Arisetek Accent case

When it comes to putting together a media PC, we, as punters, are rather spoilt for choice. We've previously looked at the Hiper Media Chassis previously, a micro-ATX half-height case that can be had for under £60 / $100. Today, we're looking at something at the other end of the scale - the Aristek Accent home theatre case, available for £200 from QuietPC.

What Accent is that?

The Accent comes in silver and black, and is aluminium. The gorgeous brushed fascia provides for just one external drive bay - a DVD drive with custom faceplate, provided with the case. Beneath the drive is a window for an infra-red module and/or LCD unit.

There are power and reset buttons on the left - both of which feel suitably chunky and high-quality. Next to them are power and HDD LEDs, whilst on the left are two USB and one Firewire ports.

The casing is a U-shaped one-piece, held in place with 2 screws on each side. Vents down the side allow for some extra cooling in what is a pretty small case. All in all, the machine is a little smaller than your average desktop, about the size of a high-quality home theatre amplifier.

Moving round the back, you can see how the power supply has been vertically oriented to save space - the housing is dropped down on the left to accomodate the height. Next to it is the single cooling slot for an 80mm fan.

The case is surprisingly heavy, and its size isn't insignificant. Whereas the Hiper chassis is sleek and streamlined, this is something of a brute - albeit a very handsome one. The quality is eminent, but the case does have a fundamental flaw - the lack of cooling. The vents at the side are essentially useless, with the slots being too small to allow any significant airflow, and with just one fan mount to push the air around in the first place. We'd love to see some vents in the top to help with the extreme heat today's PCs can generate.

The power supply housing orientation is a great idea, and does allow the case to be a couple of inches thinner than it would otherwise be.