1_legged_sheep
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2010
- Messages
- 397
Okay first off the A30 case is a PIA to build in! The two SG05 builds I've done were cleaner & easier to work with! (And had better temps!)
Last night I got the system built. Everything fit and it looks pretty clean through the windows. The black lights are a nice touch with the HIS IceQ video card.
The Bad::
ALL of the fans are molex 4 pin fans, so I had to use an extra cable on my power supply to power them. I'm thinking about re-wiring them to 3 pin since my MB supports 3 case fans.
The 3.5 bay is directly in front of the PCI-E slot! If you plan to use a video card longer then the motherboard you will need to dremel off the 3.5 bay.
The fans push practically zero air, as a result my 2500k is idling at 39C and that's with a Geminii S and AS5!
The power supply blocks off about 1/3 of the top fan and since you can only mount the power supply upside-down if fights for air with the top fan.
If you use the bottom 3.5 drive bay it will partially block the front 90mm intake fan.
NO, normal front USB plugins for the motherboard. You're only option is to run a USB cable out the back of the case and plug into on of you're available USB ports. -- I realize this is how most case manufactures do USB 3.0 but on a mATX case it just looks bad.
The Good:
I like the look of the case, but that's strictly personal opinion and it seems that most people disagree with me lol.
Almost everything uses thumb screws.
Slide out MB tray is very handy.
MB mounts are built into the MB tray.
Holds 2 SSD's natively.
Front USB3 and e-SATA
Overall Impressions:
I'm going to re-wire those fans and re-seat the Geminii S to see if that helps temps but I don't have much hope. The CPU temp at idle is sitting about 10-15C above the MB temp which is about spot on. So I think the Geminii is doing its job, when you blow hot air across a heatsink it's not the heatsinks fault.
I'll post load temps and pics tonight when I get home. The build took so long I didn't have time last night.
Right now though performance sucks and the case is too much of a pain in the arse to work on! I'm sure it will sell fast, but it's not a case I will be using again anytime soon. I got it from Superbiiz for only $90 + $15 off coupon code so $75 + shipping but that's still too much.
System Specs:
Thermaltake Armor A30
Silverstone Strider Plus 500w 80+ Copper with short cable kit
ASRock Z68 Pro3-M
Intel i5-2500K
Cooler Master Geminii-S
G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1600 8gb kit (2x4gb)
HIS 6870 IceQ Pro
DVDRW
WD 500 GB Storage Drive
120GB OCZ SSD
UV Cold Cathode Kit
Last night I got the system built. Everything fit and it looks pretty clean through the windows. The black lights are a nice touch with the HIS IceQ video card.
The Bad::
ALL of the fans are molex 4 pin fans, so I had to use an extra cable on my power supply to power them. I'm thinking about re-wiring them to 3 pin since my MB supports 3 case fans.
The 3.5 bay is directly in front of the PCI-E slot! If you plan to use a video card longer then the motherboard you will need to dremel off the 3.5 bay.
The fans push practically zero air, as a result my 2500k is idling at 39C and that's with a Geminii S and AS5!
The power supply blocks off about 1/3 of the top fan and since you can only mount the power supply upside-down if fights for air with the top fan.
If you use the bottom 3.5 drive bay it will partially block the front 90mm intake fan.
NO, normal front USB plugins for the motherboard. You're only option is to run a USB cable out the back of the case and plug into on of you're available USB ports. -- I realize this is how most case manufactures do USB 3.0 but on a mATX case it just looks bad.
The Good:
I like the look of the case, but that's strictly personal opinion and it seems that most people disagree with me lol.
Almost everything uses thumb screws.
Slide out MB tray is very handy.
MB mounts are built into the MB tray.
Holds 2 SSD's natively.
Front USB3 and e-SATA
Overall Impressions:
I'm going to re-wire those fans and re-seat the Geminii S to see if that helps temps but I don't have much hope. The CPU temp at idle is sitting about 10-15C above the MB temp which is about spot on. So I think the Geminii is doing its job, when you blow hot air across a heatsink it's not the heatsinks fault.
I'll post load temps and pics tonight when I get home. The build took so long I didn't have time last night.
Right now though performance sucks and the case is too much of a pain in the arse to work on! I'm sure it will sell fast, but it's not a case I will be using again anytime soon. I got it from Superbiiz for only $90 + $15 off coupon code so $75 + shipping but that's still too much.
System Specs:
Thermaltake Armor A30
Silverstone Strider Plus 500w 80+ Copper with short cable kit
ASRock Z68 Pro3-M
Intel i5-2500K
Cooler Master Geminii-S
G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1600 8gb kit (2x4gb)
HIS 6870 IceQ Pro
DVDRW
WD 500 GB Storage Drive
120GB OCZ SSD
UV Cold Cathode Kit
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