mean:it 5PM EATX Mid-Tower Case Review

Reviews
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

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Hardware Installation & Test Configuration

The 5PM includes extra standoffs for actually fully truly real EATX motherboards (not required for those inch-over-ATX things), along with individually packed screws and cable ties.

Front panel cables include a split power LED lead, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and HD Audio.

There’s even enough room behind the 5PM’s cable cover to install those fake EATX boards, and removing the cable cover reveals additional standoff holes for real EATX boards.

Photographing a case with fans this bright requires either high ambient lighting and short exposure or optimal photographic timing. In other words, I shot this while the system was shutting down to extend the exposure to unlit seconds, thereby obscuring lighting blow-out.

The biggest differences between the 5PM from mean:it and the Cullinan from Rosewill are the types of fan hub, the fan controller style, and the mounting of fans. Rosewill specified its fans to be placed behind the chassis front panel, while mean:it put them between the front of the chassis and the glass outer facia. So, we’ll be including the Rosewill Cullinan in our mean:it 5PM analysis. The Corsair Crystal 460X and Vivo CASE-V08 set the upper and lower budget levels in today’s comparison.

Comparison Cases
Corsair Crystal 460X
Rosewill Cullinan
VIVO CASE-08

Test Configuration








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Drivers & Settings
ChipsetIntel INF 9.4.2.1019
CPU4.2GHz (42x 100MHz) @ 1.2V Core
MotherboardFirmware 17.8 (02/10/2015)
RAMXMP CAS 16 Defaults (1.2V)
GraphicsMaximum Fan for Thermal Tests | Nvidia GeForce 347.52


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Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
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15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Looks decent , good price.
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Wish it was in stock at the egg.
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    price is way up. $119.00
    Reply
  • Brian_R170
    I looked at it and thought "WOW! That's a nice looking clean design for under $80" So now the price is $120 and it turns out the cooling is inadequate. Letdown.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    20654336 said:
    I looked at it and thought "WOW! That's a nice looking clean design for under $80" So now the price is $120 and it turns out the cooling is inadequate. Letdown.
    Fortunately, our new tester's system is too lame to push the thermal boundaries of these cases, which is allowing a greater number of inadequate cases to "pass the test".
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Newegg , jacked them all back up , they were lower earlier.
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Was a deal for a few hours.
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Almost a carbon copy of a Thermaltake VIEW 31.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    20655495 said:
    Almost a carbon copy of a Thermaltake VIEW 31.
    You must have realized by now that most of these companies aren't copying a specific case, but are simply apply design trends to whatever their supplier is offering. Remember when the first popular Antec case was a "copy" of a Chieftech Dragon, only it wasn't technically a "copy" in that it WAS a Chieftech Dragon?

    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Just stating that because I own the View 31 and it looks like a mirror copy. I like the case , wish it was really $78.00.
    Reply