We are no strangers to boutique PC makers here at AnandTech, having reviewed systems from AVADirect, iBUYPOWER and Puget Systems regularly. Most of these boutique PCs are targeted exclusively towards gamers, while a few cater to the small form factor space. We rarely see boutique PC makers target the HTPC market. Low Carbon PC is one of the boutique PC makers making an effort to serve the HTPC / gaming crowd. Earlier this month, Steiger Dynamics entered the fray with a luxury gaming HTPC lineup, the LEET series. The LEET series has three models, the LEET Pure, LEET Core and LEET Reference. 

Steiger Dynamics uses components from Intel, NVIDIA, Asus, Corsair, EVGA, Seasonic and Western Digital (amongst others) in the lineup. The HTPC credentials are strengthened by the option to add the Asus Xonar Essence STX (for the audiophiles who don't need bitstreaming) and the Ceton InfiniTV 4 quad-channel cable HD TV tuner card.

Steiger Dynamics aims at consolidating the various devices in the living room with the LEET series. By integrating the functionality of a desktop PC, gaming console, cable TV STB, Blu-ray player and NAS into one unit, they are implementing device convergence of a different kind. The LEET series is quite high end, with the premium being justified by an exclusive custom chassis and liquid cooling solution. The low-end LEET Pure series starts at $1798, while one could splurge more than $10000 on the highest-end LEET Reference with maxed out specs. The table below presents the hardware specifications of the various models in the LEET lineup.

Steigler Dynamics LEET Configurations
  LEET Pure LEET Core LEET Reference
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V (LX) Asus P8Z77-V / Asus Maximus V Formula / Asus Maximus V Extreme Asus Rampage IV Formula / Extreme X79
Processor Core i3-3220 / i5-3570K Core i7-3770 / i7-3770K Core i7-3930K / i7-3970X
DRAM Corsair Vengeance Blue / Black (8 - 16 GB), Corsair Dominator (32 GB) Corsair Vengeance Black (8 / 16 GB), Corsair Vengeance Red (32 GB), Corsair Dominator Platinum (16 / 32 GB) Corsair Vengeance Red (16 / 32 GB), Corsair Vengeance Black (64 GB), Corsair Dominator Platonum (16 - 64 GB)
GPU Intel HD Graphics / EVGA GTX 650Ti - 670 EVGA GTX 660 - 2x GTX 690 EVGA GTX 660 - 2x GTX 690
Audio Bitstreaming / Asus Xonar Essence STX Bitstreaming / Asus Xonar Essence STX Bitstreaming / Asus Xonar Essence STX
System Drives Corsair Neutron GTX (120 GB to 2x480 GB) Corsair Neutron GTX (120 GB to 2x480 GB) Corsair Neutron GTX (120 GB to 2x480 GB)
Storage Drives None / WD Red (1 TB to 4x3 TB) None / WD Red (1 TB to 4x3 TB) None / WD Red (1 TB to 4x3 TB)
PSU Seasonic G-Series (360 / 450 W), X-Series (660W), Platinum Series (860 / 1000W) Seasonic G-Series (360 / 450 W), X-Series (660 / 1250 W), Platinum Series (860 / 1000W) Seasonic X-Series (660 / 1250 W), Platinum Series (860 / 1000 W)

We will be meeting up with Steiger Dynamics at CES. If you have any questions for them, feel free to sound off in the comments.

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  • Cygni - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link

    That name is downright embarrassing.
  • mavere - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link

    Yea my first thought was that the name belies the sleek professionalism of everything else.

    Doesn't matter, though, as long as it's not on the fro... oh nevermind.
  • dananski - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link

    Darn tootin'! Everyone knows it's spelled 1337...

    In all seriousness, who cares about a name?

    I'll be interested to know how quiet they are with such beefy hardware.
  • JacobCody - Saturday, December 29, 2012 - link

    Love my job, since I've been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I'm making it online(Click on menu Home)
    http://goo.gl/89ymM
  • Googer - Saturday, December 15, 2012 - link

    Who cares. That PC looks like a finely crafted work of art. It probably deserves the name LEET.
  • CaptainDoug - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link

    It seemed pretty tall so I checked, the thing is 8.7" tall. I understand that it is holding much more than a traditional HTPC would but I think I'd sacrifice performance for space. With a HTPC/NAS I'm thinking about going with this case(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... and calling it good. Gaming won't be a priority but it could fit a decently specced GPU in there if I wanted (which I don't). I guess it's just not for me.
  • l3bowsk1 - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link

    Yeah, that's way to tall. I've built an HTPC into this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... and it works great. It's got two slots for 3.5 drives, and one dedicated 2.5 slot, so it'll work as a NAS with a couple large storage drives and an SSD system drive, but it's only 12.75" deep, so I don't need a super-deep shelf.

    Plus it'll fit up to 10" GPUs (I've got a GTX 460 in with room to spare), although with newer, capable midrange cards being barely longer than the PCIE slot, large card support isn't so critical these days.
  • mcnabney - Friday, December 14, 2012 - link

    This is a gaming HTPC. it has to be tall enough to hold full size cards and deep enough to hold modern GPUs and the power supplies that feed them. Those slender HTPC cases that only hold half-height cards aren't going to hold anything capable of playing games.

    However, the prices are just stupid high. I have built my own HTPC and I can create what they are selling for half of the price with just as fancy a case.
  • TreXor - Friday, December 14, 2012 - link

    Yah, if you wanna do gaming with it, and I believe thats what the thing is mainly for, you will need a certain size for all the necessary hardware. And its still a lot smaller and nicer looking than a desktop tower.

    Also did some math on the entry system. Couldn't find exactly the case they are using but the ones with similar quality cost up to 1200 bucks. So I guess their price is actually fair.
  • EnzoFX - Friday, December 14, 2012 - link

    Except this is WAY taller than standard size PCI-E cards.

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