The Home Theater Personal Computer or HTPC came from humble beginnings to amalgamate copious amounts of different components of a home theater setup into a single unit. As a harmonious union of all our home theater components, the HTPC combines the functions of a personal computer a BD/DVD Player, VCR/DVR, Stereo, gaming platform and the list goes on.

While not hitting the mainstream as of yet, their influence has grown considerably. These days you would be hard-pressed to find a new TV that doesn't include multiple HDMI or VGA ports on it. I set up a HTPC a few years ago to protect the very expensive DVD's of my children, and it has grown into much more than just a storage device; today I wouldn't know what I would do without it.

One of the greatest challenges of setting up an HTPC is getting it to fit in with the rest of your decor in your living room so your wife doesn't kill you, and this load is placed primarily on the case; after all, you don't want a mid or full tower sitting beside your LCD or Plasma TV. The case must operate at a near silent volume and perform well at cooling your system and of course look good doing it. This is not an easy task to do by any means. You must know what you want your HTPC to do and what you may want it to do in the near or not-so-near future.

Fortunately, there are many companies that have seen this current niche (but important) market and decided to give us many choices to satisfy the difference needs and preferences out there. Today we are looking at SilverStone’s newest HTPC chassis, the Grandia Series GD03. We’ve seen some very impressive cases from SilverStone, but we know that the HTPC cases are a different breed, so it will be interesting to see if they can continue their success on this front.

Thanks go to our friends at SilverStone for supplying the review sample.

"SilverStone Technology’s philosophy is based on our recognition that merely having innovative expertise within the industry is not enough.  Our objective is to ensure that our expertise is delivered to all products with consistency, in response to user’s needs, and with maximum user satisfaction.  SilverStone Technology thrives on challenges of rapid technological advancements and creating aesthetic stand for the industry."