MRM's Performance |
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One of the most
commonly asked questions when building a system is, what case is
best for me? To answer that question, I went out and picked up
cases from the leading manufacturers, in addition I put an end to
the ongoing Enlight vs InWin debate. Want to know the outcome?
Keep on reading...
What to Look for in a Case | Enlight Cases | InWin Cases |
Form Factors When building or upgrading a system, one of the most key components that is often overlooked is the case. Your system case should be stylish since you will be looking at it every time you turn on your computer, but it also must be well designed, especially if you will have some HOT peripherals in it.
Before buying my Pentium II, I had always used AT Style cases, I under-estimated the benefits of going with an ATX case. My first experience with an ATX case was the Enlight 7230, a mid-tower ATX case. I quickly fell in love with the standard and no longer praised the old and outdated AT form factor, lets take a look at some of the features of the Enlight ATX Series cases. Motherboard Installation | Peripherals Installation | Power 'n Cooling | ...and Finally the Looks | So is Enlight Making My Next Case? Installing a motherboard in the Enlight 7230 (or any Enlight case) is very straight forward and simple. Just open up the excellent bundle included with the case, screw in a few metal standoffs, and prop the motherboard on top of them. There are no messy motherboard trays to mess with, and the roomy interior of the case makes installing even a large motherboard a breeze. If you are one of the lucky few, you have found a vendor that carries the new version of the Enlight cases which do not feature the extra slide-out HDD cage by the power supply since they can get in the way of some larger ATX motherboards (i.e. the FX83-A). If you happen to get one of the older models, the 7230's "snap and play" installation makes removing the HDD cage less of a hassle. After correctly placing the board in its proper position just throw in a few screws (also supplied) and you're on your way. If you happen to get one of the Enlight AT cases, installation is equally as easy as with the 7230. I hate messing with motherboard trays, and I'm sure many of you do as well, however the Enlight AT cases feature a nice easy-remove motherboard tray. You simply pull down on the lever and tilt it out a bit, which is a big help especially if you have a motherboard with jumpers placed in a hard to access place. I really wish the AT series of Enlight cases were a bit roomier though, when you get the board in there it isn't that bad, but once you start adding peripherals things get a bit messy. Enlight packages some very high quality metal standoffs with their cases, which, although seems like a minor detail, really pays off especially if you've ever had a screw get stuck in a standoff. Along with the standoffs you find an abundant supply of mounting screws to insure that you won't run out, these are just a few of the little things that make installing a board in an Enlight case fun.
Internal Diagram - Enlight 7230 ATX Case Rating:
So you have a new hard drive, but in order to get to those many gigs of data you have to physically install the drive, problem? I don't think so, not with an Enlight case at least. Like many other facets of Enlight cases, the hard drive cage boasts the wonderful "snap and play" installation of drives. By depressing a small lever the hard drive cage slides completely out of the case and allows you to install up to 3 hard drives in the cage without having to remove any other peripherals, cables or wires. Slide out the cage, screw in the drive, then slide the cage back in, its that simple. The ability to remove and exchange drives is a major strongpoint of the Enlight cases. If you have multiple Enlight cases this makes transferring drives from one case to another a breeze, which is great for testing =) The value of Enlight cases keeps on rising, when you look at the other great features you get specifically with the ATX line of cases. Installing a hard drive is easy enough, but what about CD-ROMs and other devices? Not a problem with an Enlight case, attach two of the provided coasters to your drive (one on each side) and it just slides into the drive bay, its as easy as that. This is a feature only present in the Enlight ATX cases as far as I know, but it is well worth it. That price-tag is beginning to look smaller and smaller right? Expansion card installation can be a bit of a pain with an Enlight case since they don't feature a removable cage like their more expensive InWin counterparts, but it isn't all that bad. You get what you pay for with an Enlight case, and a bit more... Rating:
