The Streacom F12C Aluminum Desktop Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on September 14, 2015 9:00 AM EST
Introduction
Today we are getting acquainted with a relatively new manufacturer of advanced PC cases, Streacom. The company originates and has its head office set up in Holland, although their manufacturing base is based at, as always, China. For the past few years, the company was focused entirely on premium SFF and passively cooled cases, always made from aluminum. Today we are having a look at their first attempt to diversify a little, the F12C case, which measures in at 44cm long by 18.4cm high, despite looking large in some of these pictures.
The F12C is a desktop case made out of premium grade aluminum, but it neither is a SFF-class product nor passively cooled. It is a premium HTPC case with advanced cooling capabilities and capable of housing up to even Extended ATX motherboards and any ATX PSU. Furthermore, the company is boasting a new and unique mounting system, allowing free choice of where and how internal drives and fans are going to be installed, such as here:
On paper, it sounds as if Streacom designed the perfect modular internal configuration and did so for an HTPC case. We are going to thoroughly examine Streacom's latest and greatest creation in this review.
| Streacom F12C | ||
| Motherboard Size | ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | External | - |
| Internal | Up to 12 × 3.5" (ITX motherboard) Up to 24 × 2.5" (ITX motherboard) |
|
| Cooling | Front | - |
| Rear | - | |
| Top | Variable fans number and sizes (depends on system configuration) | |
| Sides | Variable fans number and sizes (depends on system configuration) | |
| Bottom | - | |
| Radiator Support | Front | - |
| Rear | - | |
| Top | - | |
| Sides | Variable up to 240 mm (depends on system configuration) | |
| Bottom | - | |
| I/O Port | None | |
| Power Supply Size | ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 135 mm |
| PSU | - | |
| GPU | 305 mm | |
| Dimensions | 184 mm × 440 mm × 320 mm 7.24 in × 17.32 in × 12.6 in |
|
| Prominent Features | · Premium Grade (6063) All Aluminium Chassis · Remote Control: FLirc or IRRC Solution (Not Included) · Unique Fan/Drive mounting system |
|
| Price | £167 ex VAT (UK. Equivalent to about $300 at the time of this review) | |
Packaging & Bundle
Streacom supplies the F12C Aluminum case in a relatively small but very sturdy cardboard box. The artwork is minimal and essentially reduced to just the company logo. There are no pictures of the case or any information about it printed on the packaging. Inside the box, the lightweight case is very well protected between two thick polyethylene foam slabs.
We received one of the first samples Streacom had to offer and thus, unfortunately, we cannot comment on the bundled items, simply because we received none. We received just the case, without a manual or even the necessary screws. Retail samples of course should ship with the necessary hardware.
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Wwhat - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link
In 2015? I thought nobody watched live-TV anymore.CrimsonFury - Thursday, November 26, 2015 - link
4x or more USB 3.0 ports is common on mATX boards these days and built in wi-fi is common on higher end models. The rest of what you mentioned would fit on a mATX board.CrimsonFury - Thursday, November 26, 2015 - link
Also SAS RAID seems like overkill for HTPCAkrovah - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I never get anything smaller. More room = more features.Handsome Jack - Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - link
I do. I love home theatre and gaming. I want to build a HTPC/gaming machine for my lounge room. I have an ONKYO TX-NR3030 and I'm absolutely loving the ATMOS surround sound with my projector. Now I want to match that with a lovely large HTPC case. I don't want a tower in my lounge room and I certainly don't want a NUC or tiny square machine sitting awkardly to one side. I LOVE full size components. Surely it's not just me?I would love nothing more than to have a huge, full sized HTPC case to complement my audio equipment. The idea of coming home to watch an atmos film, then play same AAA games on full power from the one big fat machine is a wonderful thought for me. We're not trying to make our pre-amps, power-amps, high-level CD players and what not smaller. Why can't a get a stonking Denon/Marantz/Onkyo-esque looking HTPC??
The only one I've ever found is made by a little company called Steiger Dynamics. They're products however, are extrodinarly overpriced and you can't just buy their cases separately.
Peichen - Monday, September 14, 2015 - link
Interesting case but the company needs to change its name. What is Strea com?BTW, I fit in a mATX board, GTX980, 1 wireless PCI-express card, 1 Blu-ray drive, 4 HDD, 1 SSD and 2 120mm fans into a Prodigy M. I can fit 2 more SSD and if I remove the Blu-ray, 1 more 120mm fan or 240mm radiator.
ImSpartacus - Monday, September 14, 2015 - link
You probably could've fit that in the mitx version as well. The prodigy is a beast.Gigaplex - Monday, September 14, 2015 - link
Mini-ITX only has one PCIe slot. Peichen quoted 2 PCIe cards. That said, if their WiFi card was mini-PCIe it would probably work fine, although a 980 might be too long to use with the drive cages.Ubercake - Monday, September 14, 2015 - link
It looks like a Gateway desktop case from the mid-90s with added ventilation that looks to be arranged a little strangely simply for the sake of symmetry.If I'm building an HTPC, I want it to be quiet. This design is well too open to offer anything close to silence.
YukaKun - Monday, September 14, 2015 - link
For all I like the design, no front bays keeps me away. Also the lack of front USB ports.It might be ugly and a big chunky, but CoolerMasters' Elite 361 is the perfect trade off in size and function.
Cheers!