Review on Silverstone Tek ML04B: High-Quality Micro ATX Media Center/HTPC Case in Sleek Black Aluminum Design by Dale Sundet

This was my first PC build. I've swapped parts and parts in the past but never did a complete new build from scratch. This case exceeded all my expectations. It looks great in my entertainment center, in harmony with other components. See photos. The design and build quality are top notch. I was expecting a more plasticky feel, but this is a solid steel box. The front door is also of good quality. Yes, the case is tight, and I ended up with a bunch of wires just hanging out. It doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother some. I'm the only one who will ever look inside this thing, and even that will be rare. So I don't think he needs to win a beauty pageant to organize cables. I took the advice of some other reviewers and bought a small form factor power supply. Having extra space for cables between the PSU and the optical drive made a huge difference, especially for a newbie like me. I think there would be a lot of unnecessary cursing if I had to struggle with a full ATX power supply. Just don't forget to buy an SFX-ATX adapter mount (like I did). There are a few downsides, although I think I choose a bit. All of this combined resulted in my deducting a star: • The front LED 'dimmer' is actually a small screen that slides in front of the LED to block out some or all of the light. This is very effective when the front door is closed. However, when the door is open (e.g. because you are using one of the USB ports) you have a BRIGHT blue light that can probably be seen from the moon with the naked eye. • Motherboard standoffs built into the case. You simply install the motherboard and screw it on. Oddly enough, however, there were some protrusions in the right front corner of the motherboard that made it unsupported. It's fine as long as you don't try to connect the cables in that corner if you have to support that corner with your fingers while pressing on the cable. • I didn't like the position of the front drive stand. At least on my motherboard it was exactly where the power cable and two SATA cables should connect to the motherboard. I was able to connect it (tightly) to a 2.5" drive. A 3.5 inch drive was out of the question. Again, this was not a major setback. The overall build quality of the case is excellent and it looks fantastic. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good HTPC case. My build included: • Intel Core I5-6600. It's being used as a Plex media server and I needed the power to be able to transcode multiple HD streams at once (five people in my house). • ASRock H170M PRO4 Micro-ATX Motherboard • Corsair SF450 SFX PSU 450W Fully Modular 80+ Gold Certified 7 Year Warranty. • LG WH16nS40 Blu-ray optical drive • SanDisk Plus 240GB SSD for OS • Two 1TB drives I had for media storage (2.5" and 3.5") • Windows 10 Pro migrated from PC, that has been replaced. • NO VIDEO CARD. I don't plan to play here so the embedded video is more than enough. I also had to purchase a few extra cables, including a 10" extender for the 24-pin power cable. The standard cord with the power adapter was about 2 inches long. too short to reach the port on the motherboard. Additionally, multiple SATA power cable extensions to provide power where it is needed.