All Enlight cases, from the Mini-Tower AT to the Mid-Tower ATX, feature excellent cooling options. They all have the ability to support a secondary 3" case fan, which in AT cases blows directly over the CPU Heatsink/Fan meaning you get even more bang for you buck. All Enlight ATX cases also allow the user the option of having a secondary fan installed, although most vendors are packaging a 3" fan with their cases, that coupled with the roomy interior found in all Enlight cases (with exception to the cramped Mini-Tower AT case). Another weak-point of Enlight cases are their power supplies. The most powerful unit being a 250W Power Supply which isn't enough for a real power-house system. Once you get a Pentium II, a few hard drives, a CDROM drive, and a few removable storage drives in there you begin to notice the problems this weak P/S produces. It is ok for normal use, but definitely not for a high end system with all the goodies. If Enlight only made a full tower ATX case... Rating:
Here is where Enlight went all out, they put together a case that could be taken apart as easily as it was put together and still make it look good. Like most newer cases, the face of the case will snap off for easy access and the physical case slides off from the front. Those two features make installing, tweaking, and just messing with your system a task that anyone can accomplish. Enlight's front panel, however, can be a difficult task to "pop-on" since it was designed with looks in mind instead of practical application. Sometimes it takes a few good punches to get the panel on properly as well as to get the LED lights to make contact with the metal connectors on the physical chassis. Enlight's design is excellent in theory, however flawed in reality...
External View - Enlight 7230 Chassis Rating:
So is Enlight making my next case? All in all, Enlight makes one fine line of cases, that line is intended to be used in low end to normal desktop systems, I would not recommend them for high end usage due to their size and power supply limits. Although Enlight does have an excellent design on their hands, the installation/removal of the case cover as well as the front panel can be a pain, if you get frustrated easily you may want to scroll down to the InWin review =) Overall
Rating: If you take Enlight's weak-points, exploit them, and make a case out of the results you get an InWin Case, plain and simple. Motherboard Installation | Peripherals Installation | Power 'n Cooling | ...and Finally the Looks | So is InWin Making My Next Case? Installing a motherboard in an InWin case is much more of a pleasure than with an Enlight case, why? Well, although many people hate messing with motherboard trays, if one is designed properly it can be a HUGE time saver. InWin did just that with their cases. The motherboard tray is attached to the rest of the chassis by a few screws, upon removing those, not only does the tray slide out, but the expansion slot cage does as well. Meaning? You can install your motherboard with all of your peripherals like your modem, video card, sound card, etc... as well as your CPU and memory before actually putting the board "inside" your case. This is a very innovative feature provided by InWin, since the first impressions of a case come from your initial installation this makes the case seem like an even better value....and it is! These motherboard trays can be interchanged with other InWin cases, so you can swap your AT tray for an ATX tray and vise versa. This comes in handy especially if you like switching motherboards constantly, or if you do a lot of component testing. However there are a few problems with InWin's AT motherboard tray that I encountered. Specifically, when testing the ABIT PX5 motherboard, which comes in an unusually small Baby-AT form factor I ran into a major problem with the InWin G500 (Mid Tower AT Case). The screw holes and openings for standoffs didn't perfectly line up with the holes on the motherboard. The problem was so severe that I had to stick a plastic standoff between the board and the tray at two of the four corners to make sure I didn't short the board while testing it. That problem wasn't as bad with most other AT boards, however if you do happen to have an odd sized AT board you may want to consider going with an Enlight case. Rating:
Here is where the InWin cases fall short, they do not come with any sort of removable HDD cages like their Enlight counterparts and they don't support the 'coaster' installation of drives in the 5.25" bays. I don't mind popping in a few screws, however I really expected more from InWin in this category. It seems like InWin took care of Enlight's weak-points while not improving on their strong-points. which isn't the best mentality in a competitive industry. In spite of the lack of any "special features" in this area, InWin's cases make installing peripherals extremely easy. If you want to install a new peripheral card, like a modem for example, you can slide out the entire motherboard tray, pop it in, then slide it back to its original position. If you are installing a new drive and don't feel like messing with your system while your board is in there, simply remove the cage and you get complete access to all the drive bays. So InWin's weakness begins to seem much less of an Achilles heel and more of a weak bicep. Rating:
