Features and Specifications

If you're looking for a no-frills open-air chassis that is easy to build in, with stylish laser cut aluminum construction and tempered-glass sides, the Raidmax X08 might be for you. But know that you'll have to deal with the dirt, dust and debris, plus the relatively high price that accompanies this case--and similar models from the likes of Cougar and Antec.

Specifications

Exterior

The Raidmax X08 bears a striking resemblance to the Cougar Conquer Essence and, to a lesser extent, Antec's much more elaborate Torque chassis.

This chassis is constructed of an aluminum alloy with silver top and front panels over black structural panels that are powder coated inside and out. The trapezoid-shaped chassis measures 525 x 255 x 610 mm HxWxD (20.6 x 10 x 24 inches ) and weighs in at just over 16 pounds. The frame of the X08 is made of laser-cut aluminum panels held together by large threaded cross bars.

The top of the chassis is an aluminum panel and is devoid of any major features with the exception of three open 120mm fan holes. The top panel is slanted from the front to the rear and the area between the top panel and the front panel is slanted at a 45-degree angle. This space is home to two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks and reset and power buttons.

The removable front panel consists of a solid piece of aluminum that, oddly enough, has unfiltered ventilation holes lining both sides and large openings located at the top and bottom. I say "oddly enough" because the front of the frame is a solid piece of aluminum. There are no mounting locations for fans or radiators in the front of this chassis. The aluminum front panel is purely cosmetic.

Much the same as the side panels on the Cougar Conquer Essence and the Antec Torque chassis, the full-coverage tinted tempered glass side panels are held in place by large aluminum-alloy thumbscrews that thread directly into metal rods.

Keep in mind that, because of the design, we highly recommend laying this case on its side when removing the tempered glass panels. Although rubber grommets line the holes in the tempered glass, there is nothing to hold the panel in place and protect the glass against accidental drops.

The bottom of the chassis is a solid slab of aluminum alloy with four thin strips of rubber that act as feet.

In the rear, you'll find an opening for a bottom-mounted PSU and a bracket with seven expansion card slots.

Oddly, one section of the frame at the back is pink in color. Given the fact that it is only on one side, it throws the symmetry / look of the chassis off. The good news for those so inclined: It's easy to remove that section and paint it to match the frame or the top and front of the case.

Given the fact that this is an open-air chassis, there is no filtration system in place. Not that it would really matter anyway as there is nothing at all preventing dust and debris from falling into your system or spilling directly onto your exposed hardware.

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Hardware Installation and Test Configuration

Included accessories for the Raidmax X08 are plastic tie-downs, various screws and a printed manual in a clear zip-style bag.

Test Configuration

Drivers & Settings

Interior

There are nine cable pass-through holes in the motherboard tray for cable management: six large rectangular openings and three smaller holes in the bottom of the motherboard tray. Additionally, there's a large notch in the top of the motherboard tray, designed specifically to route fan cables and the 12v motherboard power cable.

You'll also find a large hole in the motherboard mounting plate behind the CPU socket area to facilitate heatsink changes without removing the motherboard.

The seven expansion slots will accommodate graphics cards up to 400mm (15.8 inches), even in multi-GPU configurations. There are no expansion slot covers included with this case, which perhaps isn't surprising given its open-air nature. CPU air coolers are limited to just 150mm (5.9 inches) but, in defense of Raidmax, it's obvious this chassis is specifically designed for water cooling.

As demonstrated in the photos above, PSUs over 180mm can run into clearance issues. The problem is the aluminum alloy support bar blocking larger PSUs. This could have been easily avoided by moving the bar a few millimeters up and out of the way. Due to the lack of a ventilation hole in the bottom of the X08 (a strange omission in a case literally full of holes) the PSU must be mounted with the fan facing up.

The Raidmax X08 features three mounting locations for 2.5-inch and three 3.5-inch drives. If you plan on mounting more than three drives, we recommend installing your SSDs inside the main compartment and your 3.5 -inch storage drives behind the motherboard tray. This gives you more space inside the component compartment. Also, due to the layout of the screw holes in the motherboard tray, 3.5 -inch drives block the screw holes for your SSDs. This means you must mount the 2.5 -inch drives first before your larger storage drives.

Also, because of the open nature of this case, there isn't really anywhere to hide cables, making cable management vastly more difficult than usual. Even if a modular power supply is used, careful planning and routing is still a must unless you want your build to look like a ball of wires under glass.

As previously mentioned, there are no fan mounting locations in the front of this case, although there are slots for mounting reservoirs, pumps and other accessories in that location.

We're always disappointed when we come across a chassis that doesn't ship with any fans from the factory. Of course, this can easily be remedied by the end user at an additional cost, and enthusiasts often prefer to install fans of their choosing anyway. But it would have been nice to see at least a couple fans included with a case that costs $240 (£182.28). In total, this chassis can be equipped with up to three 120mm fans.

Radiators and all-in-one coolers up to 360mm can be mounted in the top of this case. The mounting location in the top can easily support radiators up to 360mm sandwiched between fans in a push-pull configuration.

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Benchmark Results and Conclusion

We tested the Raidmax X08 with our new Intel Core i9-7900X test platform. For comparison, we tested against the Cougar Conquer Essence, the Cougar Conquer and the Antec Torque to give you a good idea of where this case stands against other options that are of similar size, feature sets and price. Because all the chassis tested here are open-air cases, we expect the performance to be very close.

Due to lack of fans, there is literally no active airflow into this chassis. Normally this is done as a cost-cutting measure--and enthusiasts prefer to add their own fans--but at this price we still think Raidmax should have included one or more intake fans to provide some airflow into the chassis.

With the exception of the hard drives mounted behind the motherboard tray, system temperatures were good, all things considered. Our Intel i9-7900X processor running at 4 GHz peaked at 57 degrees Celsius over the ambient temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, putting the Raidmax X08 right in the middle of the cases we used for comparison. GPU temperatures leveled off at 48 degrees Celsius over the ambient room temperature, again putting this chassis in the middle of the pack. The addition of fans to this case would mean even better temperatures, but of course at the cost of increased noise levels.

When it comes to noise levels, we recorded sound level readings with two off-the-shelf dB meters from two different angles. One of the benefits of tempered glass side panels is its ability to reflect sound back into the chassis. This, combined with the side front and bottom panels, helped the X08 to beat out the competition. Test results at idle generated 28.7dBA. And our test results with the X08 under load were lower than the rest test group, at 36.5dBA.

In general, we don't have a problem with expensive chassis, but we feel that the features need to reflect the price. At $240 (£182.28), this chassis is lacking far too many features such as RGB lighting, a USB 3.1 Type-C port, fans, or a fan hub. Even if you reuse fans from a previous build, this chassis is still a poor value. Normally we like to suggest alternative options for our readers, but it seems like a trend for these open-air chassis to be priced above the $240 mark. The Cougar Conquer and Conquer Essence both offer similar features at about the same price.

Bottom Line

The Raidmax X08 is open-air chassis that does nothing to set itself apart from the crowd. In fact, Raidmax's strange design decisions (no front fan mounts, odd pink frame, and cosmetic front panel) could actually help make the argument for choosing a competitor's open-air cases. In the end, the Raidmax X08, much like its competitors, amounts to overpriced style over substance. As with almost all open-air cases of this type, we seriously recommend waiting for a price drop or sale before spending your hard-earned money. 

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Photo Credit: Tom's Hardware

Features & Specifications

Priced at only $70, the Raidmax Alpha could have arguably been considered the best value in RGB-lighted ATX cases. We argued that it would need a little more airflow if it were to appeal to buyers seeking a cheaper case to help them put more money towards a high-end CPU or graphics card. The case had plenty of fan mounts, but its single included intake fan was situated behind a light diffuser panel that may have hindered airflow. The best way to test that theory would have been to add more fans, but the cost of added fans would have pushed it into a different price segment.

The Alpha has returned, and now it has more fans of its own. Welcome Alpha Prime.

Specifications

Alpha Prime is the first case to truly violate my notion of a glass side panel adding around $30 in cost, including the added shipping, increased product loss, and seller markup. At $90, it's only $20 more than the original Alpha. And heck, it even comes with a glass face insert and extra fans.

Because the chassis hasn’t changed from our previous Raidmax Alpha review, this description is just a photo-enhanced recap. The front panel still has buttons and activity LEDs on one edge, two USB 3.0 ports and headphone/microphone jacks on the other.

The bottom panel still has a filter sheet held in by catch tabs, requiring additional effort to remove for cleaning.

The back still has its card holder tab on the outside, making it a little more difficult to fit cards into their slots, along with break out slot covers on six of the seven expansion slots, potentially making it more difficult to reconfigure card placement.

The top panel retains its magnetic dust filter sheet and, at 1.2” above the motherboard, its unlikeliness to be used as a radiator mount.

Separate sections for the switches and ports remain one of the better front-panel features, as it allows the user to completely remove the remaining facade without the issue of dangling wires, but the Alpha Prime improves this view with LED-lighted clear fans. It’s worth repeating that the 5.25” bay is held with screws, easing removal when making space for the end cap of a 3x 120mm radiator.

A 2.4” gap within the power supply shroud remains useful for adding a radiator up to 38mm thick, and we still find two alternative mounting points atop the power supply shroud that allows repositioning the two included 2.5” drive trays.

We still find an adequate 0.7” of space between the motherboard tray and right side panel, with an extra 0.4” added in front of the board to ease the placement of the fat 24-pin lead. The screwed-in lower (3.5”) drive cage must still be removed to install power supplies longer than 7.80” (including cables).

Builders lucky or thoughtful enough to have a power supply that fits without removing the lower drive cage will still find that its trays have side pins for 3.5” drives and screw holes for 2.5” drives. The two 2.5” trays above it are still secured with a single thumb screw.

And the LED controller is still powered via two pins of a 4-pin ATA-style connection, changing only in that the same connector also powers all three front fans. That’s going to require us to add an ATA drive cable to our modular power supply before continuing the build and evaluation on the next page.

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Hardware Installation & Test Configuration

The Alpha Prime installation kit includes a PC speaker, #6 UNC and M3 x 0.5mm screws for drives and motherboard standoffs, eight fan screws, four hook and loop cable ties, and a remote for its RGB functions. The power button of the remote may be particularly useful for people who keep their PC in their bedrooms.

Constructed of two separate sides held in place by four screws, the lower drive cage was removed to fit our long power supply beneath the Alpha Prime’s power supply shroud. With that out of the way, remaining components fit nicely.

Even though it uses most of the same pieces, the combination of glass panels, lighted fans, and a white finish give the Alpha Prime build a drastically different appearance compared to our prior Alpha build.

Alpha Prime’s price puts it in direct competition with the Fractal Design Meshify C, NZXT S340 Elite, and Bitfenix Aurora. The Bitfenix Nova TG stands in as a lower-priced alternative in the glass-sided case market.

Comparison Cases

Test Configuration

Drivers And Settings

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Benchmarks & Conclusion

Glass can really hurt cooling performance, but that deficit can easily be overcome by increasing airflow. The Raidmax Alpha Prime has three intake fans, but still has too little airflow to match two of its competitors. A closer look at the fans revealed that they spin very slowly (with no RPM detection), and a closer look at the front panel reveals that these fans draw air from small slots on its sides. These features could prove beneficial in our noise measurement.

Unfortunately, the Alpha Prime’s noise level is roughly average and exceeded only by the open-faced Meshify C. At least the pitch of its fans is low enough not to be intrusive.

The Meshify C’s higher noise level also came with improved temperatures, and the Nova TG’s lower noise levels came at higher temperatures. That puts the Raidmax Alpha Prime in fourth place, edging out the low-cost Nova TG in our Acoustic Efficiency chart.

The Nova TG didn’t even have a power supply shroud, let alone RGB lighting, and the price relief of its reduced feature set put it far ahead of every other case in today’s comparison. Meanwhile, the Alpha Prime edges out the slightly costlier Aurora.

None of the comparison cases had the level of lighting present in the Alpha Prime, and builders preoccupied with appearance will certainly be willing to pay a little extra for that feature. The Alpha Prime is simply a stunning-looking case.

From a performance aspect, only the Meshify C and S340 Elite will appeal to users with the type of hardware used in our test, which includes a high-end graphics card and mildly-overclocked 6-core CPU. A larger CPU cooler would have helped, but our test configuration was set up to push cases that performed at this level to the edge of failure. Mission accomplished.

We’d say that buyers of the Alpha Prime might overcome its lackluster thermal performance by replacing its fans, but its fans are wired for its RGB controller. The case appears to make its best case to buyers of mid-performance PCs who want the bling of something far pricier.

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Features & Specifications

With the Delta I, Raidmax hopes to offer a reasonable case option for buyers who’ve spent most of their limited budget on graphics. It is sold as model number Delta-I-WB, but Raidmax marketing decided to simply call it the Delta.

The painted steel front panel inlay is also available in Blue or Orange as Raidmax models Delta 13WU and Delta 13WO.

Specifications

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The Delta differs from the recently reviewed Raidmax Alpha by having its front panel connectors and buttons on top, as well as its lack of LED lighting. The lack of lighting allowed Raidmax to rid the front panel of the old-fashioned grill and light diffuser found on the Alpha, for a smooth and glossy appearance. It’s also $10 cheaper at full price, and recent rebates have even pushed the price as low as $35. Fit and finish are still on par with mid-market competitors, again supporting the concept that selecting this case could be a good way to save money.

The front panel control section has only a pair each of buttons, activity lights, headset jacks, and USB 3.0 ports. Behind it, a magnetically attached sheet acts as the case’s primary dust filter.

The rear panel and right side panel have no added features, and six of the seven slot covers are even non-replaceable knock-outs. Raidmax was kind enough to use thumb screws in the most appropriate locations.

The port section stays attached to the Delta’s chassis to ease face panel removal, where we find room for three 120mm or two 140mm fans. Radiators up to 17.2” long can be placed behind the front of the chassis, accommodated by a 2.4” cutout in the power supply shroud. Unlike the Alpha, the Delta even has enough space between the face panel and the front of the chassis structure to accommodate a second set of fans, encouraging push-pull radiator fan configurations. The only thing missing is a front panel dust filter.

One might be tempted to use the top panel dust filter to cover any front fans, since it’s surrounded by a magnetic strip. The top panel also supports 3x 120mm and 2x 140mm fan configurations, though there’s not enough room above the motherboard to add a radiator with those fans. The top of the power supply shroud can also be seen from this angle, complete with its two 2.5” drive trays, four screws securing the 3.5” drive cage beneath it, and forward gap for front panel radiator clearance.

Like the Alpha, the Delta supports alternate placement of its 2.5” trays in a stepped-in section forward of the motherboard tray. The Alpha and Delta are in fact two different configurations of the same basic chassis, with only the removable parts altered.

The Delta uses a different 3.5” drive cage than the Alpha, but the mounting holes remain unchanged. The different design adds a little space for longer power supplies, but that drive cage still must be removed to use any power supply longer than 8.06”.

The power supply gets its own dust filter, which is secured with catch tabs.

From this angle, it’s easy to see how the section in front of the motherboard is designed to ease cable passage to forward-facing ports. It barely fits under the leading edge of long graphics cards, affording it the optimal space for cable ends. Designed chiefly for the 9.6”-deep ATX motherboard form factor, it provides 10.3” of total clearance.

