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Raidmax Alpha Prime Case Review

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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

BitFenix Aurora

BitFenix Nova TG

Fractal Design Meshify C

Test Configuration

Drivers And 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.
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • veiledcas
    Question, how are those 3 front fans being fed air? Looks like there is next to no gap at all...

    In fact why are there so many cases with the same issue with utterly abysmal air flow to the front fans....
    Reply
  • Crashman
    20162511 said:
    Question, how are those 3 front fans being fed air? Looks like there is next to no gap at all...

    In fact why are there so many cases with the same issue with utterly abysmal air flow to the front fans....
    It's discussed in the article: See those holes tucked behind the edge of the front panel?

    Reply
  • Gillerer
    I think there's something strange going on with the CPU temperature values in the graph.

    1) Are you using Fahrenheit for the temperature deltas? :-O

    2) Or the values are not actually "over ambient" but actual temperatures. I find it difficult to believe that you would be running the CPU at up to 119°C (assuming ambient of about 20°C)...

    3) Or maybe your ambient is close to 0°C? :-)

    If using °F, could you please label it as such, and add another graph with Celsius/Kelvin? Temperature differences in °F are pretty much impossible to grasp for most of the World unless you do the math for each value.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    20162625 said:
    I think there's something strange going on with the CPU temperature values in the graph.

    1) Are you using Fahrenheit for the temperature deltas? :-O

    2) Or the values are not actually "over ambient" but actual temperatures. I find it difficult to believe that you would be running the CPU at up to 119°C (assuming ambient of about 20°C)...

    3) Or maybe your ambient is close to 0°C? :-)

    If using °F, could you please label it as such, and add another graph with Celsius/Kelvin? Temperature differences in °F are pretty much impossible to grasp for most of the World unless you do the math for each value.
    1.) No, the temperatures were that bad
    2.) No, we have the cuttoff point set to 115° in BIOS just for cases that perform this poorly, and occasionally lower the room temperature when one takes a while to reach the cutoff point.
    3.) No, that was for the Lian-Li case (it was at 5° Celsius). This one was around 17° IIRC.

    The test system is set up to produce CPU temperatures in the low 90 °C's on well-cooling cases, at 21°C ambient. Some cases just have poor airflow.
    Reply
  • takeshi7
    That's pathetically poor design on the front ventilation. I'm no case engineer, but even I could tell that those holes are way too small and restrictive for 3 front fans.
    Reply
  • zthomas
    I got this case.. cards run cool.. also have outside fans hitting case.. when running warm.. case's need dust catchers that are easy to clean from outside the case..
    Reply
  • teknobug
    Inadequate ventilation on the front faceplate for THREE fans and looks like those 3 cans would be starving for air, it's a big fat minus for that case.

    That PSU filter looks like a pain in the butt to remove.
    Reply