In-Win GT1 Case Review: Fighting an Uphill Battle
by Dustin Sklavos on March 8, 2013 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- In-Win
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing
When testing the In-Win GT1, expected performance isn't really relevant. The bottom line here is that In-Win has to beat Antec's GX700 because unless the user specifically needs the hotswap bay, the GX700's lower price and smarter fan controller are going to be a better draw.
There's an important note that needs to be made when comparing the GT1's results to previous test results. I've endeavored to get the new motherboard to produce thermal results nigh identical to the old one's, but motherboards can be quirky creatures. In my testing, I've found that while almost all results are comparable between the new bed and the old one, the margin of error on CPU thermals increases by about 2C when comparing to the old board. The new board also polls the core temperatures more frequently, which results in a notably lower overall idle temperature measurement, so keep that in mind. Idle temps on the CPU generally aren't a huge deal unless the delta is over 10C (which basically never happens), but this is worth noting nonetheless.
Ambient temperature for testing hovered around 22C, and the GT1 was tested with both fan settings.
At its turbo setting, the GT1's CPU thermals are competitive with the GX700's best, but everything else is pretty much a wash. Unfortunately, the turbo setting also takes its toll on acoustics.
At its loudest the GX700 is still mighty efficient, while the GT1 produces a heck of a racket. The fact is that the GT1 just doesn't possess the cooling power to compete with the pair of 140mm fans in the top of the GX700.
The overclocked settings don't really help the situation.
At its turbo setting, the GT1 is competitive; at its silent setting, it can keep the video card cool but the CPU loses a lot of thermal headroom.
Unfortunately that "silence" setting is only good for idle noise; when the system kicks up it becomes one of the loudest we've tested. The more open air design of the GT1 does the end user no favors when it comes to noise.
Finally, I loaded the GT1 up with two GTX 580s in SLI and three hard drives to obstruct the front fans.
We don't have any comparative data yet, but we can at least say a couple of things for certain. First, the CPU actually runs cooler in this configuration than our standard overclocked one due to the blower coolers on the GTX 580s exhausting hot air instead of feeding it back into the case. Second, the GTX 580s are working hard. Top GPU temperatures were actually roughly the same between the two cards because they were both hitting thermal limits at around 92C-93C.
And the noise levels tell the rest of the story. Once the system was placed under load, the fans on the GTX 580s swallowed everything else alive and pushed the GT1 to nearly 50 decibels. In other words, this case is loud, and while you can put two high performance cards in it, I wouldn't recommend doing so. It can only barely handle this kind of configuration.
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MadMan007 - Friday, March 8, 2013 - link
This thing was beaten with an ugly stick from the future.I'm not against angular and showy designs existing even if they aren't for me, but this one is just too inconsistent as if the design team was actually four different teams, each assigned to one section, whose designs were then mashed together.
CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
Awesome case, this is the one to buy.All the stupid little complaints are just that, stupid and little.
If it wasn't all black I'd buy two.
The unnotched spot in the drive bay is for any custom install one needs- perfect.
One usb3 up front is fine, there's 2 usb2 and that's what most people have a ton of, depite the elite smarm face the techies here get when they cry and whine about every dollar, indicating usb3 items are something they have NOT AT ALL.
Great case, great price, I really love the whining about it, it's just such excellent entertainment.
I'd wager 90% of the people here see much uglier when they look in the mirror, compared to looking at the case, and yes that does say something about them, lol
Hypocrite, self flagellating.
AWESOME case - if you need more than 6 internal drive bays, you're a stupid freak.
CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
Oh goody, it comes in storm trooper white...http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/CES-2013-Antec...
BOUGHT !
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
Major advantages over the crappy antex gx700:1. Good metal, sturdy
2. Hot swap sata bay on top
3. On off on top not middle
4. Top 5.25 accessible not filled with wiring
5. Good 3.5 drive trays just the right flexibility
6. Clear side window ( for all the crybabies about how a motherboard or video card looks, this HAS to be a 300%+ WIN. (of course whiners are not consistent and are so braindead, they usually don't notice how they completely contradict themselves all the time)
7. Removable mid internal tray for long video cards.
8. wins stock cpu temps
9. better on drive temps
Yes, I don't see really what the problem is other than the lemmings who go along with the reviewer like blind rats.
If any complaint is valid, it's the lack of lots of space for cable hiding - that's it.
This case stomps the stupid gx700 into the ground.
hbycr1 - Saturday, April 11, 2015 - link
i bought this case and there's nothing wrong with it.. Everything fits properly if you buy compatible parts.. I think you're just looking for something to complain about.lwatcdr - Friday, March 8, 2013 - link
Lets face it drives are huge today. Unless your building a NAS you do not need 7 drive bays, Frankly you do not need 6 3.5 drive bays.If you someone was going to build a really hot machine today they would probably go with two SSDs in RAID0 for the System drive and maybe two 4Gb HDDs in RAID 1 for data.
I agree about only one USB 3 is a deal breaker.
If I was going to make a version 2 of this case I would
Drop the hot dock on top.
2 USB3 ports
Room in the top for an H110
140mm exhaust fan
shaolin95 - Friday, March 8, 2013 - link
You dont need 7 drive bays, really? So because YOU dont need it the rest of the world is the same right?Skidmarks - Friday, March 8, 2013 - link
This case is targeted at gamers. Do you know any gamers that need 7 drives?CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
I have some nutball stupid friends that drool because they have harddrives - and always have to show how they add them over their home lan, it's like a retarded addiction.One example, like 5.6 terabytes of HD space, with 4.2 terabytes free, and the doof wants more harddrives - people have an insane sort of addiction there - a lot of them do - and the older wackadoos think cookies and internet surfing takes up all their memory (that's harddrive space to them, memory - since it "remembers" stuff when the computer is turned off.
I agree though, whining about 6 internal bays is rather crazy.
Omega215D - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
You really are a retarded fuck.