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Installation & Configuration

Raidmax adds four hook and loop cable straps to its basic screw-type installation kit. The extra standoff supplied with the screws fits the one vacant position on the motherboard tray.

Lacking any powered accessories such as LED controllers, the Delta front-panel cable kit has only power and hard drive LED, power and reset switch, HD Audio and USB 3.0 leads. The fan is wired to both 3-pin and ATA-style power connectors.

All of our ATX components fit with room to spare, leaving enough space in front of the graphics card to hold some fairly elaborate cooling components.

Anyone who didn’t want to pay the extra $10 to get the LED-lit Alpha might find the Delta’s less-flashy appearance more appropriate.

We’re using our overclocked Core i7-5930K test platform to compare the Raidmax Delta to its slightly more advanced sibling, as well as two of the most closely priced competing models from Zalman and Cooler Master. Methods and settings have been retained for two years to allow you to compare the results from other case reviews to those included in the charts.

Comparison Cases

Test Configuration

Drivers And Settings

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Benchmarks & Final Analysis

A $60 case with just a single exhaust fan probably wouldn’t be your first choice for use with an overclocked six-core processor and a gaming graphics card, but cases are still one place that some builders try to save money just so that they can afford high-end internal components. You’re also welcome to add fans if you must, though the price of added fans often flips the value equation.

The Delta runs hot, or perhaps it’s our components that run hot. In either case, the Delta barely passes our evaluation with its fans at full speed, and it certainly looks suitable for a less power-hungry CPU (or, the same CPU with a larger cooler).

The noise of the Delta’s single rear fan is minimal as measured from the left-front corner, and its combination of windowed side panel and metal-faced-plastic front cover is great at containing the roar of internal fans.

The Delta’s good noise isolation helps offset its relatively poor thermal performance to put it at only a minor disadvantage in the temperature-to-noise chart, which is the true measure of overall performance.

The Delta is also cheaper than any of the other cases, even the Alpha. Of course, the Alpha comes with a remote RGB controller for that extra $10. It tops the price-to-performance chart by giving up a bunch of things, such as the front panel dust filtration and EATX motherboard support of the MasterBox 5, or the added fans of the Z9 Neo. And still, it’s cheap enough to attract anyone who’s unwilling to spend more than $60 for a case.

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Introducing Raidmax Alpha

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With a black steel case that weighs barely more than 12 pounds, there’s no denying that Raidmax focuses its Alpha case line on budget gaming. Even with an RGB controller, it comes in at a scant $70 web price (and estimated $80 MSRP for local dealers). Buyers this interested in saving cost will likely be pleased to see that the panels fit nicely, the finish looks good, and the plastic side window is fairly flat and extremely shiny. It’s also devoid of any frivolous design gimmicks, except of course for the LED lighting that many buyers prefer. And even that feature can be turned off without opening the case.

Ports and buttons are placed on the right and left edges, smoothing the front panel design and providing easy access for those who prefer to have their computer sit on the desk to the left of their monitor. This preference is most common with right-handed users who want extra desktop real estate on the side where their mouse sits.

The rear panel is flat, with the card bracket protruding out of it, because it’s cheaper to make a case this way than to add a separate stamping for inset card slots. Inset fan mounts and an offset grill are designed to reduce noise that might otherwise occur if the fan blades were too close to the grill: this becomes more important for users who flip the exhaust fan over to use as an intake, which is often done to accommodate cool air intake when installing a single-fan radiator on the back panel.

The motherboard tray has a large access hole to ease CPU cooler support plate access, and is offset 0.7” from the side panel for easier cable routing. Cable space is deepened to 1.1” in front of the motherboard, but that inset limits motherboards to a maximum 10.3” depth.

The deeper cable space at the front of the case also holds two 2.5” trays, which are modular and can be repositioned atop the case’s power supply shroud.

Two 3.5” trays beneath the power supply shroud use silicon-damped pins to isolate 3.5” drive vibration, and are also drilled for screw-in installation of 2.5” drives.

Removing the 3.5” drive cage, which is screwed to both the bottom panel and power supply shroud, allows user to install extra-long power supplies. The power supply’s air inlet filter is also accessed from the bottom, and is held in place with flat tabs.

The front panel supports up to two 140mm or three 120mm fans, along with radiators up to 15.2” long, within a 2.4” gap in the top of the power supply shroud. Space in front of the fan mounts is filled with an RGB LED strip, and the traditional fan grill is filled with a plastic light diffuser. Air is drawn from a large gap at the bottom of the front panel cover, and motherboard-zone dust filtration is limited to only the top panel.

Under a magnetic filter sheet, the top panel also supports two 140mm or three 120mm fans, but its 1.2” of space above the motherboard is too narrow for most motherboard and radiator combinations. From this angle we can also see the top of the power supply shroud, with its two alternative 2.5” tray mounting locations and 2.4” front-panel radiator gap.

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Hardware Installation, Evaluation, And Final Analysis

The Raidmax Alpha includes a basic installation kit and manual, along with a remote for its RGB lighting controller. Raidmax has a leg up on certain high-priced competition in that its controller has a lighting “off” button.

The front-panel lighting requires old-fashioned ATA-style four-pin power. The rear fan also features a four-pin connection, but that’s in addition to its 3-pin motherboard power lead. We connected the fan to the motherboard to allow speed control.

In addition to being inset for improved cable and drive mounting space, the forward portion of the motherboard tray has a louver facing the forward edge of the board. Barely low enough to sit beneath a long graphics card, this louver provides excellent concealment for cables attached to forward-facing headers such as our test platform’s SATA ports. One of the board’s two USB 3.0 headers is also configured and connected in this manner.

Having nothing more than a white plastic sheet attached to the back of a traditional fan grill might look a little cheap, but we didn’t expect more from a $70, RGB-lit, remote-controlled gaming case. Note that we used one of the alternative 2.5” tray mounts to show off our SSD.

We compared the Raidmax Alpha to its three cheapest competitors. Of these, the Z9 Neo includes the most fans, and the MasterBox 5 has mounting provisions for E-ATX motherboards. The Z9 Neo’s fans lack motherboard connectors, however.

Comparison Cases

Test Configuration

Drivers And Settings

Test Results

All four low-cost cases are poor at removing heat from this air-cooled platform in their stock configuration, but the single-fan Alpha is slightly worse. Users hoping to save money while running hot hardware will lose some of that savings by adding more fans.

The Alpha also does a mediocre job of isolating the noise of internal fans, as indicated by its Full-Load decibel reading. Fortunately, its single rear fan contributes insignificantly to idle noise levels.

Higher heat is the largest contributor to the Alpha’s reduced acoustic efficiency (aka cooling-to-noise ratio).

Fractal Design’s higher price widens the price-to-performance ratio of the four compared cases, though the Alpha’s 2% above average rating still lags behind that of both the Z9 Neo and MasterBox 5.

The above chart doesn’t factor in temporary discounts, either, and the Z9 Neo’s value margin would have become even greater had we used its recent discount price of $50. Anyone who only shops for value and doesn’t care that its fans can only be connected directly to a power supply will likely run to the store to buy it.

However, the Alpha is still the cheapest case to provide controllable RGB lighting, and even has a remote control for that feature. Users who want to turn off the lights at night or alter their brightness will be pleased that the case’s front-panel light bar supports both of these features, which hasn’t often been true of competing cases that instead use fan lights. Even some of its high-priced competitors lack an “off” switch.

Thus, if you’re on a tight budget and really want full control over your RGB lighting, the Alpha is an undeniable top choice. On the other hand, if performance is your chief concern, you’ll have to add a few more quiet fans to make the Alpha competitive. Anyone planning to add an unlit liquid cooler to the front panel and willing to ignore the case’s lack of front-panel dust filtration could transform the Alpha into a best value RGB-lit solution.

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Introduction

Raidmax chose a strange name for its new PSU. When you hear the word "monster," you either expect a bad external design or limitless capacity. But neither assumption holds true. Nevertheless, Radmax's Monster RX-700AT utilizes Andyson's new Titanium-rated platform that delivers excellent performance and ultra-high efficiency. In fact, as far as we know, Raidmax is the first company using this platform, so we're curious to see how it fares compared to the Andyson N700. The truth is that Andyson isn't one of the more active PSU manufacturers, and with its new 700W Titanium and 1200W Platinum designs, the company has the chance to gain popularity among partners looking for differentiated products.

For the most part, Raidmax focuses on the mainstream segment; its presence in the high-end space is limited. Most of its PSUs are made by Andyson. The only exception is the Vampire Power family (there's another strange name) manufactured by HEC/Compucase. The RX-700AT we're testing today shares the same platform with Andyson's Titanium N700. It achieves Titanium efficiency without a bridge-less design, which is mostly used in higher efficiency Titanium units. In order to restrict energy losses, this PSU employs a semi-modular design with more fixed cables. Removable cables incur increased impedance compared to native ones, leading to voltage drops. In short, energy is lost on modular sockets. This affects efficiency, and when you're gunning for a Titanium rating without a cutting-edge design, you have to minimize loss wherever you can.

Significant amounts of energy are lost on a PSU's bridge rectifiers, since they consist of diodes subject to voltage drops. Thus, all high-capacity Titanium-rated PSU designs use FETs instead of bridge rectifiers. In a FET, the lower the Rds (on) parameter (representing the resistance between source and drain), the lower the energy losses, especially under high currents. However, bridge-less designs require a more sophisticated APFC converter, more FETS and more boost diodes. All of that increases costs compared to conventional bridge rectifiers. Andyson's decision to go with a less exotic platform makes more sense in this context. 

Specifications

Besides Titanium efficiency and semi-modular cabling, the RX-700AT's other notable characteristics include a double ball-bearing fan and compatibility with Intel's C6 and C7 states. Unfortunately, the maximum operating temperature at which Raidmax says the PSU can deliver its full power continuously is 40 °C, whereas the ATX spec recommends at least 50 °C. In addition, over-temperature protection is missing from the feature set. That shouldn't be the case on a PSU with a 40 °C rating. Lastly, Andyson doesn't arm this unit with the semi-passive mode we'd expect to see given its Titanium-class efficiency.

The RX-700AT's dimensions are a little larger than normal, and we don't care at all for the short two-year warranty. Selling for almost $150, that sort of coverage won't get the RX-700AT anywhere near its competition. We can't help but wonder why Raidmax doesn't guarantee the unit for at least five years since that's what Andyson gives you with its similar N700 units. We'll look more closely at this power supply's build quality for hints as to why the warranty is so short.

Power Specifications

The minor rails only offer 100W maximum combined power, which should still cover any modern system. On the other hand, one +12V rail delivers up to 58A. That'll support powerful gaming machines. Finally, the 5VSB rail is fairly typical, though we'd like to see it rated for at least 3A since this is still a high-end PSU.

Cables And Connectors

There are too many native cables for our tastes. We know this helps Raidmax hit its Titanium efficiency rating, but we'd rather see Andyson's engineers fine-tune the platform and cut some of the fixed cables. Another major disadvantage is the single EPS connector. This is a high-end PSU and it should be compatible with high-end motherboards that need more than one EPS connection (or at least one EPS connector and an ATX12V one).

The rest of the connectors are ample to deliver this PSU's power effortlessly. There is also an FDD adapter that gives you a four-pin Molex connector in parallel with the Berg connector. The RX-700AT's cable length is adequate, and the same goes for the distance between connectors.

The 24-pin ATX, the EPS and the modular PCIe connectors all use thicker 16-gauge wires for lower voltage drops. The native PCIe connectors and everything else employs normal 18-gauge wires.

Power Distribution

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to say about its power distribution.

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Packaging, Contents, Exterior And Cabling

Packaging

The front of the box sports a photo of the PSU along with a close shot of the fan grille. The unit's capacity is highlighted in large white letters, and right above it is a mention of the efficiency rating. On the front-top, a series of icons depict the semi-modular design, the 135mm fan, the Japanese caps, the single +12V rail and the protection features (described as complete, though Raidmax is missing OTP). Finally, the 80 PLUS Titanium badge is in the upper right-hand corner.

On the top of the box, Raidmax provides its feedback on how to connect PCIe cables when you're using power-hungry graphics cards. If your board needs more than 225W, only connect one PCIe connector per cable. Given that this PSU has two PCIe cables with two connectors each, you'll have to use them both to drive high-end GPUs.

One side of the box depicts a graphical list of available connectors, while the other side hosts a power specifications table.

The back includes a long feature list and two graphs depicting the fan speed and efficiency curves. Raidmax informs us that its RX-700AT is compliant with the ErP Lot6 2014, though as far as we know there is only an ErP Lot6 2013 directive that states power consumption at standby must be lower than 0.5W.

Contents

The PSU is wrapped in a nylon bag. Only its lower side is covered by packing foam; we'd like to see a top cover as well for adequate protection during shipping.

Beyond the nylon pouch, Raidmax's bundle includes several Velcro straps along with a number of zip ties, two sets of fixing bolts, an AC power cord and the modular cables. All in all, the accessory list is complete, and we appreciate the inclusion of a thumb-screw set.

Exterior

Thanks to a nicely designed fan grille, the RX-700AT is appealing. Its finish looks durable and it isn't a fingerprint magnet (though it's not matte, either). On the front, a large power switch is installed next to the AC socket, while the specifications label is stuck to one of the PSU's sides.

The modular panel consists of only four sockets, minimizing the number of removable cables. We'd prefer if there were fewer native cables. In fact, I prefer completely modular configurations to simplify installation.

The RX-700AT's dimensions are a little larger than normal, and those native cables will be a let-down for many enthusiasts. Nowadays, most high-end PSUs are fully modular; only the budget-oriented ones seem to be semi-modular. So, it's a little weird to see an expensive Titanium-rated PSU with four native cables. But as we mentioned, Titanium is a hard efficiency level to achieve, and getting rid of the modular connections helps Raidmax get there.

Cabling

All four native cables are stealth. We would like them to be flat as well to block less airflow inside the chassis. In addition, flat cables usually are easier to route.

The single modular PCIe cable is round, while the other four modular cables feature individually sleeved wires. Overall, the cabling combination is pretty odd.

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 808 desoldering gun.

Andyson, the original manufacturer of this PSU, delivers a fairly conventional Titanium platform. It doesn't use a bridge-less design or even a full-bridge topology to minimize energy losses and increase efficiency. On the primary side, we find a half-bridge topology along with an LLC resonant converter, while on the secondary side, synchronous rectification is used along with DC-DC converters for generating the minor rails. In other words, this looks like a finely tuned Platinum-rated unit rather than a Titanium one. We're satisfied with the build quality since Infineon FETs are used alongside Japanese electrolytic and polymer capacitors.    

Compared to Andyson's N700, which shares the same platform, the RX-700AT's most notable difference is the Japanese caps (the N700 uses Teapo polymer caps). We also noticed that the RX-700AT lacks an NTC thermistor to protect against large inrush currents; the N700 has this. More than likely Raidmax wanted an efficiency boost, so it removed the thermistor. The RX-700AT employs Hitachi bulk caps, while the N700 employs Chemi-Con caps. Moreover, the FETs that regulate the +12V rail are different. Raidmax's have a lower Rds (on) value, meaning less energy is lost through them. Finally, the fans are different, though they both employ double ball-bearings. Also, the SBR that regulates the 5VSB rail is weaker from Raidmax.  

