In-Win GT1 Case Review: Fighting an Uphill Battle
by Dustin Sklavos on March 8, 2013 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- In-Win
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing
When testing the In-Win GT1, expected performance isn't really relevant. The bottom line here is that In-Win has to beat Antec's GX700 because unless the user specifically needs the hotswap bay, the GX700's lower price and smarter fan controller are going to be a better draw.
There's an important note that needs to be made when comparing the GT1's results to previous test results. I've endeavored to get the new motherboard to produce thermal results nigh identical to the old one's, but motherboards can be quirky creatures. In my testing, I've found that while almost all results are comparable between the new bed and the old one, the margin of error on CPU thermals increases by about 2C when comparing to the old board. The new board also polls the core temperatures more frequently, which results in a notably lower overall idle temperature measurement, so keep that in mind. Idle temps on the CPU generally aren't a huge deal unless the delta is over 10C (which basically never happens), but this is worth noting nonetheless.
Ambient temperature for testing hovered around 22C, and the GT1 was tested with both fan settings.
At its turbo setting, the GT1's CPU thermals are competitive with the GX700's best, but everything else is pretty much a wash. Unfortunately, the turbo setting also takes its toll on acoustics.
At its loudest the GX700 is still mighty efficient, while the GT1 produces a heck of a racket. The fact is that the GT1 just doesn't possess the cooling power to compete with the pair of 140mm fans in the top of the GX700.
The overclocked settings don't really help the situation.
At its turbo setting, the GT1 is competitive; at its silent setting, it can keep the video card cool but the CPU loses a lot of thermal headroom.
Unfortunately that "silence" setting is only good for idle noise; when the system kicks up it becomes one of the loudest we've tested. The more open air design of the GT1 does the end user no favors when it comes to noise.
Finally, I loaded the GT1 up with two GTX 580s in SLI and three hard drives to obstruct the front fans.
We don't have any comparative data yet, but we can at least say a couple of things for certain. First, the CPU actually runs cooler in this configuration than our standard overclocked one due to the blower coolers on the GTX 580s exhausting hot air instead of feeding it back into the case. Second, the GTX 580s are working hard. Top GPU temperatures were actually roughly the same between the two cards because they were both hitting thermal limits at around 92C-93C.
And the noise levels tell the rest of the story. Once the system was placed under load, the fans on the GTX 580s swallowed everything else alive and pushed the GT1 to nearly 50 decibels. In other words, this case is loud, and while you can put two high performance cards in it, I wouldn't recommend doing so. It can only barely handle this kind of configuration.
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CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
How did you decide "they" look bad ? Or did you ?Flunk - Friday, March 8, 2013 - link
Last time I put together a computer I bought a Lian-Li PC9-F for $89. That case looks great (to me) and is light, well built and well designed. Considering that you can now get a case that is roughly as good as a premium $300 case from 10 or so years ago for a fraction of the price really drives down the prices on lower end cases.A case like this looks positively overpriced by comparison. This thing shouts out "cheap" from the rooftops and it's $69. Maybe in 2002 that would have been a good deal, but not today.
There are a lot of better cases out there in the same price bracket.
CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
Please point a few out, thanks.sulu1977 - Friday, March 8, 2013 - link
Why is USB 3.0 connectivity even an issue for a case? It's just a blank, empty case for heaven's sake. A USB port could be USB 1, 2 or 3 depending what wires you connect to it from the motherboard. So of you attach cables from USB 3 headers to all the ports then all the ports should be USB 3. Or am I missing something?smitty123 - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link
"So of you attach cables from USB 3 headers to all the ports then all the ports should be USB 3. Or am I missing something?"obviously you are missing something,
you need the latest ports so they'll have the necessary metal connections. USB 3.0 has more connectors in it to transfer faster.
They are backwards compatible because it was designed that way, but not forward compatible, unless you can see in the future? heck the weather guy can hardly tell what's gonna look like tomorrow lol
So no, you can't have just usb 1 or 2 ports anymore and make them usb 3, they just don't have the connections.
i'd go with 4 USB3.0 ports at the front. you can't have just 2 ports side by side, the Gen 3 keys are too wide.
Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link
Also, each motherboard header is for a pair of ports. So when the case only has one port attached to a line, but uses one of the motherboard headers, you've basically given up a port because the case designer was a cheapskate.lwatcdr - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link
I was going to say that they should got 2 3.0 and 2 2.0 USB ports because we all know that there will be some motherboard that will not wake from sleep when you wiggle a mouse or hit a key on a 3.0 port. Except that why would you plug your mouse or keyboard into the front ports. Yea your right 4 3.0 ports is the way to go.I just do not get the one 3.0 port, it seems like the worst solution. If there where none then you could just get a 3.0 card reader/ 3.0 ports that fit into a drive bay. With one 3.0 port you give up one of the 3.0 ports on the header.
CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
Because the eggheads pretend they have multiple usb3 devices they need to connect al at once - it brags proud monied mega geek to whine about it.Plus, once the ponce reviewer spews his crap, the lemmings repeat like parrots - you know how when you teach something to mthe rubes about you, several week sor monts later they repeat it to you excitedly as if they just thought it up...
At least the parrots read that part, and squealed out the agreeing whine.
Sleepingforest - Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - link
So, you're saying that there's no way I'd want to, say, back up my computer to a USB 3.0 external hard drive, use USB 3.0's higher voltage to charger my phone, and upload my camera's contents at the same time? Because those are all concievably concurrent needs.In fact, I could say you are elitist for thinking we need any front panel USB at all--a single back panel USB 1.0 was enough fifteen years ago. Why not today?
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
You're backup should be plugged into the back, readily available, so you aren't moving it and destroying it.Your cellphone has a charger, and it's slow off a computer, and you have no outlet that isn't overloaded right there?
Your camera - not likely you have a usb 3.0 cable for your camera, you idiot.
Three strikes you're out...
You were saying... ? " Yes, I agree with you Cerise, you have a brain, a very big one and you think it through instead of being a dummy with a big mouth and far too willing to use it."
Oh, that's what you were saying. Good little boy, good boy.