FC8 EVO Black Fanless Home Theatre Aluminium Chassis Discontinued | |
FC8 EVO Silver Fanless Home Theatre Aluminium Chassis Discontinued | |
More variations available Show |
Streacom FC8 EVO Series Fanless Home Theatre Aluminium Chassis
The Streacom FC8 EVO is an updated model of the FC8. It now offers USB3.0, direct touch heatpipes and improved compatibility.
With its stylish understated looks, the STREACOM FC8 EVO is a case that would complement the audio visual experience in any home. Thanks to its unique, specially designed fanless CPU cooling system, the STREACOM FC8 EVO offers silent fanless cooling. The finely sandblasted aluminium cabinet is beautifully finished and will look at home in any audio visual system or home theatre.
Features
- Fully fanless HTPC chassis
- 100% aluminium with a fine sandblasted finish
- Ideal for media centre system
- Compatible with Mini ITX motherboards
- Supplied with four direct touch heatpipes for superior CPU cooling
- New universal optical drive eject mechanism
- Two USB 3.0 ports
The chassis is supplied with a fanless CPU cooler that is designed to passively cool CPU’s that have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 95W or lower. The chassis can do this with the use of heatpipes that attach to the CPU cooler and then onto either side of the chassis which features large aluminium heatsinks that naturally dissipate the heat - providing silent cooling of the CPU!
Recommended Components
Streacom have a comprehensive build guide that provides general tips and suggestions on what should be considered when building in a Streacom case and how to achieve the best results.
Motherboard and CPU - The FC8 EVO is only compatible with Mini ITX motherboards. Depending which motherboard you opt for will determine which CPU to use. The case is capable of cooling virtually all CPUs that have a TDP of 95W or lower.
One important point to note when selecting a motherboard is that the board must not have the 24-pin ATX connector (shown in red in the image below or any tall heatsinks) located under the heatpipes otherwise the nano / pico PSU adapter will obstruct the them and it will prevent the CPU block from being fitted.
In our Sentinel Fanless PC (which is based on this case) we use the Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI LGA1150 Motherboard. However, because of the close proximity of the CPU socket to the side of the motherboard, we also have use the Streacom ST-MH1 Short Heatpipes as those supplied with the case are too long. The FC8 case is supplied with ST-SH2 Standard Length Heatpipes by default.
If there are any partial obstructions in the path of the heatpipes then it is possible to use only two heatpipes for 65w (or lower) processors.
Note: Although the overall cooling ability of the case allows the use of 95W processors we would strongly advise using a processor with a TDP of 65W or lower to avoid using more power than a nano / pico PSU can provide. This means that the Intel i5/i7 CPU with either a S (65W) or a T (45W) suffix would be ideal for a socket 1155 motherboard.
Power Supply - We recommend using a fanless nanoPSU which can provide up to 150W of power. This is more than enough to power a CPU that has a TDP of around 65W along with suitable peripherals. It is recommended not to overload the number of peripherals; two HDDs (or one SSD and one HDD), one optical drive, a TV tuner and obviously a motherboard should not be a problem for this miniature PSU.
Optical Drive - The FC8 EVO uses a new universal eject mechanism so it will work with any slot loading laptop drive regardless of where the eject button is located on the front of the drive. Streacom have already sourced the perfect drives for these cases, whether you require a Blu-Ray or a DVD player.
Remote Control - If you are looking to take control of the PC with the use of a remote control, then look no further than Streacom’s solution. It is supplied with a PCB that fits neatly behind a small circular window in the FC8. This means there are no unsightly boxes or wires running out from ports and it is fully compatible with Windows Media Center.
Thermal Paste - These cases are supplied with thermal paste.
FC8 Image Gallery
Reviews
silentpcreview.com
The Streacom FC8 Evo is a compelling product that stands out with its attractive and compact form factor. It is compatible with off-the-shelf desktop processors and motherboards, and it supports a slim optical drive, a pair of hard or solid state drives, a low profile expansion slot, and USB 3.0.
