xclio case any good?

cyclopopcicle · 6 Aug 2006 at 11:38

http://www.xclio.com/product_a_02.php

xclio 3060

[ Specification ]
Dimension 430 x 200 x 445MM (HxWxD)
Drive Space 5.25” * 4 – External
3.5” * 1 – External / 3.5” * 5 - Internal
Cooling System Front: 8cm * 4PCS or 12cm * 1PC or 14cm * 1PC
Rear: 8cm * 2PCS or 12cm * 1PCS
Side: 25cm * 1PC
M/B Form Factor AT/ATX/Micro ATX/Intel P4
Expansion Slot 7 * PCI Standard size cards
Power Supply (optional) PS/2 Type
Bezel Function Power switch & Reset switch
Material SECC / 0.6mm thickness

goreblast · 6 Aug 2006 at 11:40

Its fugly ! :eek:

InvaderGIR · 6 Aug 2006 at 12:15

goreblast said:
Its fugly !

Sorry cyclopopcicle but I have to agree with goreblast there, not the most attractive of cases..and a 25cm fan?! But having said that I'm much more of a sleek style and hidden power person...love the Lian Li PC7 in black (not got one, but will in just over a month

). If you like the gamer look cases then that's cool, although it isn't a brand I've heard of before so I'd be weary about the build of it personally.

ryansm · 6 Aug 2006 at 12:42

It looks ok, I prefer the XClio A380 with 2x25cm fans. It retails for around £75 though which I feel is a tad expensive...How much is the one you have mentioned?

If you are liking the 25cm fan at the side take a look at the Aerocool Extreme Engine 3T. I think this is better case.

http://www.aerocool.com.tw

I had an Aerocool case and it was built really well.

Yewen · 6 Aug 2006 at 13:19

The large fans are a real gimmic, they offer a poor CFM/DB rating compared to 120mm fans, are non user replaceable as they do not conform to any fan ISO.

You can get a much better cooling solution from a case with just 120mm fans, this is purely a gimmic to get you to buy a case. Coolermaster Stacker 830, probably the top of the line gaming case, that has a bank of 120mm fans for the sidepanel as they are better for the noise : performance.

Larger fans should perform the same as the smaller ones, just at less noise. We do not *need* over 40cfm from fans, it just depends how much noise they make doing it. Larger fans compared to high quality or even medium 120mm fans just are rubbish.

The stats they quote are laughable after hearing a Engine going, hoover anyone?

mosfet · 6 Aug 2006 at 13:23

Seriously not worth it for the money, the fan is more of a gimmick than anything else. Get a proper, well built case from a good brand name like Antec, Silverstone, Lian Li or Akasa and spend time planning and implementing your cooling, it'll pay off.

Edit: Gah, he beat me too it.

ryansm · 6 Aug 2006 at 13:35

Certainly agree with some points there - but in respect to the Aerocool Extreme Engine 3T it has been proven to be a very good case for its cooling aspects and noise levels. Surely a 25cm fan will give you better air ventilation, especially on the side to a smaller fan or nothing at all.

Dont get me wrong I know what you are saying about the Stacker, my mate has one and its amazing - but its also a very high end spec case! I myself only use 2x120mm and 1x92mm high quality fans in my case, and yeah the cooling is fine!

I know nothing about the Xclio's, nor would I possibly buy one, but I would consider the Aerocool. From all the reveiws I have read I cant see anyone saying anything bad about it? Yes it maybe a gimmick, but if the fans are good quality and the build is good, there is nothing to say it does not work. I have personally never used nor seen a 25cm computer case fan so dont know how they perform?

Yewen · 6 Aug 2006 at 13:41

The Stacker 830 is a very poor case when put up against non gaming cases.

but in respect to the Aerocool Extreme Engine 3T it has been proven to be a very good case for its cooling aspects and noise levels. Surely a 25cm fan will give you better air ventilation, especially on the side to a smaller fan or nothing at all.

The 25cm fan makes a racket for the CFM it produces, it has no benefit over a YS Tech fan that pushes more air at the same volume, but is 120mm.

