AZZA Genesis 9000 Case Review: Building It Every Way
by Dustin Sklavos on July 13, 2012 4:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- ATX
- AZZA
Conclusion: Good Value, Difficult to Evaluate
It probably makes little sense to suggest a case is both a good value and difficult to evaluate, since one leads into the other. Yet from a purely monetary perspective, AZZA really offers you a heck of a lot with the Genesis 9000. When I unboxed it and began tinkering with it, I didn't yet know just how much it was going to retail for, and I was expecting at least the low $200s. $169 is still a lot of money for an enclosure, but compare it to what else is available and it starts to look a lot more promising. In that ballpark you're looking at Corsair's Obsidian 650D, NZXT's Switch 810, SilverStone's Raven RV-02 and RV-03, and Cooler Master's HAF 932 and X. While I can't speak to the popular Cooler Master entries, I can tell you with certainty that in terms of pure performance and flexibility, I would easily take the Genesis 9000 over the other cases barring maybe the RV-02.
Part of the problem with evaluating the Genesis 9000, though, is that it's such a flexible enclosure and capable of so many different cooling configurations that it's impossible to gauge just what's going to be ideal for it. A standardized testbed can already be fairly shaky to begin with (something I discussed with Corsair's engineers recently), as even just the style of coolers used on the CPU and GPU can radically affect their performance in conjunction with the type of airflow the case employs. SilverStone's FT02, for example, might struggle more with a typical radial cooler on a graphics card, but it works like gangbusters on blower-style coolers. Yet the FT02 and most cases don't feature this much in the way of configurability.
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What I can say with relative certainty is that the Genesis 9000 provides decent performance in its default configuration, competitive performance with the motherboard switched to the standard ATX configuration, and has additional cooling potential waiting to be unlocked by the intrepid end user willing to take the time to experiment with it (as well as invest in one or two additional fans). It's easy enough to build in on its own, but can potentially turn into a medium-term project in a hurry.
I can't unilaterally recommend the Genesis 9000, especially with the minor interior damage incurred to the front power supply cover just by removing it. Someone who wants to build it and forget it is going to be better served by an enclosure that has a much clearer design path. Yet the end user who's either interested in watercooling or just wants something to play with is liable to find a lot to like with the Genesis 9000. AZZA did a bang up job with the Genesis 9000 and priced it competitively. If you want a case that performs well and has a lot of room for customization, the Genesis 9000 absolutely gets my recommendation.
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Grok42 - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
I too agree that it would be nice to see cases reviewed with min and max setup options, I can only imagine this would take forever. I work on a social site and we have a guy that does reviews which we participate as additional testers. It takes an enormous amount of time to test and this is for simple things like specialized towels and other non-configurable equipment.I not exactly sure of your exact point about 5.25" bays Vs 3.5" bays but I think you and I are of the same opinion. I posted a long screed about this in the last case review that wasn't very popular. Basically 5.25" bays are pretty useless. There are almost no internal 5.25" accessories on the market anymore other than CD/DVD/Blue-Ray drives which you pointed out you only need one of. Other than possibly using one for an optical drive, the rest of the bays, while providing plenty of room for cooling, are also a waste of space.
lwatcdr - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
"Basically 5.25" bays are pretty useless. There are almost no internal 5.25" accessories on the market anymore other than CD/DVD/Blue-Ray drives which you pointed out you only need one of.Actually you are mistaken their. I admit that the huge number of 5 1/4 "drive bays in this case is a bit odd but they are used a lot in custom rigs for water cooling which this case looks like it was really set up for.
For example here is a page of Bay reservoirs for water cooled rigs.
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c97/s168/list/...
Some come with pumps as well.
With this case you could put a rather large rad in the top and an smaller one in the bottom for a dual loop set up. Two large pumps and reservoirs would take up 4 bays.
You also have something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Which lets you mount 31/2" drives in two 5 1/2 bays and have them be hot swappable so one could in mount 16 hot swappable drives in this case for a storage server. Or any combination of or drives you could want.
There you go . I am sure you can see ways now to fill them with a high end water cooled rig.
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
You seriously can't tell that the hard drives are going to be spaced well apart? Even after I specifically mention that the drive trays actually kind of waste space because it's basically one drive per 5.25" bay?We're a long, long way from the old days of horrible 3.5" hard drive cramping.
P5-133XL - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
The vast majority of internet reviews are non-critical specifically designed to sell the product. Is because there is a potential problem with HD temps and that's why they didn't include them? We don't know, for they didn't test.There are lots of cases where that info is known so there are lots of alternatives so this case is not needed but if they want to review a case then they should do a good job and include important data such as this.
P5-133XL - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
Sorry about the grammar/editing error.I wish to reword the sentence "Is because there is a potential problem with HD temps and that's why they didn't include them?" to be "Is there a potential problem with HD temps and that is why they were not included?
MilwaukeeMike - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
"Bottom-to-top cooling can be very effective, but the motherboard isn't rotated ninety degrees here the way it is in SilverStone's more efficient designs, so air travelling through the Genesis 9000 unfortunately just doesn't have a very efficient default path to work with."If I remember right, some website did a compare of Silverstone's alignment to other cases rotated at 90 degress and found that rotating your case (or mobo inside it) made no difference in temps.
I'm surprised this case isn't quieter, I wonder if the fans could be replaced by slower/quieter fans. As the results show, increasing the speed doesn't help much, so maybe it could be lowered.
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
The point I was making wasn't that the convection design isn't what makes SilverStone's designs work, it's the fact that the coolers for the CPU and GPU are completely unobstructed in their 90-degree rotated designs. There's just a straight shot from the fans right into the coolers, while here either the CPU fan or the GPU fan is being prioritized.MilwaukeeMike - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
Found some other pics online of this case... the top looks very cool, you should throw in some pics of it.Sabresiberian - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
Very nice to see another case acknowledging the fact that larger mainboards exist, and multiple-GPU rigs need space to support them all. I would have preferred to see a 10-slot capability over 9-slot, but definitely a step in the right direction.;)
BlueHighway - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link
I've been considering this case since I noticed it about a week ago. I was hoping for good results in this review, but now I'm not so certain... For one thing, my video card is the hottest component in my case (GTX 580), so I'll have to rotate the motherboard to the normal position - and I was under the impression that this alternative "flipped" design was supposed to be superior for GPU cooling!A minor thing I'm disappointed about is that the blue-teal LEDs will not be illuminated except when fans are at maximum speed, which I will probably never have... Unless maybe I can replace the stock fans with my Noctuas and keep them running at high speed.
Quick question - 25" is the maximum height of the case, and as some of us keep computer cases under our desks, how much of an impact would a 3"-4" clearance above the case have on the overall airflow? I assume 25" is the maximum height, as the top is rounded, and the lowest points are maybe 23", so there's going to be more clearance in those areas.