Like Enlight's cases, InWin provides the option of having a 3" Secondary case fan installed to improve cooling, and believe me, a secondary case fan, when implemented properly has a dramatic effect on the temperature of your system. InWin's cases are very spacious, much more so than their Enlight counterparts, and you can get a Full Tower InWin ATX case!!! InWin's power supplies are very reliable although a tad small for the case size. Don't count on using too many peripherals with the InWin G500 since it comes standard with a meager 200W power supply. The ATX cases however come with a more powerful 250W unit which is good considering the Full Tower ATX (Q500) has a total of 11 bays, 80% of which will most likely be occupied by the average user. Personally I would prefer a 300W unit in the Q500, however the 250 is more than enough for a person running two hard drives, and a CDROM/Backup drive. Once you start tossing in those Cheetahs or Barracudas (or any other FAST Ultra Wide SCSI-3 drives for that matter) things tend to get a bit messy... InWin's AT cases seem a bit more spacious than Enlight's AT cases, however their ATX cases are about equal to that of the Enlight's 7200 series. InWin's AT cases also seem to be more cooling efficient than Enlight's AT series, although they use identical secondary cooling fans. If you will be using anything above a 5400RPM HDD and a hot processor, I would recommend that you stay away from the Mid-Tower and smaller cases since they simply cannot ventilate a case with THAT much heat being produced. Yet another reason to lean towards an ATX form factor for your next purchase... Rating:
InWin also approaches the case industry with style, constructing their products using a simple yet attractive design. All details were given the utmost attention, all the way down to the individual LED's on the front of the case. The oversized power button sticks out just enough to be easy to operate as well aesthetically pleasing. And unlike Enlight's (ATX) reset button which is nearly embedded in the front panel, InWin makes their reset switches less of a task to use. Enlight uses a metal contact panel on the front of the physical chassis to connect and supply power to the LED's on the front panel, although this is a much better looking design, these metal contacts are very fragile. Usually during shipping these contacts can become bent, or severely damaged, making the LED's function some of the time or not at all. Also, the front panel of InWin's cases is much easier to install/remove requiring the user to simply depress a few tabs and pull the panel forward. It takes a LOT of work to get frustrated with an InWin case, and I mean a LOT! Rating:
So is InWin making my next case? I highly recommend InWin's line of ATX cases over Enlight's cases, due to their greater variety of sizes as well as more convenient installation features. InWin's AT cases are pretty much on par with Enlight's cases, so it really comes down to which style looks better to you. Overall
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Form Factors - AT vs ATX vs LPX vs NLX When purchasing a new motherboard the form factor is one of the most commonly overlooked features, if you mismatch a board and a form factor you produce produce problems you must live with for the entire life of your computer. Now if you underestimate your needs, this will be a horrible thing to live with. So let's deal with the advantages of one form factor over another. The AT Form Factor The AT Specification comes in a few varieties, Baby AT, Standard AT, and Full AT. Although most AT based motherboards come in a Standard AT size, there are a few special cases in which they come in an enlarged Baby AT or maybe even the monstrous Full AT size. For the most part, you will find AT Style boards available in boards prior to the Pentium II Slot-1 motherboards, even though you can find some Pentium II AT boards. The main features of the AT form factor include the ability to have large numbers of expansion slots while providing support for multiple processor configurations. The benefits of the AT form factor don't come from any special cooling features or special layout functions, rather they are a cause of the wide-spread use of the standard. Most motherboards and cases are offered in an AT style, simply because AT motherboards and cases are cheaper to manufacturer and are more flexible than other more proprietary designs. You can always go out and find a nice 11 or 12 bay full tower AT case for a little more than $60, now it may not be of the best quality, but it is large and it gets the job done. That is something that cannot be said about some of the other, more "advanced" form factors. Most AT boards are specifically designed placing the CPU near the front of the case, away