25cm will do nothing over a 120mm, as a blowhole depending on what you are cooling concentrating the airflow over the device is a much better way to cool say a graphics card than have the whole panel moving 1cfm.

Focusing the flow on a blowhole is how they work, airflow is created through the push pull of fans, the blowhole just creates a localised flow over a component, at 25cm it can not do it as it is so large.

When they are a standard, user replaceable fan then yes, I will be buying them but until that day, with the quality of the fans being so atrocious at 25cm they are a gimmic to sell poorly built gaming cases to young teens or first time PC builders.

My S80 all day has been cooled by one 80mm fan, as I 'lost' (

) my amber fans and have boxed up the 121 Lian Li ones.

No difference in temperature, cooling is not totally dependant on airflow.

Reviews are only as good as the person writing them, SPCR rave about the P180, and ban people from the forums for pointing out all the faults on them; only do this as half the designers are on SPCR as mods.

Aerocool are a very low build quality manufacturer, a review from someone who has owned that case and a good case to compare it to is worth 100000 million reviews.

The review is from the point of view of someone who wants to own the case, they have no motives past wanting to justify their purchase, and it is compared to a known good case.

Why reviews are useless, CustomPC reviewed the Akasa Mirage as having a aluminium door, it does not so they never even used the case.

Several sites raved about the v1000, it was dire, then slate the v1000+, which is amazing. They based that purely on forums slating the v1000, and never used the new one. THG actually took down the v1000+ review and re-wrote it in a afternoon they got it so wrong!

Reviews are not worth the paper they are written on for cases most of the time, if someone on here told me it was a bad case having used it, holds the weight as the total reviews on the web. Two people say its good, then it is.

ryansm · 6 Aug 2006 at 13:48

yeah I see where you are coming from...I must admit I use to think the bigger the better. Its only recently since I have bought my new case that I have stopped using so many fans.

Since you seem pretty knowledgeable on fans mate, the fans in my case are pretty loud and produce (spec wise) around 65CFM. They are 120mm fans and 1 92mm, can you recommend any brands for more quiet operation?

You said earlier that I dont have too look for fans with massive CFM...

sorry for going off subject, just interested.

Yewen · 6 Aug 2006 at 13:51

Make a new thread in here and we can start a good old fan free for all, as everyone has their own favourites, saves cluttering this thread up.

Witcher · 6 Aug 2006 at 15:35

Yewen said:
The Stacker 830 is a very poor case when put up against non gaming cases.

The 25cm fan makes a racket for the CFM it produces, it has no benefit over a YS Tech fan that pushes more air at the same volume, but is 120mm.

25cm will do nothing over a 120mm, as a blowhole depending on what you are cooling concentrating the airflow over the device is a much better way to cool say a graphics card than have the whole panel moving 1cfm.

Focusing the flow on a blowhole is how they work, airflow is created through the push pull of fans, the blowhole just creates a localised flow over a component, at 25cm it can not do it as it is so large.

When they are a standard, user replaceable fan then yes, I will be buying them but until that day, with the quality of the fans being so atrocious at 25cm they are a gimmic to sell poorly built gaming cases to young teens or first time PC builders.

My S80 all day has been cooled by one 80mm fan, as I 'lost' ( ) my amber fans and have boxed up the 121 Lian Li ones.

No difference in temperature, cooling is not totally dependant on airflow.

Reviews are only as good as the person writing them, SPCR rave about the P180, and ban people from the forums for pointing out all the faults on them; only do this as half the designers are on SPCR as mods.

Aerocool are a very low build quality manufacturer, a review from someone who has owned that case and a good case to compare it to is worth 100000 million reviews.

The review is from the point of view of someone who wants to own the case, they have no motives past wanting to justify their purchase, and it is compared to a known good case.

Why reviews are useless, CustomPC reviewed the Akasa Mirage as having a aluminium door, it does not so they never even used the case.

Several sites raved about the v1000, it was dire, then slate the v1000+, which is amazing. They based that purely on forums slating the v1000, and never used the new one. THG actually took down the v1000+ review and re-wrote it in a afternoon they got it so wrong!

