Inside:

Inside	IR tray mount	A/V 12pin header
HDD fan	Temp probes	Rear fans/PSU opening

    To gain access to the interior, remove the two thumbscrews on the rear of the enclosure, slide back then lift the top panel. With the panel removed, total access is gained to the interior. Up front on the left is the hard drive cage that can hold three drives. Just in front of the hard drive cage is one 80mm fan to help cool the hard drives. On a side note, this cage is not removable so the drives can only be screwed in from one side. The single optical drive mounts in the middle of the front, and this cage is removable. The right side has nothing to mount anything to.

    The side panels have the vents holes I mentioned earlier, and there aren't any mounting options for fans on the side panels. The rear panel has two 60mm fan already installed, each with Molex connections.

Installation:

HDD installed	Optical cage	Drive installed
Taking a peek	Inside view	Components installed

    It's now time to install the hardware. With the top off, remove the screws holding the optical cage in place. Install the optical drive into the cage and then with the cage still out of the case, it's time to grab the MCE IR receiver (not included) and install it into the opening provided. But here is the kicker: before you install the receiver, it must first be taken apart and the guts mounted onto the enclosure. Up next are the Audio/Video extension cables. Two cables are supplied, each with a plug that goes into a 12pin header up front. The other end on each cable is different: one cable goes through an opening above the PSU; this cable has RCA A/V and S-Video plugs on the end. The other A/V cable has a 10pin that attaches to a TV Tuner card with the 10pin capture port. When that is done, reinstall the optical cage back in the enclosure. Next up are the hard drives, and unfortunately the cage isn't removable. The hard drives mount sideways. The bottom portion of the cage has some rubber mounts to help with vibration, and which also act like shims since screws can't be install from the bottom, only secured from the top.

Blue ring

Temps in F°

Temps in C°

    Next, I installed the motherboard and plugged in all the wires from the front bezel. The card reader and front panel USB connections mount to USB headers on the motherboard. Also, two temperature sensors are included, which are for the CPU and Case reading. The audio wires connect to the audio headers, and the rest of wires are for power to the LCD and fans. The last thing to do is install the power supply and hook up those connections.

Conclusion:

   The nMedia HTPC200 has some good and not-so-good features to it. The not-so-good things are the hard drive cage that is riveted to the enclosure and not removable. A removable cage would have been a better way to go, allowing the end user to better secure the hard drives. The HTCP200 also isn't supplied with a MCE Remote control and when one is purchased, the remote IR receiver must be taken apart and mounted in the enclosure. This is a risk that some owners may not want to perform. One more thing is that I'm just not a fan of front panel connections behind doors. Yes, this is good when hooking up a video, but this means that the door is always open and has some sort of wire protruding from a connection point. For this reason, I would rather keep the A/V connections to the rear.

    What I do like is the sleek styling of the HTPC200, as it will definitely fit in with the audio/video components of a home system. The large power button mimics a volume control. The LCD installed may not provide MP3 playback information, but the LCD can be replaced with a different unit. This option helps keep the price down for the budget-minded HTPC builder. The built-in card reader and front panel I/O connections make it simple and easy to hook up external devices, but, again, that leaves the door open most of the time. The plethora of vent holes all around will keep the interior temps in check, and the temps can be monitored on the LCD with the internal thermal probe. All around, this is a good entry-level HTCP enclosure that won't crush your wallet. I would like to thank nMedia for sending out the HTPC200 for VH to review.