In Win has released the company's latest In Win 309 case, which features a crazy front panel illuminated by 144 addressable RGB LEDs.

The In Win 309 measures 500 x 238 x 553mm (H x W x D), so it fits nicely into the mid-tower category. The case is made of SECC steel and ABS plastic but still manages to weigh 13.65kg. The In Win 309's front panel is obviously the most unique part of the case. It has this dot matrix vibe thanks to the 144 vibrant addressable RGB LEDs. Therefore, you should make sure your motherboard has addressable RGB headers before picking this case up. In Win provides the GLOW2 software for you to customize the RGB pattern and lighting to your heart's desire. There's even a little hidden microphone on top of the case so it can interact with its surroundings like when you play music and such. We wonder if you can play games like Tetris or Pac Man on the front panel, though.

In Win has placed the typícal front panel ports on the side of the case. There's one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, two USB 3.0 ports, microphone and headphone jacks, and two buttons to control the case fans' lighting and speed. While we're on the topic of cooling, the case comes with four pre-installed EGO AE120 120mm fans. As expected, the case has a tempered glass side panel to show off its interior.

The In Win 309 supports Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX and ATX motherboards up to 305 x 268mm. It has seven PCI expansion slots and enough clearance space for graphics cards up to 350mm in length. The case brings back something that we haven't seen in a while: The power supply bay is located on the top of the case. The In Win 309 supports units with a maximum length of 200mm.

The In Win 309 has plenty of cooling options. There are seven 120mm fan mounts in total. Three are located on the top and bottom, and one is located at the rear of the case, so you can install a 360mm radiator up top or a very slim 360mm radiator at the bottom or a 120mm radiator at the back. If you prefer old-school air cooling, the case can accommodate CPU coolers up to a height of 160mm. As for storage, you can install up to three 2.5-inch drives or two 3.5-inch drives.

In Win didn't specify the pricing or availability for the In Win 309 case.

Taiwanese case maker In Win delivers interesting, eye catching cases every year at both CES and computex. This year is no different, with the company trotting out a budget-priced cloth-wrapped plastic case in its Alice concept, a $4,000 one-of-a-kind made-to-order Yǒng Signature Series, and a slick stained-glass-inspired 309 chassis with 144 addressable RGB LED pixels up front, controlled via some slick software.

Yǒng: 9th Generation, Limited-Edition Signature Chassis

Starting off in the stratosphere (at least when it comes to pricing) is the company’s 9th-generation Signature Series, or Yǒng, an organic-looking chrysalis-like open-air case that the company says is built to order and can accommodate pretty much any build, up to and including massive Intel-based boards like the ROG dominus. The Yǒng is 3D-printed using ABS plastic in a color of your choosing.

The company says they will build out a website that will let you customize the case and that, combined with the printing, finishing, and materials cost, means the Yǒng is going to be expensive--around $4,000. Sure, that’s absurdly expensive, but a company rep told us that’s actually about $500 less than the aluminum Z-Tower that the company launched here last year.

Alice Concept Chassis

Next up, at the opposite end of the pricing spectrum is the Alice concept, which the company says is inspired by the eponymous protagonist of Wonderland. This case, which the company says will cost as little as $40, will have a frame built of “sturdy ABS” plastic, and be wrapped in fabric.

Looking more like a lamp or a clothes hamper than a traditional case, the company said they created it in response to customers asking for a light case for easy transport for LAN parties or just around the house. The cloth covering allows for softer aesthetics and playful designs, while the open frame means airflow shouldn’t be an issue. But we’re not thrilled at the lack of any top or front-mounted ports.

In Win 925: A Really Big “Little Brother”

The new 925 was designed as the “little brother” of the massive 928, which we saw at CES earlier this year. This smaller variant doesn’t support Intel’s extreme Xeon W platform like its bigger brother, but it’s still a monster of aluminum and glass that supports up to E-ATX motherboards and will dominate any desk with ease.

To shave the price down from the $900 928, aside from shrinking the chassis size a bit, the company did away with the diamond-cut edges, and used plastic on the corners of the tempered-glass sides, rather than metal. That helps the 925 land at a more reasonable $450-$500. But make no mistake: This case looks and feels like a solid, premium beast.

In Win 309: A Slick, Pixel-Lovers Deam Case

Next up, and perhaps most interesting, is the In Win 309, a sleek tempered-glass case with 144 addressable RGB pixels up front, that can be controlled and customized via some easy-to-use software. The lights can even react to music or sound thanks to a built-in microphone.

Based on the similar (but less-refined) 307 chassis that we saw last year, the 309’s front light panel integrates better with the rest of the chassis, while foregoing the soft, diffused light of the original for a glossy, darker look that the company says was inspired by stained glass.

The ATX case will include three of the company’s EGO fans, which incorporate 16 RGBs each themselves, in a silicone frame, and radiators can be mounted in the top, bottom, and rear, along with up to seven fans.

There’s also a USB-C 3.1 Gen2 port on the side, along with a pair of USB 3.0, audio jacks, and dedicated lighting controls. But really, this case is all about the pretty lights, and we know of no other case like it. If you like pixelated designs or you’re just after a case that can change with your mood with just a few clicks, we think you’ll find the $200-$225 estimated asking price fairly reasonable. Just make sure to save enough money for a pair of dark sunglasses for your friends who aren’t all about the RGBs.

Taiwanese case maker InWin never comes to a trade show without audacious new cases, and CES 2019 was no exception. The massive organic swirl of aluminum that is the Z-Tower (which we first saw at Computex 2018) sat at the center of the company’s booth. But it was the brand-new 928 Super Tower that really caught our attention.

Aside from being one of the biggest cases we saw at the show (or possibly ever) and an attractively designed beast of swooping aluminum and glass, this case was designed with help from Asus, specifically to house its ROG Dominus Extreme X599 motherboard and Intel’s 28-core Xeon W-3175X CPU.

As befitting an upcoming platform that looks to take component and performance excess (not to mention price) to a new level, the 928 Super Tower supports up to four vertically mounted graphics cards (although only one PCIe riser cable will be included in the box), and 12 fans.

There’s also space around behind the motherboard for not one, but two high-wattage power supplies. For storage, you get mounts for six 2.5-inch drives or two 3.5-inch drives, along with what will likely be space on your X599 board for three or more M.2 SSDs and multiple PCIe add-in cards (if you aren’t loading up your x16 slots with graphics cards.

There’s no word yet on availability, but InWin told us the case will likely cost about $600. That’s undoubtedly a high price for a pretty box to hold your parts. But if you can afford what’s likely to be a several-thousand-dollar processor and $1,000-plus motherboard, you can probably also afford the InWin 928 Super Tower to house your ultra-extreme components.

The In Win A1 is a new compact ITX chassis that features a built-in wireless-charging spot on its top panel and a pre-installed PSU with pre-routed cables.

For the past several years, In Win has been bringing consistently high-quality and innovative products to the market. Today, it is one of few companies that people who value unique design and luxurious build quality can turn to for their chassis. Beyond its most exclusive “Signature” products, In Win produces a range of mid-range to high-end chassis. Like many of its contemporaries, In Win also produces PSUs and fans.

At last year’s Computex, In Win revealed a prototype compact ITX chassis called the Gaming Cube A1. Its big innovation was a top panel made from wood. Just over half a year later, In Win has launched the production version, and it’s simply called the A1. The obvious difference here is the loss of the wooden top panel; the A1 now sports a glass top panel with an embedded Qi wireless charger. The glass continues to the left-side panel, which can be easily removed by pulling two plungers. Elsewhere, the case is painted steel. The whole thing sits on a clear plastic base lit by a 4-pin RGB-LED strip.

Everyone who’s worked on an ITX build knows that the confined space can be a problem for standard ATX PSUs and their overly long cables. To make things more convenient, the In Win A1 comes with a pre-installed 600W, Bronze-certified PSU with pre-routed cables. There are two 6+2-pin connectors for more demanding graphics cards. Thanks to the efficient use of space, the A1 can fit CPU coolers up to 160mm in height, a graphics card up to 300mm in length, two 2.5” drives, and up to four 120mm fans. Water cooling is limited to a single 120mm radiator, which can only be mounted at the rear, however.

Availability of the A1 will begin in mid-May, but In Win didn’t announce an MSRP. It comes in black and white versions.

If you are in the market for a mid-tower ATX chassis with a tempered glass side panel, the In Win 305 might be right up your alley.  

In Win’s latest mid-tower case offering measures 500 x 248 x 484mm (HxWxD) and weighs in at 25lbs. The In Win 305 features a steel, plastic, and tempered glass construction and supports up to ATX motherboards. This case can accommodate CPU coolers up to 160mm in height and power supplies up to 200mm in length. Those of you running multi-GPU setups will be happy to know the chassis’ seven expansion slots permit the installation of graphics cards up to 350mm in length.

There are mounting locations for up to seven 120mm fans--three in the top, three in the bottom, and one in the rear--but as far as we can tell, there are no fans included with this chassis. Radiators and all-in-one coolers up to 360mm can be installed in the top of the chassis. A 120mm radiator can be installed in the rear fan mounting location over the CPU socket area. Front I/O connectivity consists of two USB 2.0 ports, a single USB 3.0 port, a fan speed switch, and the standard set of HD audio jacks.

The 3mm-thick tempered glass side panel is tool-less, requiring just a simple press of the handle to remove. The metal panel on the opposite side of the chassis is attached via captured thumbscrews. The 305 is outfitted with removable dust filters in the front and on the bottom of the case.

The In Win 305 is available now in black or white with an MSRP of $115.

Remember those cool (pun intended) Polaris fans In-Win had on display at Computex 2017? Well, it would seem they're finally ready for retail.

This new line of Polaris fans is available in three models; LED, RGB and RGB aluminum. Aside from RGB functionality and materials used in the construction these fans, specifications are the same across the board.

Measuring 120 x 120 x 25mm, these fans are capable of moving up to 43.3CFM at 1,280RPM, all the while remaining whisper-quiet at 20.2dB(A). At an ambient temperature of 25℃, these fans have a life expectancy of 35,000 hours and come with a two-year warranty.

The fans feature an 8-pin modular connector design that allows each fan to link to another to create a daisy chain effect. The downside is that a single Polaris RGB fan will not operate on its own: You must purchase the Polaris RGB Twin Pack first and daisy-chain the fans together. 

Common features include a shockproof rubber stand, low-noise PWM fan, six center-mounted LEDs and, with the exception of the RGB aluminum model, a transparent fan frame.

The RGB-enabled models are compatible with Asus Aura Sync, MSI’s Mystic Light Sync, and Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion lighting effects.

In-Win said these fans will be available next week with an MSRP of $39 for a twin pack and $20 for additional single-pack fans.

In-Win’s wood-clad and odd-ball cases garnered the most attention during Computex 2017, but we’d be remiss not to mention some of the other chassis the company had on display.

The 101c is a tool-less mid-tower chassis featuring RGB lighting, a tempered glass side panel, HD audio jacks, two USB 3.0 ports, and a single USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port on the top of the chassis. Other features include support for up to full-size ATX motherboards, four hard drives, seven expansion slots, graphics cards up to 421mm in length, CPU coolers as tall as 160mm, six 120mm fans, and radiators up to 360mm.

The In-Win 102 is identical to the 101c, with the exception of a large ventilation panel where optical drives would normally be. (The ports are also  in front instead of on the top.) Both cases are available in black and white.

The 301c is very similar to the 101c, as it is another tool-less mid-tower chassis featuring RGB lighting, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a tempered glass side panel. It too is available in both black and white. Due to the smaller size of this chassis, water cooling options are limited to 240mm radiators or all-in-one coolers.

Finally, we have the 303 Type-C, a concept case that sports all the same features of the 101c like RGB lighting, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a tempered glass side panel. It also includes a vertical mounting location for your graphics card as well as a side mount that supports triple 120mm fans, a 360mm radiator, or all-in-one-cooler.

Information on pricing and availability is currently unavailable.

Photo Credits: Craig Ferguson    

I

n-Win’s wood-clad and odd-ball cases garnered the most attention during Computex 2017, but we’d be remiss not to mention some of the other chassis the company had on display.

The 101c is a tool-less mid-tower chassis featuring RGB lighting, a tempered glass side panel, HD audio jacks, two USB 3.0 ports, and a single USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port on the top of the chassis. Other features include support for up to full-size ATX motherboards, four hard drives, seven expansion slots, graphics cards up to 421mm in length, CPU coolers as tall as 160mm, six 120mm fans, and radiators up to 360mm.

The In-Win 102 is identical to the 101c, with the exception of a large ventilation panel where optical drives would normally be. (The ports are also  in front instead of on the top.) Both cases are available in black and white.

The 301c is very similar to the 101c, as it is another tool-less mid-tower chassis featuring RGB lighting, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a tempered glass side panel. It too is available in both black and white. Due to the smaller size of this chassis, water cooling options are limited to 240mm radiators or all-in-one coolers.

Finally, we have the 303 Type-C, a concept case that sports all the same features of the 101c like RGB lighting, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a tempered glass side panel. It also includes a vertical mounting location for your graphics card as well as a side mount that supports triple 120mm fans, a 360mm radiator, or all-in-one-cooler.

Information on pricing and availability is currently unavailable.

Photo Credits: Craig Ferguson    

In-Win launched a trio of cases at Computex guaranteed to give you wood. Erm, we mean, In-Win’s newest cases are made partly out of wood. So if you buy them… you know what? Never mind.

In a day and age when tempered glass, RGB lighting, and futuristic designs are all the rage, it is refreshing to see a company take a more contemporary approach.

With that said, underneath all the wood, aluminum, and tempered glass you will find three cutting-edge cases with support for modern motherboards and processors, large graphics cards, tall heatsinks, removable dust filters, quick release panels, and modern connectivity such as USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C, USB 3.0, and HD audio. These chassis all support traditional water cooling kits and all-in-one coolers.

While opinions about the “look” of a case are subjective and vary from person to person, we think it is safe to say that the laminated wood finish, combined with the tempered glass panels and subtle lighting effects, gives all three of these chassis a very classic yet stylish look.

Photo Credits: Craig Ferguson    

In addition to that crazy-cool Winbot case we looked at earlier, In-Win also launched a pair of new 120mm fans that put a twist (quite literally) on traditional fan design.

Starting with the In-Win Polaris, this 120 x 120 x 25mm fan features a minimalist frame with six LED lights embedded in the clear plastic fan shroud. With a sound output of just over 20dBA at 1,280RPM, this fan is being marketed as a silent cooling solution. The Polaris is also equipped with vibration dampening rubber feet to aid in noise suppression. Even though this fan is targeting the quiet cooling crowd, it is still capable of moving more than 43cfm while remaining whisper quiet.

Moving on to the Mars fan, this is where things get really interesting in terms of fan design. It too is a 120 x 120 x 25mm fan, but that is about where the similarities it shares with the Polaris end. In fact, even after we explain this fan’s unique features, you are still going to have to see the pictures to fully appreciate its unique design.

The fan’s frame and shroud is made of lightweight aluminum, as is the fan arm and its 360° rotating hinge.This allows you to use the Mars in a traditional fan mounting location with the flexibility and freedom to adjust it for hard to reach areas or spot cooling. The fan also has a modular cable design that allows for a wide variety of cable management options. The mars fan can even be used as a stand alone desktop fan.

Information on pricing and availability is currently unavailable.

Photo Credits: Craig Ferguson    

At Computex 2018, In-Win will create a PC Case that has wings and transforms into a flying drone, but it can also wash dishes and fold your clothes. But this year you’ll have to settle for the Floating, which is an open case in only the most liberal sense of the term, and the pedestrian Winbot case, a spherical contraption that includes a facial detection scanner, voice recognition, and can take photos. We understand it also can house your PC components.

The Winbot

But let’s start there, before we turn to the latest in shiny objects from In-Win. As you’d guess in a case of the Winbot’s magnitude, it’s got room. It can house an E-ATX motherboard (12”x13”) and graphics cards that are 340mm long and 160mm high. It will provide access to eight PCIe slots, four HDD modules, three 120mm fans up front and two in the back, a 360mm radiator, and PSUs that measure up to 210 x 150 x 96mm. It includes one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C port and three USB 3.0 ports, in addition to HD audio.

The dome is made of plexiglass, and the structures inside are made of aluminum. An In-Win representative said that the company is still deciding whether to include some case fans along with the Winbot.

It looks as if quite a bit of dust could be harvested inside this dome, but In-Win representatives were skeptical of our skepticism, saying that there was plenty of fan filtration. Either way, the globe opens like a car window would--you hold down an electrical button--so it’s easy enough to modify, clean, and otherwise admire.

The company claimed that Winbot includes a 360-degree display (which really just means that it’s a sphere), and it's made of acrylic sitting atop a metal base. However, the Winbot includes a dual camera module coupled with proprietary software that lets you provide voice commands and gestures, and it even uses facial recognition.

A fair question might be “Why?”

It’s a concept case, which the company is in the habit of teasing (trolling?) us with on a yearly basis at Computex. But to attempt an answer anyway, In-Win was demonstrating using hand gestures to rotate the case in either direction as well as voice commands that required using an Amazon Alexa to do the same.

"Because it can," might therefore be one answer.

The facial recognition has some immediate and recognizable value, for things like authentication. Certainly, too, a camera has many relevant uses in today’s ubiquitous video applications.

One of the voice commands you can give is to ask the Winbot to take photos--the company suggested that these would be of you playing a game (or quitting in a rage), but we're not quite sure what the utility of that would be.

As for price, as the saying goes, if you have to ask...

As for availability, if price is no object...we're sure it can be yours within reason.

The Floating

The Floating is all about the RGB, and what better way to show off all of your blinged-out PC parts than by not confining them to the pesky structural barriers of a case. That is, what if your case wasn’t a case but just a series of supports upon which to attach your motherboard, your PSU, and your extra cooling getup.