The first part of the EMI filter includes two X and two Y caps. The second part of this filter consists of two X and two Y caps, two CM chokes and an MOV. As you can see, the EMI filter is complete.

A couple of GBU1506L bridge rectifiers are used. Both are bolted on the APFC heat sink.

The APFC converter uses two Infineon IPP50R140CP FETs along with a CREE C3D10060A boost diode. The pair of bulk caps is provided by Hitachi (105 °C, HU series), and their combined capacity is 660uF. These are high-quality caps; according to their manufacturer, they are functional for up to 4000 hours and guaranteed for 2000. In our experience, most high-end PSUs employ 2000-hour bulk caps. 

A small daughterboard hosts the APFC controller, a Champion CM6502S, which provides more than 90 percent efficiency. The resonant controller is a CM6901 IC, and it's installed on the PCB's solder side.

The main switchers are two Infineon IPP50R140CP FETs in a half-bridge topology. These FETs use a Silicon Labs driver (Si8230BD), located on the mainboard's solder side. FET drivers translate TTL (Transistor–Transistor Logic) or CMOS logical signals to higher voltage, allowing the FET's gate to switch faster. Larger FETs need driving ICs, while smaller ones can be handled by the switching controller. In addition, some FETs might need higher gate voltages, so a driver is used along with the switching controller. The Si8230BD operates between 4.5V to 5.5V and provides a driver voltage range from 6.5V to 24V.

The +12V rail is regulated by eight Infineon BSC010N04LS FETs. They're cooled by the chassis, which they contact through a large thermal pad.

A couple of DC-DC converters generate the minor rails. Each one uses an ANPEC APW7073 PWN controller and a CSD86350Q5D power block.

A combination of electrolytic and polymer filtering caps is used on the secondary side. The electrolytics are provided by Chemi-Con (KZE, KY) and Nichicon, and they're all rated for 105 °C. The polymer caps are by FPCAP.

The 5VSB rail is rectified by a single PFR10V45CT SBR, while the standby PWM controller is a Sanken STR-A6069H.

The -12V rail is handled by a Kodenshi AUK SN7912PI regulator installed right behind the Nichicon capacitor shown in the photos above.

Heat-shrink tubing should go all the way down to the mainboard, covering the metallic edges of these wires.

On the front of the modular board, three Chemi-Con electrolytic caps filter the outputs.

Overall, the soldering quality is good, though some component leads could be shorter. Underneath the +12V islands are three shunt resistors that provide current information to the protection IC. Since the RX-700AT has a single +12V rail, over-current protection is likely set too high.

On the solder side of the PCB we find a SITI PS223, responsible for the PSU's protection features. There is also an AP92U03GM FET on this side, along with a Micrel MIC4427YM low-side FET driver.

The 135mm fan has Raidmax's logo, and according to our sources its model number is PY-13525L12B. Thanks to the double ball-bearings, its expected lifetime is 50,000h @ 25 °C. Although this is a mid-speed fan, its profile is pretty aggressive. Under tough conditions you'll definitely hear it working. 

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.

Not only is the RX-700AT's hold-up time lower than 17ms, but its power-good signal drops after the rails go out of spec. This is a troubling issue to have.

Inrush Current

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

Inrush current is very high with both voltage inputs. Raidmax should add an NTC thermistor and a bypass relay to bring our result down during the PSU's cold start-up.

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 0.10A. 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 tight at +12V and 5V, satisfactory at 3.3V and super tight at 5VSB. As far as efficiency goes, the RX-700AT meets the Titanium requirements at 20 percent and full load, comes close to the 90 percent mark under 10 percent load and is further off with 50 percent load. Obviously, a high ambient temperature is the main culprit preventing higher efficiency scores. Nonetheless, the PSU has absolutely no problem delivering more than its full power at 47 °C.

The fan profile is aggressive, and in most of the load tests the fan spins at top speed. It's only during the first two tests, with 10 percent and 20 percent load, that the fan is inaudible. Given this unit's high efficiency, we believe that the fan profile should be much more relaxed.

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 RX-700AT's efficiency at low loads, and loads from 10 to 110 percent of the PSU's maximum-rated capacity.

Under normal loads, the RX-700AT easily takes first place, leaving the highly efficient EVGA 650 P2 behind. However, the situation turns under light loads and Raidmax's PSU falls away from the top of the graph. Because this is a Titanium-rated product, we expected it to perform well regardless of load level.

Efficiency At Low Loads

In the following tests, we measure the efficiency of Raidmax's RX-700AT at 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 80W. This is important for representing when a PC is idle, with power-saving features turned on.

With 20W load, efficiency drops below 70 percent. That significantly affects the average efficiency score under light loads. Our results are much better in the other three tests, with efficiency exceeding 91 percent under 80W of load. In addition, the fan is inaudible.

5VSB Efficiency

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

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

Besides maintaining super tight load regulation, the 5VSB rail is also highly efficient.

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 it's in standby mode (without any load, at 5VSB).

Vampire power is very low, and the RX-700AT easily meets the ErP Lot6 2013 directive.

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 34 °C (93.2 °F) to 47 °C (116.6 °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 34 °C (93.2 °F) to 47 °C (116.6 °F) ambient temperature. 

The following graph illustrates the fan's output noise over the PSU's entire 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).  

With ambient temperatures under 30 °C, the PSU features silent operation. Up to around 415W load, the fan's noise is close to 22 dB(A) and it takes more than 600W for the noise to exceed 40 dB(A). Under high loads the fan profile could be more relaxed without negatively affecting this unit's reliability.

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 1500 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 (12V, 5V and 3.3V) as point zero.

Load Regulation Charts

Efficiency Chart

For the most part, efficiency is above 90 percent. We urge you to compare the graph above with one from a Platinum-rated PSU, if you want to know why there's a premium on 80 PLUS' highest efficiency ratings.

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).

As expected, the PSU's internal temperatures are kept low thanks to high efficiency and an aggressive fan profile.

Transient Response Tests

Advanced Transient Response Tests

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

In these tests, we monitor the response of the PSU in two different scenarios. First, a transient load (10A at +12V, 5A at 5V, 5A at 3.3V and 0.5A at 5VSB) is applied for 200ms while the PSU works at 20 percent load. In the second scenario, the PSU is 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 metrics 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 them "Advanced Transient Response Tests," and they are designed to be very tough to master, especially for PSUs with less than 500W capacity.

Advanced Transient Response at 20 Percent

Advanced Transient Response at 50 Percent

Voltage drops on the +12V, 5V and 5VSB rails are controlled well. However, at 3.3V the voltage falls below 3.2V in both cases. We don't like to see that, especially from high-end PSUs like this one.

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 maximum current the 5VSB can output and switch on the PSU. 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 PSU is completely switched off (we cut off the power or switch off the PSU by flipping its on/off switch), we dial the maximum load the +12V rail can handle before switching on the PSU 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 12V is 13.2V, and 5.5V for 5V).

There's a barely-noticeable spike at 5VSB and a small wave during the second test, both of which are nothing to worry about. Only during the last test do we measure a larger spike that exceeds 12.5V. It's still well under our upper limit, though.

Ripple Measurements

To learn how we measure ripple, please click here.

The following table includes the ripple levels we measured on the RX-700AT's rails. The limits, according to the ATX specification, are 120mV (+12V) and 50mV (5V, 3.3V and 5VSB).

Ripple suppression at +12V might not be as good as Super Flower's high-end platforms, but it's still very good. Ripple is fairly low on the minor rails as well. However we should mention that the Andyson N700 unit, based on the same platform as Raidmax's RX-700AT, registers significantly lower ripple on all rails under the same operating conditions.

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 0.01V/Div (each vertical division/box equals 0.01V) 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 total performance rating of the RX-700AT, comparing it to other units we have tested. To be more specific, the tested PSU is shown as 100 percent, and every other unit's performance is shown relative to it.

Although this is a high-performance power supply, it isn't able to beat EVGA's Gold- and Platinum-rated offerings, mostly because the latter feature top-notch ripple suppression.

Performance Per Dollar

The following chart may be the most interesting to many of you because it depicts the RX-700AT'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.  

The MSRP that Raidmax gave us is very high, so the RX-700AT scores poorly. Street prices should be significantly lower, but then again, this is why we prefer to review products already available to our readers.

Noise Rating

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

Under light and moderate loads, and under normal operating temperatures, the RX-700AT is silent. However, its fan profile could be much more relaxed given such high efficiency and modest thermal loads.

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.

As you might expect, efficiency is very high. The RX-700AT loses only to the super high-end EVGA 850 T2, which uses a cutting edge platform with a bridge-less design.

Pros, Cons And Final Verdict

Raidmax has a close relationship with Andyson, since most of its PSU portfolio is made by this manufacturer. Naturally, it's one of the first companies to adopt Andyson's new Titanium platform.

This isn't a cutting-edge design, but it still offers very high efficiency. And under optimal conditions it satisfies the 80 PLUS Titanium requirements. The RX-700AT features tight load regulation and good ripple suppression at +12V, and it has an efficient 5VSB rail that also scores the best load regulation we've ever measured. The minor rails perform well in our suite, except for the Advanced Transient Response tests where the 3.3V rail couldn't keep its voltage above 3.2V. Nevertheless, it doesn't go out of the corresponding ATX spec, so the RX-700AT technically passes.

Aside from its official price, this is a good PSU. Where Raidmax really slips up is a lackluster warranty. Even mainstream PSUs from the competition include three-year coverage, but the RX-700AT only gives you two years. Since Andyson's very similar N700 is backed by a five-year warranty, we have a hard time swallowing Raidmax's warranty approach. We have to imagine there was a disagreement with the manufacturer (Andyson) on this matter.

Despite the many good aspects of this PSU, there are some questionable areas, including the single EPS connector and the high inrush currents that show a serious omission in the design. Raidmax left off an NTC thermistor, responsible for protecting against large inrush currents, in an effort to increase efficiency. If the company backed up the thermistor with a bypass relay, efficiency wouldn't have been dinged. Another significant problem is the low hold-up time, which is followed by a longer power-good signal. Once that signal is de-asserted, the +12V rail is out of spec and close to 11V. This is an issue that needs addressing immediately. If Andyson's engineers try to increase the hold-up time with larger bulk caps, efficiency will take a hit and likely torpedo the Titanium rating. Still, we expect PSUs to satisfy the ATX spec's guidelines, and the power-good signal should be at least 1ms lower than the actual hold-up time. It's unfortunate that we run into this problem so often.

To wrap up, Raidmax's MSRP is definitely high. However, the company claims its RX-700AT's will sell for about $20 less, so expect a street price around $130. If we could get the company to extend its warranty to five years, this PSU would become a decent choice for anyone who wants Titanium efficiency without breaking the bank. As it sits now, though, many enthusiasts will keep looking for better-protected alternatives. Finally, the hold-up time issue needs to be fixed sooner than later. It's up to Raidmax to turn all of our complaints around to make the RX-700AT a more competitive product. 

Update 5/18/2016: Raidmax informed us that the warranty of the RX-700AT has been extended to five years.

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+.

Take It Easy With My Nightstand

Sometimes you need to think inside the box.

How Fast Are We Going?

Gauges replace the conventional chassis on this automotive-oriented build. Sounds about right.

Blub Blub

It's time to break out the fishing gear.

Post-Apocalyptic

This box could be featured in Fallout 3.

Thermaltake Level 11?

This is what happens when you cross BMW’s design with a coffee-maker.

Acrylic Everything

It might not be pretty, but it sure is transparent.

Dressing Down

Just because your girlfriend works at a True Religion factory doesn’t mean you have to drape your PC in denim.

Desktop Accessories

There are cups for pens and pencils on the sides, and paper clips fit too.

Combination

The perfect marriage of acrylic and steel. Only the power cable looks out of place.

Pure Foam

The green slime monster is alive! This PC fits in with the post-apocalyptic theme from earlier.

Insight

Another win for the nothing-but-acrylic look.

On The Table

Now we know what Lian Li’s prototype looked like.

Cool Cooler

Some turbulence is nice to see (even though we typically spend our time trying to get rid of bubbles).

Did Someone Lose A Wheel?

This rim might not be to everyone’s taste.

Soda Dispenser

If you're going for effective cooling, might as well chill your soda at the same time, right?

Counterintuitive

Turning it inside-out. We see what you did there.

Firing On Both Cylinders

We always like to see a V2.

Fanboy

This probably isn’t the right enclosure for an AMD graphics card.

Mini PC

This is how you build a Mini PC.

Wooden

Another Thermaltake knockoff, though this one could have been made by Ikea.

Wooden Squared

Since we’re keeping it natural, here’s another biodegradable case.

Plastic Explosion

This thing looks like a mixture of Raidmax, Aerocool and a hotel in Dubai.

Wizard’s Tower

And because we’re on the topic of architecture, here’s another skyscraper.

Icebox

Sometimes bigger isn’t better. Things went a bit too far here. This setup would probably be great for a cryogenic storage facility.

Medical Equipment

This thing looks like it could keep your heart beating during surgery, despite those swords at each corner. Consult with your doctor before use.

Lots Of Cables

At least the lighting’s nice. Cables can actually be hidden, you know.

Military

We don’t think this is standard Army issue.

Genie In A Bottle

There are always ways to recycle a nice empty bottle.

New Perspectives

This is the PC from page 17, taken from a different angle. I realize mods are largely subjective, but it still doesn’t look any better to me.

Undead Vacuum Cleaner

This is a great Gothic appliance for hardcore rockers who like to keep their rooms clean.

Steampunk

Nice!

Rodent

There isn’t a rat in the case, but…

Computing To The Beat Of Your Own Drum

This giant drum has perfect airflow – as long as your leg doesn’t get tired.

R2D2

Presented without comment!

Initiative For A Clean Internet

We call this stainless steel drum the “Tide” model. Either way, temperatures top out at around 90 degrees Celsius.

Schrödinger’s PC

We opened it, and now we know that it’s dead.

Skeleton

This PC literally has a backbone.

Confucius

If you’re confused by all of this, then you’re not alone.

Trash Can

No need to throw it out – it’s already there.

Setting The Table

The rolling PC table for the couch. Just add a burger, a soda and the remote control.

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.

Do Cases With More Features Offer More Value?

A few small requirements narrowed a field of over fifty mainstream cases to just fifteen, but even an in-depth look at that subset would have taken us a full month to complete. Rather than tackling a 15-case round-up, we broke the samples into three groups of five.

But that presented a new conundrum: in what order should we present the contenders? The easiest solution was to create groups of five enclosures based on when each brand delivered its first sample. Second samples will show up in the third round-up.

Now, you'd think that our almost completely random selection would result in an equally random set of features in each five-way comparison. So far, though, each story has only seen one stand-out design. We already saw these features individually, and here’s how they compare:

Carnival geeks are a good reminder that standing out isn't always a good thing. Yet, the computer geek in all of us hopes that the most elaborate of these designs can stand up to the performance and quality of its less-flashy rivals. We built a system into each of these cases to find out.

