VPN: 110-MA-1001-K1EVGA Hadron Air Mini-ITX Steel Black Chassis With 500W 80PLUS Gold Power Supply
|
0%
100%
0%
0%
0%
|
 Rating: Review Date: 11/04/13 |
EVGA Hadron Air Mini-ITX Steel Black Chassis With 500W 80PLUS Gold Power Supply
Cons:-Some people dislike the angled front, i.e. front of case is raised to allow airflow underneath.-The front "leg" does not have a rubber foot underneath, unlike the rear of the case. It will slide slightly, and also can lightly scratch a desktop. Recommend adding your own rubber strip underneath.-The power supply only offers 2 SATA power connections, and 4 old-school molex connectors. In this day and age, I'd expect the reverse. (Yes, you can use adapters, but should you have to?)-No dedicated reset button.-Minor, minor gripe: the HD Audio cable is white. For cases with open side panels, builders often like to make things look nice. Black would have made more sense. Just an FYI to those who care about that stuff.-Similar to above, and as mentioned in some online reviews, the powder coat (if I read "power" coat once more I'll scream) isn't perfect on the inside. Nothing is visible once the case is buttoned up, but if you are super-picky (I'm not), you my be disappointed by the interior finish a bit.-No cutout behind the mobo tray.-Cannot route wiring behind the mobo tray. It is flush with the side panel. (As you'd probably expect in an ITX case.)
Pros:-Seems to be the smallest mini-ITX case out there.-Front panel is clean, only a single power button.-Side panel contains 2 X USB 3.0, and audio jacks.-Supports a slim DVD drive if you want it. (Note that you may need a port adapter, depending on the connections on the slim drive.)-Included 120mm fans on top of the case are quiet and easily accessible by removing 2 screws on top of the case.-Includes a gold-certified 80 plus 500-watt power supply.-Fits a full-size GPU.-The power button on front has a tiny, white light. Not a retina-searing blue LED like you often see. |
I'm very pleased with this case so far. I had been looking at other mini-ITX cases, but I'd typically run into one, or more of the following shortfalls:-Does not support a full-size ATX power supply, or is super-tight.-Does not support a full-size GPU.-Has an ugly opening for a ROM drive that I won't use.-Does not have USB ports/audio jacks on the front.This case solves all of these for me, and since it is built around a server-style power supply, they've been able to make the case extra small. (It makes the Prodigy case look massive by comparison.)One gotcha had been about CPU cooling. I was hoping to squeeze in my Corsair closed-loop liquid cooler, but it's just 1 cm too tight. This is actually due to the motherboard I'm using (ASUS ROG Impact) which has a unique "Impact Power" daughter board directly "North" of the CPU, which limits the space in my case. From my quick measurements, a different ITX board without this feature might have just enough room for a similar liquid cooling solution. Just an FYI for anyone else.As for the lack off a dedicated reset switch, I have one on the motherboard itself, so in this case I'm not overly bothered, and you can certainly live without one.The only part of the case I'm somewhat unsure of is the power supply. As mentioned it is a flat, rectangular form factor that is seen with servers. EVGA has some good ratings on their other power supplies, so by all accounts this should be good. I did however - just this morning - notice a regular ticking sound, almost exactly like a clock. Disabling all other fans traced the source to the power supply, so I can only assume the PSU fan was hitting against something. (?) It did however go away after a reboot, so I'm unsure. I will say the PSU fan is quiet - it spins up like crazy upon POST, but normalizes to something I can't easily detect.As to other noise, the 2 overhead 120mm fans are rather quiet, and I'm only using 1 for now. Note that they only use a 3-pin connector.Finally, I should call out that the multiple "Cons" I've listed above are fairly minor, and probably to be expected in a mini-ITX case. There are simply tradeoffs when downsizing like this. Overall, I am very impressed with this case.Sorry for the essay - hope this level of detail is helpful though.