Reviews are not worth the paper they are written on for cases most of the time, if someone on here told me it was a bad case having used it, holds the weight as the total reviews on the web. Two people say its good, then it is.

Custom PC said of the Mirage that it had

a combined aluminium and plastic panel with a door to hide all the drive bays

which it does, according to the official site.

Yewen · 6 Aug 2006 at 15:44

They said the door was aluminium.

They also listed up conroes incorrectly, use incorrect fan setups for reviews over what the manufacturer recommends, and then they blame the case for bad results.

Cowboy mag really, not alone in my feelings too.

Witcher · 6 Aug 2006 at 16:12

Yewen said:
They said the door was aluminium.

They also listed up conroes incorrectly, use incorrect fan setups for reviews over what the manufacturer recommends, and then they blame the case for bad results.

Cowboy mag really, not alone in my feelings too.

I don't have an issue with questioning its reviews, some of them are at odds with other places and I don't wish to argue but they didn't say the door was aluminium in this review (which is the only one I can see linked on the site)

The Akasa Mirage is an updated version of the Eclipse 62, which nearly won last year's case Labs test. However, despite the name change, only the front panel has been updated

Gone is the original, all-plastic, solid front panel, to be replaced by a combined aluminium and plastic panel with a door to hide all the drive bays. The appearance of the original Eclipse 62 was a contentious issue in the Custom PC offices, with Phil and myself liking it, and Gareth, Alex and Josh strongly objecting to it. The new front panel, however, succeeded in uniting our opinion - unfavourably - of the Mirage's looks; the case looks more like a database crunching server than a high-end custom PC. Akasa has also dispensed with the expansion slot backplate of the original front panel, which was a very useful inclusion for adding extra I/O ports or a fan controller to the front of your case.

Seven 3.5in internal, two 3.5in external and four 5.25in external drive bays are provided. Two of the hard drive bays are mounted in a separate cage that hangs down below the PSU, so they may have to be removed if your motherboard is fitted with a particularly large CPU HSF. As the main body of the Mirage is the same as the Eclipse 62, it
has two 120mm fan mounts: one intake at the front protected by a dust filter and an exhaust at the rear. An optional side panel with a 120mm intake fan designed to provide extra cooling for the graphics cards is sold separately, which, if you didn't want it, would knock £18.62 off the £106 price listed above. As only the side panel is fitted with a fan, we fitted two Akasa Amber 120mm fans to the case's primary intake and exhaust mounts for the temperature tests, since realistically, nobody would use the case without doing this first.

Our tests show that a clear air intake is of paramount importance, so the laterally mounted hard drive cage of the Mirage allows air to flow into the chamber and over the components, before being exhausted by the fan at the rear. As a result of this, and the side-mounted intake fan, the Mirage provided the best cooling of all the cases tested. For example, even after running 3DMark06 continuously, the CPU temperature never rose above 70ûC, which is substantially cooler than in most other cases. The Northbridge also ran the coolest of any case at just 55ûC, 11ûC cooler than in the AOpen Impression. These outstanding temperature results are backed up by the infrared photograph, which shows no serious hotspots (despite lacking a roof vent), or pockets of hot air trapped inside the case.

While the Akasa Mirage provided the best overall cooling of the cases tested, it's one of the blandest cases in existence. To get the most out of it, you'll also have to buy two fans for the front and rear intakes. If you were to choose two Akasa Amber fans, this would set you back a further £16.20, making the Mirage one of the most expensive cases in this Labs test. There's no doubting its cooling ability, though, so if you don't mind its looks (or cost) then it's a good choice.

Yewen · 6 Aug 2006 at 16:16

It was the first snippet on the preview / news they did in the mag I beleive, only ever seen it 'quoted'.

Witcher · 7 Aug 2006 at 00:04

Righto. Looks like they corrected it anyway which is a start.

As I said I don't 'trust' them any more than any other site/magazine (they recently downed the Akasa fan series and I have never seen another poor review of those, that was odd).

Best thing is to read lots of different opinions as was said.

Yewen · 7 Aug 2006 at 01:08

Yup totally agree with you, listening to only one person will always give a biased opinion.