The Tom’s Hardware Elite award is reserved for the very best products in their class, from graphics cards to motherboards and even complete systems. Yet, we have the easiest time crowning a component "best" when it's able to outperform the competition in a suite of smartly-chosen benchmarks. Quantifying our results means we can demonstrate why a certain choice ranks up there at the top.
It's a bit more difficult to do that for cases. The quietest examples are either hot or heavy, so they certainly don't earn the favor of gamers who want to stay somewhat mobile. And even if we restrict ourselves to full-sized cases, differences in drive capacity and the ability to support oversized motherboards are more important to some readers than others. We’ve refined our performance metric, comparing cooling to noise. But that won't help us say, definitively, for example, that a full-tower is better than a mid-tower enclosure capable of similar performance.
Sometimes it’s easier to define the negative. While we can’t say that an elite case needs to use exotic materials, we can say that it shouldn't use flimsily-thin steel sheet. We can’t say that an elite case must be silent, but we can say that it won’t be noisy. Putting this back into a positive approach, “quality everywhere” is the first priority in our search.
We didn’t specify a list of “enthusiast features” for today's story, but we will be looking for them along the way. And we didn’t limit our search to premium brands either, instead hoping that we might also find a few surprises from budget labels.

| Azza Genesis 9000 | In Win Tòu | Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra | SilverStone Fortress FT04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | ||||
| Height | 25.9" | 23.0" | 25.0" | 21.5" |
| Width | 9.7" | 10.7" | 9.4" | 8.6" |
| Depth | 25.1" | 25.8" | 26.3" | 19.0" |
| Space Above Motherboard | 0.5" - 2.0" | 2.1" - 2.8" | 3.0" | 1.1" |
| Card Length | 14.0" - 14.7" | 15.1" | 15.6" | 13.3" |
| Weight | 34.5 Pounds | 30.3 Pounds | 36.3 Pounds | 26.1 Pounds |
| Cooling | ||||
| Front Fans (alternatives) | None (None) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 2 x 140 mm (2 x 120 mm) | 2 x 180 mm (3 x 120 mm) |
| Rear Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | None (None) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) | None (1 x 120 mm) |
| Top Fans (alternatives) | 2 x 230 mm | 3 x 120 mm (None) | 2 x 230 mm (3 x 140/120 mm) | None (None) |
| Left Side (alternatives) | None (2 x 120 mm) | None (None) | 1 x 230 mm (9 x 120 mm) | None (None) |
| Right Side (alternatives) | 2 x 120 mm (+ 1 x 230 mm) | None (None) | None (1 x 120/92 mm) | None (None) |
| Drive Bays | ||||
| 5.25" External | Nine | One | Four | Two |
| 3.5" External | 1 x Adapter Bracket | None | 1 x Adapter Bracket | None |
| 3.5" Internal | Five*** | Three | 10 | Seven |
| 2.5" Internal | Five* | Two | 10* | Four |
| Card Slots | 10 | Seven | 10 | Eight |
| Noise Dampening | ||||
| Sides | None | None | None | Foam |
| Top | None | None | None | Foam |
| Front | None | None | None | Foam |
| Price | $170 | $999 | $190 | $200 |
| *Shared on 3.5" tray **w/o Center Cage ***By 5.25" Adapter Tray | ||||
Perennial provider of value-oriented products, In Win was first to look beyond its roots in search of an exhibition-worthy offering. I'd have to guess that as much as half of its lofty price is committed to replacing any parts broken during shipping, though superb packaging includes thick foam and ½” plywood box lining.
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Conversely, SilverStone attempts to add value to its flagship Fortress line by pushing a $199 to $267 price for its cast-aluminum-faced Fortress FT04.
Azza and Rosewill attempt to move upscale by making more space for multiple, oversized components. Traditional design and materials could toughen the climb to elite status, but there’s always a chance they might have perfected these features.
Part of Azza’s continuous up-market climb, the Genesis 9000 attempts to bring high-end customers the typical selection of upscale features without deviating too far from the traditional full-tower layout. Five of the nine 5.25” bays are filled with hard drive adapter trays, separate brackets add external 3.5” drive support, and the case even includes a pair of side-mounted fans to assist drive cooling and overall ventilation.