from any peripherals that generate a lot of heat such as high speed hard drives, etc... This allows the RAM expansion slots to be placed in an open area closer to the Power Supply Unit of the case, this unique position allows for configurations of 6 or even 8 SIMM slots to be supported. The ISA/VL slots on an AT board are placed in the back of the case, near the bottom if placed in a tower. This is one aspect of the AT form factor that hasn't changed since the advent of the Industry Standard Architecture Bus, following the ISA/VL slots are the PCI slots, a newer addition to the AT form factor which was originally modeled after a proprietary design made by IBM in the early 80s. The keyboard connector on an AT board is usually a large 5-pin AT style connector, hence the AT form factor =) However, in recent times, in order to meet the market's demands, manufacturers are now placing 9-pin mini-din connectors on their AT boards to support PS/2 keyboards and even mice. The serial, parallel, infrared, and USB ports on an AT board are attached to the board via cables and are placed vertically like an expansion card therefore creating two potential problems: 1) insufficient slot cutouts to support all the expansion cards in your system and 2) poor system cooling as a result of having many excess cables in the system area. Another flaw of the AT design is the placement of the Floppy/IDE connectors, they are often far away from your peripheral bays in your case, requiring the use of long Floppy Drive and IDE cables, therefore resulting in a huge cooling disaster. A dangerous facet of the AT form factor is the manner in which one goes about connecting the Power Supply Unit to the motherboard. This is accomplished by two sets of 5 wires, however, if oriented incorrectly during installation, the motherboard will most likely suffer a fate most computer users don't like to think about. The ATX Form Factor The ATX form factor was created to improve on the flaws in the original AT design. Imagine this, an AT form factor motherboard, however instead of placing the CPU lengthwise at the end of the board, place it next to the power supply unit, therefore increasing the cooling qualities of your system. Take the Floppy/IDE connectors, and place them closer to the peripheral bays instead of far away near the expansion slots. Since the CPU is no longer located at the front of the case, full length ISA and PCI cards can be used in ATX boards whereas with AT boards at most one or two full length cards could be used without being obstructed by a critical component. If you take all of those enhancements, and more, you get the ATX form factor. The ATX power connector is really a two tiered system. First of all, you have the physical power connector, which is a 20 pin array that can only be installed in one manner, therefore eliminating some of the danger in building PC by yourself. Secondly, a two pin power switch connector is plugged into the ATX motherboard, not directly into the power supply. It is this switch that enables the ATX soft-off feature, which is an advanced option of the ATX specification that allows supported Operating Systems (i.e. Windows 95) to shut down the computer or put it in suspend via a software command rather than requiring the power button to be pressed. The ATX Suspend feature is another wonderful feature of this enhanced form factor specification, it allows the user to place the system in a period of "suspense" in which a wake up event will restore the system to its previous state without having to go through the entire bootup process. This is a great option if you have an extremely long bootup process because of many drivers or initialization tasks that must take place before your OS loads. During the suspended state all data is stored, sometimes locally on the hard disk if the suspend to disk feature is enabled, and your entire system is in a saved mode until you initiate a wakeup event. A wakeup event can be anything from moving the mouse, to pressing the power switch once. As mentioned before, the ATX form factor is very cooling efficient. The peripheral I/O connectors are built on to a double high expandable I/O unit which eliminates messy cables and allows to user to more effectively cool the system. Since the IDE connectors are close to peripheral bays, the ATX form factor is perfect for TX based motherboards since the UltraDMA protocol states that IDE cables longer than 18" shouldn't be used with UDMA HDDs. In most cases, you can use even more memory expansion slots with an ATX system than with an AT system due to the physical length of ATX motherboards. In addition to that, memory slots on ATX boards can be accessed much more easily than on previous AT boards since the slots are not obstructed by any parts of your case or other cables. Below is an example of what an ATX based motherboard's layout looks like: Summary of ATX Chassis Features, ATX Specification v2.2, (c) 1997 Intel Corporation |
