SilverStone Crown CW03-MT

Verdict:

[+] Copse
Great looks and design; touch-screen; decent airflow

[-] Luffield
Ridiculously expensive; no front USB ports

What would you buy if someone gave you half a grand? A holiday, an HDTV or a pair of Lego Star Destroyers spring to mind, but we bet you didn't think of a single PC case. This is the problem faced by SilverStone's Crown CW03-MT. It might look lovelier than a basket of kittens, but it's going to need more than good looks to convince us to part with £500.

£500, BUT IT DOES HAVE A TOUCH SCREEN

To partially justify the cost, the CW03-MT boasts a 7in Hitachi touch-screen. SilverStone proudly states that the screen can 'support resolutions up to an incredible 1,920 x 1,200 pixels, a feat never before seen in a screen of its size'. This would be an amazing feat if it were true, but the screen's native resolution of 800 x 480 makes this a little impractical.

You can indeed push up the screen to 1,920 x 1,200, but it then downscales the image to its limited number of pixels. The idea is that you could use it to monitor HD movies without needing to plug your PC into a TV, but this is the only use for the resolution emulation. It makes text completely unreadable, and icons hard to identify, so the screen is best left at its native resolution.

The screen is bright, and produces a sharp picture, while the Auto button does a good enough job of configuring the display, making the OSD controls largely redundant. The screen lags due to the pedestrian 30ms response time, though, and you have to use the stylus to have any chance of pressing the correct button. The stylus neatly stows away in a neat dip above the screen.

Like the Zalman HD 160XT Plus, the CW03-MT's screen connects via a D-SUB connector looping out of the rear of the case. The touch-screen electronics connect to an internal USB header on the motherboard, which allows you to easily link the screen to a standard graphics card or a motherboard's integrated graphics output.

You may be wondering just why you might need a touch-screen in a case, and it's a fair question. After all, aren't you just going to plug a media PC into a TV anyway? This case is overkill for a traditional media PC setup, but the beauty of the touch-screen is that it turns your PC into a completely self-contained unit. You can build a 21st century hi-fi system with the CW03-MT, for example, that doesn't have ugly monitors or mice attached to it.

INTERIOR DESIGN

You'll also be able to install enough hard disks to carry a lossless audio collection worthy of the film 'High Fidelity'. There's enough room for six hard disks in the cage behind the screen, and the rugged handles of the cage means that it's easy to slide it in and out. It also has rubber dampening material on either side of the hard drive mounts, which does a fine job of cutting out the dreaded clunking sounds from the hard drives.

Of course, the other feature you're paying for is the CW03-MT's design. The brushed aluminium exterior has 'buy me' written all over it, and the front drive bays (one externally accessible 5.25in and a further two 5.25in bays behind the flap, one of which can be converted into a 3.5in drive bay) are also neatly stealthed.

On the downside, there are no front-mounted USB ports. This is a criminal omission on a media PC case, as you'll probably want to transfer media files via an external hard disk, USB flash drive or MP3 player.

With its modest size, installing an ATX PC into the CW03-MT is a tight squeeze, but SilverStone has done a great job of making the process relatively easy. There's even plenty of room for a tall heatsink such as an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro under the lid, so using a large passive cooler for a modest dual-core CPU is a viable option.

COOLING

The CW03-MT has four 2,050rpm 80mm fans, which are surprisingly quiet. Two are positioned on top of a vent on the front of the floor to draw in cool air from underneath the case, while two exhaust fans sit behind the processor's HSF to draw hot air out of the case - a passive CPU cooler should be supplied with plenty of airflow. SilverStone has also used mesh in the side panels and vented backplates to help reduce heat build-up.

However, there isn't a lot of room to hide cables, so using a modular PSU (there's no PSU pre-installed) will help to cut down on clutter. You'll be able to fit a large (and hopefully quiet and modular) PSU, though, as the bay is 220mm long.

CONCLUSION

The CW03-MT's sturdy aluminium construction, airflow system and looks are all excellent, and it will look great in a hi-fi rack, or even under the TV. However, priced at more than £500, it offers poor value for money. This is almost £100 more than the similarly well designed Zalman HD 160XT Plus, and even that's overpriced for a case with a touch-screen.

If money is no object, the CW03-MT offers classier looks and slightly more space for hard drives than the Zalman. However, if you want the best value for money, we recommend plumping for the HD 160XT Plus or it's cheaper non-Plus predecessor instead.

* You can buy the SilverStone Crown CW03-MT from AfterHours Computers, for £511.07 (price correct at the time of review)

* For more information on the CW03-MT, see SilverStone's website.

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