“Front-panel” ports, including two USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, eSATA, headphone, and microphone jacks line up across the front edge of the top panel. Power, reset, and fan speed buttons line up behind them. The close proximity can be an issue; during use, I accidently used the power button a couple of times while attempting to alternate fan speeds.

The top panel and a small section of the front panel are secured with extra-long screws. Drive bay covers above this panel unlatch by squeezing the sides.

Around back, we find ten card slots for the XL-ATX-supporting motherboard tray, a handle to aid in motherboard tray removal, an exhaust fan, a pair of coolant line holes for external liquid cooling, and a sheet metal cover over the rear-panel power supply mount.

A power plug socket next to the mount hints at the case’s internal power supply mounting option, while a large rear slot and smaller side slot feed air into a full-length slide-out dust filter.

Because larger side panels have more flex, and because a builder’s hands don’t magically grow larger in response the size of a task (Ed.: Unless you're Inspector Gadget), sliding tabs along the top and bottom edge don't make assembling a full-tower system any easier. Knowing this, Azza removed those latches and firmed up the sides with boxed edges up top and on the bottom. Now, you only need to hook the front edge before closing the system. And the lack of extra slide tabs also simplifies removing the panel.

Nine 5.25” bays sit above a front-panel power supply mount that utilizes the screwed-on lower cover and power cord socket mentioned on the previous page. Behind the front-mounted power supply bay, two bottom-mounted 140 mm intake fans are covered with snap-away plastic guards.

Two of the Genesis 9000’s drive bays are fitted with backplane connectors, which work with any of the five adapter trays.

Two 230 mm fans exhaust heat from the top of Azza’s Genesis 9000.

The Genesis 9000 has plenty of space behind the motherboard tray for cables, and the best part might be that the tray is invertible.

Builders who want their CPU above the graphics card can also swap side panels to put the window on the left side, rather than the factory-configured right-facing orientation.
Hidden behind ordinary 5.25” external bay covers, the Genesis 9000’s five drive trays align the connectors of both 3.5” and 2.5” internal drives to one of two factory-installed backplane connectors. Three more drives can be installed without the backplanes, using cables.

The motherboard tray includes a card support bracket, to which four card supports can be installed. It wasn’t necessary for our build, though the pieces did fit our card.

Most power supplies will pull air through the Genesis 9000’s bottom filter and exhaust heat through the lower portion of the case’s front panel. If you'd rather install your power supply at the back of the unit, you'll find additional fan mounting options up front.

Removing the card bracket allows the cables to be bundled a little more tightly in our case, though there’s enough space to choose alternate pathways if you'd prefer to utilize the optional brace.

Remember that the motherboard tray is invertible! Depending on your preference, the board could be upside-down and viewable from the other side of the chassis, too.

Red accents are softly lit along the Genesis 9000 edges. Were this to have been built with motherboard tray inverted and side panels swapped, the left angle view would show this same side panel with the window on top.
In Win takes the opposite approach compared to Azza by starting off with high-cost materials, and then charging a high overall price of $800. Rarity pushes this one to $1000 at a single vendor, with no other sources selling the chassis at its recommended price.
Most of the exterior panels are mirror-tinted glass, and each glass panel is attached over a silicon spacer to a sturdy aluminum frame.

The front panel features an open 5.25” bay at the bottom. Two USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks, a power button, and a recessed reset button reside in an aluminum panel above that bay. Higher still, touch-sensitive fan and lighting controls are placed upon front-panel glass.

The mirrored glass is always translucent, and the mirror-like appearance is most apparent when reflecting light-colored backgrounds. Darker backgrounds make it easier to see through the case, and enabling internal lighting completely cancels out the mirror effect.

Two rear-mounted glass panels hide cable connectors. The Tòu features cable passage through a slot between the panels, as well as a space beneath the smaller bottom-rear cover.

The Tòu installation kit also includes two glass-grabbing suction balls, in addition to mount hardware, cable loops, and spare panel hardware.
In spite of its flashy shape and materials, the Tòu’s layout appears extremely conventional. Motherboards mount CPU-on-top above the rear-mounted power supply, and drives are lined up in front of the board.

