2003 Winter Case Review Part 2: The ATX Avalanche

SilverStone Technology Lascala Series / SST-LC01, Continued

The SST-LC01 features two USB 2.0 ports and a single 1394/Firewire port. In addition, it features both MIC and headphone jacks. These ports are located behind the bottom door between the two lower 3-½" drive bays. While the placement of the ports was good, the lack of labeling was downright annoying. SilverStone should consider either adding the name of the port or a icon to represent the port over it. Confusion over which port was the headphone and MIC jack drove us up the wall during our testing.

We also were impressed with the excellent construction of both the top and bottom geared hinges for the doors. While we would have preferred metal gearing here, the plastic that SilverStone uses works well and has a nice smooth action, which is sure to please most buyers.

Overall, the SST-LC01 isn't a bad case for a desktop style configuration. We really liked what SilverStone presented in this package; the only problem is that we still found a few things to complain about. Most of these issues were minor in nature and can easily be remedied in the next revision of the case.

The SST-LC01 has the clear advantage of being able to support four hard drives, which I am sure will be a godsend to those looking to use it for DVR/PVR applications. Let's face it: some people like to archive everything and burn it to DVD at their leisure. With a four-drive configuration the SST-LC01 can be quite an incredible DVR/PVR box that is able to handle over 1 TB of storage. The only problem is that you have to wonder if a stock cooling solution should be trusted to protect your investment from overheating. We think not, and recommend that users that are going to purchase the SST-LC01 should consider using side-mounted 80mm fans in the panels and not place the unit in any sort of an A/V enclosure.

There is quite a lot to like about the SST-LC01, and it is an attractive and functional case designed for home theatre/DVR/PVR/TV applications. We do recommend potential buyers to consider the limitations and other points that we brought out in this review before purchasing the SST-LC01. We think that the SST-LC01 has a lot of potential, and we recognize a good case design when we see it. Let's just hope SilverStone addresses some of these glitches, since if they do so, they could have a big winner.