The Floating was being unhoused to showcase an Asus Crosshair VI motherboard with individually addressable RGB lights, coupled with In-Win’s Aurora fans that have their own individually addressable RGB lights, and all of the components sitting on structures outlined in addressable RGB lights. If this is starting to sound a bit like RGB lights that have RGB lights, well it’s not quite that severe. But you'd better be all in on RGB lights.

The main un-case structure is made of reflective tempered glass. In the upper left side, there’s an LED read-out of sensor metrics (temperature, fan speed, you know the drill). Other structural parts are made of aluminum, and being an open case, it can support up to E-ATX motherboards, graphic cards up to 360mm, and PSUs up to 220mm. It’s got room for eight PCIe slots, and it includes two 2.5” drive bays. There’s space for three 120mm fans or a 360mm radiator on either side and for a heatsink up to infinity, according to the provided materials. (Yes, the company material actually says "infinity." Please let us know if you find one in that length.) You also get a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C port, plus three USB 3.0 ports and HD audio.

For these kinds of cases, we got the impression that In-Win sells them in the hundreds, assuming they come to market. The Winbot and Floating are being trialed at Computex in an attempt to get customer feedback. The company was not able to talk about availability or pricing.

In Win is among the very few companies that actually have a PSU production line. Because that line isn't particularly large, though, compared to those of major PSU OEMs, it deals only with in house products, and it doesn't produce any PSUs for other companies.

The high-end models of In Win's Classic PSU line will be the C 1050 and C 1250, featuring 1050W and 1250W capacity, respectively. Efficiency is 80 PLUS Platinum, and both units feature a fully modular cable design. A double-ball bearing fan is used for cooling, and the warranty is set at seven years, indicating that the platform is reliable enough to meet the tough competition.

The flagship model of the line, the C 1250, has distinct external looks thanks to a small detail: the diamond-cut outline of its fan grille. Those units will be available most likely in Q1 2017, with the worst case scenario being early Q2.

The Premium series consists of three Gold efficiency models with capacities ranging from 650W to 850W. A hypro-bearing fan handles the cooling section, and the logo on the side features RGB lighting. The fully modular cable design is an essential feature for any high-end PSU, and the Premium models use Japanese electrolytic caps, which allow the warranty period to reach five years. Finally, a full protection set covers those PSUs, ensuring their reliability. The release date will be somewhere in Q1 2017.

In Win is planning to also release several affordable PSU models. The Force (F1) and Force Modular (FM) lines include two members each with 500W and 600W capacities, which are 80 PLUS Bronze certified. The FM models are fully modular, whereas the F1 units have only fixed cables. The fan is 120mm and uses a ceramic (Ceradyna) bearing, which promises lower noise compared to double-ball and sleeve-type bearings but with increased lifetime. All FM and F1 units look to utilize DC-DC converters for the generation of the minor rails and are covered by all necessary protections.

Another affordable line will be the Force (F2), which also includes two units featuring 500W and 600W capacity. Currently there is no efficiency certification for those units, and we should stress that they're compatible only with 230V mains, not with 115V. This is likely the reason In Win chose not to certify them, although 80 PLUS also has a 230V certification program for desktop PSUs.

The FM2 PSUs use the same fan with the F1 and FM models and also feature DC-DC converters for the minor rails, meaning that the platform's design is up to date. All protection features are present, and it's worth mentioning that this line, along with the F1 and FM models, is resilient to high temperatures, because according to In Win, continuous full power delivery is supported at up to 50°C ambient temperatures. Both F2 PSUs come with a couple of PCIe connectors and a single EPS connector. Their depth is restricted at 140mm.

We don't have any price info about the upcoming In Win PSU releases. However, most of them will be released within the first months (Q1) of 2017, so we will soon find out their MSRPs. 

In Win C900 Power Supply Review

In Win has its own PSU production line, which facilitates the manufacturing of special power supplies like the ones in the company's super expensive cases (check out the Signature series). Those massive models look interesting, but you can only get them bundled with In Win enclosures large enough to accommodate them. And given their price tags, it's not easy to obtain review samples.

So, until we can get our hands on a Signature-series PSU, we'll stick with more practical products from In Win like the 900 W Classic-series C900. This model and the C750 debuted recently. We're guessing the company went with the word Classic to describe high quality and a traditional style that never gets old. The flip side is that the C900 has nothing innovative to show; you get familiar honeycomb-style inlet and exhaust grilles. But while the external design might look boring, an aluminum chassis with a hairline brush finish is rarer, so In Win gets some bonus points there. Unfortunately, once you scratch it (not difficult, by the way), the blemish is easy to see.

Without question, the C900 is a premium product. Its $190 price tag reminds you of this. That puts the C900 up against formidable opponents. In order to achieve a decent value score, it needs to perform flawlessly, which won't be easy. In Win might own a PSU production line, but it doesn't have the experience and large engineering teams of OEMs like Delta, Seasonic, and Super Flower. On top of that, limited quantities usually lead to higher prices. That was one reason Enermax had to shutter its own manufacturing lines. 

Specifications

The C900 boasts 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency and fully modular cables, along with a slow-spinning hypro-bearing fan. We used to complain when we saw fans smaller than 135/140 mm because we knew they'd need to spin fast (and make a lot of noise) to move enough air. In this case, though, In Win used a fan that isn't annoyingly loud, even at full speed.

There is no information available about this PSU's temperature rating. However, that won't stop us from pushing it beyond its limits at >45 °C ambient. Since over-temperature protection is supported, our abuse should be survivable. Finally, the included seven-year warranty is nice and long, though some competitors trump it with 10-year coverage.

Power Specifications

There are four +12V rails that, combined, can deliver the unit's full power. The minor rails look weak with their combined 100 W (though no modern system will ever ask for more from those two rails). Lastly, the 5VSB rail has 3 A max current output. We would really love if it was rated at 4 A instead.

Cables And Connectors

Although the C900 is equipped with a couple of EPS connectors and four PCIe ones, not all of them are available at the same time because there are only five eight-pin modular sockets. This simply means you can have either two EPS and three PCIe connectors, or one EPS and four PCIe connectors. For a 900 W unit, a quartet of PCIe connectors is too few, and the issue mentioned above makes matters even worse. Obviously In Win didn't pay enough attention to cable configuration, yielding a major design flaw. That's unfortunate on a $190 PSU.

On the other hand, there are enough SATA and peripheral connectors. We do notice another problem, though: the fixed Berg connector, which won't be utilized by most folks. It should instead be provided through an adapter. Finally, the distance between peripheral connectors is too short at 10 cm. Ideally it would be at least 15 cm.

Power Distribution

The PSU features four +12V rails. But In Win doesn't mention a thing about power distribution and we weren't able to identify the rails. As a result, we can't provide a specifications table this time.

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Packaging, Contents, Exterior, And Cabling

Packaging

The box's front has two photos of the PSU, both of which emphasize the enclosure's hairline brush finish. Obviously, the package is common across both models in the Classic family, since C750 and C900 are written on it. The 80 PLUS Platinum badge is in the bottom-right corner, and right above it a series of icons indicate the seven-year warranty, CrossFire/SLI support, RoHS (lead-free) compliance, the modular design, and the PSU's compatibility with Intel's C6/C7 sleep states.

On one of the two sides, a red dot shows that there's a C900 inside. Below that, the major product features are listed. The sleek and sophisticated design, in particular, caught our attention. Although In Win has designed and manufactured some great-looking products, aside from its finish, the C900 has nothing else interesting to show from the outside.

Around back, the connector and power specifications tables are shown. Although a single EPS connector is listed, the PSU does come with two of them. Maybe there was a last-minute change.

Contents

The PSU is protected well by packing foam. The user's manual sits on top of the unit in an effort to catch your attention.

The provided accessories are too few for such an expensive product. Besides the necessary extras, you only get a single Velcro strap. In Win could at least provide some zip ties for cable management.

Exterior

The aluminum chassis is nice, and its finish is among the best we have seen. The only problem, as mentioned, is that even small scratches look really bad. You have to be extra careful installing the PSU in order to not accidentally mar it.

Stickers on the sides are protected by a plastic film, which we neglected to remove before our photo shoot. The large power specifications label is affixed to the bottom, so it'll mess with your view of the nice finish if you install this PSU with that side facing downwards.

Naturally, we void the warranty as we fully dismantle the C900 for detailed analysis. 

Around back, the modular panel includes a limited number of sockets. It should have at least one more eight-pin connector since there is available space.

Although it doesn't feature an innovative external design, still it has a nice looks thanks to the brushed hairline finish of its chassis.

Cabling

Flat cables with darkened (stealthy) wires are included with this PSU. To be more specific, everything except the main ATX cable is flat. Given that there are no extra filtering caps on that cable, we wonder why In Win didn't make it flat as well.

A Look Inside And Component Analysis

Parts Description

Before proceeding with this page, we strongly encourage you to a look at our PSUs 101 article, which provides valuable information about PSUs and their operation, allowing you to better understand the components we're about to discuss. Our main tools for disassembling PSUs are a Thermaltronics soldering and rework station, and a Hakko FR-300 desoldering gun.

This is an in-house platform for In Win, and besides the modern and clean design, its build quality is quite good. Heat sinks on the primary and secondary sides are pretty small. That's fine though, since Platinum-rated efficiency means they don't have to deal with high thermal loads. The filtering caps are of very high quality, with polymer caps being mainly responsible for filtering the rails instead of electrolytic ones, which are less tolerant of heat and have higher ESR values. A half-bridge topology is used on the primary side, along with an LLC resonant converter for lower losses on the primary switching FETs. Meanwhile, the typical synchronous design is used on the secondary side for regulating the +12V rail; the minor rails are handled by a couple of voltage regulation modules (VRMs). This In Win platform looks like it's on the right path in terms of design and component selection. Of course, our strict methodology and lab-grade equipment will show if its performance can match the tough competition.

Right behind the AC receptacle is the first part of the EMI filter, which includes two Y caps and a single X one. In addition, the power cables are wrapped around a ferrite bead for decreased high-frequency noise. The transient/EMI filter continues on the main PCB with four more Y caps, two additional X ones, and an MOV. As you can see, In Win provides a fully featured EMI filter, though the higher number of components doesn't necessary mean it's more effective. Only the combination of a LISN (Line Impedance Stabilization Network) box and a suitable signal analyzer (SA) could verify the EMI filter's proper operation.

Two high-quality Shindengen LL15XB60 bridge rectifiers are are bolted to a dedicated heat sink. Combined, they can handle up to 30 A of current.

The APFC converter uses two Infineon IPP60R125P6 FETs along with a single CREE C3D10060A boost diode. These are quality parts typically used in high-end PSUs. The bulk caps are provided by Nippon Chemi-Con, and although they are also of high quality, their combined capacity is pretty low for a 900 W PSU.

Despite the low-capacity bulk caps, inrush currents must still be suppressed. An NTC thermistor is used for this purpose, and as you can see in the photo above, it is supported by a bypass relay. We noticed that the relay makes a weird crackling noise if the C900 is shaken. That doesn't make us feel confident in the relay's longevity. We actually have access to three C900s, and all of them exhibit the same behavior under similar conditions.

The APFC controller is installed on a small vertical board. Its model number is NCP1654 and it is provided by On Semiconductor.

The primary FETs are two Infineon IPW60R160P6s installed in a half-bridge topology. An LLC resonant converter is also used to boost efficiency up to Platinum-rated levels.

The resonant controller is a Champion CM6901 IC, housed on a dedicated board.

The four Alpha & Omega AON6590 FETs that regulate the +12V rail are installed on the PCB's solder side. Besides the heat sinks right above them, their cooling is handled by the C900's aluminum chassis.

We find only one thermistor on the +12V heat sinks. That looks weird since, according to the official specs, over-temperature protection is supported. We are aware that there are SMD thermistors out there, but the bead-type ones are most common for providing temperature information in PSUs.

Nonetheless, we discovered (with the help of a heat gun) that there is either no OTP in this platform or it is set way too high to be useful.

A couple of vertical boards host the VRMs that regulate the minor rails. In total, eight D528 (GA5G13) FETs are used, along with two Anpec APW7160A PWM controllers.

Mostly polymer caps filter the +12V rails, though some electrolytic ones are also used. All caps are provided by Chemi-Con and belong to its KY and KZE lines.

This board, located on the secondary side, hosts an LM393 dual voltage comparator that most likely helps the supervisor IC by monitoring two additional channels/rails.

The 5VSB rail uses a Taiwan Semiconductor TSF20U45C rectifier. The standby PWM controller is a MOS EM8569D IC, sourced by a company called Excelliance. This is the first time we've seen this controller, and we cannot say its performance impressed us.

The -12V rail's PWM controller is installed on the solder side of the modular PCB, and its model number is APW7174.

On the front of the modular board we find a number of Chemi-Con polymer filtering caps. In Win paid lots of attention to this unit's ripple filtering performance and the result is pretty good (at least at +12V, the most important rail).

The supervisor IC is installed on the modular board. It is provided by Weltrend and its model number is WT7579. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any information on it. Given its size and number of pins, though, it probably provides more than the most basic protection features. 

In Win's soldering quality is really good, and all component leads are carefully trimmed. We only found a couple of leads that were left deliberately long to increase conductivity, since they were bent and soldered onto the PCB's conductive paths. It seems as though In Win's production lines consist of capable wave soldering machines.

The cooling fan is provided by ADDA and its model number is AD1212DX-A70GL. It uses a hypro bearing that, according to its maker, develops a hypro wave in the bearing's center, where the oil reservoir is located. This means the center of the bearing has a lower temperature than its outer surface, promoting the cold to hot flow circulation. Re-circulation of the lubricant and a seal prevent the oil from evaporating, thereby extending the fan's lifetime. Hypro-bearing fans have a lifetime that exceeds 50,000 hours, so at least on paper they last as long as good ball-bearing fans, which are noisier in general.

Load Regulation, Hold-Up Time, And Inrush Current

To learn more about our PSU tests and methodology, please check out How We Test Power Supply Units. 

Primary Rails And 5VSB Load Regulation

Load Regulation testing is detailed here.

Hold-Up Time

Our hold-up time tests are described in detail here.

Our measured hold-up time is less than what's required. We expected this since the bulk caps' combined capacity is low for this unit's capacity. At least the power-good signal is accurate.

Inrush Current

For details on our inrush current testing, please click here.

The registered inrush current with both voltage inputs is low for a 900 W PSU.

Load Regulation And Efficiency Measurements

The first set of tests reveals the stability of the voltage rails and the PSU's efficiency. The applied load equals (approximately) 10 to 110 percent of the maximum load the supply can handle, in increments of 10 percentage points.

We conducted two additional tests. During the first, we stressed the two minor rails (5V and 3.3V) with a high load, while the load at +12V was only 0.1 A. This test reveals whether a PSU is Haswell-ready or not. In the second test, we determined the maximum load the +12V rail could handle with minimal load on the minor rails. 

Load regulation is mediocre and way behind the competition. In Win focused more efficiency and ripple suppression, but didn't pay enough attention to load regulation. In order to provide more than 12 V under any load, the +12V rail has a nominal voltage that exceeds 12.35 V during the 10% load test. We want all rails to be close to the voltages defined by the ATX spec, so we don't agree with overvoltage tricks.

As far as efficiency is concerned, the corresponding 80 PLUS Platinum requirement is satisfied in the 20% load test. This is not the case, however, for the 50% and full load tests, where the unit's efficiency is significantly below the specified thresholds. In general, the only positives we come away with are low noise and the PSU's ability to deliver full power under high operating temperatures. Those just aren't enough to keep us happy.

Efficiency, Temperature, And Noise

Efficiency

Our efficiency testing procedure is detailed here.

Using the results from the previous page, we plotted a chart showing the C900's efficiency at low loads and loads from 10 to 110 percent of its maximum-rated capacity.

Under normal loads, the C900 comes very close to the competition. With light loads it even manages to take the lead from high-end units like the EVGA 850 P2.

Efficiency At Low Loads

In the following tests, we measure the C900's efficiency under loads significantly lower than 10 percent of its maximum capacity (the lowest load the 80 PLUS standard measures). The loads we dialed were 20, 40, 60 and 80 W. This is important for representing when a PC is idle, with power-saving features turned on.

Efficiency is pretty high under light loads, while output noise is low since the fan barely spins.

5VSB Efficiency

The ATX specification states that 5VSB standby supply efficiency should be as high as possible, recommending 50 percent or higher efficiency with 100 mA of load, 60 percent or higher with 250 mA of load and 70 percent or higher with 1 A or more of load.

We take four measurements: one each at 100, 250 and 1000 mA, and one with the full load the 5VSB rail can handle. 

We wanted to see higher efficiency on the 5VSB rail. Excelliance's standby PWM controller isn't so effective, it seems.

Power Consumption In Idle And Standby

In the table below, you'll find the power consumption and voltage values of all rails (except -12V) when the PSU is idle (powered on, but without any load on its rails), and the power consumption when the PSU is in standby mode (without any load, at 5VSB).

Phantom power might be much lower than the ErP Lot 6 2013 directive's high threshold, however, it is significantly higher than what we usually measure from modern PSUs.

Fan RPM, Delta Temperature, And Output Noise

Our mixed noise testing is described in detail here.

The first chart below illustrates the cooling fan's speed (in RPM), and the delta between input and output temperature. The results were obtained at 35 °C (95 °F) to 46 °C (114.8 °F) ambient temperature.   

The next chart shows the cooling fan's speed (again, in RPM) and output noise. We measured acoustics from one meter away, inside a small, custom-made anechoic chamber with internals completely covered in sound-proofing material (be quiet! Noise Absorber kit). Background noise inside the chamber was below 18 dB(A) during testing, and the results were obtained with the PSU operating at 35 °C (95 °F) to 46 °C (114.8 °F) ambient temperature. 

