Four 10-Slot Cases For Four-Way SLI, Tested And Reviewed
Extra space for cooling, controllers, and add-in cards makes XL-ATX the preferred solution for extreme system builders. Today, we follow up our picture story by testing four 10-slot cases that support XL-ATX and four-way SLI (with room to spare).
Building With The Thermaltake Armor+
Thermaltake bags its screws separately from cable ties, but the wide assortment of hardware still requires some digging and sorting to find the right pieces when they're needed.
Fortunately, the Armor+ VH6000BWS includes a 5.25” adapter tray to hold the loose pieces while they’re being sorted. This is in addition to the top-panel’s storage tray.
Armor+ drive trays are designed exclusively for 3.5” hard drives. If you have a 2.5” SSD, you'll need to source an adapter separately. Additionally, the two bottom cages have to be removed before you can install an XL-ATX motherboard.
A carry-over from the AT form factor, three-pin power LED connectors are now virtually exclusive to Asus. Lifting a tab on the other side of the connector allows the positive lead to be extracted and moved to the center, and the excess plastic can be trimmed.
Card latches must be pushed down to release them, and they can be re-inserted at a similar inward angle. Though the process can be somewhat finicky, this is among the few card latch designs that functions as-intended for most cards.
Our XL-ATX motherboard and four-way graphics arrangement fits nicely with the two single-drive cages removed from the Armor+'s floor, though the case lacks standoffs to support the motherboard’s added length.
Anyone who likes lights will love the Armor+, while anyone who doesn’t must find a way to disable them.
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de5_Roy damn those cases look huge, in a good way.Reply
i am pretty sure i could live in the top apartment compartment of the azza case. it has in built cooling, water supply if one is using water cooling, a bottom grill window and so on. ;D -
joytech22 I just wish I could find the Azza Fusion 4000. >:\Reply
I could really take advantage of the dual mobo feature.
Just stick a i5-i7 Mini-ITX system in the top for thin clients, servers for gaming at lans etc..
Then use the more powerful bottom system with a KVM switch and use whichever you want for whatever task you intend to perform. :)
That's what I would do anyway.. I might get thumbed down but that's my use. -
ksampanna I know it's not a cpu/graphic card review, but come on ... 980X & 4 580s beg for performance numbersReply -
DRosencraft Does anyone actually know a place in the US you can get the Azza? I can't seem to find one.Reply -
buzznut I think the Enermax case is really sharp. The Thor isn't bad looking but the Armor is god awful. I don't like the aesthetics of the Azza case, but I bet the top portion could be put to use as a housing for a pretty wicked water cooling setup! That's what I'd do anyway.Reply -
The toms guys are without ideas. Why not make a competition looking for de pc cheapest-fastest?Reply
Spaniard