Zalman HD160XT-PLUS Home Theatre PC Case

Building on the success of their HD160XT, Zalman have now release their newest and most feature rich Home Theater PC chassis yet: the HD160XT-PLUS!

The first thing you will notice is that the new XT-PLUS version has a 7” LCD Touchscreen on the front of the chassis. Once set up, the LCD screen can display much more information than any VFD. The LCD is able to display information such as Graphic Equaliser, Volume, CPU used, Network Speed, Time, Fan Speed etc. The images below are just a taste of the type of information it is able to show.

As indicated by the name of the product, the HD160XT-PLUS is 160mm tall and therefore it is the same height as the standard HD160. This means it is capable of accommodating full-size motherboards and PSUs without any clearance issues. The innovative cooling solutions found in the HD160 are also present in the XT-PLUS version. There is a grille at the side of the chassis to allow a 120mm-fanned PSU to bring cool air in from the outside of the chassis. The case is also equipped with two 80mm exhaust fans that expel the warm air out of the case. To counter this there are another two fans that bring in cooler air into the chassis. One fan is provides cooler air directly to the installed hard drives while the other is attached to the floor of the case and therefore brings in cool air from underneath.

The case can also accommodate Zalman’s CPU and VGA coolers: the CNPS9500 CPU coolers and the VF1000 VGA coolers are both compatible. Unfortunately the larger CNPS9700 CPU cooler is not compatible because it is too tall!

When it comes to selecting a suitable optical drive it is important to choose one that fits! It has come to our attention that not all optical drives will fit inside the HD160XT-PLUS. The issue lies with the bezel that attached to the front of the CD tray. Zalman have indicated that LG optical drives work well as does the Samsung SATA DVD Writer we currently stock, therefore we highly recommend one of these drives. Optical drives to avoid currently only include Pioneer.

Graphics equaliser while playing music files

Touch screen media control function

Access all media files quick and easy

HD160XT-PLUS is compatible with other Zalman coolers

Ports and card reader located behind flap under volume knob

Volume control dial

Image showing direction of airflow for the PSU

Airflow for VGA cooling

A 92mm fan is provided that cools the hard drives

Five 3½” bays and one 5¼” bay provide the highest level of expandability

Sliding HDD and ODD Chassis provide easy installation and removal

Windows XP and Vista compatible MCE remote control

The LCD monitor really makes this product stand out from the crowd. As mentioned above it can be used as an indicator that shows various information and activities. It can also be used as a second monitor or even a sole monitor, for a completely self-contained PC.

Zalman designed the HD160XT-PLUS to be the ultimate Home Theatre chassis. Here at Quiet PC we certainly think Zalman have hit the nail on the head!