IN-WIN BUC: Just How Much $100 Can Buy
by Dustin Sklavos on May 9, 2011 4:28 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- In-Win
- mid-tower
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
Bringing the massive overclock on the processor into the equation means a lot more voltage and a lot more heat. It's at this point that we'll really see just how well the IN-WIN BUC can handle a thermal load more typical of the enthusiasts they're gunning for.
With the massive heat being generated by the overclocked i7-875K, the BUC has a much harder time keeping the temperatures in check. The processor's load temperature goes up 20C and is even idling a lot hotter, and the ambient temperature seems to be substantially higher as well as a result: chipset and RAM temperatures are both up at least 10C, though both are also doing more work with the faster processor. The GTX 580 and SSD remain largely unaffected, though, with both being quite close to cool air intakes.
Under the overclock, idle noise remains about the same, but the fans have to work harder and add about 3dB to the load noise. The Zalman 9900CNPS MAX we're using for the processor cooler is basically working as hard as it can at this point.
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ggathagan - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
If you look at the pictures, you'll note that it's not really a SATA backplane.It's hot-swap connectors mounted on 4 of the 5 drive bays.
Belard - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
In-Win has been a rather small company for a very long time. I've built systems with their cases 10 years ago. In general, they do come (and in the past) some very cool designs. But for the most part - in the past 4-6 years, their design have gone towards plain or ugly (IMHO).But I've seen the BUC at a store, and it is a very very nice looking case.
Spivonious - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
My first PC used an In-Win case. It had a Celeron 333A to give you a time frame. :)They've always been a quality, value-oriented case manufacturer.
Belard - Saturday, May 14, 2011 - link
Around that era, I sold some In-Wins. They even had decent PSUs.shamans33 - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
Nice to see CPU HSF clearance values on the features table.It might be nice to see a list of unusual features onto a table as well (as a summary of key new features)
kmmatney - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
The only thing I don't like about routing the power supply wiring behind the motherboard is that its a pain if you want to swap it out. I spent a long time routing all my power supply wiring in my case, and then my son's computer had trouble. I suspected the power supply, but needed to put mine into his computer to properly troublshoot. So I had to undo my hard work...jrocks84 - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
The noise and thermal testing graphs are very helpful for making decisions on cases. Not that many case reviews give this data, so it's nice to see more sites adopting this testing.Ammaross - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
Anand, perhaps while you're on full ATX cases with backplanes for the hard drives, could you look over the AzzA Hurrican 2000? (yes, no 'e' in 'Hurrican'). I used it recently for my home rig and I think others might like to see your take on it. :)nightalon - Monday, May 9, 2011 - link
I don't mean to sound like a snob, but Mr Sklavos needs to clean up his article a bit.Anand's style is much more coherent, uses fewer cliches, and adheres to more conventional and conservative journalistic style.
I'm not implying that reviewers shouldn't be creative with their language, but using the word "popped" about 15 times seems excessive to me.
Also, if there are any questions for readers in an article, they should come at the start or in the conclusion.
I highly recommend some of the Engadget editors and reviewers for examples of good writing. Pogue and Mossberg, of NYT and WSJ respectively, also do a good job, although I think their target demographic is slightly different.
Nonetheless, adherence to standard grammar and to Strunk and White would be wonderful! Otherwise, this seemed to me to be a pretty good review.
earle36 - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
"I highly recommend some of the Engadget editors and reviewers for examples of good writing. "You're kidding right??? Those guys write article full of cliches and more importantly they lack the technical depth found here at Anandtech. After being consistently appalled with the reviews at Engadget, I'm glad that Anandtech ramped up their coverage of Mobile devices too.
Personally, I think Mr. Sklavos did a fine job.