INTRODUCTION

   Just like many of you my very first 80286/80386/80486(DX2) systems were all housed inside horizontal desktop cases (primarily made out of steel) which i also used to place my CRT screens on them to give them more height (most people i know did that since temperatures were not an issue back then) so that's the reason i could never understand why shortly after it was pretty much impossible to find anything but tower cases in the market. Now it goes without saying that in my line of work full towers and open air benches are the best two ways to go since these types make swapping hardware components a lot easier. However for people with space restrictions or people who just want to use a small PC case to blend beneath their TV set these are not really options and although desktop cases are not very easy to come by they are far from extinct (as a matter of fact there are more models available now than 10 years ago). Streacom is among the very few manufacturers of "premium" desktop cases and today we'll be checking out there latest FC10 Alpha model.

   Streacom was founded in 2010 by a small but experienced team that shared a common vision of producing uniquely designed and engineered computer cases. With our head office in Holland and manufacturing base in China, we entered the market by focusing on SFF and passive cooled products all made from premium grade aluminium. This combination of premium quality and compact design has established Streacom as a global player in the PC component market and earned us a reputation for making stylish well-crafted products. With a truly multinational team, we have the perfect balance of European design, Asian manufacturing and Global sales channels. This mix of influences also give us the ability to think outside of the box, pushing the design envelope, finding new and innovative solutions for our products and manufacturing processes, and importantly, allows us to fully understand and support the needs of our customers. Unlike many brands on the market, Streacom directly designs and manufactures all of its cases. Our production facilities don’t produce cases for anyone else which is one of the reasons Streacom cases are truly unique. From our design, engineering and fabrication process right through to end user support, our years of experience ensure a product and service that is unsurpassed.

   Much like the FC8 EVO which we reviewed many years ago the FC10 Alpha is yet another fanless chassis made out of premium grade aluminum (6063 - magnesium/silicon) and is the successor to their award winning FC10 model. It's compatible with mini-ITX, Micro-ATX and ATX sized mainboards and to achieve the fanless feature Streacom has placed 4mm thick aluminum fins on both sides of the chassis which cool 4 interior all-copper heatpipes through convection by natural airflow (this cooling system has a maximum TDP of 95W). The FC10 Alpha also features two USB 3.0 ports and has enough room for a single slim optical drive (available as extra from Streacom), single dual slot graphics card and a total of five 3.5" and four 2.5" drives (when used with an mITX/mATX mainboard). Just like with the FC8 EVO and the FC12C we expect excellent build quality from the FC10 Alpha so all that's left is for us to check its space and features.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The FC10 Alpha arrived inside a box with just the company logo and the model name on both the front and rear.

You can find the product serial number, barcode and model color and type (optical / non-optical) on a small sticker placed on the left side.

The case is placed between two thick black pieces of foam while the rest of the bundle is placed inside a cardboard box placed right over it.

Streacom once again provides the end user with a very rich bundle so aside the usual quick start guide you will also get 4 all-copper heatpipes, two CPU aluminum blocks, 4 aluminum brackets used to mount the heatpipes, two small tubes with thermal conductive material inside and 14 small plastic bags with all the necessary screws (including thumbscrews), rubber pads and standoffs.

THE FC10 ALPHA EXTERIOR

The FC10 Alpha features a nice sandblast finish (available in black and silver) and is quite large measuring 435mm in length, 319mm in width and 100mm in height (but weighs just 5.4Kg).

Taking a look on both the sides we see 20 aluminum 4mm fins and 40 holes (on each side).

There are also two "hidden" USB 3.0 ports on both sides as seen above.

The front is simple and just has a round on/off power button, white power LED, slim optical drive opening and the IR receiver area (also extra).

Streacom has also perforated the left and right ends of the top panel to allow hot air to exit the interior.

The rear is also perforated and aside the power port used with Streacom NANO PSUs (and their new ST-ZF240) we also see two PCI expansion slots (compared to the FC10 the Alpha version features standard spacing between the slots).

At the base of the FC10 Alpha we see four round rubber feet and several holes some of which used to mount up to two 3.5" drives (depending on the mainboard size).

THE FC10 ALPHA INTERIOR

To access the interior you will need to remove four screws found on both sides of the chassis and then take the top panel off.

