Cubitek HPTX ICE Review: How Far Aluminum Can Go
by Dustin Sklavos on May 11, 2012 1:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Full-Tower
- Cubitek
- HPTX
Testing Methodology
For testing Micro-ATX and full ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
| ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-2700K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 4.3GHz @ 1.38V) |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 |
| Graphics Card |
ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP (tested at stock speed and overclocked to 1GHz/overvolted to 1.13V) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive |
| Accessories | Corsair Link |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 750W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested in a stock configuration and an overclocked configuration that generates substantially more heat (and thus may produce more noise). The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running seven threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU and OC Scanner (maximum load) on the GPU.
At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. This is done for the stock settings and for the overclock, and if the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
We try to maintain an ambient testing temperature of between 22C and 24C. Non-thermal test results aren't going to be directly comparable to the finest decimal point, but should be roughly comparable and give a broader idea of how the enclosure performs.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i7-2700K.
- Thank you to Gigabyte for providing us with the GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 motherboard.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Corsair for providing us with the Corsair Link kit.
- Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with the Hyper 212 Evo heatsink and fan unit.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply.
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colonelclaw - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
Referring to you photograph of the front of the case http://www.anandtech.com/Gallery/Album/1949#2If I had just spent $359 on anything in the world of computing, and it was put together as poorly as this I would be absolutely horrified. Not one single panel is flush with another and the shut lines are all over the place.
I'm probably overreacting, but to me this looks like a photo of a $50 piece of junk
cjs150 - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
At least based on your assembly picture:1. Looks like there is room for a thin 240 radiator at the top
2. Drop the drive cages, based on your review is not a loss!, and put a 200x200 radiator up front there is still plenty of space at bottom to resite the hard drives
But at $359 I would not bother, silverstone does it far better
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
You can't install a 240mm radiator in the top. The way the two 140mm fan grills are spaced, I think you'd wind up having to modify the case a little to get it into place.cjs150 - Monday, May 14, 2012 - link
A little modification is fine but truthfully I am struggling to think of any reason to buy this case.maybe the smaller versions are better
Flunk - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
Lian-Li doesn't need steel reinforcement so it is possible to make a good all aluminum case. This just isn't it, and the price is almost 3x what an equivalent Lian-Li would cost.etamin - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
This is a big assumption to make, but the price and quality of this case makes it seem like the company went way over budget on development and manufacturing costs and is struggling to stay afloat by hoping for inexperienced builders to jump on high price tags.I've seen Cubiteks on SundialMicro for at least a year and the lack of build quality is visible in the stock images. The cases are literally Lian Li and Silverstone knock offs at higher prices. Believe me, I mean no disrespect to the engineers and designers, but this is just the general effect these products give. Cubitek is a pretty new company (started 2010?) and I think it started off too ambitious without a realistic plan.
stren - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
At this price you're almost into the territory of CaseLabs where you'll get some very well designed cases with some unique features and support for real enthusiast builds. When will anandtech look at them?HexiumVII - Friday, May 11, 2012 - link
Why are all the new cases putting the PS on bottom. You now need 30 inches just to reach the 12v four pin on the top of motherboards.SmCaudata - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
So, out of curiosity I searched for the miniITX version and came across this.http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1922/1/
Normally wouldn't link to an outside site, but it was just a fun idea. The small version is actually a decent looking case.
Stas - Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - link
No, thanks. I'll take the Silverstone.