A couple of years ago, I used the original XBOX as a Media Center. It could show my pictures, play my videos and my music. Lately, I was again thinking of building a HTPC for these same reasons and also add TV capabilities to it. After reading a lot on the Internet, I decided that I knew and read enough and started designing my own HTPC.

First I needed a good looking case which should have some strict dimensions because it had to fit in my current multimedia furniture. I looked at the popular Silverstone, Thermaltake, Zalman and Antec cases, but they either didn't fit, or were not matching my other requirements: like the proper dimensions and a VFD display.
Then, I read about the GMC Noblesse AV series, and I checked their web site:
 http://gmc.co.kr/language/english/products/list_av.html

Their AVC S7 model looks nice and fulfills all my criteria:
http://gmc.co.kr/language/english/products/avc_s7.html

Because I couldn't find a reseller, I emailed them and GMC was so friendly to sell me this case directly.
Also, credits and a friendly ‘thank you’ are for GMC; after having forgotten to send the PSU and low profile cooler, they send these later on and arrived quite fast and in good condition!

The GMC case comes with a PSU 270watt power supply, a PCI riser card, a CPU cooler, a VFD display with remote and a DVD slot-in drive.

Of course, other hardware is necessary, so I ordered the following:

• Western Digital Caviar Green 1000GB hard drive
• Eurocase FSP 270-50SNV PSU
• AMD Phenom X4 9550 CPU
• Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H mother board
• Kingston 2x2GB DDR2 memory
• Zalman fan mate 2
• Arctic Silver 5 premium thermal compound

So here is the picture of all hardware (just the final low profile cooler isn't on it):

Hard Drive

Motherboard

CPU	Case (front panel down)

Inside case

HD bracket

Motherboard

Cable mess

HD installed

Motherboard & PSU & stock cooler installed

Low profile cooler installed

power on!

Installing Vista X64

Top on

I also bought a USB hub and a AverMedia Holar VX hybrid USB TV stick.
The TV stick supports analog TV (which I’m using right now) and DVB-T (which I don't have).

Final install

Running Vista Media Center

Right now, I’m in the midst of testing and installing software. I have a bit of a struggle to get MediaPortal running with the AverMedia USB stick. Vista Media Center picked it up immediately and it worked out of the box.
In the near future I’m thinking of purchasing a FireDTV and a AlphaCrypt CAM so that I can also watch my Digital DVB-C pay subscription on my HTPC.

I had issues with getting the iMON remote to work with Vista Media Center. After updating the iMON software to version 7.2, it works flawlessly! All the buttons on the remote work, and the VFD shows all sorts of contextual data.

Expect HTPC follow ups soon!

Links:

http://gmc.co.kr
http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/1302546 (Dutch)
http://www.avforums.com/
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Reviews of the AVC S7 case:

http://metku.net/index.html?path=reviews/gmc-avc-s7-slim-htpc-case/index_eng
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1028