GMC Noblesse AVC-S7 HTPC Case Review

The GMC Noblesse AVC-S7 case is small, and is really no bigger than a typical DVD player in all of its dimensions. The case looks very sleek, with only a single visible power button on the front.  The top and sides feature perforated holes to allow heat to naturally escape from the case.  Several logos associated with Home Theater equipment have been printed on the front (Dolby Digital, Divx, DTS, DVD Video, etc.) to give the case a look of “legitimate” audio/video gear.

There is alot of functionality built into this case, which are hidden behind an acrylic door.  Once you flip the door down, you can see tons of buttons and displays that were previously hidden. All of the panel’s functions are printed on the reverse side of the black panel, so you can easily identify what each button does without being at eye level.

One of the most notable features is the 16×2 character VFD display, which will shine through the smoked acrylic for a professional-looking presentation.  There are also several inputs that are pretty much standard on home theater PC cases now: a firewire port, two USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and  media card slots.

Also on this panel are buttons to navigate your Media Center without the remote control: a feature that EVERY home theater PC should have by now.  There is a four-way D-pad with center OK button, a Reset button, AV Center (similar to Microsoft’s Green Home button), and a Back button.

One glaring usability flaw that stands out for me is that the Reset button is so close to the other buttons and is too easy to be pressed mistakenly.   A recessed button, or making the buttons different shapes, would reduce this possibility, as most people are going to be using these controls in dim light (usually as a last resort when they can’t find their remote control).  While these navigation buttons are handy, it would also be nice if standard playback controls were included (play, pause, stop, volume up/down, etc.).

Above the feature-packed media panel is a single slot which is the enterance to the included slim-line DVD combo drive, which comes pre-installed.  The drive slot is centered (like the Silverstone LC16M), which is a feature I love.  The drive has a single eject button, which spits out any inserted disc.  You must insert media almost all the way before the drive mechanism catches, so only full-sized DVD or CD media will work.  Half-size media or oddly-sized promotional discs will surely jam and could possibly mess up the drive.

Since the case is extremely slim (barely taller than a typical 1U server case), GMC has included a special slim-line copper heatsink.  This heatsink is almost an exact copy of Zalman’s CNPS line of heatsinks in that shaved copper plates are pressed together and the fins are bent to fashion a circular design around a central fan.  The base of the copper block is rather smooth, but not polished to a mirror-like shine, and should be more than adequate for most processors.  The heatsink has brackets to work with AMD’s socket 754 and 939, and a plastic brace is included to install this cooler on Intel motherboards with socket 775.