If you missed the first part of this series, or our recent picture-based tour of the five enclosures being evaluated today, then check out the links below:

• In Pictures: Five Mainstream Gaming Cases, Previewed
• Five Gaming Cases Between $80 And $120, Reviewed
• Five More Mainstream Gaming Cases, Previewed

Building With The Antec Eleven Hundred

Antec’s Eleven Hundred stands out among large mid-towers most notably for its support of oversized motherboards up to 13” wide and 13.6” tall, thanks to a deep interior an a total of nine expansion slots. We don’t find an added row of standoffs in either of these directions, but it’s nice to know that EATX- and XL-ATX-based boards will at least fit.

A spacer atop the 3.5” hard drive cage holds 2.5” drives using a single screw and several built-in slides, which is adequate for the low weight and solid-state nature of SSDs.

Hard drive rails comprise the majority of the Eleven Hundred’s installation kit, though a few screws are included to secure the motherboard, additional fans, the power supply, and a couple of SSDs.

Pulling the tabs on 5.25” bay latches releases pins from the bay for quick installation and removal.

Though many users prefer to let their motherboards manage fan speeds, the Eleven Hundred’s fan power hub provides a simpler solution.

Antec cleaned up the cables a little by removing the old AC'97 audio connector from the front-panel headset lead. Double-row connectors power two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 jacks.

Our oversized ATX board fits easily within the Eleven Hundred’s cavernous interior, with enough space remaining to allow clean cable routing through all of its holes.

Our finished builds looks almost classy by game-themed case standards, and users who don’t like the flair of a lighted top fan can even disable that via a rear-panel switch.

Building With The Cooler Master Storm Enforcer

Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer fits into more traditional mid-tower dimensions, its tall feet and front-panel peak pushing its height to a mere nineteen inches. With an extra-deep door constituting more than an inch of its 21” total depth, this case's interior is limited to ATX-sized motherboards and a maximum graphics card length of 11.1”.

Sacrificing the four-bay center hard drive cage gives builders room for cards up to 16.7”. Fortunately, that sacrifice wasn’t needed for our build.

The Storm Enforcer includes several 3.5” drive rails, a pair of 5.25”-to-3.5” external bay adapter rails, a 3.5”-to-2.5” hard drive adapter tray, several screws, a PC speaker, and cable ties. If you need more 2.5” drive mounting space, you'll find a two-drive cage mounted to the case’s floor.

Installing our 2.5” drive in the adapter allowed us to use one less power cable in the installation, since our power supply's cable has three leads spaced approximately 6” apart.

Drive latching pins for 5.25” devices rest within a swinging mechanism, engaging the drive’s mounting holes with the flip of a lever.

Shoulders on the two factory-installed standoffs center the motherboard over holes to insure proper alignment. These also enable one-handed installation, since they prevent the board from sliding out of position.

Cooler Master unclutters the Storm Enforcer’s cable kit slightly by omitting USB 2.0 connectivity, though some users will likely prefer the added ports you get from some competing products. The firm goes on to add clutter by including an AC'97 audio lead. Motherboards have used HD Audio for many years, guys. Let's retire AC'97 once and for all!

Our oversized motherboard fits inside the Storm Enforcer with barely enough of its cable holes exposed to pass through SATA connectors. Most of our larger cables were forced to follow an alternative path around the hard drive cage, though the case at least has space above the motherboard we could use to route our ATX12V lead.

Red LED fan lighting finishes the Storm Enforcer’s gaming theme, without being so bright as to distract us from getting our work done.

Building With The Fractal Design Arc Midi

Employing a similar layout as the Storm Enforcer, Fractal Design’s Arc Midi gives us two more hard drive bays, two fewer 5.25” drive bays, grommets on cable pass-through holes, slightly greater card length, and a flatter top panel for reduced peak height.

Removing the center drive cage extends maximum card length from 11.7” to 17.8”, but only in slots one through three. Since most motherboards place the graphics card in slot two, the extra space is usually useful for one dual-slot card.

The Arc Midi’s 5.25”-to-3.5” external drive adapter is factory-installed in the lower external bay, but its face plate is packaged separately. You'll also find a three-fan controller with adapter cable, two reusable cable ties, and a bag of screws and standoffs in the installation kit.

The Arc Midi’s cable kit is cluttered up a little by the presence of both HD Audio and AC'97 front-panel connectors. The latter has been out of use for several years.

While 3.5” drives use grommets to dampen vibration, 2.5” drives screw directly to the Arc Midi’s hard drive trays, since SSDs don’t vibrate.

Our slightly-oversized ATX motherboard covers the Arc Midi’s cable holes about half-way, forcing us to maneuver large cables around the front edge of the motherboard tray. A hole above the motherboard makes room for our ATX12V lead.

With no windows or lighted fans, the Arc Midi looks more like a workstation than most of its competitors. A side-panel fan mount is the only visual cue to its gaming intent. But then again, some folks like their gaming boxes looking clean.

Building With The Raidmax Agusta

Raidmax turns the layout of traditional full-towers upside-down in its Agusta, its modernized motherboard-on-top design putting drive cages at the bottom. Like most cases with a power supply below the motherboard, the Agusta has a hole at the top of the motherboard tray that looks like it'd be suitable for an ATX12V lead.

You might also expect a 23.8” case with a top panel over 2” thick to support liquid cooling, but the Agusta’s design doesn’t make that possible. There’s barely enough room in the top panel to hold its two stock fans, and those can only be installed and removed after first pulling out the motherboard.

Our Agusta sample arrived without a manual, but the rest of its installation kit includes three cable holders, several fiber washers, several cable ties, and mounting screws. Standoffs were factory-installed on the motherboard tray, with one missing.

Raidmax ditches the outdated AC'97 audio connector in favor of cleaner HDA-only wiring. A flat ribbon holds power, reset, and activity leads to further clean-up the cable cluster.

The Agusta’s drive trays place 3.5” drive mounting holes on the side and 2.5” holes on the bottom. Five-and-a-quarter-inch bays above those use quarter-turn release latches.

We stated that a hole at the top of the Agusta’s motherboard tray appears to support ATX12V leads, but that hole gets covered up by any motherboard. Raidmax can’t fix this without a complete redesign, since there’s no room above the board to move it. We were instead forced to wrap our cable over the motherboard’s surface.

The finished build looks like it should be an excellent performer.

Building With The SilverStone Kublai KL04

Like the Storm Enforcer, SilverStone’s Kublai KL04 (KL04B for black; add –W if you want a side window) uses a bottom-mounted SSD cage behind the hard drive cage. But with room for six 2.5" drives, the KL04 holds three times as many SSDs. Its 3.5” cage also has more capacity (up to eight drives) in the removable portion and one hidden bay in its base. What's more, the SSD cage can be moved from the KL04’s base onto the removable hard drive cage.

SilverStone’s attempt to cut cost without sacrificing durability or performance shows through in places like its missing internal grommets and folded-out card holder tab, both of which appear out of place on a case with such a flexible storage configuration. One of the ways SilverStone retains its hallmark quality is through rolled edges on all cable holes, which really make grommets superfluous.

The KL04’s installation kit includes a 5.25”-to-3.5” external bay adapter, a USB 3.0-to-USB 2.0 header adapter, and a bag of miscellaneous mounting hardware complete with cable ties and a miniature screwdriver.

A ribbon-style front-panel lead and HD Audio support (no AC'97) clean up and simplify the KL04's cable bundle.

Elegant simplicity is found in the KL04’s external drive latch. If the latching tab doesn’t appear secure enough to you, holes in the mechanism also support screws.

We installed our SSD without removing the cage, since the case has screwdriver access from both sides. The rest of the enclosure is large enough to accept our slightly oversized motherboard without blocking its cable access holes.

The finished build again looks more like a workstation than a gaming PC, but that’s fine with most of us. Reduced noise is a benefit of the windowless, ventless panels, and we look forward to finding out if fans and vents in other parts of the chassis can still give us the cooling performance we require.

Test Setup 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

Antec’s Eleven Hundred, the only case to arrive without any intake fans, amazingly matches SilverStone’s KL04 in average temperatures. And it wasn’t even the CPU that received the most benefits from its design, as low GPU temperatures put it in the top position. That is to say, we can’t even credit its 200 mm top fan directly…or can we?

Perhaps Antec’s 200 mm fan worked a little too well. After all, pulling hot air up from the graphics card would certainly make the CPU warmer, and the Eleven Hundred has the second-highest CPU temperature. Still, we believe that the position of its side-panel vents—which were right below the graphics cooler—played a larger role in its lower graphics temperature. Further analysis might even show the 200 mm fan pulling cool air in from those side panel vents, reducing ambient temperature surrounding the card.

SilverStone’s results are easier to figure out, with an intake fan that sits mostly below the graphics card and a case design that allows that fan to push air to nearly every component.

Fractal Design's submission had the lowest CPU and highest GPU temperatures, and a look back at the build hints to how that happened. The Arc Midi’s included intake fan sits above the level of our graphics card, feeding the CPU cooler air, while leaving the GPU to fend for itself. This might be addressed by moving the fan, though it'd take a while to figure out if dual intake fans, single intake fans in two locations, or extra top fans would yield the best results. The broad number of configuration options forces us to rely on case manufacturers to optimize component placement, as they have the best reason to do so.

Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer had the highest average temperature, but it makes up for that by doing the best job of containing the noise from our graphics card's fan running at 100% duty cycle. It’s unvented side panel appears to be the reason for this performance mix.

Runner-up in the noise stats, SilverStone’s KL04 is the only other case with a solid side panel. Yet, the company had a second trick up its sleeve. Knowing that most folks concerned about noise measure acoustics either from the front or left sides, it put the case’s intake fan on the right side. Seeking the most realistic worst-case scenario, our noise readings are normally taken at 45° from the left front edge.

Indeed, the KL04’s noise measurements were one to two decibels lower than the charted values when we tested it from the same 45°-left angle as the other cases. Because the KL04’s intake fan is actually on the right side of the case, we retested it from 45° to the right, and used the higher noise numbers. SilverStone could have won, but testing it only from the left would have been unfair to its front-fan competitors since we can’t assume everyone is using a PC on their right side.

Even when we use a less favorable angle for testing, SilverStone’s KL04 tops our Acoustic Efficiency chart. Antec and Cooler Master aren’t far behind, though.

One Value-Oriented Chassis Satisfies Most Buyers

Limiting our value analysis to the five cases present, we have already seen that one of these is less expensive than the rest. Fortunately for its manufacturer, that same enclosure also finishes in the middle of the pack with regard to overall performance.

Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer appears to be the best value in a simple comparison of performance to price, yet a comparison that simple leaves out things like added features. And the one case that cost 50% more than the Storm Enforcer, the Raidmax Agusta is packed with features.

Or are they gimmicks? The biggest case in today’s comparison was also the lightest, and that lightness doesn't come from the use of exotic material like carbon fiber or even aluminum. Instead, Raidmax manages to make a bigger/lighter case in the most frugal way possible, by removing much of its structure. It goes head-to-head with In Win’s recently-reviewed Mana 136 in a flimsiness competition, and comes out only slightly better.

Other things that didn’t help make the case for an Agusta win were that it has only a quarter-inch of space behind most of its motherboard tray for cable management, that the access hole for ATX12V leads is blocked by any motherboard, that it requires motherboard removal to service its fans, that its grommets fall out whenever they're touched, that its card holder screws are blocked by the edge of the chassis, that a bridge of metal between the top slot and I/O panel partly blocked our DVI cable, and that we somehow managed to push its power button out of its mount when attempting to turn on the finished build. It still has the longest features list of any mainstream-priced case we’ve ever tested, and thus might be recommended to new system builders who would like to attend the PC builder’s school of hard knocks.

Our final analysis ends with Antec’s Eleven Hundred getting a recommendation for its support of oversized motherboards, SilverStone’s KL04B (the B is for black, remember?) getting a recommendation for its slight edge in overall performance, dual-fan radiator support, and enhanced drive capacity, and Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer getting a recommendation based on its mid-pack performance, quad USB ports, and low price. All three of these medium-duty cases are sturdy enough for most users, yet the Storm Enforcer’s ultra-low price and lack of obvious flaws (apart from the missing radiator mounting space) makes it the most attractive option for a majority of mid-budget builders.

We know that a recommendation appropriate for most folks doesn't fit every need. One of our readers complained that our most recent System Builder Marathon included mostly un-awarded parts. In the example of this review, we would happily pick the Eleven Hundred to fit larger hardware or the KL04B for low-cost radiator support, even though neither of these could match the overall value that today’s award winner offers to a majority of buyers.

Antec’s Eleven Hundred

Antec’s Eleven Hundred appears to be an attempt to combine the value of the company's sturdy Three Hundred with some of the features of its mid-market Nine Hundred. We find medium-duty steel nearly everywhere except for the plastic face panel and side window, the latter of which allows a complete view of your high-end components.

A rectangular vent on the Eleven Hundred’s side window supports two 120 mm fans, and each fan mount has two grommets to reduce fan noise.

Flexible Positioning

Borrowing some of the style cues from Antec’s older products, the Eleven Hundred’s top-edge front-panel connectors are easy to reach, regardless of whether the case is on or under a desk. Cables usually dangle in front of optical drives, but most users open those infrequently anyway.

Inside The Eleven Hundred

Tall enough to support up to XL-ATX motherboards, the Eleven Hundred’s nine slots give users of standard ATX boards extra space to combine oversized graphics cooling and slot breakout plates in the same system.

Rear vents help equalize pressure inside and outside the enclosure, though the vents lack dust filtration. Builders in dirty environments may instead opt to add fans, assuring that air flows out of, rather than into, these vents.

Behind The Eleven Hundred

Antec adds a 120 mm fan mount behind the Eleven Hundred’s motherboard tray, which builders can use to assist cooling at the back of the CPU socket.

Grommets on rear-panel ingress/egress holes help keep you from scratching up tubing when this chassis is used with external liquid coolers.

Fan Control?

An LED on/off switch for the top-panel fan occupies one of four positions on the Eleven Hundred’s rear fan controller. The other three holes remain unused, making this extra feature more of a tease than anything. Though some of our builders prefer to let motherboard headers control fan speed, others will be unhappy to find this untapped potential.

Eleven Hundred Cable Management

The Eleven Hundred has enough space behind its motherboard tray to route thick ATX cables through four large rectangular access holes. Grommets help make the cables less visually distracting as they pass through, while cable tie loops help builders pin excess length into a tidy location.

An even larger access hole aids CPU cooler support plate installation.

Eleven Hundred Filtration

In addition to a filter inside its snap-off face panel, Antec’s Eleven Hundred includes a slide-out power supply dust filter.

Eleven Hundred Intakes

As delivered, the Eleven Hundred uses exhaust fans to pull air through various vents. But enthusiasts who want even more airflow and better dust control can add up to two 120 mm fans in the front panel, behind a snap-away face with filtered vents.

Top Panel Exhaust

One of the Eleven Hundred’s design strengths may also be considered by some to be a weakness. Its top-panel 200 mm fan quietly pulls air past the CPU cooler. But the large vent lacks the extra holes that would have allowed it to be repurposed as a radiator mount.

In other words, the Eleven Hundred is large enough to hold a dual-fan liquid cooler, but requires minor modifications to do so. Our next page will show a case that has the necessary mounting holes for large liquid cooling (but instead lacks the required mounting space; whoops).

