With the computer becoming almost a requirement people are spending more and more time in their office and less time in their living room. My household is a great example of this, between work on websites, reviews, and games I find myself on my computer most of the day. We have a 52-inch 1080p TV along with countless console games and I almost never end up in the living room. For the past two years I have not had cable or satellite, instead I have found my shows online. Apparently, I am not the only one who does this; HTPC's (Home Theater PC) have recently started to become popular. With the ability to get online or watch downloaded movies and shows, it is no surprise really. HTPC's are basically standard pc's in a special case, Antec produces a few different designs. We are going to look at their Fusion Remote Max today. We will find out if it has what it takes to survive in the living room.
Review Sample Provided by: Antec
Review by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Specifications
Gross Weight: | 24 lbs / 10.9 kg |
Net Weight: | 19.6 lbs / 8.9 kg |
Unit dimensions: | 7.5"(H) x 17.5"(W) x 17.8"(D) 19.05cm(H) x 44.45cm(W) x 45.21cm(D) |
Front I/O panel: | USB 2.0, FireWire, eSATA and audio in/out ports |
Motherboard: | Standard ATX Form Factor (12" x 9.6" or 30.5cm x 24.5cm) |
Cooling System: | - 1 side 140mm TriCoolTM fan - 1 rear 120 mm TriCoolTM fan - 1 front 120 mm fan mount to cool the graphic cards (optional) |
Expansion Slots: | 7 Expansion slots |
Front Bezel: | Aluminum plate front bezel with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), built-in IR receiver and volume control to work with media center applications |
5 Drive Bays: | - External 1 x 5.25" - Internal 4 x 3.5" |
Included: | Deluxe 56-button remote control and iMEDIAN |
Features: | -Built-in washable air filters -Air guide brings fresh air to the CPU Cooler -Desktop 4U height fits in any environment -Removable HDD brackets with extra soft silicon grommets to reduce vibrational noise -HD by iMON software for media management and playback -Triple chamber structure to separate the power supply hard drives and motherboard for cooler and quieter operation -0.8mm cold rolled steel for exceptional durability |
Packaging
The FusionRemote Max's packaging is standard for a PC case (as usual). The front has a large picture of the case on it along with the remote. Inside the box, the case is held with foam on each side keeping it protected. Antec included a full manual rather their new one-page manuals. All of the screws and other parts are all inside of a box inside of the case.
Outside
This case is extremely large for a HTPC. Large enough to be able to fit a few very large fans on the back and side to keep everything cool inside. The front of the case has a volume knob, an lcd screen with an IR sensor next to it. Under the screen they have a spot of a DVD drive with a cover to make sure your drive matches the case. The bottom of the front folds down under the door you will find a reset button, USB 2.0, FireWire, eSATA and audio in/out ports.
Inside
The inside of the case is divided up between the power supply side and the motherboard side. The power supply side has a vent for the power supply fan, and a cage for two hard drives. The divider between the two areas includes a hole to route cables through. The rest of the case is standard; there is another hard drive cage with a removable panel to give room for long video cards if needed. The disk drive cage slides up and out easy to give access to the back of the LCD panel if needed. I talked before about this case being big for a HTPC; it is really just a standard case. It has room for SLI or Crossfire with long video cards, and it will hold a full ATX motherboard.
Test Setup
Abit IN9 32X-MAX 680iIntel Q6600 Quad core CPU B3 steppingGelid Solutions Silent CPU Cooler4 gigs of A-Data G Series RamEVGA 8800GTS Video Card 640MBIn-Win Commander 850Seagate 320 Gig HDLite-On DVD BurnerRunning Vista Ultimate and XPInstallation
Sparring everyone the tiny details of the install, I did notice a few things of note. The hard drive needed to be installed near the power supply because I had to use the other hard drive area for wiring. Even though this case is large, it was hard to tuck the wires away to keep good airflow. I found the front I/O panel wires were almost too short to reach the plug. If I were running a long video card or multiple video cards the wires might not of reached. The case is tall enough to run some aftermarket heatsinks, the Gelid Solutions heatsink fit perfect. Overall, the install went smoothly, like any other pc for the most part, easier than I thought a HTPC would be to build.
Performance
Having this HTPC setup on our 52inch in the living room gave me a good reason to pick up a new TV Show. After some prodding, I decided on watching House M.D. for the first time. The included remote made it easy to navigate around through menus without the use of a keyboard and mouse. I fell in love with the remote for its ease of use. The included software on the other hand did not go over as well; it is nice software but felt unnecessary with the ability to open folders and files with the remote. The one major complaint I did have about the case is the LCD panel. It was great that it is included, but the panel has almost no contrast and no way to adjust it, with the lights off I had trouble reading the panel from across the room. My last concern with having a PC in my living room was the noise. I included the Gelid Solution Silent CPU heatsink to keep the noise down. Because of the case's size, Antec was able to include large low speed fans to be able to keep the noise down. In the end, my concerns were not necessary; the Fusion Remote Max was quieter than my Xbox 360.
Overall
Building a HTPC was finally able to get me into my living room for once. The Fusion Remote Max's size makes it possible to build a HTPC that is capable of doing more than just playing old reruns. With the 8800GTS we had installed into ours a few matches of Left 4 Dead, TF2, and COD4 where possible. In fact it's amazing to play some of the best PC games in 1080p. With the capability to run two 280's in SLU or two 4870 X2's in crossfire, this case has the possibility of being way more than a HTPC. Aside from the size, the included remote was one of the best parts of the case. Of course it's not without faults, the LCD screen has very little contrast. It was bad enough to the point where I could hardly read it. Even with that fault, the case turned out to be amazing. Having A HTPC spoiled me, and I could not ask for a better first impression than Antec's Fusion Remote Max. In addition, House M.D. hooked me also; I have already watched all of the episodes up until this season.