The following graph illustrates the fan's output noise over the PSU's operating range. The same conditions of the above graph apply to our measurements, though the ambient temperature was between at 28 °C (82.4 °F) to 30 °C (86 °F).  

This is a very quiet unit, even though it uses a 120 mm fan. The slow-spinning blades, along with a relaxed profile are good for near-silent operation under every condition.

Protection Features, Evaluated

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features.  

Our protection features evaluation methodology is described in detail here.

In Win says that there are four +12V rails with 25 A max current output each. However, we drew up to 41 A from one of the +12V rails with our FastTech loader and over-current protection still hadn't triggered. OCP on those rails is set higher, it seems, to avoid problems with the high transient loads typical of this heavily used rail.

OCP on the minor rails is set pretty high, as usual, while it's normal at 5VSB. Once OCP is triggered at 5VSB, it takes around eight seconds to recover. In competing PSUs, recovery is almost instantaneous.

The OPP is properly set, since all rails are kept within spec at over 1.16 kW load. Ripple suppression is at normal levels as well.

On the other hand, OTP is either missing or set sky high. We applied a huge thermal load to the PSU, and watched the secondary heat sink hit 160 °C. Over-temperature protection never shut the unit down as it should have. We had to ease off the heat to keep from damaging the C900 permanently.

Finally, even though the hold-up time fell short of 17 ms and didn't satisfy the ATX spec's requirement, at least the power-good signal drops before the rails go out of spec. This means it provides accurate information, allowing the mainboard to properly reset the system in case of a brown-out or sudden power loss.

Cross-Load Tests And Infrared Images

Our cross-load tests are described in detail here.

To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through our custom-made software before trying more than 25,000 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V and 3.3V rails. The load regulation deviations in each of the charts below were calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12 V, 5 V and 3.3 V) as point zero.

Load Regulation Charts

Efficiency Chart

The efficiency sweet spot is between 180 and 430 W with <45 W on the minor rails; there, efficiency falls between 92% and 94%. As you can see, it drops below 90% with 660 W load. Also, heavy loads on the minor rails have a significant impact on efficiency.

Ripple Charts

Infrared Images

Toward the end of the cross-load tests, we took some photos of the PSU with our modified FLIR E4 camera that delivers 320x240 IR resolution (76,800 pixels).

Despite the fan's low speed, we never saw alarmingly high temperatures inside of the C900.

Transient Response Tests

Advanced Transient Response Tests

For details on our transient response testing, please click here.

Ιn these tests, we monitor the C900's response in two different scenarios. First, a transient load (10 A at +12V, 5 A at 5V, 5 A at 3.3V and 0.5 A at 5VSB) is applied for 200 ms while the PSU works at 20 percent load. In the second scenario, it's hit by the same transient load while operating at 50 percent load. In both tests, we use our oscilloscope to measure the voltage drops caused by the transient load. The voltages should remain within the ATX specification's regulation limits.

These tests are crucial because they simulate the transient loads a PSU is likely to handle (such as booting a RAID array or an instant 100 percent load of CPU/GPUs). We call these tests "Advanced Transient Response Tests," and they are designed to be very tough to master, especially for power supplies with a capacity of less than 500 W.  

Advanced Transient Response at 20 Percent

Advanced Transient Response at 50 Percent

Under light loads, the C900's resonant controller operates the primary switching FETs in PWM mode, so deviations during the first test are very high at +12V. The primary FETs operate in FM mode during the second test, so the transient loads are handled better. This is clearly shown by the <1% deviation on the same rail. The 5V and 5VSB rails fare pretty well, while the 3.3V rail is left behind with close to 4% deviations in both cases.

Here are the oscilloscope screenshots we took during Advanced Transient Response Testing:

Transient Response At 20 Percent Load

Transient Response At 50 Percent Load

Turn-On Transient Tests

In the next set of tests, we measure the PSU's response in simpler transient load scenarios—during its power-on phase.

For the first measurement, we turn off the PSU, dial in the 5VSB rail's maximum current, and switch the C900 back on. In the second test, we dial the maximum load the +12V can handle and start the PSU while it's in standby mode. In the last test, while the C900 is completely switched off (we cut the power or switch the power supply off by flipping its switch), we dial the +12V rail's maximum load before switching the PSU on from the loader and restoring power. The ATX specification states that recorded spikes on all rails should not exceed 10 percent of their nominal values (+10 percent for 12 V is 13.2 V, and 5.5 V for 5 V).    

There is a small voltage overshoot at 5VSB that's much lower than the limit, so there is nothing to worry about. We also see a small spike at +12V during the last test, which is also insignificant.

Ripple Measurements

To learn how we measure ripple, please click here.

The following table includes the ripple levels we measured on the C900's rails. The limits, according to the ATX specification, are 120 mV (+12V) and 50 mV (5V, 3.3V and 5VSB).

Ripple suppression at +12V is very good, even under extremely harsh conditions. The minor rails could perform better, though. The competition is tough in this segment, so In Win has to perform impeccably in order to shine. 

Ripple Oscilloscope Screenshots

The following oscilloscope screenshots illustrate the AC ripple and noise registered on the main rails (+12V, 5V, 3.3V and 5VSB). The bigger the fluctuations on the screen, the bigger the ripple/noise. We set 0.01 V/Div (each vertical division/box equals 0.01 V) as the standard for all measurements.

Ripple At Full Load

Ripple At 110-Percent Load

Ripple At Cross-Load 1

Ripple At Cross-Load 2

Performance, Performance Per Dollar, Noise, And Efficiency Ratings

Performance Rating

The following graph shows the C900's total performance, comparing it to other units we have tested. To be more specific, In Win's unit is shown as 100 percent, and every other product's performance is shown relative to it.

The C900 doesn't even pose a threat to the more affordable 80 PLUS Gold PSUs. This platform needs a number of modifications before it can offer competitive performance.

Performance Per Dollar

The following chart may be the most interesting to many of you because it depicts the C900's performance-per-dollar score. We looked up the current price of each PSU on popular online shops and used those prices and all relative performance numbers to calculate the index. If the specific unit wasn't available in the United States, we searched for it in popular European Union shops, converting the listed price to USD (without VAT). Note that all of the numbers in the following graph are normalized by the rated power of each PSU.  

Mediocre performance and a very high price tag doom the C900 to a last-place finish this metric.

Noise Rating

The graph below depicts the cooling fan's average noise over the PSU's operating range, with an ambient temperature between 28 °C and 30 °C (82 °F to 86 °F).

Only the super-efficient EVGA 850 T2 registers a lower average noise output. In Win's offering takes second place, proving that it is a good choice for enthusiasts who hate noisy components.

Efficiency Rating

The following graph shows the average efficiency of the PSU throughout its operating range, with an ambient temperature between 28 °C and 30 °C.

The average efficiency score is low compared to other Platinum-rated PSUs with similar capacity, and it comes close to the levels set by more affordable 80 PLUS Gold units like XFX's.

Pros, Cons, And Final Verdict

In Win knows how to differentiate from the competition, even when it follows traditional design guidelines. The C900 sports a fantastic chassis with a top-quality finish. But that's not enough to frighten other PSU vendors. Seasonic, Super Flower, CWT, Flextronics, and other OEMs have raised the performance bar too high, making it difficult for smaller manufacturers like In Win to follow. The C900 might feature quiet operation and good ripple suppression, but its load regulation is mediocre, the registered hold-up time doesn't satisfy the ATX spec's requirements, and the transient response performance is nothing to write home about.

We get the feeling that In Win paid more attention to this unit's aesthetics than it did to tuning the platform for its daunting face-off against recognized incumbents. Moreover, a huge price tag doesn't give the C900 a chance to make its case. Now it has to fight off formidable units like the EVGA 850 P2, Seasonic's Silent Snow 750/1050, and Corsair's RM1000i/x.

The cable configuration is poor as well. Besides the limited number of PCIe connectors, you have to sacrifice one of them if you need to use the pair of provided EPS cables. This is simply unacceptable in a 900 W high-end PSU that costs $190 bucks.

Alright, so we really harped on the C900's negatives, which are difficult to let slide. There are positives, though. Besides the quiet operation and good +12V ripple suppression, the C900 boasts high efficiency under light loads, good build quality, reliable filtering caps, and a fan that should last a long time. The unit's long warranty clearly indicates In Win's confidence in its platform, although the high-end competition provides even more warranty coverage, stretching out to 10 years. In any case, seven years is a pretty long period for a PSU. After that long, there's a good chance you will have already upgraded.

To make the C900 viable, In Win needs to make several modifications to its platform. For starters, a proper cable configuration with at least six PCIe and two EPS connectors available at the same time is required. In the performance section, load regulation needs to be improved and efficiency under normal loads requires a boost to get closer to the 80 PLUS Platinum standard in real-life conditions. Larger bulk caps should offer a proper hold-up time in the APFC section, while on the secondary side the addition of over-temperature protection should help with reliability.

As you may suspect, all of those changes require a partial redesign of the whole platform, which is easier said than done. But the competition is tough, and an expensive product like the C900 needs to follow closely if it wants to have a chance of survival in the PSU market.

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During Computex 2016, In Win announced (among other things) the launch of the Classic PSU line which consists of two members, the C750 and C900. Both these units became officially available today. The C900 costs $190, and its smaller brother has a lower price tag (close to $170). As the high price tags indicate, both units belong in the high-end category.

Aside from offering an attractive look, the aluminum enclosure with the brushed hairline finish also plays a major role into the unit's cooling, because the FETs that regulate the +12V rails come in contact, through a thermal pad, with the chassis in order to lower their operational temperatures.

Strangely enough, both units share the same number of connectors. This is strange, considering the 150W difference between them. On top of that, we expected those PSUs to be equipped with at least a couple of EPS connectors, but according to the official specs, they have but one. This will definitely lead to compatibility problems with high-end mainboards that require two EPS connectors, or a combination of EPS and ATX12V connectors. Moreover, the number of PCIe connectors is low for the C900 unit.

We should note that the review sample (C900) that we have in our hands came with two EPS cables/connectors, but on its box, In Win insisted that it has only one. In the photo above, you can also see the power specifications table. Both units have four +12V rails and not a single one, as has been the trend for several years now.

As you can easily figure from the table above, In Win used quality parts in the new Classic series PSUs, and the build quality is high overall. Our only objection concerns the low combined capacity of the bulk caps, something that will inevitably lead to a low hold-up time. We hope, at least, that the power signal will be accurate and that it won't provide "fake" data to the system's mainboard.

The design is modern and very clean. There are no cables running around freely over the main PCB, and that's advantageous for airflow. In addition, all filtering caps are provided by Nippon Chemi-Con, and it uses both electrolytic and polymer caps.

As usual, for a Platinum efficiency PSU, an LLC resonant converter is used to boost efficiency. The primary controller is the usual aspect, a Champion CM6901 IC. 

The Hypro Bearing fan is provided by Adda. According to its maker, this type of bearing offers increased lifetime because it develops a hypro wave in the bearing's center, where the oil reservoir is located. This means that the center point of the bearing has a lower temperature compared to its outer surface, promoting the cold to hot flow circulation. The re-circulation of the lubricant and the seal prevent the oil from evaporating, thereby significantly extending the fan's lifetime. The Hypro Bearing fans have a lifetime that exceeds 50,000 hours, so according to paper specs, they last as long as the good ball-bearing ones--which are more noisy in general.

The In Win Classic C750 and C900 are available now.

In Win is well known for its innovative (And incredibly expensive) cases, but there is no doubt that they sport a unique design and looks. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, In Win created a case and PSU limited edition bundle (consisting of the D-Frame 2.0 and SIII-1065, respectively).

Although this bundle and especially the chassis aren't for everyone, there is no doubt that it is an eye-catching product. The D-Frame's structure reminds us of a motorcycle frame (eg, the ones used by Ducati motorcycles) and the overall design allows for a crystal clear view of the system's hardware, something that all modders will highly appreciate. There are two tempered glass side panels that are secured with several specially-designed thumbscrews. Like every high-end case, the D-Frame 2.0 has been designed to allow the effortless installation of water cooling parts and other specialized components.

The internal layout, according to In Win, is flexible enough to allow the multiple positioning of storage, fans, water cooling radiators and the rest of the relevant parts such as pumps and reservoirs. All provided brackets (four for storage, two for 120 mm fans, a 3-in-1 fan bracket for 360mm radiators) use captive screws for an easier assembly and secure fastening. The D-Frame 2.0 supports extra large E-ATX mainboards and CPU heatsinks up to 165 mm tall. It also features eight expansion slots. The maximum length for graphics cards is 415 mm. In addition, its front panel includes a USB 3.1 Type-C connector, along with three USB 3.0 ports and HD stereo audio jacks.

A special case like this one needs a special PSU, so In Win paired the D-Frame 2.0 with the SIII-1065 PSU, which doesn't have the dimensions that the ATX form factor requires. This PSU uses an aluminum chassis, and its sides are covered by tempered glass, so its internals are exposed to the world.

We don't know how well EMI noise is suppressed by the tempered glass sides, but the look is certainly attractive. The SIII-1065 offers high temperature-rated Japanese caps for increased reliability, and on the primary side, a full-bridge topology is used along with an LLC resonant converter for higher efficiency. Thanks to the unit's increased dimensions, a very large 165 mm fan is used, which is able to push lots of air at lower RPMs, so In Win claimed that this PSU has silent operation. The PSU also supports four selectable power modes, a rear 3 Amp USB port for the charging of mobile devices, and a fully modular cable design. 

The price of the D-Frame 2.0 reaches a whopping $1,200. This case clearly isn't for the average user. You should keep in mind, though, that the price of the PSU is included, at least, so you won't have to spend extra on that.

We mentioned above that the PSU features four power modes; to clarify, once the PSU shuts down, you have the option to keep its fan in operation indefinitely, or stop it after 180 seconds or 30 seconds. The last available mode is the normal one where the fan stops the moment the PSU shuts down. The fan is kept in operation with the PSU in standby because it's independent from the PSU's main circuits, with a voltage regulator module (VRM) that provides up to 65 W of power with 12 V output. The same VRM feeds power to the USB charger that equips this unit. So in essence, a smaller PSU with 65 W capacity is inside of the SIII-1065, which is why its overall capacity reaches 1,065 W. 

The SIII-1065 isn't sold alone--only in combination with the D-Frame 2.0 chassis. Even if you could obtain one, you would still need a custom-made chassis for it, because this PSU isn't compatible with the dimensions that the ATX form factor specifies.

In Win is mostly know for its unique chassis, but what many people probably don't know is that this company has its own PSU manufacturing line. Even large companies like Corsair and EVGA rely on other manufacturers for their PSU offerings, but In Win designs and builds its PSUs on its own. The latest new PSU line to roll out of In Win's factories is called "Classic," and consists of two members with 750W and 900W max power, respectively. In Win stated that extreme wattage models, meaning stronger ones with 1050W and 1250W capacities, are following in the near future.

The Classic models utilize DC-DC converters for the generation of the minor rails and four +12V rails along with Japanese capacitors, rated at 105ºC. The external design is sleek thanks to the brushed hairline aluminum finish, and the fully modular cabling design makes the installation process much easier. In addition, the cooling fan uses a Hypro Bearing fan that promises low noise output. It has all the necessary protection features, including OTP (Over Temperature Protection). Finally, In Win looks to be highly confident of this platform, as it's backing up the Classic series PSUs with a hefty seven-year warranty.

Strangely enough, both units share the same number of cables. Normally, the C900 model should be equipped with at least six PCIe connectors. To make matters worse, both PSUs come with only a single EPS connector; this is a significant downside, because most high-end mainboards need an additional EPS or ATX12V connector. Obviously, Win made a major design mistake in the cable configuration of these PSUs.

The Hypro Bearing fan is made by Adda, and besides silent operation, it offers a longer lifetime compared to double ball-bearing fans, which are commonly used in quality PSUs, and Fluid Dynamic Bearing fans. The only troubling thing is the small diameter, which will force the fan to rotate at higher speeds in order to offer the same airflow with 140mm fans.

As usual, In Win exhibited a number of impressive cases during Computex, along with RGB LED strips and custom RGB case fans that can be installed in a daisy-chain topology. The best part about these fans is that you can run them all together through the same controller, along with In Win's RGB LED strips, thereby providing impressive lighting effects. In Win also had a number of other products at its booth, including a "Premium" PSU series we have never seen before.

Signature Series

All three Signature PSUs are incompatible with the ATX form factor because of their increased dimensions, so don't expect them to fit inside a normal chassis. In fact, the Signature power supplies cannot be bought alone--only in combination with a high-end In Win chassis. We should warn you, though, that such a combination addresses only highly enthusiast users who don't mind spending a huge amount of money on a uniquely designed case and the PSU that comes with it. A combo like this will set you back around $1,500.

The Signature units have different dimensions, as you can see in the table above. Unfortunately we don't have much information on the specific design that In Win used (that's right, In Win has a PSU manufacturing line, so it doesn't have to rely on a third party), but we do know that in all three units, the capacitors (both electrolytic and polymer ones) are provided by Nippon Chemi-Con.

Classic Series

The Classic series so far included only two members, but this will change soon with the addition of two stronger units with 1050W and 1250W capacities. Contrary to the Signature PSUs, all Classic models are compatible with normal ATX cases. They also feature a high quality brushed finish, are 80 PLUS Platinum certified, and utilize a fully modular cabling design.

As you can see in the table above, the two higher-capacity units feature much larger dimensions and use 135mm diameter fans. Because smaller fans have to spin at higher speeds in order to deliver the same airflow as larger-diameter ones, they tend to be significantly louder. To alleviate this problem, In Win used Hypro Bearing fans in the lower-capacity Classic series models, which, besides increased lifetime, also have lower noise output with similar double ball-bearing (DBB) fans.

