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• Streacom FC8 ALPHA Series Fanless Home Theatre Aluminium Chassis

The FC8 Alpha, once again sets the benchmark for small, sleek, powerful and silent computing.

The FC8 Alpha is more than just the next iteration of the FC8 product line, its a massive redesign which subtly refinements to its form and function. With its stylish understated looks, the Streacom FC8 is a case that would complement the audio visual experience in any home. Thanks to its specially designed fanless CPU cooling system, the FC8 offers totally silent cooling. The finely sandblasted aluminium cabinet is beautifully finished and will look at home in any audio visual system or home theatre.

FC8OD ALPHA

FC8WS ALPHA

The chassis is supplied with a fanless CPU cooler that is designed to passively cool CPU's that have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 95W or lower. The chassis can do this with the use of heatpipes that attach to the CPU cooler and then onto either side of the chassis which features large aluminium heatsinks that naturally dissipate the heat - providing silent cooling of the CPU!

The heatsink has been re-tooled to be sleeker, easier to clean, more balanced and ready for future heatpipe configurations. The top panel is now a single piece extrusion, making is virtually unbreakable, and the venting holes have been removed and replaced with a stealth side vent which reduces internal dust and improves convection airflow.

The drive tray has been totally re-designed to make it more versatile than ever. The tray supports 2x 3.5", whilst still having room for an optical drive and a 2.5" drive. Alternatively, a maximum of four 2.5" drives could be used instead of two 3.5" drive.

As with all Alpha cases, USB3.0 is native and the power LED is now a subtle pure white. The heatpipes and mounts have also been updated for easier installation.

FC8OD ALPHA Internal View

FC8WS ALPHA Internal View

Recommended Components

Streacom have a comprehensive build guide that provides general tips and suggestions on what should be considered when building in a Streacom case and how to achieve the best results.

Motherboard and CPU - The FC8 is only compatible with Mini ITX motherboards. Depending which motherboard you opt for will determine which CPU to use. The case is capable of cooling virtually all CPUs that have a TDP of 95W or lower.

One important point to note when selecting a motherboard is that the board must not have the 24-pin ATX connector located under the heatpipes otherwise the Nano PSU adapter will obstruct the them and it will prevent the CPU block from being fitted.

In our Sentinel Fanless PC (which is based on this case) we use the ASUS B150i ITX Motherboard. However, because of the close proximity of the CPU socket to the side of the motherboard, we also have to use the Streacom ST-MH1 Short Heatpipes as those supplied with the case are too long.

If there are any partial obstructions in the path of the heatpipes then it is possible to use only two heatpipes for 65w (or lower) processors.

Note: Although the overall cooling ability of the case allows the use of 95W processors we would strongly advise using a processor with a TDP of 65W or lower to avoid using more power than a Nano PSU can provide. This means that the Intel Core i5/Core i7 CPU with either a S (65W) or a T (45W) suffix would be ideal.

Power Supply - We recommend using a fanless the Streacom Nano PSU which can provide up to 160W of power. This is more than enough to power a CPU that has a TDP of around 65W along with suitable peripherals. It is recommended not to overload the number of peripherals; a few HDD/SSDs, one optical drive, a TV tuner and obviously a motherboard should not be a problem for this miniature PSU.

Optical Drive - The FC8OD uses a new universal eject mechanism so it will work with any slot loading laptop drive regardless of where the eject button is located on the front of the drive. Streacom have already sourced the perfect drives for these cases, take a look at the available drives here.

Remote Control - If you wish to take control of the PC with the use of a remote control, then look no further than the Streacom Flirc IR receiver. It is designed to fit all Streacom chassis and will work with virtually any remote control.

Thermal Paste - These cases are supplied with thermal paste.

FC8WS ALPHA

FC8 Side View

FC8OD Silver Front View

FC8 Silver Rear View