Silverstone LC16M review

Building a media centre involves more than just slapping the right bits into a spare case and plonking it in your living room. You'll want a stylish case that doesn't look out of place, too.

They don't come much better-looking than SilverStone's LC16M, which is available in black and silver. The neat aluminium front panel gives the case a hi-fi feel, helped by its LCD screen and media control buttons. The LC16M comes with a remote control, which communicates with the built-in IR receiver.

These extras are all part of an iMon VFD kit. You can buy this for your existing PC (we'll show you how to fit it in next month's PC Builder section), but SilverStone has done a much neater job of integrating it.

Once you've installed the software in Windows, you're provided with media centre software, which you can use to watch videos, view photos and play music. The LCD screen on the front of the case can display track information, a graphic equaliser, video information and a lot of other things, all selectable using the Function jog wheel. You can also program the media buttons on the front to act as they would on a hi-fi.

Installation can be a bit tricky. While SilverStone provides all the screws and cables that you need, the installation guide isn't very detailed. This is a bit of a problem, as connecting the screen, buttons and front-mounted USB2, FireWire and audio ports means connecting a rat's nest of cables to your motherboard. Even experienced PC builders will find it fairly difficult, and you'll also need a motherboard with a lot of free USB headers to connect everything.

There's plenty of room inside the case - it's the size of a tower on its side - including room for a standard ATX motherboard, six hard disk bays and an optical bay with its own aluminium drive flap. There's no power supply, and we'd recommend looking for a silent one so that your PC doesn't make too much noise when it's on all the time.

SilverStone provides two silent 80mm case fans at the back, which help airflow in the case and should keep your processor's fan speed to a minimum by helping the air circulate, making your PC as quiet as possible.

It's an attractive case, with a high build quality that will look great in any living room. However, the mess of cables inside and poor installation instructions mean that it's suitable only for people who are comfortable building PCs