It’s hard for me to imagine the front fan as an intake, since it appears to recirculate internal air, but the three 120 mm top fans certainly qualify as exhaust. And that’s good, since the I/O panel can't even accommodate a port shield, let alone an exhaust fan.

Two 2.5” internal drives mount directly upon the motherboard tray behind the front fan, and the three trays above each support a single 3.5” internal drive.

In spite of the top’s curved appearance, exhaust fans align on a single plane. The lack of end caps for internal front and rear chassis panels allows plenty of room for the tanks and fittings of a triple-fan (so-called 360 mm) radiator.

The motherboard tray is machined from a solid chunk of aluminum, and the tapered shell that surrounds it provides more than enough space to hide the cables of most power supplies.
The Tòu’s light and fan controller connects to two power supply leads, a four-pin Molex drive connector, and the ATX power connector (via an extender). The ATX-attached portion appears to be a kill switch for fan failures, though it’s not documented in any of In Win’s literature.

While perpendicular drive trays face the connectors of 3.5” disks directly towards holes in the motherboard tray, 2.5” storage mounts directly to the motherboard tray. That means you need to route straight-ended cables through the adjacent hole.

Why not simply use 90° cables? In Win’s drive mounting holes are approximately 1/8” too far from the hole’s edge to engage a right-angle connector.

All of our parts fit nicely and leave vast space for a thick radiator, if you'd like to use one.

The Tòu’s glass panels shift from a mirror finish to a smoke tint when internal lights are enabled. This thing turns into quite the show piece.
Rosewill’s Blackhawk Ultra full-tower comes loaded with a 230 mm side panel intake fan, in addition to two front-panel 140 mm intakes. The front-panel’s mesh insert wraps around to also serve as top-panel exhaust.

The enthusiast using this enclosure might spend a lot of time blowing dust out of that pretty mesh, but it certainly offers a great amount of ventilation. And builders who don’t like the 230 mm side fan are even given the option to replace it with up to nine 120 mm fans.

Full towers traditionally have enough space for two power supplies on the rear panel, or a large drive rack and power supply. The Blackhawk Ultra extends this by adding three extra expansion slots, for a total of ten.
Remaining rear-panel space is filled with seven pass-through hole grommets and a 140 mm exhaust fan. Another 120 mm fan can be installed behind the CPU interface to assist motherboard cooling.

Front-panel I/O is located near the front edge of the top panel, and feature excessive USB connectivity. Two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports are available in addition to headphone and microphone jacks. Behind those ports, a rubber cover protects the power and data connectors of a 3.5” quick-swap drive bay.

If 25 inches isn’t tall enough for you, add the bundled casters to boost height by another couple of inches and make the Blackhawk Ultra easier to roll around on the floor. Rosewill's accessory package also includes a couple of four-/eight-pin CPU power cable extenders, just in case the ones that come with your PSU are too short to serve a case this tall.
Designed to support motherboards up to 15 inches wide (HPTX), the Blackhawk Ultra’s CPU bracket access hole is so large that it extends past the front edge of a mini-ITX board. Par for the course in oversized ATX cases, every ATX standard between those two extremes also fits (microATX, full ATX, XL-ATX, and so on).

Some of the cable access holes are enormous, and even the largest is fitted with a grommet. The similarly-huge hard drive cage includes ten trays with ample air space between them. A push-pull configuration of four fans is designed to move heat away from this area.

The Blackhawk Ultra doesn’t have a fan controller, but it does have a pair of fan power adapters. You only need a single four-pin hard drive connector to power both, since Rosewill patches them together with an extension cable.

The Blackhawk Ultra’s bottom panel is drilled for up to three fans of various sizes (up to 140 mm), but Rosewill only specifies it to hold one. That’s probably because at least one of the holes is covered by any bottom-mounted power supply, and switching power to the top bay forces builders to remove one of the top fans.

Fitted by Rosewill with two 230 mm fans, the top panel can also support up to three 140 mm or 120 mm fans. Though it probably doesn’t have space for a 3 x 140 mm radiator configuration, hole spacing is appropriate for triple 120 mm (so-called 360 mm) radiators.