This is how the interior of the FC10 Alpha looks like and obviously the silver optical drive tray stands out.

The optical drive tray is removable in case you don't want to use it (or used it at some point and decided not to anymore) and can be replaced with a single 2.5" drive.

As you can see the long aluminum tray rotates upwards so you can also install up to two 3.5" drives on the lower end (aside the four 2.5" drives at the top).

By default the mainboard tray has the mini-ITX standoffs installed (you can thus install two more 3.5" drives on the right side).

BUILDING THE SYSTEM

As always the purpose of this section is not to build a functional system but rather to showcase what you can expect from the case at hand in terms of interior space and of course features.

Now as we do lately we decided to fit an X59 mainboard in the FC10 Alpha and as you can all see at first everything was great since it also left room at the left end of the chassis.

Our first problem arrived the moment we installed the tall memory modules by Kingston since by doing that we lost a bottom 3.5" drive spot. This however shouldn't be an issue since nowadays we don't see such modules with tall heat spreaders.

The main problem occurred due to a heatsink this particular model had just over the CPU area. Streacom is of course aware of such issues so they have released the ST-HT4 CPU Cooler Riser (increases motherboard compatibility by raising the heatpipes above conflicting components).

Unfortunately this wasn't send to us so we went with our previously used ASRock ATX mainboard which as you can see worked like a charm with the passive cooling solution (remember to also place thermal paste between the heatpipes and the wall of the chassis).

To mount the two 3.5" drives with ease Streacom has packed a total of 8 thumbscrews. For the 2.5" drives however you will need to use regular screws.

The FC10 Alpha is not the best solution for very long graphics cards but since this is an HTPC chassis the maximum length of 190mm should be enough (we used the HIS Radeon R7 360 OC Green for this review).

We should point out that the top PCI slot has a clearance of 190mm while the bottom has a clearance of 300mm (since most if not all graphics cards are dual slot ones however the usable length is 190mm).

Also keep in mind two things, first you need to purchase PCI-E riser cables (or cable if you just use a dual-slot graphics card) and second the cards get secured in place from the bottom and not the top as with pretty much every PC case out there.

This is far from a complete system (especially since we didn't get a NANO PSU with it) but this is pretty much what you will see if you build a system inside the FC10 Alpha.

CONCLUSION

   Streacom may not be one of the largest or most popular manufacturers of PC cases in the market today but through the years they’ve released some of the most high-quality desktop chassis money can buy and the FC10 Alpha is no exception to that. Ontop of that they have released several models with passive cooling and although these aren’t aimed towards (a CPU with a TDP of 65W is recommended for the FC10 Alpha) overclockers casual consumers and even enthusiasts will definitely enjoy the zero noise levels emanating from it. Unfortunately unlike some larger models the FC10 Alpha doesn’t have room for long graphics cards (and not more than just one for that matter) but still it’s a definite improvement over several others in the market that can’t be fitted with a dual slot solution and certainly don’t have enough room for as many drives. The same can be said about the power supply since the NANO (up to 160W) and ZF240 (up to 240W) models are your only choices but on one hand you will probably not need anything more powerful while on the other using an external PSU means you are getting a smaller chassis for your desk.

   Using top quality materials and adding extra features are two things that cost quite a bit especially a small manufacturer like Streacom so their desktop cases don’t come cheap (at least not as cheap as many people would like). That being said as we speak the FC10 Alpha fanless chassis (optical slot version) retails for USD325 inside the USA (QuietPC) and for 316.27Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so yes it costs quite a bit and is definitely not ment for people on a tight budget (if you add the NANO PSU, HT4 Riser and PCI Riser the cost actually gets even higher). Still if you want the premium quality offered by the FC10 Alpha along with its passive CPU cooling and room for a full ATX mainboard and up to 9 drives this might be the right chassis for you. Personally although I’m not much into such cases the FC10 Alpha is one of the very few out in the market now that I’d actually use and that’s why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality (Aluminium 6063)
- mATX/mITX/ATX Compatible
- Drive Mounts (Up To 5x2.5" and 4x3.5" drives)
- Passive Cooling (0dBA)
- Slim Optical Drive Slot
- Dual PCI Slot
- Two USB 3.0 Ports
- Optional IR-Receiver

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Extras Required (NANO PSU/PCI Riser Cable/HT4 CPU Cooler Riser)