Cooler Master Storm Enforcer

Only 19” tall, but a full 9” wide, Cooler Master adds modern style and cooling space to the classic mid-tower stance in its Storm Enforcer. A window helps show off those over-sized CPU coolers. A half-length door at the top hides 5.25” bays.

Storm Enforcer Front Panel

The Storm Enforcer’s front-panel connectors are located along the top edge and angled upwards to ease access from above, which is perfect for anyone who hides their PC under a desk. Don't worry if you keep your computer up on a desk. The connectors are still accessible, and the drive door actually pushes dangling cables out of the way.

Inside The Storm Enforcer

A standard seven-slot panel supports full-ATX motherboards, but lacks the added space to mount a double-slot graphics card in the motherboard’s bottom slot, which some motherboards require for three-way graphics configurations. An eighth slot is available from Cooler Master's submission, but as you can see, it's set off to the side exclusively for use with port breakout plates or external cable hangers.

A Call To Large Cards

We mentioned that the Storm Enforcer isn’t designed for double-slot graphics cards plugged in to a motherboard’s bottom slot, inhibiting compatibility with three-way graphics arrays on some motherboards. Cooler Master appears to instead target extra-long dual-GPU cards by making its center drive cage removable. After all, a pair of dual-GPU cards yield four-way CrossFire or SLI.

Sacrificing four 3.5” drive bays allows cards up to 16.6” to be used in all slots. A pair of 2.5” drives can be installed in a smaller cage next to the two remaining 3.5” bays.

Behind The Storm Enforcer

The Storm Enforcer provides three holes above its 120 mm exhaust fan with protective grommets to support external liquid coolers and pass-through cables.

Storm Enforcer Cable Management

Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer does not have internal grommets to hide the points where cables pass through, but does have rolled edges on all of its cable access holes. There’s barely enough space behind the motherboard tray to stuff the main ATX power cable, and the CPU back-plate access hole is just big enough to support CPU cooler installations on most motherboards.

Storm Enforcer Dust Control

A sheet of dust-reducing mesh covers the Storm Enforcer’s power supply intake, which is important since power supplies are the hardest part to clean. Access to this filter requires flipping the case on its side and sliding several tabs out of place.

Storm Enforcer Intake

A quiet giant, the Storm Enforcer’s 200 mm intake fan uses blood-red LEDs to give the front panel a soft glow. We think its good that this isn’t very bright, since we didn’t find any way to disable the lighting effect.

Non-removable front-panel mesh provides a modicum of dust control.

Storm Enforcer Top Panel

Designed to hold a second 200 mm fan, separate mounting holes on the Storm Enforcer’s top panel also allow a dual 120 mm-fan radiator to also be installed. Only 1.6” of space exists above the motherboard, however, so a standard 2” radiator and fan stack could only be used on motherboards that have at least 0.4” of clearance between the top edge and tall components (such as PWM sinks and memory slots).

Fractal Design’s Arc Midi

Though its nearly-monolithic design makes Fractal Design’s Arc Midi appear small, it’s actually 0.3” wider than Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer. The Arc Midi is, however, 0.3” shorter than that competing model, with two fewer external bays making room for two more internal bays.

Arc Midi Ports

The Arc Midi’s front-panel ports are located on the case’s top edge, facing straight up to allow easy access for users who place their case on the floor. Alternatively, this design prevents easy port access for users who prefer to keep their PCs on a desk. We also find the number of ports to be a little strange, with a double-row USB 3.0 internal connector feeding a single USB 3.0 port.

Inside The Arc Midi

Chief among the Arc Midi’s features are its pair of four-drive hard drive cages, which are designed to fit both 3.5” and 2.5” drives. Motherboard and graphics configurations are far more limited, since there isn’t enough space beneath the seven-slot panel to properly support a double graphics card in the motherboard’s bottom slot. An eighth slot to the side is meant to hold port breakout plates or an included slot-mounted fan controller.

Removing the center drive cage opens the case for cards up to 17.8” long, but only in slots two, three, and four. That’s only good enough for one dual-GPU graphics card, and even that pairing requires a typical motherboard layout with primary graphics in slot position two or three.

Behind The Arc Midi

The rear view of Fractal’s Arc Midi reveals a pair of grommets to support external liquid cooling systems at the top, and a slide-out dust filter at the bottom. An oversized 140 mm fan pulls heat away from the finished system’s CPU cooler.

Arc Midi Dust Control

A slide-out filter covers both the power supply intake and a bottom-panel fan mount. We don’t spend much time discussing bottom-mounted fans, since long power supplies often block them. But we did notice that this one supports both 140 mm and 120 mm fan sizes.

Arc Midi Cable Management

Fractal Design pays particular attention to cable management by giving the Arc Midi a little more space behind the motherboard and using tighter-fitting grommets to hide pass-through points. A nice large hole eases access to CPU cooler support plates.

Arc Midi Front Panel

Two holes in the front panel pass air through drive cages from intake fans that are mounted to the Arc Midi’s face plate. A breakout on the second external bay is replaceable, hiding a 3.5” bay adapter. It can have its center section removed for use with that adapter.

Arc Midi Intakes

The Arc Midi’s face plate holds up to two 140 mm fans, but includes only one, with dust filters on both mounts to further reduce internal cooler contamination.

Arc Midi Top Panel

The Arc Midi hides a trio of exhaust fan mounts under a vented plastic cover, yet supports a dual 120 mm-fan radiator at most. That’s because two of the fans are offset to the extreme left to make extra room between the motherboard and radiator assembly, while the third fan is centered over the top 5.25” drive bay to fit within the bay’s structure. All three locations support both 140 mm and 120 mm fan sizes.

Raidmax Agusta

Loosely borrowing some of the styling from its motoring namesake, the Agusta appears to be Raidmax’s first attempt to deliver a true full-tower chassis to the gamer-oriented market. Compared to the large mid-towers that many vendors mislabel as full-towers, this true tower has enough room for a hard drive cage beneath its power supply. That design gives the Agusta a height of 23.8”.

A large grille on the left side-panel fits both 180 mm and 120 mm fans, which must be purchased separately if you want them.

Agusta’s Ports

Though niceties like separate fan speed and fan lighting controls dress the front edge of Agusta’s top panel, Raidmax still makes the questionable move of tying a dual-row internal USB 3.0 header to a single port. The other two ports only support USB 2.0.

A Hidden Surprise

Two lower 5.25” external bays hide behind a door on the Agusta, in addition to the three upper bays. This could be an ideal location to stash a full height or two half height backplanes, or simply a place to hide an old and ugly drive that’s still needed for a specific application.

Inside The Raidmax Agusta

The Agusta is split into two compartments, with the upper portion supporting main components and 5.25” drives, and the lower portion accommodating six 3.5” and 2.5” drives.

A Cagey Affair

A panel on each side of the Agusta’s lower compartment opens to reveal six trays, each supporting 2.5” and 3.5” drives. There is no backplane in this design, so centering of the 2.5” drives within each tray is acceptable.

Behind Agusta

Handles on each of the Agusta’s side panels fold onto the back of the case, though card connectors and external liquid cooling lines could block them. Three ingress/egress holes support abrasion-free cable and hose routing, and a second set of fans in the drive compartment supplements the 120 mm fan in the top compartment.

Agusta Cable Management

Though the Agusta has all of the necessary holes to route cables behind the motherboard tray, the space between the tray and side panel is too narrow to hold them. Builders must instead follow a meandering path within the C-shaped protruding section of the side panel to find space for thick cables, and then tie them to appropriate points on the tray.

Agusta Ventilation

The Agusta’s top and front panels are not designed for easy removal, as the design instead favors replacing large fans from inside the case. When you build up a machine inside the case, though, components block access to the requisite screws. Furthermore, the face panel must still be unscrewed to access the little 80 mm lower-compartment intake fan.

Though two top-panel fans are included, the Agusta lacks room above the motherboard to place a radiator upon them.

Exhausting Storage

Though many users prefer the speed of SSDs, it's still almost mandatory to mix solid-state and mechanical storage, even in a high-end build. That means you're going to end up with one or more warmer-running disk drives. Raidmax attempts to optimize drive cooling by using twice as many exhaust fans as intakes in this compartment, relying on side-panel vents to cool the Agusta’s lower compartment. These particular fans can also be replaced without disassembling the PC.

SilverStone Kublai Series KL04

Currently available in the basic black KL04B and windowed KL04B-W, SilverStone’s KL04 presents a smooth and simplified design lacking so much as a vent in the front panel. Molded-in grain provides a simulated brushed-aluminum finish on the plastic front, while ports have been moved to the top of this 19.3” mid-tower.

KL04 Ports

SilverStone knew that USB 3.0 would soon take precedence when designing its KL04, placing two of these ports on its top panel. Both ports face forward for easier reach under a desk, surrounding a pair of likewise-angled headset jacks.

Inside The KL04

The KL04 opens up to reveal eight expansion slots, an eight-bay removable 3.5” drive cage, and a six-bay 2.5” mini drive cage behind it. The eighth slot of the back panel allows double-slot graphics cards to be mounted in a motherboard’s bottom slot, as required for three-way configurations on some motherboards.

Enhanced Drive Support

The KL04’s removable 3.5” drive cage supports hard drives using only three screws. The shorter side of this design provides added expansion card clearance—up to 17.3”—where you find empty bays. Removing the cage altogether allows cards up to 18.1” to be installed, while occupied drive bays provide only 12.5” of card clearance.

A 2.5” mini drive cage attached to the bottom of the KL04 can be relocated onto the removable 3.5” drive cage, and the base of the 3.5” cage holds one additional 3.5” drive.

Behind The KL04

SilverStone moves the intake panel of its KL04 to the case’s right side, cleaning up the face design. With shades of Antec’s old Sonata IV, the side-panel intake also reduces noise pollution from internal components.

The rear panel is far less exotic, with indications of cost cutting manifesting as knock-outs for liquid cooler pass-through lines and a flimsy metal cover over an outward-bent card holder tab.

KL04 Cable Management

SilverStone provides exceptional space behind the KL04’s motherboard tray for cable management, going so far as to roll the edges of each access hole. That treatment makes internal grommets a mere aesthetic feature, so SilverStone omits them on this non-windowed case.

KL04 Dust Control

The ultimate contrast of cost-cutting and advanced features is found in the pair of slide-out filters appearing in the same photo as the flimsy card holder. Extra care is taken to roll the edges of internal cable access holes, even as the previously-viewed liquid cooling line holes lack grommets.

KL04 Intake Fans

The KL04’s right side supports up to two 120 mm intake fans, but includes only one. The face panel is not designed for removal, but a little ingenuity helped us take this photo without destroying the case.

KL04 Top Panel

Popping the mesh grill off the KL04’s top panel, we found two 120 mm and two 140 mm fan mounts. SilverStone claims that this allows the case to support a pair of fans in either size, though the second pair of 140 mm holes simply relocates a single fan by around one inch. Dual 120 mm fans really are supported, and extra offset towards the left side for these mounting holes eases the installation of dual 120 mm-fan radiators.

The RX-600AF is an upgrade over the also new 500AF (500 Watt) and promises to be energy efficient by converting up to 85 percent of the input electricity into usable energy.

According to the manufacturer, the PSU comes with an "eco-friendly white fan with the best thermal control efficiency", industrial grade protection circuitry that is designed to prevent damage from short-circuit protection, over-voltage protection, and over-power protection, as well as a turbo fan controller to enforce cooling. The RX-600AF supports ATX 12V2.2 version with the 80 Plus Bronze eco certification. Raidmax offers the PSU for a suggested retail price of $60.

The series also includes the recently launched RF-700AC, which carries the 80 Plus Bronze label as well, but delivers a total power of 700 Watt. The RF-700AC has a suggested retail price of $70, while the 500AF sells for $50.

The Raidmax Seiran is set to offer "tool-less installation, simple cable management, plus great expandability" in white, red or black. The case measures 18.9 (L) X 7.3 (W) X 18.9 (H) inches, and has a front panel with a 2-channel fan controller, USB 3.0 (x 1), USB 2.0 (x 2), audio ports, and LED light adjuster. It supports nine 5.25-inch bays (tool-free mounting system) with removed meshed bay covers for the possibility of nine external drive bays. The case has a space that's convenient for gripping, making it easy to transport or move. 

Cooling is provided by two 120mm fans (one with LEDs in front and one without lighting at the back) and an optional side window fan (120mm or 180mm fan). There is support for water cooling through three back panel tube outlets. It has a bottom mounted PSU with a removal dust filter, for ease of cleaning.

Seiran should be available at release for a price around $79.99. Lean more about the RAIDMAX::Seiran at its product page.  

System Builder Marathon: $1000 Enthusiast System

System Builder Marathon, September 2011: The Articles

Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon.

To enter the giveaway, please fill out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!

Day 1: The $2000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $500 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected

Introduction

There wasn't a lot of incentive for us to look beyond the great performance and overclocking value of Intel's Core i5-2500K in our previous $1000 enthusiast build. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have any tricks up our sleeve this time around.

Of course, system performance is defined by a lot more than just a CPU, and we're thinking that it's about time our mid-priced system came with a solid-state drive. Although the cost of an SSD is too high to lean on it as an exclusive storage solution in this price range, we certainly have the budget to squeeze a boot drive into the build.

Moreover, variety is the spice of life. So, we're swapping out two Radeon HD 6850 cards in CrossFire used in our last build for a pair of GeForce GTX 460 models in SLI. We see what, if any, changes the graphics cards make in our power and performance metrics. 

Here’s the list of components in the current $1000 Enthusiast system:

CPU, Motherboard, And Cooler

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K

There’s still no viable alternative to the Core i5-2500K in our thousand-dollar enthusiast build. This is a CPU that holds onto the best price, performance, and overclocking values we've seen, and it's almost a year old already!

With four execution cores running at 3.3 GHz and spinning up to 3.7 GHz with a single core active in Turbo Boost mode, plus 6 MB of L3 cache, this efficient 32 nm chip has no equal in the $200 price range. If you’d like to learn more check out our Core i5-2500K launch coverage.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i5-2500K

Motherboard: EVGA P67 Micro SLI

While MSI showed us a good time with its P67A-G43 in last quarter's SBM for a low $130 price tag, we wanted to mix things up a bit this month. So, we're going with EVGA’s P67 Micro SLI.

We don’t really need the extra space inside the chassis. But when we started filling in our shopping list, this Micro ATX model was one of the most affordable options with two x8 PCIe slots. At today's price of $150 it has more competition. But it will be interesting to see how the board fares, regardless.

Read Customer Reviews of EVGA's P67 Micro SLI

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3

We’re trying to make space in our budget for the SSD drive, so we need an inexpensive, yet high-performance CPU cooler. At $19.80, we've seen Cooler Master’s Hyper TX3 do a decent job for us in the past, and we’re employing it in our current build.

Read Customer Reviews of Cooler Master's Hyper TX3

Video Cards, Power Supply, And Case

Video Cards: 2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1 GB in SLI

Last quarter, we gave you two Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire in our $1000 machine. This time around, we're hooking the same system up with a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 1 GB cards in SLI. At $170 for each board, the total cost is $340, which is exactly as much as we spent on the graphics subsystem in our previous SBM.