The Blackhawk Ultra has ample space behind the motherboard tray for cables, but there’s a catch. Actually, there are several catches. Because the top and bottom edges of the side panels are lined with three slide-tab catches, and because the side panels are flexy, you might need four or more hands to get the panel back on. Any cables pushing back against the side panel will make the panel even more difficult to get into place.
I had to use extreme force to slide back the Blackhawk Ultra's side panels and, after injuring myself, was still left with side tabs that caught the edges. Supposing you can get the side panels off, adding parts is fairly simple.

The Blackhawk Ultra has a couple of extra cables for the top-panel drive dock, but the combination is easy to figure out. I just wish Rosewill would remove the AC'97 extension from the HD Audio lead, since the older standard is no longer in use (and hasn't been for a decade).

Drive trays are drilled for both 2.5” and 3.5” form factors, including SSDs. The assumption that any 2.5” drive that makes its way into a desktop PC will be solid-state means that Rosewill doesn’t need to supply those holes with vibration dampening, as it does for 3.5” drives.

The lack of any oddball design features means there isn’t much to discuss when it comes to hardware installation. Everything simply screws together as it would in any other traditional case, and the only thing that stands out is the power supply strap that helps to prevent damage to the relatively thin rear panel if you decide to handle the system roughly.

Fan lighting isn’t so bright as to be distracting. Not that anything hidden beneath a desk would distract us.
Available without or with a side window (models ending in –W) and in either black (B) or silver (S), we received the $230 SST-FT04S-W only to find that certain sellers are drastically discounting SilverStone’s latest Fortress-series case to a mere $200.

Over-the-top claims of technical innovation aside, the Fortress FT04 delivers a very traditional upside-down mid-tower design complete with the power supply and two 5.25” bays up top. Back when companies first tried this, super-hot chipsets and gravity-fed heat pipes could lead to the destruction of your motherboard. But today's cool-running core logic and hot voltage regulators make it an idea worth revisiting. It also gives us two USB 3.0 ports and headset jacks on the right-top edge of the front panel, which is nice for users who place their PCs to the left of their monitor.

The opposite corner features power and reset buttons.

Around back, we find an eighth expansion slot, perfect for use with double-slot graphics coolers when the card is mounted in an ATX motherboard’s bottom slot (or top slot, if you will, since the motherboard is upside-down).

What we don’t find around back is an exhaust fan, since the FT04 is designed with positive pressure cooling in mind. Still, if you're using a closed-loop liquid cooler, you might want to add a radiator to the vacant rear fan mount. To that end, it has two front-mounted 180 mm fans and a bunch of vent holes in the back.

Both intake fans have snap-away filters, both feature fan speed control, and both are hidden behind a wrap-around aluminum door with noise-dampening foam to reduce sound reflection out the side vents.
The FT04’s top panel has a snap-away filter for the power supply intake. Dual sets of screw holes on the rear panel support flipping the unit either way, so that the power supply could also draw hot air out of the case if you’d like.

The FT04 includes three 3.5” drive cages. The upper cage supports up to five drives, while the lower two fit one drive each. Above the upper cage is an extremely conventional plastic card-edge support bracket reminiscent of the 1990’s.

One very thoughtful feature seen in the photo above is the row of screwdriver holes along the back edge, which makes it possible to install and remove expansion cards without stripping screw heads. Another welcome consideration is the ability to remove hardware like the upper drive cage and card bracket, to create room for front-mounted radiators or extremely long expansion cards.

We're leaving the upper cage in place, since we don’t have a 3 x 120 mm-fan radiator to replace it (as well as the included 180 mm intakes). As for the lower cages, each one needs to be removed to gain access to the 2.5” drive mount on the case’s bottom, and each has a strap to help you take out installed 3.5” drives. The front cage even has a built-in backplane connector.

The rear cage doesn’t have a drive connector, though you’re welcome to use standard cables. It does, however, have a CPU cooler support bracket, which slides up like an old-fashioned scissor jack.

The FT04’s motherboard tray is removable, but doesn’t come out with the card bracket attached. Most builders will probably find its removal a waste of time, especially after they’ve filled its ample cable storage area.
The Fortress FT04 includes a card support bracket, which hangs from the power supply brace, and three tabs. Fortunately, the graphics board we're using isn’t heavy enough to need it.

The FT04’s intake fans can use either motherboard or power supply connectors, but come with a warning label that probably has something to do with their 1.3 A maximum electrical current.

