Introducing: Silverstone ML06 - HTPC for the discerning
The interior of the housing can be accessed by removing the cover. From the fact that we can install a mini-ITX board, it is conceivable that there will not be much space inside, and we should not be disappointed in this. The interior is almost Spartan in simplicity, but luckily every ingredient has a place.
However, due to its small size, we have to give up components used in desktops. I mentioned on the previous page that a tray optical drive and full-size ATX power won’t fit, but now that this interior is visible, it turns out we’ll be forced to use 2,5-inch versions of hard drives as well, at least if more because a 3,5 , XNUMX-inch drive still got space. So it’s a pleasure to be able to incorporate up to four of these tiny drives.
It is important to note that this fact, i.e. the lack of 3,5-inch drive slots, is only apparent for several reasons. An SSD is already being added to a new HTPC, and on the other hand, a sufficient capacity piece is available from notebook drives. The only problem usually comes from the fact that the mass storage of portable machines is mostly only 5400 rpm, which is not good for the speed of the machine. However, if you plan to place the system on a 64-gig SSD while storing multimedia on a larger-capacity but slower mass storage device, the problem is already solved. Booting your machine, the loading speed of your programs will be drastically faster compared to using a traditional hard drive. Third, a conventional drive can be built in, albeit in a rather tricky way.
Removing the cover, we find an internal, unscrewable mounting bridge in the housing. It can have four roles, so we can have some sort of Swiss Army knife feeling from it. If you want to use an optical drive, you can mount it to it, if not, and the height of the processor cooler allows, an additional fan can come here, which will have a beneficial effect on the cooling of the machine. If you want more SSDs, you can fit two here, but if you only want to use the old 3,5-inch storage, you can also mount it. Of course, these are options that only work one by one, we have to choose!
I did not mention, although it is obvious that due to the size of the machine, not only is it tray-mounted, but the 5,25-inch ODD cannot be installed either, you must use a notebook drive here as well.
The storage frame of hard disks or SSDs is held in place by two screws, which can be removed by sliding the frame to the side to remove it all at once. This is advantageous for installation.
If we unscrew everything, there is nothing left in the housing other than the side terminal block, the cables for the buttons and the LEDs. Installation can begin here!
The pictures speak for themselves, so I wouldn’t even insist on their internal description anymore. You will find the detailed specification on the next page and the evaluation on the last.