We should stress that the most important problem with ball-bearing fans is that over time, their bearings start to produce increased noise due to wear, enough so that users will eventually have to replace them. This is why most companies prefer more advanced bearing types.

Premium Series

The Premium line consists of three PSUs, each featuring an LED-lighted logo at the sides, with capacities ranging from 650W to 850W. All members of this line have Gold efficiency, normal dimensions and use a fully modular cabling design. The weird thing here is this family's name; usually the term "Premium" is reserved for a company's high-end products. On the contrary, descriptions like "Classic" are mostly used for lower-end lines. However, in this case, In Win did the opposite.

The Hypro Bearing fan, which uses magnetic levitation to minimize friction and increase lifetime, is a good sign for a silent overall operation. However, the fan profile should be properly tuned, as well. Given the Gold efficiency and the moderate capacity, the thermal load won't be so high that it requires increased fan speeds, so noise output can easily be kept low with a properly adjusted fan profile.

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In Win tries to offer products that easily stand out from the crowd, thanks to their design and looks. At Computex 2015, this company showed us the H-Tower, which looks like a transformer, and this week at CES it showed another new high-end case, the H-Frame.

H-Frame Chassis And Limited Edition PSUs

The H-Frame is by no means as impressive as the H-Tower, but it still looks like they paid extra attention to the smallest detail. Only five hundred H-Frames will be made, and each will be numbered. On top of that, all these cases will be bundled with a specially designed PSU, which has much larger dimensions than the normal ATX form factor PSUs. This means that the Signature PSU with 1065 W capacity will be compatible only with the H-Frame. Therefore, In Win will also make only five hundred Signature PSUs. The estimated price of the H-Frame, including the Signature PSU, will be around $850.

The H-Frame is a full tower chassis supporting E-ATX mainboards along with graphics cards up to 44 cm long (if you only SSDs instead of HDDs). It has eight PCIe expansion slots, and its I/O panel, besides the typical HD audio port, also includes three USB 3.0 ports, along with a single USB 3.1 Type-C port. The case is made of aluminum, and the windowed panel is made of tempered (toughened) glass, something that will protect it from scratches. There is LED lighting, providing a stunning look to the H-Frame, especially in low light conditions.

The model number of the PSU that equips the H-Frame is S11-1065, and besides the increased dimensions (18 cm wide instead of the normal 15 cm), it also features LED lighting along with four different modes of operation, including a mode where the fan continues to spin for a short time after the system's shutdown. There is a USB port at the front side of the PSU that allows you to easily charge mobile devices, without the need for the system to be in operation.

The S11-1065 is fully modular, uses only Japanese capacitors for its internals, and includes all necessary protection features. The cooling fan is 165 mm in diameter, so we expect it to have quiet operation. In Win provides a five-year warranty with this PSU, so it must be quite confident about its reliability.

We should note here that In Win is among very few companies that has a PSU manufacturing line, so its PSU offerings aren't just re-branded products. However, reps told us that the production cost is high, so they have a restricted PSU manufacturing capacity because they cannot compete in this section with the Chinese factories, where the production cost is much lower. They might build fewer PSUs, but when you own a manufacturing line, you can design and build whatever you want -- most important of all, in any quantity. This is why In Win was able to design and build the Signature PSU.

The Classic Series Coming

Besides the special edition Signature PSU, In Win plans to release a new PSU line called the Classic series. There are four members in this lineup, in capacities ranging from 750 W to 1250 W. All use a fully modular cabling design and meet the 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency requirements. The cooling fan has a Hydro Dynamic Bearing and 120 mm diameter, while the chassis is made of aluminum and features an attractive finish.

MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: Power Supplies 101
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
MORE: All Power Supply Content

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Power Supplies. Follow us on Twitter @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

In Win has made a habit of launching radically designed computer cases at trade shows and then later selling those same cases to customers. These cases are typically limited production units with price tags that reflect how rare and unique they are. This year at Computex in Taipei, In Win blew the crowd away with the H-Tower's truly radical look. Even more outrageous is the way the case opens. It's as if it were from the Transformers movies.

Back in June we really didn't know much about when it would be available, nor did we know how much it would cost, though it was obviously going to be a pricey object. Today, In Win revealed some of these details.

The H-Tower will be an extremely limited product. In Win will be producing only 200 units for worldwide circulation, and they will be split into two versions. There will be 110 titanium edition cases and 90 ROG editions. The company said that 30 of each version are destined for Europe, and that 90 percent of them are already pre-ordered by distribution partners. The company did not say how the distribution of the remaining 140 H-Towers is split.

The fact that there are only 200 units is not the only reason you'll likely never see one outside a trade show. The company has stated the suggested price of the case, and it is astronomical: In Win's H-Tower has an expected MSRP of 2299 euro. Assuming a straight conversion to USD, this case will set you back $2,600.

Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

In Win loves to go crazy with design. The computer chassis that come out of the In Win's design offices are often quite spectacular. The company embraces that fact and runs with it like no other.

Computex 2015 marks the release of the 6th generation of In Win's limited edition concept design case. Past cases in this lineup have included last year's S-Frame, which was available in multiple colors, but sold in limited numbers, and 2013's unique H-Frame design, which was comprised of several parallel aluminum sheets that were spaced apart for airflow throughout. This year's Concept Design is called the H-Tower, and it doesn't hold back on the wild. In fact, In Win dialed it up to 11 this year.

When closed, the case is the typical shape of a tower, but what really makes it unique is the way it opens up. The side panels open from the four corners into eight pieces, while the internals get tilted upwards. With the case open it allows for easy installation or maintenance. It almost looks like a transformer in this state. Included in the case is a set of laser lights that line the sections that open up. A smartphone app is available that can be used to control the lighting effects. It's hard to describe, but the pictures tell the story.

The case supports motherboards from mATX to E-ATX, power supplies as long as 220 mm and as many as eight PCI-E expansion cards (or four dual slot graphics cards). Four USB 3.1 ports with one of them being Type C are found on the case. In Win also made sure to support ample cooling options. There are three 120 mm top mounted fan mounts, which can accommodate a 360 mm radiator for water cooling. Air cooled heatsinks that are 195 mm or less can be installed without a problem.

The H-Tower case may have been shown by Asus, but the full reveal of the case is still to come. Apparently we ain't seen nothing yet.

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In-Win, a Taiwanese manufacturer which we know is capable of making some very impressive enclosures, has announced two new cases, the 703 and the 707. The 703 is a mid-tower unit, while the 707 features a full-tower design.

Inside the 703, you'll find room for Micro-ATX and ATX motherboards, as well as room for graphics cards up to 408 mm long and CPU coolers up to 170 mm tall. There is also space for up to four 3.5" or 2.5" drives, two additional 2.5" drives, and three 5.25" bays. Two of these optical drive bays are not accessible from outside, though, so we're not exactly sure what purpose they serve. The case also has room for up to four 120 mm fans, and it ships with one red LED-lit fan.

The highlight of the 703 isn't what it can house, though, but rather the way it looks. It is built using mostly SECC steel, but it also has some red accents, a brushed aluminum front panel, and an acrylic side window. It'll also be available in a white variant with black accents.

If you're happy with the way the 703 looks, but you want a little more room for hardware, In-Win built the 707 for you. This enclosure features the same looks, but it's a bigger full-tower design. Inside, there is room for up to E-ATX motherboards and four dual-slot graphics cards up to 365 mm long. It will also accommodate up to eight 3.5" or 2.5" drives, along with three 5.25" bays, two of which are accessible from the outside behind a door.

The 707 will come in Gaming Black and Silent White. The Gaming Black variant comes with an acrylic side window on the left side panel and a small mesh on the right panel, while the Silent White version will have sound dampening material on both sides. Therefore, CPU coolers can be up to 206 mm tall in the Gaming Black variant, while the Silent White model is a little more restricting with a maximum height of 190 mm -- not that many coolers reach 190 mm anyway.

Furthermore, there is room for two 140 mm front fans, one rear 140 mm fan, three top 120 mm fans (with 360 mm radiator support), two bottom 120 or 140 mm fans (with 240 mm radiator support), and an internal fan over the hard drive cage that's either 120 or 140 mm in size. The Gaming Black variant has room for an additional 120 mm or 140 mm side fan.

In-Win has not revealed pricing or availability yet, but something tells us that these won't be the cheapest of cases.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

What Does It Take For A Case To Be Elite?

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.

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.

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.

Azza Genesis 9000

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.

Inside The Genesis 9000

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.

Building With The Genesis 9000

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 Tòu

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.

Inside The Tòu

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.

Building With The Tòu

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 Blackhawk Ultra

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.

Inside The Blackhawk Ultra

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.

Building With The Blackhawk Ultra

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.

SilverStone Fortress FT04

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.

Inside The Fortress FT04

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.

Building With The Fortress FT04

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.

How We Test Our Four Elite Cases

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.

Heat, Noise, And Heat Vs. Noise

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.

Which Case Is Elite?

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.

In Win waited for CES to reveal its latest mouse-mastering creation, the RockerMat 2. A bead blasted texture and smooth anodized finish provides low friction and accurate mouse control, while the included silicon cable hanger is especially useful in non-traditional environments (such as mousing from the arm of a chair).

Also on display was the 901 Mini-ITX case from December, which is shown next to the full-ATX 904 for a scale comparison. An In Win representative said they used glass to be "different" from other case brands, but the harder material should also be better at containing noise compared to similarly thin plastic.

If glass side panels don't fit your mirrored fancy, perhaps the tòu might be sufficient. Launched in September, it appears even shinier and more reflective under the bright CES show lights.

The In Win 904 case is constructed out of one piece of brushed aluminum alloy. Its side panels are made entirely of tinted glass, which makes them actually more like side "windows." The construction features interesting design elements, such as a hanging aluminum back cover that offers a lot of clearance for different cooling options.

Along the side of the case we find standard media I/O that includes 4x USB 3.0 and audio jacks. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this case is the hidden 5.25" drive bay in the front-base of the chassis. As a result, there are three 3.5-inch/2.5-inch vertical drive bays in the interior where 5.25-inch drive bays are usually found.

A few other features include ATX motherboard support, magnetic dust filters, support for graphics cards up to 360 mm in length, as well as several cutouts for cable management.

The In Win 904 is expected to be approximately 179.90 Euro. For more information, visit the In Win 904 product page.

In Win has announced a new, rather interesting chassis. Not only does this chassis house your components and hide them from sight, it also shows them. Odd, yes, but definitely intriguing. The case, known as Tòu, features semi-transparent glass plates which are specially treated to let light through when the system is on, yet return to being opaque when the system is shut down. In its opaque state it has a mirror finish. The image above shows the rear half as if the system were engaged, and the front half as if the system were resting.

Beyond this, the case is fairly unremarkable. It features room for up to ATX size motherboards, an optical drive, two 2.5" drives, three 3.5" drives, and graphics cards up to 380 mm long. It also has three top 120 mm fans as well as a single front 120 mm fan.

Front I/O connectivity is handled by a fairly standard pair of USB ports, as well as two HD audio ports.

So far, there is no information on when the case will be available, nor do we know what it will cost. Older reports indicate prices of up to $800, also mentioning 'limited availability.'

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Asus At Computex 2013

This month our editorial teams from Germany, Italy, and the U.S. were on the ground in Taiwan, covering the Taipei International Information Technology Show (better known as Computex) to bring you information about upcoming and prototype products. In this third and final installment, we have information from 19 different manufacturers!

Asus

Beginning with Asus' booth, we caught a glimpse of the MB168B+, an external 15.6" 1080p display driven by a USB power for mobile multi-monitor functionality. With a thin 8 mm profile and weighing in at just 800 grams (less than two pounds), it's as easy to tote as a tablet. The screen's carrying case doubles as a stand, and the MB168B+ adjusts its orientation automatically if you have it in landscape or portrait mode.

Asus' 27" VN279QLB was the second display we checked out. Boasting a resolution of 1920x1080, this IPS-based screen is clearly intended for use in multi-display configurations, owing to that super-thin bezel. Expect it show up for sale sometime in July.

The PQ321 is Asus' first 4K monitor. A 31.5" diagonal measurement and resolution of 3840x2160 yield a 0.182 mm dot pitch. It comes equipped with one DisplayPort and two HDMI 1.4 inputs. It's expected to arrive this month at a $3800 MSRP. Later this year, the company says it's planning to launch a 39" model, pictured to the right.

The upcoming Zenbook Infinity Ultrabook employs a 2560x1440 multi-touch screen, Gorrilla Glass 3, and a fourth-gen Core processor based on the Haswell architecture. This svelte machine weighs in at 2.6 lbs and should be available in September.

Perhaps the most interesting mobile platform at Computex was Asus' Transformer Book Trio. The three-in-one design includes a 10" Atom-powered tablet that runs Android 4.2.1 and a keyboard/docking station equipped with a mobile Haswell-based CPU driving Windows. You can plug the tablet into the dock and use the combination in Windows or Android. Or, use the dock separately with an external monitor (not included) as a workstation. When the dock and tablet are joined under Android, both batteries combine to deliver a purported 15 hours of runtime. Availability is expected in September.

Another mobile device, Asus' MeMo Pad HD7 is a 7" tablet also running Jellybean. It includes a 10-point multitouch IPS panel at 1280x800, a MediaTek quad-core processor, 16 GB of on-board storage, front and rear cameras, a microSD slot, and a Type D Micro HDMI output. According to company representatives, the MeMo Pad HD7 offers up to 10 hours of battery life.

None of those specifications sound particularly impressive, until you hear that it's supposed to cost about $150. Expect this tablet to surface in the third quarter in four different colors.

On to the PC components. We went hands-on with Asus' new ROG Poseidon graphics card design, featuring what the company claims is the world's first hybrid air/liquid cooler on a GPU. It will launch aside GeForce GTX 700-series boards in the near future, we're told.

Asus' mini-ITX ROG Maximus VI Impact motherboard was on display as well, and it earned Tom's Hardware's Best Of Computex 2013 award for high-end features like an 8+2-phase voltage regulator, 802.11ac Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 4.0, an overclocking tool panel placed near the rear I/O panel, including LED debug display, power, reset, and clear CMOS buttons, and a SupremeFX audio card with high-end capacitors, amplifiers, and shielding. Expect it to arrive in the $300 range.

The Mini-ITX Z87I-Deluxe is pretty much a cheaper $200 counterpart to the ROG Impact, with a similar multi-phase power daughterboard and 802.11ac connectivity. It sports six SATA ports, and Asus claims it's the first mini-ITX board with four controllable fan headers.

We also saw some artistic-looking Z87-based motherboard mods that were worth checking out.

Finally, we scoped out Asus' ET2702IGTH all-in-one PC with a 27" 2560x1440 display, Haswell-based Core i7 processor, Radeon HD 8890A graphics, 16 GB of DDR3, Thunderbolt connectivity, SonicMaster audio, and an external subwoofer. This system is expected to be available in July for $2000, including a Blu-ray combo drive.

Corsair And Quantenna At Computex 2013

Corsair

In Corsair's booth, we started with its newest enclosures. The Carbide Series Air 540 is a double-wide dual-chamber EATX case that puts actively-cooled components on one side of the motherboard, and passively-cooled items on the other. The idea is that with cables and drives out of the way, air flows freely in the chamber that holds the CPU, PCIe cards, 3.5" hot-swappable drives, and fans. It's designed for air cooling, but liquid cooling is supported. According to Corsair, the case will cost about $139 when it hits retail.

Next up was the 330R, an enclosure designed for quiet operation with sound dampening material on every panel. Everything else about the 330R is the same as Corsair's 300R. The company says the 330R will sell for $89.

A representative at the booth mentioned that customers have been asking for different mechanical switches in Corsair's keyboards, so it had a number out on display at Computex. Additionally, Corsair acquired Raptor Gaming, a German company that also makes peripherals.

Speaking of, the K50 is the first Corsair-developed Raptor keyboard. It's backlit, with a full set G keys, and features anti-ghosting functionality. This model costs $100.

The K70 is not new, but it can be had with Cherry MX Brown and Blue switches now.

We got a kick out of the K65 portable keyboard due to its size and the fact that it sports the same key spacing as a full-sized model for $89.

There are two new mice from Corsair in the shot above. The M30 (right) is an updated version of the Raptor M3DKT, sporting a 4000 DPI sensor and a $50 price tag. The M40 (left) sits at the high end of the Raptor family, with the same optical hardware as the M60 and M65, but no metal on the bottom. It does feature a system to allow customization of weight and balance, and should sell for $60.

Finally, Corsair showed off some new memory. Its Vengeance Pro line-up fits between the Vengeance and Dominator Platinum families. This memory will be available with a 3200 MT/s C11 XMP profile, in multiple colors.

Quantenna

Next, we sat down with Sam Heidari, CEO of Quantenna. He told us about the semiconductor company's goal to drive Wi-Fi performance, range, and fidelity with a zero-packet error rate. Company reps showed some demos of its second-generation 802.11ac chipset, featuring 4x4 multi-user MIMO. Sam told us that he considers 4x4 MIMO to be the most important part of the ac standard, with signal processing that allows double the bandwidth when communicating with two receivers at the same time.

The first demo was actually a video that showed Quantenna's chipset delivering a high-def video stream without dropped frames or reduced quality more than 400 feet through multiple walls, and over 1500 feet outdoors.

Given limited space, the live demo wasn't as expansive. Instead, Quantenna pushed three high-def streams to three separate receivers in the same room from a single access point. The technology isn't available yet, but we look forward to putting the chipset through its paces when it shows up in a testable product.

Rosewill At Computex 2013

Rosewill had a ton of new products on display at this year's Computex. The company is working hard to transcend its Newegg house-brand roots. For starters, the Stealth chassis reps showed off to us is an attractive, tool-free design that prioritizes easy access with a hard drive dock up top (like the Blackhawk cases), 1/2" of cable management space in the back, and three 120 mm fans. It should be available toward the end of this year for $70.