Front-panel fan speed selectors work with either power source, but SilverStone recommends using the high fan setting in conjunction with motherboard-based controls to reduce the likelihood of the fan stalling at lower voltage levels.

Two 2.5” drives can be installed beneath each of the FT04’s single-drive 3.5” cages, without interfering with 3.5” drive support. Holes at the sides of the 3.5” cage allow cable pass-through. Just remember that you need straight-ended connectors to fit. Some motherboard bundles include only right-angle cables, as do some power supplies.

Our full-ATX motherboard fits without the need to disassemble the FT04’s motherboard tray or upper drive cage. The CPU cooler support brace is then extended up from the secondary lower drive cage to reach the CPU cooler, and secured by tightening its screws.

The end result is a very clean-looking mid-tower assembly, with minimal use of lighting.
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E): 3.30 GHz, Six Cores O/C to 4.25 GHz (34 x 125 MHz) at 1.35 V Core |
| CPU Cooler | Coolink Corator DS 120 mm Tower |
| Motherboard | Asus P9X79 Pro: LGA 2011, Intel X79 Express, Firmware 3501 (03/14/2013) O/C at 125 MHz BCLK |
| RAM | G.Skill F3-17600CL9Q-16GBXLD 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-2200 Benchmarked at DDR3-1666 CAS 9 defaults |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 580: 772 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4008 Maximum Fan for Thermal Tests, SLI |
| Hard Drives | Samsung 840 Series MZ-7PD256, 256 GB SSD |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Power | Seasonic X760 SS-760KM ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 314.22 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.2.3.1020 |
We’ve retained the same hardware through several generations of case testing, allowing you to compare the thermal results from several round-ups. Case technology doesn’t change much, and neither does the heating capabilities of an overclocked Sandy Bridge-E processor.

We’re counting on that overclocked hexa-core CPU to flood each case with heat, and Coolink’s Corator DS is being used to similarly saturate the enclosures with noise as it transfers thermal energy away from the processor.

Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 580 is a great noise maker in its own right, its blower-style cooler spinning at a few thousand RPM at full speed. This reference card idles down to 40%, and we use full and idle speed settings for our load and idle tests.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Prime95 v25.8 | 64-bit executable, Small FFTs, 11 threads |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.3.0, Extreme Preset: Graphics Test 1, Looped |
| Real Temp 3.40 | Average of maximum core readings at full CPU load |
| Galaxy CM-140 SPL Meter | Tested at 1/2 m, corrected to 1 m (-6 dB), dB(A) weighting |
SilverStone’s FT04 provides the best overall temperature results with its fans set to High but, (spoiler) its noise level is similarly elevated at that setting. Thermal runner-up Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra uses a “fan sandwich” to fill its huge volume with the cool air needed by our graphics card.

The full-speed noise of SilverStone’s fans is so overwhelming that it effectively mutes any noise made by our internal components, as illustrated by the one-decibel difference between full load and idle noise levels.

The same FT04 appears exceptionally quiet at low loads and low fan speed. Full-load noise could be reduced by the windowless model, if it happens to have the same foam on its side panel as this one has on its door, top, and bottom panels.

Because performance is always a compromise of heat and noise, true performance is a comparison of heat and noise. With that in mind, SilverStone’s foam-assisted FT04 is the top performer in today’s comparison.
Our search for the most elite production case was fairly unrestrictive; our only request to vendors was that the enclosures use superb materials, features, and the build quality required to get our attention.
Azza comes up short on the materials front, and Rosewill adds injury to insult with those sticky side panels. We wouldn’t recommend against buying either product, but they're not what we'd call elite in the context of this comparison.

Value framed by performance wasn’t a significant factor in our search either, though using the same worksheet as our other round-ups did allow us to see this outcome without really looking for it. The big surprise is that SilverStone’s standard-sized, higher-priced FT04 performs so well that it beats the more budget-oriented brands.
Then again, because this isn’t a value-minded search, and since build and material qualities are important, the only case in today’s round-up that truly qualifies for elite recognition is the chassis that fits both of those criteria. In Win’s fragile, expensive, middle-performing Tòu appears to be a showpiece. But the same quality that makes it a showpiece also makes it an elite contender as we ready ourselves for the second article in this two-part series.