Read Customer Reviews of EVGA's GeForce GTX 460 1 GB

Power Supply: Corsair CX600

With the SSD pushing our budget limit to its max already, we're giving Corsair’s modest CX600 a try. This decision should save us a few dollars over the 650TX we usually opt for in this price segment. The 40 A, 12 V rail should be sufficient for our needs, and the low $70 price tag is appealing.

Read Customer Reviews of Corsair's CX600

PC Case: Raidmax Atlas ATX-295WB

At $40, Raidmax's case is another component we choose with frugality in mind. But despite the low cost, it’s an elegant-looking product reminiscent of more expensive name-brand models.

From a functional perspective, the two 120 mm fans should do a decent job of removing hot air from the enclosure.

Read Customer Reviews of Raidmax's Atlas ATX-295WB

Memory, Hard Drives, And Optical Drive

Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR3-1600 Kit

This dual-channel kit boasts 7-8-7-24 1T timings at a 1600 MT/s data rate. And, priced at $50 bucks, it also looks like a really solid value. This quarter we're giving Mushkin’s Redline series a try.

Read Customer Reviews of Mushkin's Enhanced Redline 4 GB DDR3-1600 Kit

Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 30 GB SSD

As mentioned in this story's intro, we’re looking to breathe life into the $1000 enthusiast system with a solid-state drive.

Bearing a $65 price tag, OCZ’s 30 GB Vertex series doesn’t have enough capacity to hold all of this system's applications and benchmarks. But it's big enough to host the operating system and some critical programs. We chose this model based on the recommendations in our Best SSDs For the Money column. 

Read Customer Reviews of OCZ's Vertex Series 30 GB SSD

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB 32 MB cache

Backed by a new SSD in our system, we’ll stick with the same trusty $59 Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB drive for our mass storage needs.

Read Customer Reviews of Western Digital's Caviar Black 750 GB

Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA CD/DVD Burner Model AD-7260S-0B

As usual, we aren't putting a lot of money behind our $1000 PC’s optical drive. This time, we’re choosing Sony’s drive for no reason other than its low $19 price tag.

Read Customer Reviews of Sony's AD-7260S-0B Burner

Assembly And Overclocking

All of the components we picked fit nicely into Raidmax’s Atlas case, and we don't have any assembly problems to report.

The only stumbling block was a lack of four-pin power connectors needed to connect the included case fans. Corsair's CX600 PSU only comes with a quartet of those Molex plugs, and we used all of those up on dual four-pin-to-PCIe power adapters for the GeForce GTX 460 cards in SLI.

In order to solve that problem, we used a single Molex-to-PCIe adapter we had in the lab, freeing up a fourth four-pin connector for fan duty. Although we didn't run into any stability issues using the CX600, we probably won’t be picking it for a dual-graphics-equipped machine in the future.

The small EVGA P67 Micro motherboard accommodates two graphics cards without difficulty, but doesn’t leave the top card a lot of room for airflow. Because the graphics cards are relatively close to the processor, we'll orient the CPU cooler to pull air from the right side of the chassis. 

Overclocking

We’ve overclocked a handful of Core i5-2500Ks now, and the majority of them top out with a 45x multiplier at 1.4 V using entry-level aftermarket air cooling. The specimen in this build is no different. When we bumped its multiplier to 46x, one of the execution cores suffered an error in our Prime95 stress test.

The Cooler Master Hyper TX3 does a good job considering its sub-$20 price tag, and our final CPU overclock is 4490 MHz with a 45x multiplier. Memory performance is also improved over default settings, since we're able to invoke the XMP memory profile option in EVGA's BIOS, cranking the frequency up and timings down, from 9-9-9-24 1T at 666 MHz  to 7-8-7-24 1T at 800 MHz.

As far as graphics cards are concerned, we usually find that overclocking is hamstrung when we start messing with dual-card solutions. This time around, though, our results are encouraging: with the GPU voltage raised from 0.937 to 1.0 V, we manage to push the core clock from 720 to 850 MHz. The memory also jumps from 3600 MT/s to 3700 MT/s. Moreover, we're cranking the fans up to 100% for stress testing purposes (Ed.: Hey now, I'd consider that cheating if I were Thomas or Paul).

Test System And Benchmarks

Given an identical processor and overclock, our productivity-oriented tests are going to have to benefit from our SSD.

The games are installed on the same Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB hard drive as last time, so any performance differences in that segment have to be attributed to our two GeForce GTX 460s in SLI instead of the previous Radeon HD 6850 CrossFire configuration.

And here's the list of benchmarks:

Benchmark Results: Synthetics

3DMark 11 demonstrates little difference between the current and previous builds. Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire and GeForce GTX 460s in SLI are known to perform similarly, which is one of the reasons both end up tied in each iteration of Best Graphics Cards For The Money. However, it'll be interesting to see how things fall on a game-by-game basis.

Back in its Vantage days, PCMark was very sensitive to storage performance. Futuremark de-tuned that sensitivity somewhat to better reflect the real-world impact of an SSD. However, PCMark 7 still illustrates the reason to want solid-state storage very clearly.

With similar CPU clocks, there’s little difference in the Sandra scores (although the XMP memory profile does help the new system’s overclocked memory performance).

Benchmark Results: Media Encoding Applications

We've seen in the past that it's difficult to quantify some of the responsiveness benefits of an SSD. These tests are very much CPU-constrained, so you don't end up seeing storage help improve performance by much.

As a result, the benchmark scores map very closely to the previous quarter's System Builder Marathon configuration.

Benchmark Results: 2D And 3D Graphics Apps

3ds Max exhibits a slight improvement moving to the new build. However, Photoshop demonstrates identical performance with the new SSD-equipped system.

Again, we're facing a challenge in that these tests aren't particularly storage-constrained. In the real-world, you feel the difference. But the time it takes a benchmark to finish might not (and in fact, doesn't really) change.

Benchmark Results: Productivity

Some of these tests finish a little faster; some finish a little slower than the previous thousand-dollar build. What we know, though, is that it's again difficult to see the benefit of an SSD in action here. In reality, we all know the SSD makes a bigger difference than the benchmarks indicate, though.

Nevertheless, comparable performance at the same price, with an SSD installed is pretty impressive this time around!

Benchmark Results: Crysis And Just Cause 2

At first glance, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 460s in SLI appear to outperform AMD's Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire. Look more closely, though, and you see the Radeon cards far better as the resolution goes up.

By the time we hit 2560x1600, the AMD cards seem to have a small advantage. Again, we see here why these cards are rated similarly in our Best Graphics Cards for the Money column.

In Just Cause 2, the GeForce cards get the advantage as resolution is jacked up.

Benchmark Results: Metro 2033 And F1 2010

When we run this game using High details, Nvidia's GeForce boards clearly get the upper-hand.

However, pumping the quality level up to Ultra and flipping on 8x anti-aliasing turns the tables in favor of the Radeon HD 6850s running in CrossFire mode.

In Metro 2033, it’s the GeForce’s turn to take a slight lead over the Radeons.

Power And Temperature Benchmarks

Based on our power benchmarks, the new system needs more juice when we apply a graphics load to it.

That's not entirely surprising when you consider that each GeForce GTX 460 card requires two PCIe power cables, while the Radeon HD 6850s in our June build need only one per card.

The new system fares quite well, realizing lower CPU and idle GPU temperatures. Under load, however, the GeForce GTX 460 graphics processors are hotter than the Radeon HD 6850s. 

More Powerful Storage At The Same Budget

The results turn out to be pretty close, though we did notice a few interesting things.

Starting with application performance, despite the identical CPU clock rates, our June machine averages a couple of percentage points higher at stock speeds. This is probably due to the lower memory bandwidth we saw manifest in the Sandra synthetic benchmark.

Our new machine leaps ahead when it gets overclocked, and this probably has something to do with the increase in memory bandwidth when using the XMP memory profile. Though we know this architecture isn't particularly starved for throughput, the higher data rates and lower latencies are a potent pair.

The gaming results are also mixed. They're easier to explain, though. Two Radeon HD 6850s are a bit faster than a couple GeForce GTX 460s at stock speeds. Nvidia's cards have more overclocking headroom, though. This accounts for the increased performance when tweaked.

The moral of this story is that the SSD is here to stay. Yes, you can afford solid-state storage on a thousand-dollar budget. When you’re putting a system together, you simply can't ignore the SSD. Despite very similar application benchmarks, you really see the benefit when it comes to launching software, and PCMark 7 does a fair job of demonstrating that.

In addition, we learned that GeForce GTX 460s in SLI and Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire have similar overall performance. This is nothing new, but it’s good to put our own recommendations to the test every once in a while.

Now all we can do is wait for the last day of this System Builder Marathon, where we see how the three competing systems size up to each other. We're curious to see how the SSD affects the $1000 PC’s ability to compete with the pricer configuration in PCMark. Stay tuned!

Manufacturers, Designers, And Labels

Between gobs of reader feedback and our own data compiled over many years, we've managed to put together a fairly comprehensive list of power supply brands and manufacturers. Despite the fact that it consists of more than 150 manufacturers, though, this list still doesn't reflect the entire market, which always seems to be in a state of flux. It can, however, be used as a guide to finding the difference between a bad deal and a bargain.

Who is Who?

Let’s start by dividing the manufacturers into three large groups so we can better understand the database and how these companies are connected:

1. The OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)

OEMs manage all of their production internally. They either exclusively design and manufacture their own PSUs (like Enermax) or design and manufacture their own brands, as well as manufacture PSUs designed by other companies (such as FSP, HEC, and SeaSonic). Some of them focus heavily on worldwide exports and provide a range of models, which are later sold under different labels. It's common to find otherwise-identical models marketed under many different names and labels. The industrial areas around Shenzhen, China, are the cradle of the lowest-priced PSUs sold all over the globe.

2. Designers: Without Their Own Production

The second group of companies also develops and designs their own products. However, they have to outsource either some or all of the manufacturing to other companies. One example of this is Be Quiet. Those familiar with the brand noted how Be Quiet P7 models were suddenly much better than the disappointing P6. The answer was simply a manufacturer change, from Topower to FSP. Other examples of designers include SilverStone, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and Tagan.

3. The Labels: With or Without Any Technical Involvement

Arguably, this group could be subdivided. Some importers of foreign PSUs that resell models under their own labels have a certain influence over the quality and choice of components, while others simply bring in some very cheap products, relabel, and resell them.

This third group is the most interesting one for price-oriented customers, though also the most uncertain for quality. You're as likely to score a bargain by getting a relabeled high-quality product at a lower price as you are to be disappointed by being too tight-fisted. Some good examples of products to watch are new models from Aerocool, which are essentially the Cougar units from Compucase/HEC with a discounted price and completely restyled exterior.

After many tests and inspections of budget models (by us, our readers, and friendly computer stores), we would advise you to steer your piggy banks clear of the labels Rasurbo, Inter-Tech (Sinan Power, Coba), Tech Solo, LC Power, RaptoxX, Tronje, Xilence, Ultron, World Link, Q-Tec, etc. We were able to identify some of these models without looking at the UL number simply by having a look at the installed components. These were almost exclusively the simplest work of such manufacturers as Enhance, World Link, Andyson, Topower, Casing Macron, and Channel Well.

Lack of protection circuits, low efficiency, and bad build quality were major points of criticism. The lowest of the low was a European label called Hardwaremania24, targeted at OEM PCs. While still in standby mode, the PSU heated to about 176 degrees Fahrenheit, spent the next six hours billowing smoke, and finally made what might be described as a trumpeting sound before dying. The host computer was never even turned on. After analyzing the PSU, we found no protection at all save for a single slow fuse.

Firecracker Or Power Plant?

How do you identify a bad power supply before buying it?

• Extremely high wattage claims at a comparatively very low price are suspicious. There are simply no decent 750 W power supplies for $50. For every product class based on performance and features, there must be a minimum price. When a product is significantly below that price, be cautious. You can get a "400 W PSU" for $20, and such fire hazards are installed in budget PCs every day by unscrupulous companies that know exactly the risk they're handing off to buyers.
• Check the specifications. For example, if a PSU claims high performance on the 3.3 and 5 V rails while the 12 V rail numbers are low, then you know something is wrong.
• The manufacturer does not specify any combined maximum performance, but instead only shows the maximum load for each rail separately. This is done without specifying how much real power would be available if all rails are used at the same time. Avoid PSUs without this information.
• Be careful with juicy marketing expressions and commercial lingo: Super, Extreme, Gaming, Combat, etc. Using superlatives to describe something quite normal should arouse suspicion and have you double-check specification details.
• Passive rather than active Power Factor Correction (PFC) leads to lower power efficiency.
• Very few or short power connectors and cables might be an issue. A 750 W PSU usually has four PCIe connectors for graphics cards (2 x 6-pin and 2 x 6+2-pin), so think twice if a model only offers two (or at least consider your upgrade options).
• With cheap PSUs, the quality of the cable insulation may be poor, or the cables may not be insulated at all. The power cable grommet may also be insufficiently padded.
• Be careful if there are few or no indications of protection circuitry. If the PSU specification only says OPP (overload protection) or perhaps SCP (short circuit protection), this points towards a normal fuse. If the specification also says OVP (overvoltage protection), this probably means that it is equipped with a simple metal oxide variable resistor. These security measures by themselves are absolutely insufficient and cannot replace any kind of digital safety chip.

Unfortunately, you can't always tell at first glance whether you're dealing with a high-quality PSU or whether there's nothing but disappointment waiting behind the pleasant facade. Therefore, we decided to open up two budget PSUs representative of what you can find in many of today’s OEM PCs and illustrate the points and features you should be examining.

A First Look At the Inside: Primary Capacitor and PFC

First, look at the storage capacitors in the primary circuit. These act as buffers and help protect the PSU and computer from voltage fluctuations. The electrolyte used in them is key, because it evaporates or dries out through a combination of heat and time. As a general rule, capacitor lifetime is halved for each 10 degrees Centigrade increase in temperature over the specified normal load. Using higher-quality capacitors that can handle 105 degrees instead of 85 degrees (C) should almost double their lifetime, greatly contributing to the PSU's durability.

A PSU equipped with chokes (a kind of inductor) is a clear indicator of passive Power Factor Correction (PFC). Passive PFC plays a significant role in the efficiency of the PSU. Only active circuitry allows for factors close to the optimum value of 1, while passive components can reach 0.7 to 0.8 at best, meaning they only achieve 70% to 80% efficiency. PSUs with a passive PFC may be cheaper to buy in the short run, but poor efficiency can swallow savings over time in the form of higher electricity costs.

Protection Circuits

Even without opening the PSU, a data sheet can reveal some of the safety measures taken (or not) by manufacturers. A decent PSU should contain the following safety measures:

• OCP (Over Current Protection): protection against power spikes
• OVP (Over Voltage Protection)
• OPP (Over Power Protection): overload protection, sometimes called OLP 
• OTP (Over Temperature Protection): protection from overheating 
• UVP (Under Voltage Protection) 
• SCP (Short Circuit Protection) 
• NLO (No Load Operation): this isn’t exactly protection in the same sense as the other features, but it allows the PSU to power up and function normally, even with no load.

Without this information, you have to look inside the PSU to find out what you need to know.