The company's Throne chassis was announced at CES, though a new gunmetal color showed up at Computex. The black model with red LEDs should be available in July, a while version with blue LEDs is expected in a few months, and the gunmetal chassis will show up later this year. If you hadn't previously heard about this one, it's an EATX upgrade from Rosewill's Thor with an interchangeable hinge, four controllers able to handle four fans each, and one inch of cable management space in the back. Vents up top are adjustable for airflow and appearance. The case supports two 140 mm intake fans in front, two under those top vents, and one exhaust fan in the back. Rosewill says its Throne will sell for $180.

Rosewill had a custom-painted Throne on display called AirRunner. The side panels are adorned with gold leaf; it's no wonder the company didn't want anyone touching this exhibition piece.

Next, we were introduced to the Neutron, an enclosure designed to house a mini-ITX motherboard. It offers one externally-facing 5.25" bay for an optical drive and four 3.5" bays for hard drives. The motherboard tray is mounted horizontally and comes off with one screw. The side bezels (with USB ports and the power button) are interchangeable, facilitating some degree of customization. Rosewill bundles two 140 mm fans in front and one on the back. You can even use liquid cooling if you want.

The last case Rosewill's reps showed off for us was called the Rise. It's distinguished by a very short 17" front-to-back length, while still offering the height of a full tower. Its optical drive slots are mounted above the motherboard, while it puts the power supply underneath to facilitate that horizontal constriction. To demonstrate the way this looks in practice, three GeForce GTX Titan cards were installed in SLI, all fitting perfectly. Airflow through the case is facilitated by two 140 mm fans in front, one up top, and an exhaust fan in the back, though the demo system employed liquid cooling instead. Expect this one to be available later in 2013 for $160 or so.

Rosewill also introduced us to its Silent Night-series power supplies, which are fully modular and fanless. The 500 and 600 W models should show up in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

The Epoch is Rosewill's first digital power supply brand, including 850, 1000, and 1200 W models. They come with a mini-USB 2.4 GHz wireless dongle that transmits data to the PC. The software UI that corresponds to the power supply is attractive, allowing you to monitor fan speeds, efficiency, and voltages.

At the top of Rosewill's power supply hierarchy is the 80 PLUS Platinum-rated Tachyon family, available in 1000 and 1200 W models, and the 80 PLUS Gold-rated Capstone at 1000 and 1300 W.

Rosewill also introduced new mechanical keyboards at the show. The company claims its RK-9200 is the world's first dual-LED mechanical keyboard, with red and green backlit keys and four lighting modes. It comes with a braided, removable USB cable and is available with Cherry MX Blue, Brown, Red, or Black switches. It should be available soon for about $140.

The compact RK-9000 and RK-9100 are also coming in the latter half of this year. The -9000 has dedicated function keys, while the -9100 does not, instead offering backlit red LEDs. These keyboards are also bundled with a removable braided USB cable.

Of course, what are new keyboards without mice? The optical RM-9100 has three profiles, on-board memory, and four settings from 800 to 8200. Expect it to arrive in the second half of this year. The RM-9000 is programmable, has removable weights, adjustable colors, and a resolution range between 400 to 3200 DPI. Both mice should sell for around $40.

Rosewill also offers wireless routers. The T900N-X is a dual-band 802.11n model a few months out, though we already know it'll sell in the $90 range. The T1750AC-X is a 2x2 (450) and 3x3 (1300) 802.11ac router with two USB ports, coming in the second half of 2013.

Finally, we saw the upcoming Aiolos Plus cooler with four direct-contact heat pipes. Unfortunately, the company doesn't have an estimated price for it yet, but expects it to show up sometime in the second half of the year as well.

Lian-Li, Patriot, NZXT, And SanDisk At Computex 2013

Lian-Li

Lian-Li had some new enclosures in its booth at Computex this year. First, we saw the double-wide PC-D600, an EATX case with two 120 mm and three 140 mm fans, which the company hopes to make available by the end of this year.

The large EATX PC-V2130 includes two 120 mm fans in front, one in the rear, and four on the side of the enclosure.

The microATX PC-V358 folds open, and your motherboard mounts flat on the bottom. This case sports three 120 mm fans.

Lastly, we checked out the PC-Q30, a uniquely stylish mini-ITX enclosure that employs a single 140 mm fan for airflow. It's expected to arrive in the U.S. next month for $139.

Patriot

Patriot is in the process of shifting its focus to address an increasingly mobile-oriented market. Company reps started by showing off its Fuel+ external battery line-up. The small square-shaped 1500 mAh charger works exclusively with Apple devices sporting a Lightning connector. Thankfully for PC enthusiasts, the larger 2200 and 3000 mAh rectangular models feature a generic USB port. The largest 5200, 6000, 7800, and 9000 mAh versions offer 2.5 A output to charge devices faster. Patriot claims the mobile batteries retain 70% of their potential after 300 cycles (estimated to be two years of use), and members of the Fuel+ family will cost between $40 and $100.

Next, we were introduced to the Aero, a wireless mobile hard drive and Wi-Fi pass-through device available with 500 GB or 1 TB of capacity. Essentially an upgraded 320 with tweaked firmware, Patriot says the Aero might achieve a bit more wireless range. But the main feature is support for larger drives.

We also saw Patriot's new 64 GB s-mini and Tab USB 3.0 thumb drives.

Patriot wrapped up our booth tour by showing off its Supersonic Magnum USB drive, available with up to 256 GB of capacity for $299.

NZXT

NZXT was exhibiting a handful of fully-modular power supplies for value-oriented shoppers. Its Hale82 V2 is 80 PLUS Bronze-certified. The 550 W model sells for $80, while the 700 W version is $100. Both feature a 135 mm fan, which is quieter than the 120 mm coolers used previously due to fewer RPM.

The new H230 chassis was also on display. This is an entry-level enclosure, designed to be affordable, but also quiet with three 120 mm fans (one for exhaust in the back, and two for intake up front). It has a removable hard drive cage and uses the same sound dampening material as the H2 at a $70 price point.

Company reps also showed us its Phantom 530, a revamped version of the original Phantom at the same price point, with features like steel latches, fully modular hard drive cages, liquid cooling support, room for a 360 mm radiator up top, and a 240 mm radiator in the front. While the original Phantom had a 120 mm fan in back and 24 mm of cable management space, the Phantom 530 sports a 140 mm blower and and 35 mm of space behind the motherboard tray. Expect the new version to go on sale this month for $130.

Incidentally, a demo system based on the 530 was on display with three Kraken coolers; the original Phantom wasn't Kraken-compatible.

Speaking of liquid cooling, we spotted a prototype universal VGA bracket that's compatible with the Kraken X40 and just about any other Asetek-branded cooler. These were demonstrated on two GeForce GTX Titan cards, each using a Kraken X60. This bracket is expected to cost about $15 when it's launched.

SanDisk

SanDisk released the mainstream Ultra Plus in January, and now the company's higher-end Extreme II is available as well. You can purchase the 120 GB model for $130, the 240 GB version for $225, and the 480 GB flagship for $450 on Newegg. It's an exceptionally fast drive based on 19 nm flash memory. Read our review of this product here: SanDisk Extreme II SSD Review: Striking At The Heavy-Hitters.

ECS And Zotac At Computex 2013

ECS

ECS surprised us with the number of products it was showing off at Computex. To start, we caught our first glimpse of its new L337 Gaming sub-brand. As the name suggests, hardware in this family is aimed at enthusiasts. Two boards, the Gank Domination and Gank Machine, were both prominently on display, representing ECS' Z87 Express-based L337 platforms. We're told the word Aggro will accompany AMD-based boards in the same family.

The Gank boards we saw were feature-rich, sporting multi-GPU support, Sound Core3D audio chipsets, 802.11n Wi-Fi controllers, Bluetooth, and dual Killer Ethernet controllers.

The high-end Z87H3-AX Domination and Z87H3-AX Extreme are virtually identical except for a different color scheme. Both feature four PCI Express x16 slots, but don't incorporate a bridge chip to divide bandwidth up. Naturally, then, bandwidth is limited depending on the configuration you use.

The more mid-range Z87H3-A2X Domination and Z87H3-A2X Extreme enable three PCIe slots for graphics cards.

Next, we learned that ECS' product portfolio is being restructured into three categories: Pro (for use in the workstation space), Deluxe (light gaming and multimedia functionality), and Essentials (home desktop, theater, and general productivity). All three tiers employ the same orange and blue branding, which we find a little confusing, though the text and size of the orange band on the boxes varies. That aside, the result is much more cogent than the company's past efforts at segmentation. Many of the newly-named Pro, Deluxe, and Essentials boards are simply re-branded products, though it's easier to tell where they exist in ECS' line-up now.

One of the new boards we saw was the Kabini-based KBN-I Essentials. You can choose between an A6-5200 or E-2100 APU.

The Z87H3-A4 Deluxe and H87H3-TI (mini-ITX) are also fresh models in ECS' line-up.

Our eyes were drawn to a prototype H81 Express-based motherboard with an MXM slot for graphics. Expect it to arrive in the September time frame, accompanies by a Radeon-based module for use in all-in-one enclosures optimized for Intel's Thin Mini-ITX standard. The platform isn't branded; it's for use by system integrators.

Speaking of all-in-ones, ECS manufactures the G24 chassis with a 21.5" touchscreen. It sells on Tiger Direct for between $430 and $615, depending on whether you buy it with a motherboard. Most of these things are probably going to be purchased by integrators, though we've also shown enthusiasts how to put their own all-in-ones together in Take That, iMac?: Build Your Own All-In-One PC. 

The last thing we saw in ECS' booth was a mini-ITX ARM-based motherboard for Android-based platforms. We're intrigued to see the x86 and ARM overlap grow in the low-end PC market.

Zotac

We saw Zotac's GeForce GTX 770 AMP! at the show, already shipping and significantly overclocked with a 1150 MHz GPU and 7200 MT/s memory data rate. Zotac's dual silencer cooler finishes the package.

The Zbox ID90 is an impressive micro-sized computer containing a desktop-class Core i7-3770T processor with HD Graphics 4000, unlike most small PCs that leverage mobile components. It has two DDR3-1600 memory slots (supporting up to 16 GB), HDMI and DVI outputs, dual-gigabit Ethernet ports, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. It comes two ways: barebones or Plus, the latter of which includes 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard disk. Expect to see it available in the near future.

SilverStone At Computex 2013

This year is SilverStone's tenth anniversary, and the company had a variety of new products to display at Computex. We'll start with the ARM22SC LCD monitor mounts, available for about $220 (Ed.: This actually just landed in our SoCal lab). The display arm allows for lots of vertical and horizontal movement, as well as 90 degrees of rotation for monitors up to 24" in size. It shouldn't be difficult to find just the right position for your desk. 

The next stop on our tour is good news for audio enthusiasts: SilverStone's EB01-E digital-to-analog converter and EB03 Amplifier. Both should be available within the next quarter around $200.

We also saw a prototype graphics card enclosure that relies on Thunderbolt connectivity. Equipped with a 450 W power supply, we'd say this product has potential given our experiences with external graphics solutions already.

SilverStone is updating its flexible SATA power bridge with the new CP06-E4 (sporting four connectors) and -E2 (a two-connector model). Like the previous version, it contains capacitors to stabilize power for hot-swapping, though this improved version is much more flexible and longer, putting less stress on the connectors. It should be available in July.

The NB04 is a one-piece notebook cooler with a large 160 mm fan under its vented surface. The solid aluminum structure accommodates up to 15" laptops.

The new Tundra-series liquid cooling system employs an all-metal waterblock with no screws on the nickel-plated copper base, which is soldered for better thermal performance. Even the mounting bracket is aluminum. SilverStone's radiator design is incredibly robust, and we found it impossible to bend the fins with our fingertips. In addition, the radiator is designed with pipes traversing the fins to increase surface contact area for more efficient heat transfer. The single-fan TD03 is $80, while the TD02 and its double-sized radiator is $110.

SilverStone's representative showed us a prototype liquid cooler than uses heat from the CPU to act as a pump. It employs a slim water block and liquid with a low evaporation point, requiring only that the radiator is mounted higher than the CPU. While this design removes the pump as a failure point, it does rely on relatively high temperatures to work, so the company is assessing its viability.

Starting with SilverStone's NUC-based enclosures, the PT14, PT15, PT16, and PT17 are pictured above. The first two are pretty standard, but the PT16 can pop up its top to accept an extra 2.5" drive for storage. The PT17 is an AMD-based design, built around the promise of a NUC-sized motherboard that Sapphire pledged to produce this year. We expect all of these cases to cost around $40 when they hit retail.

The DS380 is a mini-ITX case that's a little larger than most. It offers eight hot-swappable 2.5" drive bays with a SATA/SAS-compatible backplane, three 120 mm fans, and room for a full-sized graphics card. Company reps say this case will be available by August for about $150.

SilverStone's slim HTPC-oriented cases make an appearance in the shot above. On the left is its ML04, almost the same as the popular microATX ML03, but with different front panel. The ML05 are next, both essentially shrunken mini-ITX versions of the ML03 employing SFX power supplies. The ML05 has an acrylic panel, while the ML06 features aluminum up front.

Here's a prototype of SilverStone's Raven case, which is particularly exciting to us. Clearly designed as an alternative to game consoles and some of the boutique enclosures out there, it includes a riser card to support full-sized graphics cards. The name and design aren't final. However, we might see something that looks a lot like this by the end of 2013.

The last new case that SilverStone's team showed us was the MM01, code-named the mammoth. That nickname doesn't refer to the enclosure's formidable dimensions, but rather its ability to survive harsh conditions. We're told it's the only case able to cope with the restrictiveness of a HEPA filter, ensuring that dust stays out and air leaving the case is cleaner than the air coming in. It also sports angled vents to ensure that any spills flow away from the parts inside. Expect to see the MM01 in late 2013 selling for somewhere around $300.

We also looked at a number of power supplies, beginning with the SFX form factor. In addition to the company's ST45SF-G 450 W modular offering (boasting a 37 A +12 V rail), the new ST30SF 300 W with a 22 A rail features a silent mode where the fan disengages under less than 40% load, or less than 55 degress Celsius. Expect that one to show up in August for $50.

Next up was the 1200 W Zeus with digital controls. SilverStone's software lets you pick between one or multiple rails (similar to the unit we just previewed from Rosewill), alter voltages, and even adjust the fan curve. This fully modular unit should be available in the next quarter.

Finally, the Strider family is updated with modular 750, 850, and 1500 W flavors that include soft cables for easy installation, including the 24-pin ATX connector.

Antec And In Win At Computex 2013

Antec

Antec demoed its upcoming digital power supply control software called Grid. which lets you set a target voltage on each rail, define current limits, and customize fan speeds (notice a pattern here with the latest crop of PSUs?). The representative even made it a point that logs are not kept so that writes to an SSD are minimized.

The new software is married to Antec's High Current Pro Platinum (HCPP) Grid power supply family, available in 850, 1000, and 1300 W flavors. These PSUs feature 80 PLUS Platinum ratings, modular cabling, and a new feature called OC Link that allows two power supplies to work in tandem. They're expected to start selling before the end of the year.

In support of its OC Link technology, Antec introduced a Nineteen Hundred case with space for two power supplies. It's absolutely colossal, and will be available in a couple of months for around $300. This case and the OC Link infrastructure earned Tom's Hardware's Best Of Computex 2013 award for introducing heretofore unknown power scalability to the PC market.

Next, we were introduced to the LSK600, a mini-ITX option that should be available in the second half of this year. It accommodates graphics cards up to 11 inches long.

The NSK4100 is Antec's new budget-minded ATX offering, supporting liquid cooling and two fan mounts.

The P100 is a fresh addition to the company's performance line, an entry-level version of the P182 designed to minimize noise. This ATX case has a removable drive bay and should arrive in 2 or 3 months at a reasonable $70 price point.

And now for the company's Kuhler H20 family of liquid cooling systems. To avoid Asetek's patent, Antec moved the pump behind the fan shroud and deployed diffuser fan blades to move more air through the dead spot. Three new models include the 1250 (double-wide radiator and two fans), the 950 (double-height radiator with two fans), and the 650 (single radiator and one fan). These products are expected to land in July or August for $110, $100, and $70, respectively.

Finally, we were reintroduced to Antec's wireless Bluetooth speakers, first shown at CES. The SPZero weighs only 500 grams and can be daisy chained to an unlimited number of SPZeros, which is an interesting feature for parties. The SP1+ is a step up from the SPZero, with added NFC capability and eight hours of play time on a three-hour charge. The larger SP3 can't be daisy chained, but features two internal speakers with a 20 W output for $219. Expect them all to hit the market at the end of this year.

In Win

In Win is becoming known for manufacturing limited runs of spectacular, unique (and expensive) PC enclosures. The company didn't disappoint at Computex, showing off the KingSize case. Available for $1500 in August, it features aluminum construction and real glass panels.

Next up was the Tou, built with semi-transparent aluminum tempered glass. The buttons in front are pressure sensors on the glass panel. You might find the case available in Q4 for $800.

Lastly was In Win's upcoming Serenity power supply. This 900 W model should be available in August for $180.

Gelid, Netstor, Qnap, Synology, OCZ, And G.Skill At Computex 2013

Gelid

Gelid had an interesting idea on its hands: a dedicated router cooler. Expect to see this item toward the end of July for around $15.

The company was also showing off fans, braided cables, and its GC-Extreme thermal compound. Representatives were claiming that its thermal paste is ideal for LN2 overclocking because it doesn't conduct electricity, corrode, bleed, or cure. In fact, ASRock bundles it with its Z77 OC Formula motherboard.

Netstor

Netstor showed us the NA333TBS, an external enclosure that hosts up to 16 hard disks and three PCIe slots. This product uses a Thunderbolt cable for connectivity and includes an 80 PLUS Silver-rated power supply. Expect it to show up in a couple of months for about $2000.

