Newance Triplecone - This review uses custom javascript for images
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Interior Design
The interior of the
case is pretty much different from most of the cases
out there, yet it will look extremely familiar to those
that have seen other reversed design cases, such as
the Silvation. The PSU compartment still lies on top
of the case, but the HDD bays are directly beneath it
and the motherboard mounts upside down. This makes the
case considerably taller and longer than most midi tower
cases, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The most
notable part of the interior is probably the so-called
wind tunnel. The wind tunnel is a plastic funnel covering
everything between the intake fan and an optional exhaust
fan, isolating from the rest of the case and creating
a constant airflow through there.
The wind tunnel, as
you can already guess, covers most of the top part of
the motherboard and is mostly aimed on isolating processor
heat. There is an included accessory for dual CPU E-ATX
motherboards too, since the case can support them. Newance
provides the intake 120mm fan, which is a silent Young
Lin Tech fan. You can add an 120mm exhaust fan at the
end of the wind tunnel and another 80mm fan above the
wind tunnel at the front of the case, as an intake.
The rest of the case could use the airflow as well,
so the extra 80mm fan is recommended.
The PSU compartment
of the case is different than most, with the HDD cage
below the PSU. The PSU slides in from behind, although
the case is very large and can easily go in place from
the side as well. The PSU stands on two rubber stand-offs,
which will absorb any vibrations from it, lowering the
noise. The HDDs are mounted sideways beneath the PSU.
Some may not like the absence of a cooling fan for the
drives, but some more experienced eyes will notice that
the drives are directly in the airflow of the bottom
cooling fan of the PSU (given that the PSU has one of
course!). There is also a chassis intrusion switch,
for the motherboards that support it.
The inside of the case also has
quite a bunch of cables there. Except the usual power/reset
button and LED light cables, there are the audio cables
for the front microphone and headphones jacks, along
with the front USB and firewire cable. There are also
three fan cables and three thermal sensors though, which
are from the front LCD panel of the case, for monitoring
three temperatures and adjusting three fans accordingly.
Final
words and conclusion
The Triplecone is a very nicely built case, with attention
to details and a very innovative design. The sturdiness
of the case is excellent, as the chassis is very stable
and sturdy. What I like about the Triplecone most however
is not the design, is the size. The case is large enough
for quite a bit of applications, ranging from server
use to internal heavy watercooling kits mounting. A
small watercooling kit with a single fan radiator can
fit whole at the lower front of the Triplecone, without
any modding at all. What I did not like about the case
however is the range from the PSU down to the motherboard.
As you can guess, moving down a drive case and down
a whole reversed motherboard is quite a way, so that
rules most cheap/average PSUs out as the ATX cable has
to be very long to begin with. So let us sum up:
Pros:
Innovative "Loudspeaker" appearance
Very well built, tough and sturdy
Can take up to five optical drives and eight disk
drives
Metallic drive rails
Front LCD monitoring panel and fan controller
The wind tunnel can significantly improve air cooling
performance
Included wood color faceplate
Can take E-ATX motherboards
Cons:
Long distance between the PSU and the motherboard
Do take note that the long distance between the PSU
and the motherboard is not a minor problem, as it can
render most PSUs available currently useless for installation
in this case without extension cables. You should make
sure that your PSU cables will be long enough prior
to settling with this case! If you have a quality PSU
however, it will most likely be fine.
My thanks to Dorothee Renger (Listan DE, public relations)
for providing us the current review sample for the needs
of this review.
