Zalman HD160XT Plus

Verdict: This case oozes class and quality.

When the research folks at Zalman decide they want to design a great product, somewhere a little geeky angel gets its wings. One of the best examples of this was the previous incarnation of this case, the HD160XT which was an update of the HD160.

Seeing and touching the HD160XT Plus gives a palpable sense of the quality of the engineering behind it. The parts are finely made from thick, brushed aluminium, and cleverly assembled. There's a mature sleekness to the design; the HD160XT Plus doesn't have to be overtly bling - it just knows that it's worthy of attention. The 7in 1,024 x 768 touch-screen of the previous model has been retained, but is fed by a D-SUB input rather than USB. Most media centre motherboards offer a D-SUB output from their integrated GPUs (with DVI or HDMI joining it) and the video cable is supplied already attached and routed through to the back of the case, ready to connect to your motherboard's video output. Given that the rear of a media PC is usually a mess of cables, this extra one doesn't make much difference.

That the LCD is now powered by D-SUB means you now use the multi-monitor controls of Windows to control it; we cloned our main telly output to it so we could queue up playlists of songs without having to turn on the TV and fiddle with the remote. The visualisations of Vista's Media Center look great on the small screen, and it also does a decent job of displaying album artwork.

Under the 7in LCD is a wide array of basic controls for track selection and other functions. There's double the rows of controls of its predecessor, the HD 160XT. Aside from this, there's also a big volume dial such as you might expect to find on a component of a hi-fi tower. In fact, just like its predecessor, the HD160XT Plus makes a great claim for being the basis of a hi-fi PC. Zalman supplies a Vista-compatible remote, which has some mouse and keyboard functions to help you keep control of it from the couch.

Unlike the Thermaltake Bach all the ugly ports and connections of the HD160XT Plus are hidden. The lower section of the front glides down to reveal the usual USB, FireWire and headset connections, and a collection of media card slots for practically any type of card.

With the lid of the case removed, you can see that the internals have been crafted with the same care as the exterior. The layout is optimised not only for roominess, but also for cooling effectiveness and ease of build. The four-disk hard disk cage is tucked away against the back of the LCD circuitry. While packing in four disks is a little crazy, two of these will be well cooled by a quiet 80mm exhaust fan, which draws in air through the side panel grille and is integrated into the cage. Installing disks is easy, as the cage lifts out after the single, readily accessible screw is removed. Zalman also uses rubber grommets for the disk mounting points, which dampens disk sound remarkably well.

Should the four slots of the hard disk cage prove insufficient, there's an extra 3.5in bay under the single 5.25in optical drive bay. Considering that 1TB hard disks aren't prohibitively expensive any more, you could have 5TB of storage, although the disk-access clacking of so many read/write heads and storage platters would be a nightmare. The optical drive cage also slides out once a single screw is removed. Immediately behind the cage is an 80mm floor fan that could get in the way of an overly large PSU, which slides in immediately behind this. Zalman has cut a vent in the side of the case, so a side-intake PSU can be mounted facing this, thus isolating its airflow from the rest of the system. The ATX-sized motherboard area is devoid of anything unusual, apart from the pair of quiet 80mm rear exhaust fans. As the HD160XT Plus is a full-height desktop case, it will accommodate a CPU cooler with a height of 130mm or less.

Conclusion

The Zalman HD160XT Plus not only looks good, but also has exceptional build quality, features and cooling, and is easy to build. The touch-screen LCD is great for controlling the system without needing to the turn on the TV, and provides a fun toy to show off to your friends.

Of course, the price presents a stumbling block - it's possible to build a whole PC for £400. As the only changes over the previous model are the use of D-SUB for the LCD, and a few extra buttons on the front, we'd hoped for a lower price. Considering that the HD160XT costs £312 on www.ebuyer.com at the time of writing, and its USB screen is perfectly adequate, we prefer it to this update.