Qnap

QNAP specializes in business-oriented NAS hardware, but also sells some more mainstream offerings. The new TurboNAS TS-470 Pro will be available soon, featuring a 3.3 GHz Intel Core i3-3220, 2 GB of RAM, and space for four hard disks with a maximum capacity of 16 TB. It comes with a built-in media center and is capable of encoding 4K video streams.

Synology

Synology presented its new USB Station 3, an enclosure that turns any external USB hard disk/flash drive/SDXC memory card into a compact and convenient NAS. Expect it to arrive around August.

Like all of Synology's NAS products, the USB Station 3 comes with the company's DiskStation Manager software. It features a clean interface with a lot of options, and works in Windows and OS X. A new version should launch in July, too.

The DS214 and DS214+ are higher up the company's product portfolio, each with two hard disk bays. Availability is expected in the third quarter of 2013. They both support hot-swap functionality and come armed with 1.6 GHz Atom processors. The DS214+ is additionally able to transcode 1080p video on the fly. It sports 1 GB of memory and has additional connectivity options like an SD card reader and extra eSATA ports.

OCZ

OCZ was showing off two new modular Fatal1ty power supplies: a 550 W model available on Newegg for $70 and a 750 W version still on the way.

The Vertex 450 is also pretty new. It employs 20 nm NAND, and is available in 128 and 256 GB capacities. If you want to know more, check out OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB SSD Review: Can We Call It Vector Jr.?

G.Skill

At the G.Skill booth, we saw the company's 3000 MT/s Trident X memory, available now in a 16 GB kit with a 32 GB option a few weeks out. Representatives claim it's the fastest memory validated by Intel.

We were then shown G.Skill's new entries into the audio market. The Ripjaws R71 headset features 10 drivers for surround sound, a noise-cancelling microphone, and a touch-control pod. Expect it at the end of 2013 or the beginning of next year.

The Ripjaws D71 is the company's low-end model, with two drivers and a simpler control pod.

Three More Cases And A Grand Finale

We're well into summer, so it's about time we wrapped up a gaming case round-up that started in the spring. As a reminder, we focused on the value market, setting a price cap of $100 and warning the 28 companies we invited that quality would be a major consideration. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any of the throw-away parts that a few brands continuously try sending to our labs.

In fact, most of the companies that make the cheap cases we'd caution you against decided to simply not show up for fear of higher-end vendors. Most of the 11 models that did land at the Tom's Hardware office had more than 15 pounds of material to enhance their durability. We reviewed the field in the order they arrived, and two of the lighter contenders coincidentally show up in the last part of our round-up.

There’s no hard-and-fast 15-pound rule, as both Antec and In Win certainly know how to shape their metal to stiffen it. We even had an all-aluminum sample arrive in Part 1 that weighed in just under 11 pounds. Its only weakness was its internal structure. Rather than make scurrilous remarks based on a single specification, we’re going to build these up and put them through our tests to find out which company really has the best gaming-oriented chassis.

If you missed any of the five stories preceding this one and want a refresher of what Antec, Cooler Master, and In Win are up against, check out each picture-based walk-through and the reviews that follow them. In chronological order:

• In Pictures: Four Sub-$100 Cases For Your 2013 Gaming PC
• Four Sub-$100 Cases For Your 2013 Gaming Build, Reviewed
• In Pictures: Four More Sub-$100 Cases For Your 2013 Gaming Build
• Four More Sub-$100 Cases For Your Gaming Build, Reviewed
• In Pictures: The Last Three Sub-$100 Gaming Cases, Previewed
  

Antec GX700

Antec’s broad interior and wide access holes should make it easier to install CPU coolers and cables, even with other parts in the way. We only question the case's use of clips for the rarely-opened bay panels and thumb screws for its frequently-accessed front-panel dust filter. This appears somewhat backwards from a convenience standpoint.

Connector cables block drive installation in the GX700’s top external bay, though thinner or shorter bay-mounted devices often fit. Our only issue is that the top bay artificially pads the specifications of a four-bay case that only supports three external drives.

Front-panel leads include USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 internal headers to support four ports. The headset connector is HD Audio-only, but we haven’t seen the earlier AC'97 standard used in at least ten years, so that's alright by us. Excluding the deprecated audio connector helps reduce clutter.

Also seen above is the four-pin power connector and leads for the GX700’s three-pin triple-fan speed controller.

The GX700 includes a full set of brass standoffs, along with motherboard, power supply, and 2.5” drive screws. Larger drives are pin-mounted, but the lack of any USB 3.0-to-USB 2.0 cable adapter might leave some builders feeling stranded if their boards don't have headers for USB 3.0.

Building With The GX700

Antec designed its drive trays to expose cables on the insertion side, and then designed its drive cage for right-side insertion. This combination places cables against the right panel, as usual, but doesn’t require the left panel to be opened for drive removal.

Intended to make room for large power cords, a raised portion of the motherboard tray keeps us from installing oversized motherboards. That means it won't support the 10.5”-wide boards that were once popular among enthusiasts, limiting power users to the 9.625” ATX standard.

The raised edge is so close to the edge of a standard board that it almost blocks SATA cables as well. You can see it pushing against a connector in the image above.

The rest of the installation was fairly straightforward, with one more minor exception: the front-panel audio cable is so short we had to stretch it to reach our connector. And our connector is over an inch closer to the cable hole compared to most other motherboards. In other words, you might find it necessary to pull the cable out of its passage holes and loop it messily over the top of your motherboard.

The finished build looks ready for battle in spite of its modest materials. Though the panels of this sub-15-pound steel chassis feel a little flimsy, a rolled-edge drive cage braces it against lateral flex.

Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 Advanced

The Storm Scout 2 Advanced's drive cage looks surprisingly bare, since it uses individual side rails rather than trays for 3.5” hard drive installation. The two trays you do find in there adapt 2.5” drives, at up to two drives per tray.

Cooler Master’s cable kit supports the old AC'97 audio standard in addition to HD Audio, leaving an adapter cable dangling behind, regardless of the motherboard you install. USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 branch off from separate internal connectors to support four top-panel ports.

The use of drive rails significantly reduces the Storm Scout 2 Advanced's screw pack, though Cooler Master is kind enough to supply radiator screws in addition to the expected SSD screws, motherboard screws, and standoffs.

Building With The Storm Scout 2 Advanced

The Storm Scout 2’s adapter trays can be flipped to support a 2.5” drive on each side. Using them like that require you to use straight-ended cables in a market seemingly addicted to 90° connectors, however.

Our 5.25” drive slipped easily into the Storm Scout 2 Advanced's self-latching bay, and the rest of our full-sized components fit with equal ease. Extra space behind the motherboard tray and access hole flaps make this one of the cleanest installations of the eleven sub-$100 cases we rounded-up.

The filled case certainly looks like it hits our $100 limit, and anyone who tires of red lighting can disable it at the push of a top-panel button.

In Win GT1

In Win’s GT1 doesn’t have room for a CPU power cable access hole, so the company adds a slot to the top of its CPU cooler support access hole. Using the slot requires builders to wrap the cable around the back of the motherboard tray, through the CPU cooler hole, and over the top of the motherboard before installing the motherboard.

Five of the GT1’s six hard drive bays have trays, and we verified on its webpage that the sixth tray is intentionally left out. You're instead expected to favor the 2.5” SSD mount found on the cage’s center divider.

The GT1’s top-panel hard drive/SSD dock uses SATA power, but that doesn’t alleviate its need for an older four-pin power supply lead. Its built-in fan controller uses a four-pin hard drive power connector and outputs exclusively to fans that use the same dated Molex connector.

Standoffs that are pressed into the motherboard tray support ATX motherboards, so the GT1’s installation kit includes only those needed to adapt it to microATX motherboards. It also has enough large screws for the motherboard, a power supply, and two cards.

A set of small screws for 2.5” drives is also included, along with three cable ties and a pack of red trim rings to dress up front-panel vents.

Building With The GT1

The GT1 supports 2.5” drives both within its trays and via a separate mount at the center partition of its hard drive cage, but we chose instead to use its top-panel hard drive dock. Doing so encourages us to take our data with us.

The GT1’s motherboard tray is barely large enough that we could have installed a 10.5”-wide motherboard, and our ATX-standard 9.625” board fits perfectly. Due to the tray’s open bottom and limited space between the tray and right-side panel, we stashed most of our cables behind its 5.25” bays.

Our only remaining installation issue was that we had to connect the auxiliary +12 V lead to our motherboard before screwing the board onto its standoffs. That’s because the tray slot that accommodates this cable is far to small to pass the connector through with the board already in place.

Blue lights at the top of the GT1 flash in unison with hard drive activity, and are unlit most of the time. Internal lighting comes from the case’s rear fan, and is color-matched to the red inserts we snapped into the front panel vents.

Test Settings

Samsung recently equipped all of our labs with its latest flagship SSD, the 840 Pro model MZ-7PD256.

Now we’re ready to make some noise! We’re counting on the overclocked hexa-core CPU to flood the case with heat, and Coolink’s Corator DS to flood the case with noise as it transfers that heat 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.

Test Results For Today’s Three Contenders

What’s up with Antec? The GX700 manages some amazingly-low temperatures in spite of its lack of intake fans, relying instead on exhaust fans to do all of the work.

One nice thing about exhaust fans is that they make less apparent noise than intakes, since they’re farther away from the user. Measuring noise from 45° off the front panel, much of the case isolates users from Antec’s exhaust.

The combination of good heat removal, more distance from the forward-placed sound meter, and case material between the sound meter and exhaust fan adds up to a big win in the GX700’s heat-to-noise comparison.

Meanwhile, a low $60 price combines with good overall performance to put the GX700 on top of our value charts.

All those performance and value statistics should make Antec’s GX700 an easy pick for an award, but other issues prevent me from issuing a broad recommendation. Some of the more minor issues, such as a top bay that’s blocked by top-panel connector cables, might be overlooked in consideration of the GX700’s four bays. After all, most of its competitors have only three bays from the outset. A front-panel audio cable that’s too short to fit most motherboards could also be forgiven since you can pull it out of its routing holes and loop it over the top of the motherboard, even if that's a pretty ugly workaround.

Like many of its competitors, the GX700 doesn’t have an eighth slot to enable the installation of a double-slot graphics card in a motherboard’s bottom slot. Yet, with a price of only $60, anyone shopping for the GX700 probably won't give that much thought. They might think about the GX700’s use of break-out slot covers though, which give you the option of either twisting the adjoining metal by using tools to remove them or cutting your hands by using your fingers to pop them out as delicately as possible. And whenever you think about swapping cards in or out, you'll also need to think about where you’ll find more slot covers, since the pop-outs can't be re-installed.

Perhaps that’s why Antec recommended its Eleven Hundred in light of our quality concerns, though even its older Three Hundred has this one beat on those terms.

All Eleven Cases, Compared

Antec’s GX700, Enermax’s Ostrog GT, and SilverStone’s PS06 are in a tight thermal race, while Zalman’s high-quality MS800 Plus follows those leaders closely.

Nanoxia’s server-styled Deep Silence 2 and Lian Li’s PC-9N lead the race in noise suppression, followed by SilverStone’s PS06.

When we compare heat to noise, Antec’s GX700 leads Zalman’s MS800 Plus, and SilverStone’s mid-grade PS06 places third.

An ultra-low price puts Antec’s GX700 in the value lead, if we ignore a few faults. Finishing third-place in the value race, BitFenix's Shinobi is the least expensive case to exceed our minimum quality standards, though fourth-place value Enermax Ostrog GT has the extra features needed to edge out BitFenix in our previous assessment. Even after recent price updates, the Ostrog GT's value award stands unblemished.

The two best-built cases in our 11-way round-up, Zalman’s MS800 Plus and Cooler Master’s Storm Scout 2 Advanced didn't necessarily give us the strong performance advantage needed to overcome their slightly higher prices. Of the two, Zalman's MS800 Plus offers a slightly higher-market feature set and slightly better performance, so it would probably be my pick. Similarly sturdy construction, a slightly lower price, and a handy carry handle helps Cooler Master's Scout 2 Advanced stand out with the LAN-party crowd.

One of Microsoft's founders, Paul Allen, has offered his lengthy opinion on the company's forthcoming Windows 8. While he praises the majority of the operating system, he admits that some features are "puzzling."

Allen has penned a thorough analysis of Windows 8 in a blog post that included images and tips for helping users customize particular features. Ultimately, he believes the OS is a lot "snappier and more responsive," as says the tablet features are "bold and innovative."

However, Allen also stresses that the dual modes could potentially be confusing for users, which may ring especially true when two versions of the same application such as Microsoft's own Internet Explorer can be run simultaneously.

"Windows 8 does certainly require a brief adjustment period before users become familiar and comfortable with the new bimodal operating system," said Allen, who is worth more than $10 billion.

He went on to note that Windows doesn't allow users to start their systems with the desktop as the default view, which Allen believes should be a option. As for the "Charms" bar that delivers access to significant features such as search and settings, the co-founder noted that it isn't easily showcased to users.

What Allen found most "puzzling" in Windows 8, though, was actually adjusting to the operating system's new additions as a traditional desktop user. For instance, he found it difficult to utilize multiple monitors, in addition to the system sometimes switching between the two modes without his permission.

"Personally, I would almost always prefer for Windows to leave me in whichever mode I was already in," he stressed.

Criticism aside, Allen said PC users should generally be able to pick up the changes without much difficulty. Windows 8 on tablets, meanwhile, is "elegant, responsive, and stacks up nicely with other tablets on the market."

"I'm confident that Windows 8 offers the best of legacy Windows features with an eye toward a very promising future," he concluded.

While Allen was evidently critical of the operating system, Acer's founder had gone as far as to say that Windows 8 is more stable than Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 6.

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Making A Case For Performance And Value

Mid-range gaming hardware is a favorite among Tom’s Hardware readers. So, we were not surprised last year when a poll revealed that a majority of responders wanted us to focus on the $80 to $120 range for our next round-up of cases. That's a super-dense field, involving more enclosures than one reviewer can tackle. We set a few reasonable ground rules, though, that helped reduce the number of submissions we received to a more manageable 15. As we prepare to test the last five entries, here are a few links to the coverage of the 10 models that came before.

• Part 1a: Picture Preview of Corsair's 300R, In Win's Mana 136, MSI's Stealth, NZXT's Phantom 410, and Xigmatek's Midgard II
  Part 1b: Performance Analysis of Corsair's 300R, In Win's Mana 136, MSI's Stealth, NZXT's Phantom 410, and Xigmatek's Midgard II
• Part 2a: Picture Preview of Antec's Eleven Hundred, Cooler Master's Storm Enforcer, Fractal Design's Arc Midi, Raidmax's Agusta, and SilverStone's Kublai KL04
  Part 2b: Performance Analysis Antec's Eleven Hundred, Cooler Master's Storm Enforcer, Fractal Design's Arc Midi, Raidmax's Agusta, and SilverStone's Kublai KL04
• Part 3a: Picture Preview of Antec's Solo II, Corsair's 400R, In Win's Buc, MSI's Ravager, and Raidmax's Seiran
  Part 3b: Today’s Performance Analysis

Previous performance analysis revealed several award-worthy products, such as NZXT’s high-quality Phantom 410 and Cooler Master’s high-value Storm Enforcer. The big question today is whether any of the final five enclosures are better than the cases we've already tested. At the end of this piece, we'll compare all 15 submissions to determine one overall winner. But first we have to test the last quintet.

Prices have dropped on several models since our series began. For instance, Raidmax's Seiran sells for only $70 at Directron, and MSI’s Stealth shows up at Micro Center for an online price of $77. Because all of these cases had to be priced between $80 and $120 to qualify for this round-up, we're using the price floor in our comparison. However, we'll factor in the updated prices when it comes time to compare the value of each product in the 15-way evaluation.

Building With The Antec Solo II

A member of Antec's Sonata family, the Solo II is primarily designed to be a low-noise performance case. It appears to be better-ventilated than some of the other models in its family. However, Antec bundles it with the fewest stock fans of any product in our 15-case round-up.

A vertical measurement of only 17.3” also makes the Solo II one of the lowest-height cases in our round-up, endearing it to buyers who prefer their computers sitting on top of a desk. That traditional mid-tower height is matched by a traditional top-mounted power supply opening, though Antec designs this case to hold its power supply with the fan facing up, drawing air from a top-panel vent.

The Solo II gives you the option to mount a 2.5” SSD on either the motherboard tray (ahead of the motherboard itself), or in a drive tray using a pack of included screws.

Recognizing that HD Audio has been the motherboard standard for many years, Antec ditches the old AC'97 lead. That cleans up the cable set, as does a ribbon-style LED/switch cable set. An internal USB 3.0 connector was one of the qualifications for today’s round-up.

Drive rails clipped to the inside of the case’s floor must be mounted with screws onto 5.25” drives before they are slid into external bays. A hinged face panel makes room for the slides.

Noise-dampening silicone grommets have to be removed from the wide-set holes and placed into the narrower holes to adapt the Solo II’s trays from the stock 3.5” to the optional 2.5” drive configuration. A front-panel door provides access to the hard drive cage.

Asus’ P9X79 WS is only 7/8” wider than the ATX standard. Yet, that fraction has caused us a great amount of grief in a few of our builds. The above photo shows that the board fits, but the latch of its main power cable hangs past the drive cage. We carefully forced these parts into place, and were pleasantly surprised when nothing was damaged or broken.

The lack of any intake fan combines with an extra-tight fit to exacerbate our ventilation concerns.

Our finished system certainly looks great, though we’d probably choose slightly smaller parts if we were basing our builds on a chassis, and not picking a case based on the components inside.

Building With The Corsair 400R

Corsair’s 400R appears to be a higher-end part than the previously tested 300R, adding more drive bays, more braces, deeper contours on its motherboard tray, and grommets on cable access holes to hide power leads.

