Thermaltake DH 202 VJ80011N2Z Digital Home Series HTPC Case with Built-in Media LAB LCD and Remote Controller Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First off... The case itself is great. Big space, simple to assemble, good routing and airflow.
But this version of the DH202 has a few extras beyond the faceless box low tier version, which led me to spend the extra cash to get this model. Nearly all of them failed and will be replaced or avoided in my system.
- Front panel - awful software, lousy viewing angles. For general info for example, you can let it show "CPU info". You'd think you'd get the utilization, the important piece of data, but you also get a full listing of the processor name, brand, speed and thus the important info is rarely there to look at. In MCE the display shows "PLAY" rather than the media info. Lame.
- IR receiver integrated with case: Well the IR is fine, but you're stuck with the lame software again. The Volume doesn't change the system volume. It thinks it is, but nothing changes. Still working on that one but I'm a geek so it should be solved by now when I see this complaint back to 2007 on iMon software.
- Remote. It's NOT an MCE remote. It's great if you want to do everything with your HTPC, but it's lousy to use with MCE. I like the task switching and app close, but other than that.. blech. I'm using my MCE 2005 remote from the last system. Another item to stuff in a drawer.
- Front panel buttons and volume. Again, the iMon software prevents the Volume from working. Having found the remote control sized tiny wireless kbd, I doubt I'll ever use those buttons anyway.
- card reader: Works Great. The instructions were a bit off and the connector wasn't labeled for that one. So it took a while to trace and figure out that it had to go to half of a USB connection on the motherboard.
So get the one with an ON/OFF button and and HDD light. Save your cash and avoid the headaches.
The only non-iMon/iMedia thing that bugged me was the case fans end with the old HDD power connectors. Connecting them this way means you can't monitor the RPM. I'd like the option to connect them to the MB as god and Intel intended.

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