significantly less, and with some of the modifications that appear necessary for cooling, for those of you who own this case, is it worth the $379 in your opinion??

Thanks in advance!

{P.S. sorry for the annoying 3 posts, but it would not let me include links otherwise as I am new to the forum}

Funny, I was going to get the Marantz setup to match my cw02

I have had this for nearly a year and love it. IMO there is no other equivilent to the looks or quality. Running a Phenom x4, 3x HDD's, 3650 ATI, and the LG "combo" BluRay/HDDVD.

Had to install a thermotake CPU cooler as the stock one was very loud, the height of the case left plenty of room though.

As was said before, the LCD is kinda cheesy (I also have a silverstone LC16 with the vfd, and find it much better), however, the timer functions are very useful for turning on/off the PC during "prime time" for HD recording.

Bottom line is I always believed you "get what you pay for" and this case is a little pricy, but worth it overall.

A few places in this thread, folks have mentioned configuring the 92 mm bottom fans in the CW02. In some cases, they say set them to exhaust air. In cases, people are using them as intakes.

I'm curious what the preferable option is for these fans for most effective/efficient cooling, especially if the rest of the system was fanless.

I dont even have them installed. The case is so big that you only need a fan on the back to exhaust air.

Hi guys,

I got one of these last year and I have to say I love it. Will rattle off a few thoughts I have.


The case is hyooge! I installed some super quiet 90mm fans inside as intakes but have since disconnected them as there is simply no need for them (unless you live somewhere veeery hot). Even with the fireplace going in winter it doesnt get near overheating. The case itself is a huge solid piece of aluminium which is always very cool to the touch and helps keep the whole system cold.

I replaced the 120mm exhaust at the back with the quietest 120mm Noctua fan out there. It was already very quiet but I thought I may as well make it a.q.a.p. I dont bother controlling the speed, just have it on full. Is quiet as a mofo. This is the only fan in the whole build apart from the PSU which you cant hear.

I have a Thermaltake 120 Ultra Extreme passive CPU cooler in there which fits easily! This is right in front of the exhaust fan. CPU never goes above 40 C. Always in the low 30s

I have an Nvidia 9600GT with a passive heatsink in there which also fit pretty easily (even with an optical drive). Temp on this hovers in the high 40s at idle and in the 50s under load. Not bad at all.

Ive already got 4 HDDs in there and there is room for 2 more. They do make a little noise but I have added extra rubber grommets and its OK as long as there is noise coming from the speakers you cant hear it.

BD Rom drive fit no probs. I solved the issue of the sliding draw scraping on the brushed aluminuim cover by very neatly putting a strip of cellotape (or any thin clear adhesive tape) along the inside lip of the swinging optical cover on the case. Now when the draw slides over it, it is silent and smooth

I got the silver one as my receiver and tv surround are silver. Looks really nice. Haven't had many issues with the imon as long as you keep installing the latest release of the software and configuring it right. Card readers all seem to work fine, as do buttons. LEDS are too bright of course but you get used to that

Other than that my only gripe was the price (cost me $560 NZ) which is actually cheap as there are stores selling it here now for $200 more than that... Was the most expensive component in my whole build by a fair whack.

Anyway, I am pleased as punch with this case and would recommend it to anyone who has the space (!) and who wants a versatile case that can fit pretty much any component you can throw at it. Build quality is excellent but manual & cd are a joke.

Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers

Full system specs:

Silverstone Crown CW02 case | Asus P5Q-L main board | Intel Dual core E8400 3.0GHz CPU | Thermalright Ultra120-Extreme Passive CPU Cooler | Blackgold BTG3540 TV Tuner & Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE Edition | Asus EN9600GT-Silent Passive GPU | Audigy 2ZS Sound Card | 4GB Supertalent DDR2 800 RAM | 4TB HDD storage (and growing) | LiteOn DH-401S BD/DVD/CD reader | Corsair HX-520w PSU | 1 single Noctua Silent Case fan | Logitech diNovo Bluetooth Media Desktop | Logitech Harmony 785 Universal Remote | Logitech Wireless Rumblepad 2 | Windows 7 Ultimate, MediaBrowser & Arcsoft Total Media Theatre