Like many of its competitors, Corsair ditches the old AC'97 audio connector (and the messy cable tail that it leaves behind) in favor of an HD Audio interface. Unlike those other vendors, however, Corsair keeps the legacy (but occasionally needed) FireWire connector.

Corsair is one of the few companies to separate its installation kit into several screw packs, which are sorted by type.

The 400R’s 3.5” drive trays add offset mounting holes for 2.5” drives, so that the connectors end up in the same place. Usually, that's a requirement for enclosures with backplanes. The 400R doesn't have a backplane, though. Nevertheless, one of the 3.5” drive pins still manages to get in our way.

The most common installation problem with our wider-than-ATX motherboard is that it covers cable access holes in several competing cases (though the Antec Solo II’s woes were far more severe). Corsair’s 400R is big enough to dodge that problem. However, a raised lip on its motherboard tray blocks half of our SATA ports.

With SATA cables connected to the top row of our motherboard’s ports, the rest of our installation appears super clean.

Corsair’s 400R makes our finished build look simple and professional.

Building With The In Win Buc

Larger, sturdier, heavier, and with more drive bays than the previously-tested Mana 136, In Win’s Buc might just alleviate our doubts about the quality of In Win's Style brand.

Even with the higher-grade Buc, In Win continues to support the legacy AC'97 audio standard. This leaves an ugly cable end flopping around inside an otherwise tidy system.

The Buc's installation kit matches a few competitors by sorting its screws into separate packs. In Win also adds a four-pin drive power connector to three-pin fan power adapter, though we certainly hope that anyone using this case has enough three-pin connectors on their motherboard.

The Buc also features screwless card clips, a feature formerly associated with high-end cases. Conversely, the company goes cheap by using break-out-style slot covers instead of replaceable slot covers in six of the enclosure's seven slots.

The Buc’s drive tray uses noise-dampening grommets for 3.5” drives, but mounts 2.5” drives directly to the base. Offsetting the smaller drives to one side assures proper SATA connector alignment within the four-drive backplane.

Pins on 5.25” external bays slide out to allow drive insertion, and slide back in to secure the drive.

The Buc lacks a proper access hole for passing our eight-pin EPS12V connector through the motherboard tray to the top of our board. A nearby access hole is simply too low for the connector to fit through. Also slightly inconvenient is a cable routing space that limits larger cords to a channel along the front part of the motherboard tray.

Cable-routing patience pays off in a dramatic (and practical) completed build.

Building With The MSI Ravager

Though it uses many of the same parts, changes in the MSI Ravager drive bay configuration allow it to support longer add-in cards than its Stealth counterpart.

MSI cleans up its cable bundle by eliminating the AC'97 audio lead connector and relying on the HD Audio capabilities of modern motherboards.

Similarities between the Ravager and Stealth allow MSI to provide identical installation kits. Owners can also proudly wear the included MSI dog tag.

The Ravager’s hard drive trays slide open to fit pins into 3.5” drives, while 2.5” drives screw directly to its base. Swinging optical drive latches are similarlycarried over from the Stealth.

Our oversized motherboard partially blocks the Ravager’s access holes, forcing us to run several of our cables around the edge of the tray. This is made possible by removing the center cage.

Well-ventilated panels promise excellent cooling performance from MSI’s low-cost Ravager.

Building With The Raidmax Seiran

Raidmax's specification list claims that the Seiran is nearly 19” tall. But all of its added height comes from bits and pieces tacked on to the chassis, as we can see from the side. In fact, the case has almost no height to spare internally. Fortunately, the motherboard area is wide enough to make good use of its grommet-equipped cable passage holes.

Raidmax forgoes the older AC'97 connector, choosing instead to support HD Audio exclusively.

The Seiran ships with its 3.5” external bay adapter installed. If you prefer internal devices, you'll be pleased to find a standard faceplate in the installation kit. A removable faceplate converts the 3.5” external adapter for internal (hard drive) use.

All seven of the Seiran’s bay adapters appear identical, but are slightly differentiated by fan mounting options. Two bays have brackets for the single intake fan, and you can mount fans directly to blow cool air vertically against the installed drives.

There are a couple of drawbacks to mounting SSDs in these trays. The tray’s edge extends past the power and data connectors of 2.5” drives, making it impossible to use 90° cable ends. The power supply we're using exposes 90° ends on every connector except the last one on its cable. Also, our motherboard came bundled exclusively with 90° cables. It took digging up an old cable with straight connectors to work around this.

Our components fit the Seiran quite nicely, though there are still a few cabling concerns. Space between the motherboard tray and most of the right side-panel is too narrow to accommodate cables. Instead, they have to routed through the side-panel’s C-shaped protruding channel. Further, the lack of space above the motherboard for a cable pass-through forced us to run our eight-pin EPS12V lead over the board’s surface.

Placing our parts completely inside the Seiran exposed a minor fitment issue. Our CPU cooler occupies part of the space needed by the case's side-panel fan. We had to remove the fan for testing, decreasing noise but potentially increasing heat compared to the case’s intended configuration. We also noted that the original side fan is exhaust-only, lacking screw tabs on its opposite side to reverse it.

Removing the Seiran’s side fan also eliminates half of the light show. Enough space is available below the CPU cooler to replace it with a 120 mm fan, but we are only using factory-included fans in our round-up.

Test Setup And Benchmarks

We reused the test platform from our earlier Four ATX Cases For High-Capacity Water Cooling, Reviewed article, but at an overclocked setting more appropriate for air cooling. The test platform includes Asus’ P9X79 WS and a sacrificial C0-stepping Core i7-3960X.

We normally choose a heat sink for its low noise and cooling performance, but Coolink’s Corator DS delivers the moderately low temperatures and moderately high noise results needed to properly evaluate the airflow and noise-dampening capabilities of these cases.

Temperature, Noise, And Acoustic Efficiency

In Win’s Buc makes a surprise appearance at the top of our thermal performance chart, followed by Corsair’s more quality-oriented 400R. In stark contrast to the Buc, the poor cooling performance of Antec’s Solo II belies its superb build quality.

We looked forward to the Solo II placing at the top of our noise suppression chart, since it's a member of Antec's Sonata family, which prioritizes quiet computing. Corsair’s 400R takes second place once again, hinting at a potential winning cooling-to-noise ratio.

Corsair doesn't secure that big win, however, because the Buc's cooling performance is far greater than its noise suppression. The 400R takes second place, which still isn't bad.

The Antec Solo II is noticeably quieter than other cases. But its poor thermal performance puts it quite a ways below the second-to-last finisher in our acoustic efficiency metric.

Quality And Value: The Final Five, Evaluated

We required all of the submissions in our 15-case series to sell between $80 and $120. And yet, a few of them are actually available for less than $80 in some areas. That's not a bad problem to have (it's the opposite of what motherboard vendors generally try to get away with). Fortunately, all of these cases sell for at least $80 somewhere—and the manufacturers of the less expensive models agreed that their cases could still compete in the $80 category.

Available for as little as $70, Raidmax’s Seiran tops our performance value chart, even if we consider it as an $80 model. Using the same $80 baseline, MSI’s $77 Ravager is not far behind. The spread between those two would be even greater if this was a round-up of $70 to $120 cases.

We were reluctant to compare lower-end enclosures, because that discussion quickly degenerates into a complicated debate about quality. The Ravager is built better than the Seiran, but neither contender exhibits the quality we'd need to see for a recommendation in this competitive segment. Even at their lowest $77 and $70 online prices, both cases feel overpriced by about $20.

Ironically, the flimsiest case in today’s comparison actually seems like it might be worth $80: In Win’s Buc. However, the company has trouble winning us over with such obvious design deficits as the inability to run an EPS12V cable up the back of the motherboard tray. A $95 asking price adds insult to injury.

That leaves two strong contenders: Corsair’s 400R and Antec’s Solo II. The Solo II exhibits slightly better build quality, but the 400R delivers far better thermal performance. Antec tops our noise isolation chart, but the Solo II's thermal performance is so mediocre that the 400R scored more than 25% higher on our acoustic efficiency chart.

The Solo II’s admirable acoustic performance combined with barely-adequate thermal performance might have earned Antec a solid win in a comparison of quiet cases. However, Corsair’s 400R is the only case from today’s five contenders to offer the right balance of cooling, build quality, and features needed to satisfy the mid-budget gaming market—and win our stamp of approval.

One In 15: Picking An Overall Winner

We've seen a leader emerge from each of our five-way comparisons. But a competition between 15 cases must yield one overall winner—or so we hope. Here is how they all finish in terms of average cooling performance:

The above chart is sorted by the average of both CPU and GPU temperature, with the top three cases exhibiting similar cooling performance. The NZXT Phantom 410 did a better job of cooling the GPU area, while the SilverStone Kublai KL04 and Antec Eleven Hundred pushed more air past the CPU.

Antec’s quiet Solo II topped our noise suppression chart, but at such high temperatures that we were forced to expand the scale of our thermal performance chart. Roughly equivalent in noise suppression, the Storm Enforcer, Kublai KL04, and Phantom 410 appear to be better options for building quiet gaming systems.

Combining excellent cooling and good noise suppression, the NZXT Phantom 410 tops our comparison of temperature-to-noise.

We limited our five-way comparisons to prices between $80 and $120 because that was what it took to qualify for our round-up. Since we began, however, a few of these cases dropped below $80. So, we updated our final chart to reflect actual, current prices.

Corsair’s 300R did not impress at the manufacturer-suggested price of $80, but that price recently dropped to $65 at Directron. Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer similarly dropped to $72 at Walmart’s online store. Normalizing those two prices at the $80 minimum causes them to drop down to 10% and 15% over-average value. Strictly following the review guidelines, NZXT’s Phantom 410 comes out on top.

Using the mid-budget gaming market as our standard, the next three cases to appear on the value chart exhibit sub-standard quality. We don't see another chassis exhibiting the quality we expected in this segment until we reach Antec’s mid-pack Eleven Hundred.

A drop to $81 at Mwave puts NZXT’s Phantom 410 into its current high-value position, though it already received our accolades for high quality. Leading the entire field in both cooling and acoustic efficiency, this lower price sees the Phantom 410 finish ahead of its competition in value as well. Market leadership is the key qualification for our highest award and honor, the Best of Tom’s Hardware recognition.

If you need a different drive configuration, require different dimensions, prefer a different style, or simply despise external bay doors (like me), then fear not. The second-place Cooler Master Storm Enforcer, SilverStone Kublai KL04, and Antec Eleven Hundred perform admirably as well and are excellent values.

Cases For Cost-Conscious Builders

Although they often don't get as much love as they deserve, cases are critical components in any new system build. That's why we've made an effort to not only write up in-depth build-oriented reviews of enclosures, but also photograph them from every possible angle. If you haven't already read In Pictures: Five Mainstream Gaming Cases, Previewed, check that piece out before this one.

When we build our $1000 PCs for the System Builder Marathon, cases in the $80-120 price range dominate the reader-favorite list. When we recently polled the audience on what they'd most like to see in an upcoming round-up, we even had a few folks let us know that they wanted a comparison of everything in that range. Though the constant flow of new hardware makes it impossible to go into that much depth, we promised we'd do what we could.

Given so many potential candidates, we decided to do a series of round-ups with five or six models per story. We then invited more than two dozen companies to send up to three of their most competitive cases, giving them just three unobtrusive requirements:

1. The cases had to be priced between $80 and $120.
2. The cases had to hold full ATX components.
3. The cases had to provide an internal front-panel USB 3.0 connector.

That third requirement was a big problem for many manufacturers. But it was important to us because Tom's Hardware is the site that begged, pleaded, and eventually coerced motherboard companies to agree on an internal header standard, even as the forum that controls those standards dragged its feet.

Case companies have been so slow to embrace this standard that our requirement dropped a field of over 50 products to a collection of only 15. Fifteen products is an easy number to manage, dividing cleanly into a three-part series. We recently published In Pictures: Five Mainstream Gaming Cases, Previewed to show you some of the features found on our first five contenders, and today's review concludes part one of the series.

Three of today’s cases weigh less than 15 pounds, yet all five cases use a steel structure. In other words, the lightest of today’s cases is going to inherently have less rigidity than we might expect of products priced over $80. We’ll try to reserve most of that critique for our conclusion, though.

Building With The Corsair 300R

Corsair’s Carbide Series 300R has enough space for an oversized ATX motherboard up to 11.8” wide, with an empty space between upper and lower bays that allows graphics cards up to 16.3” long to fit into slots one through five.

While most standoffs are threaded to accept screws, Corsair places a stud in the center of the motherboard tray to positively locate the board. This simplifies pushing the board into position when the other screws are installed.

Limiting front-panel connectivity to a pair of USB 3.0 ports helps Corsair to reduce the number of cables. Ditching the old AC'97 audio header in favor of HD Audio connector further cleans up the installation. Anyone still using AC'97 should probably consider upgrading his or her motherboard before splurging on a new case.

Carbide Series 300R hardware includes a variety of screws and standoffs to mount the motherboard, SSDs, and optional fans.

Offset mounting of 2.5” drives is required to make a single tray work in cases that include backplanes (though the 300R has no backplane). A 3.5” drive locator pin must still be removed from its silicone noise dampener to make room for the smaller drive, which is screwed to the bottom of the tray.

Manipulating a latch on each 5.25” bay allows devices to be added and removed without tools. Each drive is secured on only one side, though a tab on the opposite side has a bump which centers on one of the drive’s screw holes.

Our P9X79 WS motherboard is about 0.9” wider than the ATX standard, yet Corsair's case swallows it with room to spare. That extra board width does, however, partially block certain cable holes, requiring the ATX and PCIe power cables to follow an alternative path.

The finished product is stylish yet plain, which are two words that should only be used together when describing an object (Ed.: What, as opposed to someone's significant other?).

Building With The In Win Mana 136

With a structural drive cage that runs from the floor to the optical bays, In Win’s Mana 136 limits maximum card length to 11.5”. There’s still enough room to hold our slightly-oversized motherboard, however.

A USB 2.0 double-row connector feeds only a single port, while the two USB 3.0 ports get the now-standard 19-pin connector. In Win supports both AC'97 and HD Audio from separate connectors on a single lead, similarly providing separate power LED connections on two-pin (standard) and three-pin (Asus) connectors.

Standoffs are pressed-into the Mana 136 motherboard tray, reducing the size of the hardware installation kit. A slot cover is included however, which might appear a little strange until we look at the back panel.

A single piece of sheet metal is intended to hold all cards in place, though each slot also supports a traditional mounting screw. Only one mounting screw is included, though, since all but one of the installed slot covers is a knock-out (the hallmark of less-expensive cases). The chassis doesn’t even include mounting screws, since drive screws of the same size have specially-shaped heads for use with keyhole-style installation slots.

Tabs at the end of those slots grab one screw of each drive. Since the casing of a 3.5” hard drive provides half the structure of the Mana 136’s hard drive mounting system, 2.5” drives are excluded from those bays. Up to two SSDs are instead screwed into eight holes of the bottom panel.

With no top hole to run our eight-pin ATX/EPS 12 V power cable and no space above the motherboard to even place a hole, we ran the CPU power cable around the motherboard’s perimeter. We were also forced to track down a straight SATA data cable for the SSD, since our motherboard only includes right-angle cables.

The quality of In Win’s Mana 136 is found in its sturdy plastic face panel and textured white paint. Blue LED backlighting adds even more flair to this stylish case.

Building With The MSI Stealth

MSI’s Stealth provides 11.9” of motherboard mounting space that opens up to 16.4” at slots two through four. A bracket between upper and lower bays offers two sliding card support brackets. This can be removed if it gets in the way of a single super-long, dual-GPU board that you plan to install, which may require the extra space.

Thin shoulders on two factory-mounted standoffs positively locate the board as you're installing its screws. The remaining hardware comes in one of two bags from the installation kit. MSI also throws in a couple of foam support blocks and an MSI dog tag.

Slides on MSI’s trays allow them to be spread when inserting locating pins into 3.5” drives, unlike competing designs that rely on tray flex to achieve the same thing. SSDs screw into the center, which prevents the tray from being spread.

A swinging pin assembly secures 5.25” drives into external bays.

Although it covers most of the Stealth’s cable access holes, our slightly-oversized motherboard fits fairly well. The photo shows our alternative cable path.

Though the design theme of MSI’s Stealth appears dated, the LED fan does get a little attention from onlookers.

Building With The NZXT Phantom 410

NZXT designed its Phantom 410 with a removable hard drive cage, expanding the case’s normal 11.8” card space to 16.8” in the top five slots. Builders lose four internal bays as a compromise.

With both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 headers in the mix, NZXT cleans up visible cable clutter by paring back the front-panel audio connector to HD Audio-only. A second bunch of cables connect four of the front-panel fan controller’s six leads to optional fans, while the other two leads are factory-connected to included fans.

NZXT was kind enough to separate all of the Phantom 410’s installation hardware into separate bags.

Hard drives are removed from the reverse (right) side of the Phantom 410.

The Phantom 410 offsets 2.5” drives to one side of the tray. That'd be a necessary concession if the case had backplanes. It doesn't, though. Nevertheless, you still have to take a few seconds to remove the corresponding 3.5” mounting pins from their keyholes prior to screwing the smaller drive in place.

A sliding latch unlocks the 5.25” bays; pulling the latch releases its pins. The Phantom 410 secures external drives on only one side.

An internal fan bracket reduces top-slot card clearance to 10.8”, blocking access to the SATA connectors of our slightly-oversized motherboard. The bracket can be pivoted or removed.

Although removing the fan bracket may have helped our SATA cables fit, the extra width of our motherboard blocked access to needed cable entry holes. We removed the center drive cage to make room for cables to pass through, and didn’t bother to replace the lower cable hole’s grommet when we found that merely bumping it caused it to fall out again.