Specifications | FC8 EVO Black | FC8 EVO Silver |
---|---|---|
Material | 100% 3.5mm thick aluminium | 100% 3.5mm thick aluminium |
Motherboard compatibility | Mini ITX | Mini ITX |
Front I/O Ports | Two USB 2.0 ports (USB3.0 Ready, cable sold separately) | Two USB 2.0 ports (USB3.0 Ready, cable sold separately) |
Expansion card capability | 1 x PCI/PCI-E low profile expansion card slot | 1 x PCI/PCI-E low profile expansion card slot |
HDD drive support | 1 x 2.5” and 1 x 3.5” or 1 x 2.5” | 1 x 2.5” and 1 x 3.5” or 1 x 2.5” |
ODD drive bays | 1 x slot-loading optical drive with left or right-side eject button | 1 x slot-loading optical drive with left or right-side eject button |
CPU cooling | Four direct touch heatpipes, max TDP 95W | Four direct touch heatpipes, max TDP 95W |
Dimension | 240 x 250 x 110mm (W x D x H) | 240 x 250 x 110mm (W x D x H) |
Power Supply | Not supplied - consider a 150W Nano PSU | Not supplied - consider a 150W Nano PSU |
Remote control | Not supplied - consider the Streacom IR Receiver and Remote | Not supplied - consider the Streacom IR Receiver and Remote |
Net Weight | 3.2KG | 3.2KG |
Warranty | 24 months | 24 months |
EAN barcode | 8718469090389 |
Specifications | FC8 EVO Black | FC8 EVO Silver |
---|---|---|
Material | 100% 3.5mm thick aluminium | |
Motherboard compatibility | Mini ITX | |
Front I/O Ports | Two USB 2.0 ports (USB3.0 Ready, cable sold separately) | |
Expansion card capability | 1 x PCI/PCI-E low profile expansion card slot | |
HDD drive support | 1 x 2.5” and 1 x 3.5” or 1 x 2.5” | |
ODD drive bays | 1 x slot-loading optical drive with left or right-side eject button | |
CPU cooling | Four direct touch heatpipes, max TDP 95W | |
Dimension | 240 x 250 x 110mm (W x D x H) | |
Power Supply | Not supplied - consider a 150W Nano PSU | |
Remote control | Not supplied - consider the Streacom IR Receiver and Remote | |
Net Weight | 3.2KG | |
Warranty | 24 months | |
EAN barcode | 8718469090389 |
Customer Reviews
I really like this case
This is my first heatpipe case and I’m very glad I chose it. I get compliments on it all the time.
Pros
- Fit and finish: the case looks great. The construction quality is great too. It is durable; not flimsy at all, but with just the right amount of flex to give everything a tight and secure fit.
- I’m a huge fan of the front USB ports.
- Silence is golden, of course! My only sound is the BluRay drive which spins up briefly (1s) when I power on the PC, which I like because it gives an audible indicator that it’s turning on.
- The chassis is fanless yet keeps my i7-4770S running at perfectly reasonable temperatures.
- Streacom’s support is great. When I ran into an issue (partially my own fault) they responded very swiftly and helpfully! They gave me multiple suggestions to pick from, all of which were better than what I thought I was facing.
- The comprehensive build guide is great!
- The screws bags were perfectly labelled, which made things much easier for me. I much prefer Streacom’s method of referring to the screws by their threading and size, rather than by assigning an arbitrary part number.
Cons
- Assembling a PC in the heatpipe cases is a lot more work than your average PC build, and uses a lot of thermal compound. Streacom includes enough of their compound for 1 build. Personally I use most of a 4.8-gram IC Diamond paste. I’ve had to repeat the process a couple of times because the first time I stubbornly ignored directions, and the second time I had to replace a failed motherboard. It’s not too bad but when you realise you have to do it you definitely sit there for a second thinking, “Hmmm how can I avoid taking it all apart again?”
- The heatpipe cases have strict motherboard compatibility requirements, and Streacom does not maintain a full compatibility list the way HD-plex does.
- There is no screw hole in the case to secure the bottom of the PCI expansion slot cover.
- The hole for the power plug does not fit the 4-pin mini-din connectors used on some higher-wattage AC adapters. Instead I drilled holes through the PCI slot cover, since I don’t have an expansion card installed. It’s just fragile due to the lack of a 2nd screw to secure it as I mentioned above.
Feature Requests
- A more open case design might improve airflow and lower overall temperatures, especially for components not connected to heatpipes.
- The “Upper CPU Mount” could be a passive heatsink instead of just a plate, to further improve
Best pc case i ever had
I’ve always wanted a silent pc and i finally have it, thanks to the FC8 Evo. The building process wasn’t that easy, but the result is rewarding. I used the MSI B75IA-E33 motherboard, which i recommend. I was a little disappointed that the SC30 internal USB 3.0 cable was not included and now i have to get one and open up the pc again to install it.
A good chunk of metal
The quality of the box is great. The instruction guide could do with a little refinement for first time builders (more info about wiring up all the relevant cables for the PSU.)
The level of service from Quiet PC is truly excellent. I would heartily recommend using Quiet PC as they offer great value at reasonable cost.
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that’s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.” - John Ruskin
I have no commercial interest in the company. I’m just a satisfied customer.
Great little case!
Great build quality, somewhat fiddly but still relatively easy to build into and dead silent. Looks great in the living room next to the TV. Took the remote as well as I am running XBMC. Great little remote with a good receiver, essential if you are setting up an HTPC.
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