We found no protection at all on this unit, except for a simple fuse. Sadly, this PSU is still available on the market under a couple of different labels.

Passive components do not guarantee sufficient protection. Without a digital security chip, the computer hardware is severely exposed to risks.

The security chip PS223 from Silicon Touch is popular, and you should avoid PSUs not using it or similar products, such as the PS332S.

Cables and Short Circuits

You can tell a lot about your PSU by looking at its internal wiring. A lack of heat shrink tubing, carelessly exposed solder joints, and components fastened with a glue gun are symptomatic of cheap and hazardous manufacturing. If unprotected cables are placed next to hot components, a PSU failure is nearly assured.

Boards

A final quality indicator is the circuit board material. Impregnated laminated paper (like the yellow boards in the pictures) is a sure sign of cost cutting. Fiber materials are much more durable and, perhaps more importantly, non-flammable.

How Do You Recognize The Manufacturer?

UL Numbers From Underwriters Laboratories

"Underwriters Laboratories, an independent firm working with product safety certification, has been active in the field of product testing and preparation of safety standards for more than a century. UL evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and systems annually. Every year more than 20 billion UL marks are placed on products from 66,000 different manufacturers. The UL Group and its network of service providers include 68 testing and certification labs worldwide, serving customers in 102 countries."--from the About UL page at www.ul.com

Essentially, this means that all PSUs sold on the North American market must be marked with an UL number. This number should identify the actual manufacturer of a product. However, not every PSU has such a number. UL number omission on a North American product might indicate poor quality.

Step 1: Reading the UL Number

To find the UL number, there's no need to open your PSU or desolder anything. Simply open your PC and look at the power supply's label. The UL number usually begins with an "E" followed by a string of numbers. See the three examples below.

Online UL Number Query:

Now let's find out more about your PSU. Go to the UL Online Certifications Directory and enter the UL number in the UL File Number field. If the number exists in the database, you should immediately see the result. If not, the number is invalid, fake, or the manufacturer no longer exists.

Link: Online Certifications Directory

PSU Makers: 0-9 And A-B

Companies: 2the Max Asia Pacific, 3Y Power Technology, Ablecom, AcBel, Achme, AeroCool, Akasa, Amacrox, AMS, AOpen, Antec, Apex, Arctic Cooling, Aspire, Astec Int. Ltd., Asus, Athenatech, ATNG, Atrix, AXP, Be Quiet!, Bestec, BFG, Boser Technology Inc., Broadway

PSU Makers: C-D

Companies: Casing Macron, Channel Well, Chenbro, Chieftec, CompUSA, Coba, Codegen, Cooler Master, Coolmax, Cooltek, Corsair, Deer, Dell, Delta, Dongguan Zhangmotou, Dynapower

PSU Makers: E-H

Companies: Eagle Tech, Elwin Technology Ltd., Enermax, Enhance, Enlight, Etasis, Forepoint, Fortron, Foxconn, Foxlink, Fujitsu Siemens, Gigabyte, GPS, GTR, Hama, HEC, Hiper, Highscreen, High Performance Group, High Performance PC, High Power, Himere, Hipro, HP, Huntkey

PSU Makers: I-M

Companies: Impervio, Inter-Tech, In Win, I-Star, ICP, Jersey, JOU JYE, JPAC, Just PC, Key Mouse, Kingwin, L & C, LC-Power, Leadman, Levicom, Li Shin, Lian-Li, Lite-On, Linkworld, Logisys, Mad Dog, Mapower, Masscool, Mean Well, MGE/XG, Mitac, MSI, Mushkin

PSU Makers: N-R

Companies: Newton, Nexus, nMediaPC, NorthQ, NZXT, OCZ, Okia, PC Power & Cooling, Point of View, Powerman, Powertek, Powmax, Raidmax, RaptoxX, Rasurbo, Revoltec/Listan, Rosewill

PSU Makers: S-T

Companies: San Hawk, Scythe, Seasonic, Seventeam, Sharkoon, Shuttle, SilenX, Silverstone, Sinan Power, Sino Tech, Sirtec, Solytech, Soyo, Sparkle, Spire, Startech, Sunbeam, Sun Pro, Sunfone, Super Flower /SFC, Tagan, Taiwan Youngyear, Thermaltake, Topower, TTGI, Tyan

PSU Makers: U-Z

Companies: Ultra, Unitek, Vantec, Win-Tact, Wintech, Wiseframe, XClio, Xigmatek, Xilence, Xion, X-Spice, Yesico, Zalman, Zippy

Conclusion

We want to stress two things in particular:

A PSU is not necessarily bad because it is cheap. But the lower the price, the more you'll likely have to skimp on safety and performance features. A high-quality PSU contains more expensive components. If you buy cheap, you might have to buy twice--or more.

A PSU is not automatically inferior because it was made by a contractor with which you aren't familiar. These companies make all kinds of products, from luxury brands to pure garbage. Again, it's a question of hitting different production targets. Is the product built for quality or aggressive cost reduction? The responsibility always lies with the buyer to recognize and reject products that are obviously unsuitable.

We will keep collecting data and update this list every once in a while, and we’d love to include your findings. Please use our feedback form to forward information that isn’t available in our listing!

PC Case Roundup: June 2008

It occurs to me that for PC enthusiasts, shopping for a PC case is remarkably similar to shopping for a car: It’s not enough that my case will do the job (although that’s important), I want it to be an expression of my individuality and style. It doesn’t matter if anyone else is particularly impressed with my choice; like a car, a PC case is something you’re going to have to live with for a while, so you’d better be happy with it yourself.

Unlike their humble cookie-cutter beginnings, PC cases have really come into their own. We’ll be comparing eight different PC cases today; not only do they look incredibly different, they also sport very diverse features. Some specialize in cooling, some are oriented towards ease of access, while others focus on added functionality. With this in mind, let’s examine our first sample…

Sigma Unicorn

The Sigma Unicorn was the lowest cost case in our roundup, but it came with a good list of specifications when compared to the other review units: a completely tool-less design, two 120mm fans and two 80mm fans for air flow, and four 5 ¼” drive bays and six 3 ½” drive bays, two of which were external. At 24 pounds, its weight was about average.

The Unicorn’s I/O panel was a little sparse, with only two USB ports and the usual audio connectors. The I/O port bucks the current trend with its placement on the bottom front face of the case instead, of being on top. It’s a bit of a pain to use, because the door has to be open to access the panel.

Unique Features

The Sigma Unicorn has a host of unique features, especially considering its low price tag. The most impressive by far are the sides of the case, which open like a door with hinges on the bottom edge. This feature allows a user to open the side door and install the motherboard and components without picking the entire case up and putting it on its side.

Another feature is the rotating hard drive bay that allows easy hard drive access by turning toward the outside of the case when you want to work with it. When you’re done, just rotate it back in.

The Unicorn has the power button on the very top of the door, which is pleasantly convenient if you put your case on the floor.

The Unicorn is built with tool-less assembly in mind; all of the drive bays use rails hidden in a tool box within the case.

The Unicorn also has a nifty tool-less system for inserting video cards: a fan-holding bar fits across the top of the card, and small adjustable sliders hold the card in place. The bar is removable for easy access.

Appearance, Fit & Finish

The Unicorn is certainly an attractive case, and it distances itself from the “me-too!” crowd by opting for red LED lights instead of blue; if this is your color preference, the Unicorn might find its way to your short list.

Fit and finish is a little on the plasticky side of things. To be fair, the Sigma Unicorn is one of the cheapest cases in this review, and that has to show somewhere. It does, of course, and the most obvious place is the tool-less mounts for optical and floppy drives: they are definitely not well-fitting parts, and require a bit of force to make them work. Also, the front plastic door doesn’t have the weight that we naturally associate with quality parts, and the plastic-painted-chrome door top does nothing to dispel this image. Had Sigma opted for a metal plate in place of the painted plastic piece, it might have made all the difference in the world.

User Experience

The Unicorn is an interesting case to work with; the case is designed with a tool-less user-oriented theme that is often clever. On the downside, the unicorn was the loudest case in our roundup. It wasn’t the loudest by a mile, but it was noticeable.

Our experience with the Unicorn was inconsistent: we loved the hinged door that allowed us access to the motherboard and components by flipping them out onto the table, but we found the fan noise to be excessive. We liked the hinged hard drive bay, but we disliked the small working space and clutter. We liked the price, but we weren’t big fans of the fit and finish.

When all is said and done, the Sigma Unicorn offers some great features for a case in this price range, so it can’t be ignored as an option. If the tool-less mantra tickles your fancy, but the noise doesn’t appeal to you, it might be well worth it to invest in some silent fans.

However, we do have to point out that it appears to be internally identical to the Raidmax Smilodon case that we’ve used in a previous system builder marathon. So if you’re interested in the functionality offered by the Unicorn, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t also consider the Smilodon.

NZXT Tempest

Specifications

The NZXT Tempest is all about airflow : the case comes equipped from the factory with two 140mm fans and four 120mm fans !

At 22 lbs, the Tempest was the second-lightest case in the roundup, but it didn’t seem cheaply made. The Tempest only supports three 5 ¼” drives, the least in our review group. However, it supports eight internal 3 ½” drives, tying the R240 Grace for the most supported drives in this respect.

The I/O panel functionality is interesting, in that it is one of two in our review that has an eSATA connector, but doesn’t feature a Firewire connector like most of the other cases. The panel is placed on the top-front of the case, which is quickly becoming the industry standard location.

Unique Features

What makes the Tempest unique is its incredible airflow for the price ; as mentioned earlier, it comes with two 140mm fans and four 120mm fans. The fans are surprisingly quiet, which is impressive when this many fans are used.

Another unique feature is the tool-less hard disk mounting bracket, which places the hard disks at a 90 degree angle to the ground. This method allows the Tempest to host an impressive 8 hard drives. Its attractive angular styling also makes it stand out a bit.

Aside from these features, the Tempest is a fairly standard, good quality PC case.

Appearance, Fit & Finish

The Tempest has a very clean, sharp appearance. In general, its design is very reminiscent of the Antec nine-hundred, but the angular styling and two long illuminated blue bars down the front edges of the case differentiate it from Antec’s offering enough to make it stand out visually. There’s a fair amount of plastic trim on the case, but it doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy — the case is well put together.

User Experience

The Tempest proved to be typical enough to set up and use. We always like a well done tool-less hard drive installation, and the Tempest didn’t disappoint.

The multitude of fans provides excellent airflow for your components, and what was even more impressive is that they were relatively quiet ! At 40.5 dB, the Tempest was the third-quietest case out of the six we tested in the roundup. It easily beat out the $250 Cosmos S in this regard.

Our only pet peeve of note was the location of the Molex power cables that power the two top fans ; they dropped out right on top of the location of the CPU cooler. While the case provided cable routing options, the wires demonstrated an annoying habit of rubbing against the fans. If NZXT had wired these fans together to a cable that was routed to a location lower in the case, we would have been much more enthusiastic about it.

Even with this irritating issue, because of its high airflow, we think the NZXT Tempest case is an excellent value for $110. We are even going to recommend this case as part of our next system builder marathon.

IN-WIN Metal Suit GD “Conqueror”

Specifications

Purely from a raw specifications standpoint, the IN-WIN Metal Suit GD is fairly typical among our roundup units. It’s averaged sized for a mid-tower, has an average weight, and comes equipped with an average number of case fans in this segment: two 120mm fans and two 80mm fans.

The I/O panel on the side of the case sports a high number of USB inputs, 4 to be exact; all other cases in the roundup except the Cosmos S have only two USB inputs. The Metal Suit GD also has a Firewire input and the usual audio jacks.

Unique Features

Other than being designed to resemble a robot from the Japanese anime cartoon “Mobile Suit Gundam”, the Metal Suit GD’s most unique feature is its “Turbo Cooling System”. This is a fancy name for a duct on the side of the case designed to supply the video card with fresh, cool air via two 80mm fans dedicated to this purpose. It looks like the duct also helps cool the hard drive bay.

The case is engineered to be used with a minimum of tools, with tool-less hard and optical drive mounting clips, as well as a unique tool-less expansion card retaining mechanism.

Appearance, Fit & Finish

The outward appearance of the Metal Suit GD is obviously designed to evoke images of the giant robots in the popular Japanese anime “Mobile Suit Gundam” series. Of course, the robotic head depicted on the box of the case doesn’t appear to be an actual robot from the series, obviously due to fears of copyright infringement. I’m not a hardcore Gundam fan, mind you, although I tried to find a similar Gundam head on the Internet and couldn’t. Gundam fans, if I’m wrong about this and it’s an actual Gundam robot depiction, let us know with your comments below. In any case, the styling is attractive, I imagine particularly so if you’re a fan of this type of entertainment.

The colors chosen for the case interior – green on black – are very sharp, but the funny part is that these colors can’t be seen outside the case!

IN-WIN is no newcomer to PC cases, and the fit and finish of the Metal Suit GD is solid and has a good feel to it. Even though there is a lot of plastic in use for ducting and tool-less accessories, these are well made and fit together well.

User Experience

The Metal Suit GD was easy enough to set up, and a nice case to work with. The tool-less features were well thought out: the sides of the case came off without screws, utilizing two simple plastic clips; the tool-less drive clips were integrated into a part of the case itself; and the tool-less expansion card retaining clips were easy to use, and didn’t get in the way as they do in a lot of designs we’ve seen. The hard drive bay even angled out for easy access, and to allow easy removal of the front intake fan.

As far as setting up and working with the hardware, the Metal Suit GD is well thought out — and it shows. The “Turbo Cooling System” was a little irritating during motherboard installation, because it had to be held out of the way, but it wasn’t a big problem.

The Metal Suit GD was one of the louder cases we reviewed, tying the Raidmax Iceberg and coming close to the Sigma Unicorn, according to our decibel meter. This might be something you can live with if you appreciate the extra cooling for your video card, if you have a single slot card that expels its heated air inside the case. If you have a dual-slot card that expels air outside the case, you might be better off turning the two 80mm fans in the VGA duct off, for quieter operation.

Silverstone KL03 Kublai

Specifications

At 28 lbs, the Kublai KL-03 is one of the heaviest cases in the roundup. This speaks to the large size and copious amounts of metal used in the construction of the case, notably including the large metal door – the other full-doors reviewed in the Sigma Unicorn and Metal Suit GD are plastic.

Cooling is provided by two 120mm fans, notably less than other offerings in this roundup, but providing the advantage of quieter operation. There are two optional placements for additional 120mm fans on the side of the case.

The Kublai has an average I/O panel, with two USB ports, a Firewire port, and the usual audio jacks available. The panel is located on the top of the case, convenient if your case will be placed on the floor.

Unique Features

While the Kublai doesn’t have any revolutionary features, there are some very welcome evolutionary ones. For instance, the front door of the case can be hinged on either side of the case, or even completely removed! If you’ve ever had a hinged case that opens the opposite way you need it to, you know how wonderful this option is.

The front of the case is designed to allow hard disk hot swapping for RAID configurations that support it. The strange part is that it only comes with a single hot swap connector — RAID would require at least two — but you can buy more connectors from Silverstone.

Another unique feature is a metal arm in the case that not only supports up to two extra 120mm fans, but sports adjustable sliders to hold in your expansion cards, making it unnecessary to screw them in to the chassis if desired.