All cables holes have rolled edges, making the grommets superfluous anyway.

While this editor prefers cases without drive doors, it’s difficult to argue against the look NZXT achieved with the front of its Phantom 410. The upper part of the finished system looks brighter than normal for a different reason…

A multi-colored LED fan adds a little visual excitement, brightens up the look of our installed components, and is lit softly enough to prevent annoying distraction. The lighting can’t be disabled, but turning down the fan speed makes it appear dimmer.

Building With The Xigmatek Midgard II

Xigmatek’s Midgard II provides many of the internal design elements that made us like the NZXT Phantom 410, but leaves out a handful of its competitor's features, like those awkward internal grommets.

The Midgard II doesn’t have an internal fan controller, though a slot-mounted fan controller is included in its installation kit. Instead, the four-pin power connector is used by its top-panel drive dock, which supports 2.5” and 3.5” internal drives, externally.

Xigmatek’s installation kit uniquely includes a slot-panel triple-fan controller and a front-panel replacement cover, which is used for the thin optical drives found in notebooks. The Midgard II hosts only three 5.25” drives, but using a laptop's optical drive in the other external bay lets you use the trio of 5.25” bays for other devices.

The Midgard II compels you to install 2.5” drives in the center of its 3.5” trays so that you can skip the removal of drive-holder pins required on many competing models. The trays of those competing models are designed for use with non-existent backplanes.

Twisting the center knob of each drive latch 90° allows it to be pulled completely away from the drive cage, releasing its pins from the drive. Xigmatek secures drives from both sides with these latches, making the drive less wobbly, but more time-consuming to replace.

Similarities to the NZXT Phantom 410 continue in the Midgard II’s finished installation, with our slightly-oversized motherboard blocking required access holes. We again removed the center drive cage to create a place to route our ATX and PCIe cables.

The Midgard II adds ventilation and features without departing from the understated look that many experienced builders prefer.

Test Settings And Benchmarks

We reused the test platform from Four ATX Cases For High-Capacity Water Cooling, Reviewed, but at an overclocked setting that’s more appropriate for air cooling. It includes Asus’ P9X79 WS and a sacrificial C0-stepping Core i7-3960X.

While we normally choose a cooler for its low noise and high cooling, Coolink’s Corator DS provides the moderately-low temperatures and moderately-high noise needed to properly evaluate the airflow and noise-dampening capabilities of these cases.

Temperature, Noise, And Acoustic Efficiency

The two most closely-matched case designs take first and second place in our thermal tests, with the case that has the most factory-installed fans topping the chart.

While this editor finds drive doors inconvenient, they do occasionally help reduce the overall noise profile of a case. Thicker material also dampens noise, while vent size and location have a profound effect on how much noise escapes.

Similarities in internal design are not proven in noise dampening, as NZXT and Xigmatek take opposite ends of the chart. Corsair’s 300R is the quietest of the three thin cases, and it is also the coolest of those three.

For our cooling to noise comparison, the word relative refers to how each case compares to the average of cases in this review.

Because lower temperatures produce better results, an inverse scale of thermal performance is needed to give better-cooling cases a higher score. The average temperature of all cases is divided by the average temperature of an individual case to calculate its relative cooling.

The bottom number in a division problem is already inverted (a larger denominator produces a smaller fraction), so the average noise level of each case is divided by the average noise level of all cases to produce a direct result for relative noise reduction.

Taking first place in both cooling and noise, NZXT’s Phantom 410 has the most favorable cooling-to-noise ratio. Corsair continues its dominance as the best of the cheaper models, while Xigmatek’s poor noise control drops it to the middle of the pack.

Which Chassis Delivers On Value? How About Quality?

NZXT’s Phantom 410 provides the lowest temperatures, lowest noise, and best acoustic efficiency of the five cases in today’s test. If this were simply a matter of performance, we could conclude our project without further description. However, Corsair’s performance is pretty impressive as well, and its price is also rather good.

Thus, anyone looking for the best bang-for-the-buck case will probably jump on Corsair’s 300R. Indeed, we were even able to find the case for $10 less than the $80 floor set for this story's budget range, and using that lower number would have given the case an even higher value score. But we're not really convinced that “mainstream” is the place for Corsair’s 300R. It's flimsy materials and limited number of ports are more closely-matched by several $60 models.

Xigmatek’s Midgard II takes second place in a comparison of performance to price, being the cheapest case in today’s article that really deserves to be called a mainstream gaming-oriented product. That judgement is based solely on material quality and features.

In Win’s Mana 136 looks the part of a mid-range enthusiast chassis, just like Xigmatek's, and it even has the heavy face panel and paint to match. Unfortunately, underneath those accoutrements lies the structure of a $30 budget box.

NZXT gets things right on quality, noise, and cooling, but falls to the back of the pack when it comes to value.

MSI's Stealth edges out the three lightweights on structural quality, but added features such as its SRF rubberized finish, USB charging port and VGA stabilizer brackets can't make us forget that it consistently lags behind when it comes to cooling, noise, and acoustic efficiency.

Value was supposed to be a primary consideration in today’s comparison. However, the highest value score goes to an enclosure built more like cases in a more entry-level class. We're looking for sturdier materials in the $80 to $120 segment. Quality was always supposed to be another important criteria in our round-up. And that’s where a single product really stood out.

Unable to make a clear case for a value award (Ed.: I see what you did there), we're choosing to recognize the case that won everything except the price battle. The only product in this comparison to meet all of our performance and quality demands, NZXT’s Phantom 410 gets our stamp of approval.

Why Do Eight-Slot Cases Exist?

When a motherboard manufacturer makes what we consider to be a bad decision, it's usually a matter of practicality. The most notorious of these is a x16 slot in at the bottom of a board, encouraging you to drop in a graphics card that hangs over the edge. Trying to build a system with four double-slot cards within the ATX form factor even necessitates you use that potentially problematic bottom slot (never mind the thermal issues you're bound to have with card coolers shoved so close to each other).

Better card cooling comes from placing double-slot graphics cards three spaces apart, maintaining an empty slot between the fans. Again, we're struck by the limitations of ATX as the empty slot between each double-slot card again forces you to put the third card in a three-way setup in the seventh slot position. Yet again, motherboards that use this spacing are rare.

Those are the acceptable technical reasons for a x16 slot at the bottom of your motherboard. However, we suspect that engineering convenience is the real reason we usually find x16-lane slots at the bottom of ATX boards. More space between the graphics slot and the motherboard’s top edge allows memory to be positioned lower, easing potential circuit routing issues. More space between the CPU socket and graphics card slot facilitates larger heatinks on platforms that still require a northbridge. More space between the graphics card and memory latches even allows memory to be replaced more easily with the graphics card installed.

While those might not sound like good enough reasons to inconvenience a builder by putting the last graphics slot at the very bottom of a board, the prevalence of such designs compelled a number of case manufacturers to respond with a variety of solutions that offer eight slots of upgrade space, rather than the standard seven.

A few vendors carry several enclosures with eight or more slots. However, time constraints forced us to limit today's round-up to one submission per manufacturer. One company decided not to participate at all because its only recent eight-slot model is in a far lower budget class, though we’re sure a few readers would have been happy to save some money with that firm’s product.

Here’s a short list of statistics for the five models we received:

Anyone who wants to see photographs of key design and connectivity features should have a look at In Pictures: Five Eight-Slot Cases For CrossFire And SLI.

Building With The Cooler Master HAF X

The HAF X has all of the drive space and extra cooling fans we’ve come to expect from Cooler Master’s military-themed HAF series, along with a side window to show off internal parts. More features photos begin on this page of our picture story.

The installation kit includes optional wheels to replace the standard feet, an eight-pin power extender to ease cable routing behind the motherboard tray, a card support bracket with room for another fan, screws, standoffs, a PC spaker, cable ties, and a USB 2.0 adapter, in addition to the previously-discussed USB 3.0 adapter.

Front-mount drive trays feature identical connector offset for both 2.5” and 3.5” drives to allow either size to connect to the backplane.

The included card brace only fits multiple graphics cards when using a motherboard with double-slot spacing. We decided to use a single card this time so that readers can compare today’s test results to the two eight-slot cases in Six Low-Noise, Performance-Oriented Cases, Tested.

Similarly, the graphics card air duct’s power cable notches are only designed to align with double-slot spacing. This duct is also capable of holding a 120 mm fan, if desired.

This is what a fully-assembled HAF X would look like with our components. Cables are hidden behind the motherboard tray and a cable-concealing box at the end of the power supply.

The card brace is an optional component, designed to work with an additional fan. It’s not compatible with the case’s side-panel air duct.

To achieve optimal performance without adding non-stock fans, we removed the card brace and kept the side-panel duct.

An LED-equipped fan grabs the attention of onlookers when it's enabled, and includes an off switch next to the power and reset buttons.

Building With The In Win Dragon Rider

As shown in our previous picture story, the In Win Dragon Rider’s left-side panel has six 120 mm fan mounts beneath its included 220 mm fan.

Two eight-pin power extension cables are added to an otherwise basic installation kit. These extenders ease the placement of the power cable behind the motherboard tray when the power supply's cables are too short.

The Dragon Rider’s single 2.5” drive tray slides out from between its external and internal drive bays to hold our single SSD.

The Dragon Rider has no problem holding our full-sized parts, and has more than enough space to accommodate a super-thick card in our motherboard’s bottom slot.

What the Dragon Rider lacks is room between its 38 mm-thick side fan and just about any 120 mm tower-style cooler.

Losing the fan means losing the speed control switch, since these are hard-wired together.

The Dragon Rider’s only piece of acoustic foam is also shown above. It surrounds a vented panel that’s large enough to essentially negate the effect of including sound-deadening material.

With the left-side fan removed, the right side is now the Dragon Rider’s more decorated face. A 120 mm fan blows on the back of the CPU socket area through a hole in the motherboard tray, and its LEDs cannot be switched off.

Building With The Rosewill Blackhawk

Rosewill’s Blackhawk targets value seekers by providing similar features, but less ornamentation compared to its competitors, at a lower price.

Roswwill installs most of its case hardware before the enclosure is shipped out, adding only basic hardware, a speaker, and cable ties to the Blackhawk’s installation kit.

The Blackhawk’s hard drive cage is removable in three sections, allowing even larger add-in cards to be used. Each section contains two drive trays, and each drive tray supports both 3.5” drives (without screws) and 2.5” drives (via screws).

Optical drives are secured via two metal pins on a flip-up plastic latch. A slide lock releases the latch.

As with In Win, Rosewill’s side-fan positioning conflicts with the installation of our 120 mm tower-style CPU cooler. We had to remove that fan to complete our build.

Though the filled system feels far more crowded than most competing models, the space surrounding our hardware is more than adequate.

Two fans armed with LEDs illuminate the front of our finished build. Though they are not overly bright, the LEDs cannot be disabled.

Building With The SilverStone Raven RV03

The Raven RV03 carries forward the bottom-to-top airflow design from SilverStone’s previous Fortress and Raven Cases, but takes a step back in the other direction by reverting to the traditional access side. This gets cards out of the way of extra-long drives, which was a problem for the eight-slot RV02 that was then fixed by blocking the eighth slot entirely on the RV02E.

The RV03’s installation kit includes shoulder bolts for use with grometted holes on drive trays, along with motherboard standoffs, course and fine case screws, cable ties, and a three-fan power adapter.

We had to remove more than two dozen screws to get to the point where we could show the 5.25” external to 3.5” internal adapter trays. Fortunately, most installations don’t require that much effort.

Builders looking for a more stealth installation need only look behind the motherboard tray to find four more 3.5” trays, plus a dual-drive 2.5” tray. We put our storage drives as close to the optical drive as possible to minimize cable creep.

Optical drives are secured with a flip-up latch similar in concept to Rosewill’s, but much sturdier. Screws can be added by those who don’t trust latches.

The power supply slides in from the left and is screwed down from the right. An easily-removable dust filter underneath makes this design ideal for power supplies that have an intake fan on the bottom, though unfiltered side panel vents allow other power supplies to be used as well.

All of our components fit very easily thanks to a design that is well-executed in every way, except for its front bay adapters. Getting a little more slack on our power cable did require the removal of the face panel. Fortunately, it's attached with fewer screws than those wily drive bays.

The RV03’s appearance is sure to win over many buyers, especially when we make it clear that this is the most rigid case in our round-up.

Building With The Thermaltake Chaser MK-I

It'd be hard to argue against the claim that black is the new beige when it comes to computer cases. With that said, the Chaser MK-I’s splash of color should be be enough to win over just about anyone who wants to change things up. Personally, I’ve always thought beige was a color best reserved for pants.

Thermaltake separates the Chaser MK-I’s screws and standoffs into four packs to make selection easier, and adds a 3.5” external bay adapter to the basic hardware and eight-pin power extender.

The Chaser MK-I's drive trays feature removable locator pins on silicon grommets for easy 3.5” hard drive installation. Smaller 2.5” drives are secured in the same connector position using screws. However, doing that means you have to remove and leave-out one of the locator pin sets. Just don’t lose it!

Optical drives are secured via pins on a springy plastic clip. A flip-latch holds the clip in the released position, and builders who want more security can insert drive screws through the other end.

The Chaser MK-I provides enough room in front of the motherboard for extra-long graphics cards, and enough room beneath it for extra-thick card coolers.

Soft lighting puts on a show in multiple ways, with a top-panel switch changing between constant colors, alternating colors, and no-LED modes.

Test System Configuration

Our current test configuration was specifically chosen to match that of our most recent quiet case roundup. The previous article contained two eight-slot cases, and matched configurations allow readers to precisely compare performance between the cases in both articles.

Samsung’s 470-series 256 GB and Seagate’s 2 TB Barracuda XT drives combine to address both performance and capacity needs.

Kingston’s 8 GB DDR3-1600 CAS 9 kit provides adequate performance and good value among high-density modules.

Asus' P8P67 Deluxe holds our Core i7-2600K processor stable at 4.5 GHz, even under less-than-ideal thermal conditions.

Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 480 supplies the two things a case review needs in mass quantity: heat and noise. Sparkle was kind enough to supply a sample.

Benchmark Results: Heat And Noise

With two 180 mm fans blowing directly towards the CPU and graphics card, SilverStone’s lead at high fan speeds doesn’t surprise any of us. Instead, the real surprise is how closely the far-cheaper Rosewill Blackhawk falls behind it.

Cooler Master’s HAF X isn’t too far back there either, though it’s technically tied with the Raven RV03’s low-speed setting for third place. The Dragon Rider’s performance also looks quite good in a race this close, especially when we consider that its enormous side fan had to be pulled out to clear our CPU cooler.

Thermaltake’s intake fan doesn’t appear to be very effective, since changing its speed had no effect on GPU temperature. Speeding up its top-panel exhaust did aid CPU cooling, but only slightly.

The average temperature of the above chart is 53° Celsius. For our upcoming Acoustic Efficiency chart, we divide that number by the average temperature of each cases to create a percent scale, with the Raven RV03s high-speed fan setting at 111% and the Chaser MK-I's low-speed fan setting at 88%.

The Chaser MK-I is our quietest review sample when it's switched to a low fan speed, but it climbs to the middle of the graph with its fans turned up. A big increase in noise is a poor trade-off for a miniscule increase in cooling performance.

SilverStone’s Raven RV03 isn’t far behind Thermaltake in low-fan quietness. The big increase in idle noise from the faster fan-speed settings would force us to choose low-speed mode most of the time.

Decibels use a logarithmic scale, so a 3 db increase in SPL is immediately noticeable. The HAF X allows nearly four added decibels of system noise to escape compared to the second-place Raven RV03.

Competitive in the cooling chart, Rosewill falls far behind most of the pack in noise isolation, exceeded only by the mesh-paneled Dragon Rider and full-speed Raven RV03 in this test of annoyance factor.

The average noise level for all of the above results is 37 decibels. We divided each case’s average noise level by 37 to determine a percent scale that awarded the quietest case the lowest number in our Acoustic Efficiency calculations, ranging from 91.1% for the Chaser MK-I to 107.7% for the Raven RV03 set to its highest fan setting.

Accoustic Efficiency Wins?

A cool case is only nice when the noise that comes out of it is tolerable. While everyone has a slightly different definition of tolerance, we know that the easiest way to make a system cooler is to significantly increase its fan speed. It's a game of give and take, and the vendor able to play it best, wins.

The best way to compare performance levels is by first comparing cooling to noise. Dividing our temperature results from our noise results gives us an acoustic efficiency chart with a 100% efficiency baseline. Since nothing in this industry is really 100% efficient, we subtracted one from each of the above calculations to create a realistic 0% baseline, where zero represents the average.

With a tied-for-third place finish in temperature and a second-place finish in noise, the Raven RV03 easily walks away with the best cooling-to-noise ratio. This is most easily explained by SilverStone’s unusual design that faces fans inwards from the floor, rather than the front panel.

Buyers with smaller budgets should be happy to see Rosewill take second place in acoustic efficiency. Cooler Master takes third place, while Thermaltake and In Win fall below the class average.

The top case, SilverStone’s Raven RV03, has all of the cooling, quietness, and quality required for our recommendation, but that recommendation comes with an caveat: the face panel is held in place with eight screws, in addition to snaps, and each of the bay adapter trios is also secured by eight screws. While most users can get away with a single 5.25" drive and the five bays behind the motherboard tray, access to remaining front bays is unusually cumbersome.

At the lower end of the price scale, Rosewill’s Blackhawk provides top cooling performance, middle-of-the-road acoustic performance, and a low price that could make it a great choice for buyers who’d rather spend their money on internal hardware. It does not, however, provide an internal connector for its front-panel USB 3.0 ports, and that's a feature enthusiasts building modern systems should expect. Rosewill says it plans to offer that feature soon, but it's not available today as we consider the case we'd most like to have hosting our own three- or four-graphics card gaming setup.