BitFenix Merc Alpha: Just How Much Can $39 Buy?
by Dustin Sklavos on October 5, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- bitfenix
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
At first glance, the BitFenix Merc Alpha isn't really an overclocker's case, but try to remember where the roots of overclocking lie: maximizing the value of your dollar. It used to be you bought a cheap chip and then made it perform like its more expensive cousins. Likewise, someone looking to build a monster on a dime might want be interested in seeing how the Merc Alpha handles the increased thermal load of our overclocked testing suite.
Eh, it could be a little more graceful. Part of the problem is that there just don't seem to be enough fans really circulating air for the Merc Alpha to perform better. Adding quiet intakes to the front and to the side panel might make a big difference. That said, it's not completely cooking our test hardware either, keeping temperatures livable across the board.
Idle noise continues to be a strong suit of the Merc Alpha and its included 120mm fan, while load noise isn't the worst we've seen. BitFenix's enclosure continues to be a fairly balanced design that doesn't skew hard towards thermal performance or acoustics.
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piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
But would you want to use that?Also, fuck, those cases were basically scrap metal. No rolled edges. Hope you like bleeding all over your new machine, and then blowing it up after plugging in the tin-pot POS PSU.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Not I don't mean this case of course!This case actually looks pretty decent, and they even bothered coating the inside instead of leaving it bare. Damn fine for $39, no matter how you slice it.
aguilpa1 - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Aw the good ole days, when you weren't hacking unless your fingers were bleeding...., wait maybe not so good.Thermalzeal - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
This ^Spazweasel - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Oh, you still can. You can get a case + PS for as little as about 25 dollars.You would want neither case nor power supply, though. The lowest cost power supplies worth having, even for a budget build, seem to start around 40 dollars (Antec and Corsair both make very nice 400-watt class power supplies in that range).
JonnyDough - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
With the extra $20 spent on a better PSU, we're not only saving the environment a little, but helping to ensure longevity of our motherboard and components by going higher end. Yep, around $40 is my minimum, as that's basically the starting point for a 300w 80+ Bronze certified from Seasonic. Most systems don't use that much, and amps are much more important than total wattage anyway. There need to be better standards regulating power supplies. In fact, they should have to list certain factors on every OEM PC sold as well. The big mass market PC builders should be unable to fool consumers by not listing the gpu specs for instance.CloudFire - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Good budget case indeed, the only other one I would recommend near this price range is the CM Haf 912.CrystalBay - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Coolermaster 690's were 30-40 back a couple/few years .Thanks Dustin, keep posting the deals!
Vepsa - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Would make a great case for my home server (so I could swap its 80mm fans out for 120mm fans) but Newegg doesn't have any BitFenix cases :(xcomvic - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
Yea, as soon as I finished this review, I tried to look it up on Newegg, very surprised that they aren't on there...maybe they are "too" cheap for the egg, can't make any profit on the resale...