When building a computer everyone will set themselves a budget and then work from there. This means that when someone is building a sub 500-600$ system, they will not be able to afford the luxury of a >80$ case. With this in mind several well-known companies have released some cost effective cases, which while sacrificing the ultimate quality of their more expensive models are more than up to the task of providing a good home for a system. Today we will take a look at such a case from Spire, the Bergwind II.

Spire have released several cases recently and the Bergwind II is one of their most cost-effective. Even before we received it for evaluation, we knew that it is not a case that can compete against any enthusiast chassis (it costs less than a third of the money) but it is not meant for that reason at all. It is a case suitable for building a typical office system, a normal home PC or for OEM use; not for housing a $3000 high end gaming monster.

The Bergwind II has a relatively mundane yet pleasant appearance. It is all black with some silver lines around the faceplate. The paint is matte black, which looks well almost everywhere and it is hard to scratch. The chassis and panels are made out of thin SECC steel and the case has a plastic front. Just as large as any normal ATX midi tower, it can house 4 visible 5.25” drives and a single visible 3.5” drive. The bundle you will find inside the case is basic; just the needed screws and stand-offs and a small guide for connecting the front USB ports to your motherboard. There are no accessories and a distinct lack of a proper manual. That said, the chassis is so basic we doubt we will need any.

The front panel is the most interesting part of the Bergwind II. The front USB and audio ports are not hidden and are placed right next to the power button, just below the 3.5” slot. The placement is convenient, however we would like to see them hidden behind a typical door. The power and reset buttons are chromed plastic, with the power button encircled by an LED, creating a ring around it. The Bergwind II also provides one 5.25” faceplate cover for any optical drive, so that a white optical drive won’t ruin the aesthetics of your system.

The side panel of the Bergwind II has no fans installed, but it has a funnel placed for the CPU fan to draw in cool air by itself. This aids the cooling of the CPU but not of the rest components around it. However, most of the lower left part of the side panel is perforated, providing some passive airflow to the rest of the components inside the case. The side panels are held in place with two thumb screws. A small dent can be seen at the top of the case, which unfortunately occurred during shipping. The thin SECC steel panels unfortunately cannot withstand much abuse, so if you leave your computer in an exposed position this may not be an ideal chassis to shortlist.

At the rear of the case a normal 80mm fan is mounted. The fan is made by Spire as well and it is not a loud fan, but not a silent one either, providing enough airflow to keep a typical PC cool enough. You can also mount 92mm or a 120mm at the same slot to increase the cooling properties of the case. At the bottom of the case there is also a small area which is perforated, for the case to draw air from below as well. There are no PCI slot locks, you have to mount your expansion cards the classic way, i.e. screw them in place.

The drives need to be installed with screws as well, as there are no drive rails. The drive cage can hold seven 3.5” devices total. An 80mm fan can be mounted at the front of the case to aid with the cooling of the drives but there is none installed from the factory. All edges inside the case are rounded; we could not find any sharp edges which is a good indication of attention to detail.

The cables present inside the Bergwind II are only the necessary cables for the front USB and Audio ports, LEDs, speaker and switches. They are long enough to reach anywhere inside the case and they won’t disrupt airflow too much.

Installing a basic system in the Bergwind II was very easy. There is plenty of room to work inside the case and spaces to hide cables at. We encountered no problems at all, save perhaps the annoyance that the PCI bracket covers offer while trying to remove them; you will have to break them off and you cannot re-use them.