The case also offers compatibility with larger extended ATX motherboards. The Kublai KL03 is also designed to support redundant power supplies; it comes with adjustable feet that spread out for more stability if the user desires.

Appearance, Fit & Finish

The Kublai KL03 has a very unique appearance that utilizes a rounded-edge theme, and even though it isn’t particularly flashy, it does stand out in the crowd.

The metal front door of the case continues this theme, and although it’s classy, this reviewer admits it wasn’t quite to his taste. Strangely enough, since the door is removable, I personally think the KL03 looked better with its door removed entirely — in fact, the fit and finish of the front panel is definitely attractive enough that the door can be left off.

Speaking of fit and finish: Silverstone is well renowned for its high-quality metalwork, and the KL03 is no exception. While the case isn’t one of their premium offerings, they certainly didn’t cut corners.

User Experience

Silverstone has a reputation for using little plastic in favor of metal, and it shows; the case is built like a tank and is reminiscent of much more expensive offerings. The Kublai is very sturdy, and while this adds weight, if you plan to carry your case around to a lot of LAN parties you probably won’t be looking for a large mid-tower in the first place.

The Kublai has two 120mm fans. While this is a lot less than many of its competitors in this price range, airflow isn’t bad, and more importantly — it’s very quiet! The Kublai was second only to the 3R System R240 Grace in this respect, pulling a low 38 dB. You can add up to two 120mm fans to the Kublai if you wish, but if you have a dual-slot video card that expels its air outside the case, we suspect that the included fans will be sufficient. To be fair, you can always turn the extra fans off when they’re included, and the Kublai KL-03 doesn’t include those extra fans with the case.

Assembly is tool-less, with drive clips and even expansion card retainers on the side. This case has a lot of space available, which makes for a really nice assembly experience. The metal arm side bar frame, where the optional 120mm fans can be installed, holds the expansion card retainers — it’s in the way during installation, but can be removed easily enough.

The Kublai KL03’s offers some high-end functionality and manufacturing quality that we haven’t seen in many of its competitors at its $150 Price point . If you’re in the market, this case is a good option for the price.

3R System R240 Grace

Specifications

The R240 is priced in the $120 range, close to most of the cases in this roundup. However, it really stands out from the crowd, being the smallest and the lightest case by far, at 11 pounds. This is indicative of lightweight materials, not shoddy workmanship, as the R240 is a well-built unit.

Being the smallest case, the R240 also has the smallest fans: two 80mm fans come with the unit, one intake on the side over the CPU, and one to exhaust air in the back. You might think these small fans would create a high-pitched noise, but the sound they made was almost completely undetectable! The R240 is easily the quietest case in our roundup, although it likely sports the lowest amount of airflow as well.

The R240 tied the Sigma Unicorn for the simplest I/O panel, with only two USB ports and an HD audio output; Firewire would have been nice. The Grace was one of the few remaining cases in our roundup that had the I/O panel in the traditional spot on the bottom front side of the case — it seems everyone else is putting the panel on the top these days, for easier access if the case rests on the floor.

Unique Features

The R240 really stands out from the roundup crowd as something different: it’s the smallest and lightest case, the only one with a detailed LED display, is very uniquely styled, and is the only case with a remote control.

The remote is a particularly strange addition, as these are usually reserved for dedicated home theater PCs that look more like component home theatre systems than computers. The R240 doesn’t seem to be targeted for this use, instead appearing to be marketed for the general PC user who would appreciate some HTPC functionality and unique style. With the remote comes iMon manager software that interfaces the remote with Windows, allowing you to use it to control media applications, and even use it to control your mouse or an on-screen keyboard. Once again, very HTPC-ish.

The LED info display is another feature that is unmatched in the remainder of our roundup. This bright red display shows the user a bunch of useful (and not so useful) statistics, such as system running time, fan speed, hard disk operation and – this is a strange one – the “mascot”, which is a small animated dog that constantly chases and catches a Frisbee. I know that some things get lost in translation on the way to North America, but the dog is unobtrusive and really just looks like a cool moving LED unless you scrutinize it.

Included in the case is a temperature sensor you can place anywhere you like, so you can control which component’s temperature you want to see.

Appearance, Fit & Finish

The R240 looks very stylish and slick, with a perfect gloss black paintjob and matte black tribal art subtly overlaid. The case is somewhat monolithic, even though it’s relatively small, and it’s very good looking. Little touches like optical drive covers really go the extra mile.

The fit and finish is excellent — 3R System looks like they’re really interested in the details, and it shows. Everything about the R240 Grace has a solid, smooth feel.

User Experience

One pleasant feature we noticed is that the R240 doesn’t rely on the motherboard for fan headers; the case has two fan headers built in to supply the fans with power. This is probably to supply the data to the LED display, but regardless, it’s nice not to have to depend on your motherboard manufacturer to provide a bunch of extra headers.

It’s always great to use a quiet case, and the R240’s included fans are so quiet that at first, we thought they weren’t working. We already mentioned that the included fans were the quietest in our test group, but it’s worth mentioning again, because they were so much quieter.

It is interesting to note that the R240 Grace does not follow the current trend of having tool-less installation features. Everything must be screwed in; there are no quick locking mechanisms of any kind. This certainly isn’t the worst sin a case manufacturer can make, but it’s worth mentioning.

Our only concern would be that this case is a little on the small side, and a user might find it a little frustrating to assemble a system within its confines. In addition, it’s probably not the best choice for a super-hot uber-system, as the air flow provided by two relatively small and silent 80mm fans might not be suitable to cool very hot PC components.

On the other hand, the R240 Grace would be an ideal case for someone who has a chipset with integrated graphics that can playback HD video for HTPC purposes, like the new AMD 780G or Nvidia MCP 78S. These machines don’t need the extra space or cooling a discrete graphics card would require.

Raidmax Iceberg

Specifications

At $150, the Raidmax Iceberg is the second most expensive case in our roundup, so it has a lot to live up to. The case sports four 5 ¼” external bays and four 3 ½” internal bays. There are an additional two internal 5 ¼” bays that could also be used for internal hard drives, so the total number of internal 3 ½” bays is six.

The case has four 120mm fans, which provide a great deal of airflow. The I/O panel is located on the top of the case, and includes the typical two USB ports, a Firewire port and audio jacks. Because the Iceberg is a little more expensive than its competitors, the lack of an eSATA port is notable.

Unique Features

The best unique feature of the Iceberg is the side panels that are removed with two metal latches. Unlike the Sigma Unicorn, however, the motherboard is not mounted to the side panels.

The second notable feature is the Iceberg’s focus on cooling : with four internal 120mm fans as well as a single 80mm fan included, the Iceberg has tremendous airflow.

Appearance, Fit & Finish

The configuration of the Iceberg is, like the NZXT Tempest, reminiscent of the Antec nine-hundred. There are two large exhaust fans situated to blow air straight up and out of the top of the case, as well as an intake fan in front and an exhaust fan in the back.

As far as aesthetics are concerned, the Iceberg has a look all its own, with metallic cooling fins on the top and bright blue LEDs in all of the fans. If the chrome-highlight-on-black-look appeals to you, you’ll like the appearance of the Iceberg.

The Iceberg is made of lightweight metal and doesn’t use much plastic, if at all, but liberal use of aluminum keeps the case light. The case is sturdy and well made, and has a high quality feel to it.

User Experience

The Iceberg is a great case to work with : large, simple, light, and sturdy in construction. Raidmax opted for a higher quality tool-less solution : instead of plastic clips or rails, everything uses metal screws that you can install with your thumb — no need for a screwdriver.

The Iceberg’s four 120mm fans do create a lot of airflow, so this might be a good case for overclockers. However, it’s hard not to notice that the NZXT Tempest includes more fans at a lower cost. It would be easier to justify the price of the Iceberg if it had higher quality silent fans, but the case was one of the loudest in the roundup. Still, the all-metal construction does set it apart from cheaper offerings.

Cooler Master Cosmos S

Specifications

At 30 lbs, the Cosmos S was the heaviest case in our roundup, despite the use of lightweight materials. It’s also the largest, although some of the space it takes up can be attributed to the “handlebars” that surround it. Suitably, it’s also the most expensive case: at $250, it’s more than double the price of every other case in the roundup, except the Raidmax Iceberg which comes in at $150.

The Cosmos S is the only case in our roundup that sported a massive 230mm fan, mounted on the side. It also has three 120mm fans included — one mounted in the front, rear and top — with two optional fan mounts available on the bottom and top, respectively. While this is admittedly a lot of fan power, we were a little disappointed at the Cosmos’ relatively high noise level.

The Cosmos S also sported the most fully-featured I/O panel in our test group, with four USB ports, a Firewire port and an eSATA port. Of course, HD/AC97 audio ports are also included. The Cosmos’s I/O panel is hidden behind a sliding access door, and when the system is running, each outlet on the panel has an illuminated label — very cool.

The one specification where the Cosmos S comes up lacking is 3 ½” drive bays. With support for a single external 3 ½” drive, and only four internal 3 ½” drive bays, the huge Cosmos S curiously has the least support for hard drives of the cases in this roundup. While the four drive slots are cooled directly behind the intake fan, if a user has four drives they would all have to be stacked immediately on top of one another.

Unique Features

The Cosmos S is all about style. That’s easily it’s most unique feature, and it’s probably the number one reason someone will be interested in this case.

Other than that, the Cosmos has a couple of other tricks up its sleeve. One of the most unique features of the case is a unique “capacitive power button” — in layman’s terms, there’s no traditional button per se, just an indent in the shell of the case. Touch your finger in the indent, and the power turns on. Nifty!

The power supply mount is fairly unique, with the PSU on the bottom of the case and the air intake facing downward to suck in cool air under the case and spit it out behind the case. In this arrangement, the airflow to the power supply is not first heated by the system, and neither is the PSU cooling the rest of the system by creating more airflow; this is an interesting tradeoff.

Aside from this, what you have is a very large case with acres of space and a lot of airflow. Good stuff to be sure, but nothing revolutionary. It’s the styling that really sets the Cosmos S apart from the crowd…

Appearance, Fit & Finish

…and let’s face it, one of the Cosmos S’s best features is its intimidating and attractive appearance. It’s huge to the point of being monolithic, it sports giant curvaceous handlebars, and it has a red bar on the top front that makes it remotely resemble a Cylon Centurion from Battlestar Galactica.

Actually, this red bar represented one of my biggest disappointments with the Cosmos S: it really should have been illuminated, preferably with a red LED that moved back and forth. I’m not sure if that’s a valid complaint, but at any rate, this is a very attractive case.

I should mention the lighting that is included, which is supplied by a red illuminated front intake fan. The capacitive power button also glows red when the system is running, as do the labels of the I/O panel as mentioned earlier.

As for fit and finish, the Cosmos S is very sturdy and well-made. Removing the side panels – done without tools by depressing a lever as shown above — feels like you’ve just removed an access hatch on the Millennium Falcon — there’s really no flimsiness to speak of.

User Experience

The Cosmos S is the case for computer enthusiasts who would like to make a statement. I’m not exactly sure what that statement is, but what an awe-inspiring case!

This is a very large case, so large in fact that when you assemble your system you will assume you forgot to add something because there is so much room left over. There are lots of places to route your cables, but even if you ignore them entirely, your cables will still appear better managed than in a smaller case, due to the massive amount of space available.

The downside to being a full-sized ATX case is, of course, that the Cosmos S isn’t likely to fit under your desk. This case is going to be a feature of your office, beside your desk in its own space where everyone can see it. Of course, that’s probably the point: when you’ve spent two-and-a-half times the price of many decent cases on the market, you’d better be getting something special.

Optical drive installation is done without tools, using a unique button system. Press the blue button and the drive locks into place: press it again and the drive is free.

The only real nit-pick is the hard drive enclosure, which for some strange reason, does not utilize tool-less hard drive installation. The entire bay itself is attached with the same tool-less mechanism that the 5 ¼” drives use, but there are also screws involved. You can remove the screws permanently allowing the bay to be removed without tools, but it’s still a pain to remove, and scrapes along the sides of the enclosure on the way out, requiring way more force than it should.

Once out, hard disks can only be added by screwing them in. In a high-end case that so eloquently handles tool-less 5 ¼” drive installation and removal, it’s really hard to understand the rationale behind the decision to make 3 ½” hard drive installation such a convoluted and involved process, especially when cheaper cases out there make it a lot more user friendly.

Even after all this though, it’s hard not to be impressed with the Cosmos S. While we wish it was a little quieter and sported an easier hard disk install procedure, it’s still an exceptional case with a lot of room, great airflow and killer style.

Noise Benchmarks

It’s one thing to see pictures and hear tales about our experiences with the cases, but here is a bit of quantifiable data: how much noise these cases make when they’re running.

To get these numbers, we put a fan-less PSU in each case and attached all of the cases’ fans, then took a decibel reading 4” (10 cm) from the top front of the case. Remember, because we used a completely silent PSU to drive the fans, the actual noise output when using these cases with a typical PSU/fan will likely be a bit higher. Using the fan-less PSU let us eliminate other noise factors, so we could concentrate what the cases themselves were putting out.

Our only problem arose when our decibel meter was unable to read the 3R System R240 Grace case, as it was so quiet it didn’t register at our meter’s 35 dB range! So we’re going to estimate the Grace at 34 dB, and start the graph at 33 db, which would effectively represent silence.

There are some really interesting numbers here, but there are two main points of interest. First, the 3R System R240 Grace is extremely quiet, as mentioned above. Second, the NZXT Tempest case — while offering the most fans and airflow — is surprisingly one of the quieter case offerings in the pack.

The Case Roundup at a Glance: Comparison Table

Now that we’ve looked at all of the cases in detail, let’s summarize by comparing their vital statistics at a glance:

Conclusion

The conclusion? It’s great to see cases increase in diversity, and each case will certainly appeal to someone based on style, features, or price.

Before we go any further, we’d like to mention that we were indeed paying attention to the packaging of all of these cases. Because it’s a roundup, we didn’t have the space to show pictures of everything, but each and every case was very well packaged with Styrofoam braces and plastic to protect the finish.

There were a few outstanding models in our roundup that deserve a special mention. First, the 3R System R240 Grace was something that we didn’t think too much about at first glance, but we were really won over by its nifty HTPC features, light weight, style, and especially its near-silent case fans.

The NZXT Tempest was another case of special note, offering attractive angular styling paired with an impressive number of fans to deliver tons of airflow, and in a surprisingly quiet fashion. We liked the Tempest so much that, at its low price, it will be included as one of the recommended cases in our June 2008 system builder marathon.

Silverstone’s Kublai KL-03 might not have tickled our fancy in the looks department, but style is subjective and this case has it where it counts: it offers a lot of space, innovative features, quiet operation, and all-metal construction at a very reasonable price.

Finally, while Cooler Master’s Cosmos S case might not have hit home runs in every category, it’s still a pleasure to work with due to its massive frame. And at the risk of admitting how shallow we are, this case looks really awesome. It’s the Lamborghini of computer enclosures: it looks great, and while it might not make for the most practical buying decision. people still buy Lamborghinis, and we’re sure people will buy the Cosmos S as well.