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Cubitek XL Tank Mid-Tower Case Reviewed


Nemo

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With the growth of the self contained cooler I am surprised to see a case maker basically create a case that is not designed to make use of it. This is not even mentioning the use of a 240mm radiator with traditional liquid cooling. To me this should be a ding for this case especially at this price point. I mean to have to get creative to use a pretty much standard fair cooling system is just not a good thing in a $150+ case.

 

I am not sure I would risk a 120/140 adapter for a radiator, they are only plastic and you do not get the long pass through option that allows the cases steel frame to support the weight.

 

Don't get me wrong I think the review is well done but not sure I agree with giving a case at the $150+ price range a gold rating when it cannot out of the box make use of some of the cooling methods that are now almost standard with that range of PC builds.

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$189 + no painted interior + no side panel ventilation + no side panel window (nay not even nary the option) = fail.

 

I appreciate the apparent craftsmanship and the all aluminum design, but to overlook such small things in an almost $200 dollar case just doesn't fly with me. I have to tack that on to CE's comments about the fan sizing decisions.

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With the growth of the self contained cooler I am surprised to see a case maker basically create a case that is not designed to make use of it. This is not even mentioning the use of a 240mm radiator with traditional liquid cooling. To me this should be a ding for this case especially at this price point. I mean to have to get creative to use a pretty much standard fair cooling system is just not a good thing in a $150+ case.

 

I am not sure I would risk a 120/140 adapter for a radiator, they are only plastic and you do not get the long pass through option that allows the cases steel frame to support the weight.

 

Don't get me wrong I think the review is well done but not sure I agree with giving a case at the $150+ price range a gold rating when it cannot out of the box make use of some of the cooling methods that are now almost standard with that range of PC builds.

 

While I do completely understand your self-contained WC unit boom point-of-view on the absence of 120mm mounting holes. I still do have to disagree with your custom water crowd thought! My reason is simple, bigger radiators usually offer improved cooling, and custom WC enthusiast will not really mind that he has to buy a 280mm radiator for this case ;)

 

But, to install one of the Corsair or Antec units, A 140mm fan w/ 120mm holes is all you would need...well that and a 6-32 screw for the rad side. Attach the rad to the fan thru the 120mm holes 1st, then install the fan as normal with the included fan screws to the case. You don't have the long pass through, no! But, that installation setup will hold w/o and probs :biggrin: If you must have the long 6-32 pass through, drilling 4 or 8 ( depending on rad size ) small holes would also solve this.

 

I also do understand why you guys feel like the price is high! I guess I just agree that this case is being marketed with the likes of Lian Li on the quality, for considerably less! I mean search around for a Lian Li case that offers everything this case does, and see how much more the price tag is :whistling: Maybe I'm just blinded by the all aluminum stealth look it has :P

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The brackets that mount the top 140mm fans don't have holes for anything but the 140mm fan otherwise there would be excess metal going over top of the fan for the added 120mm support. If you get creative then you could just as easily fab your own metal brackets with stuff you could pick up at home depot and a drill. I hadn't taken into consideration that the inability to mount a 120mm radiator as a con since I don't tend to take support for it into account. However if you don't mind modding a case, and trust me a Lian-Li PC-70 requires a lot more modding than this would need to accept a 120mm radiator, then it really shouldn't be a problem. I probably should have added cons for the lack of a side panel window or even ventilation for that matter in a sub $200 case.

 

Don't get me wrong I think the review is well done but not sure I agree with giving a case at the $150+ price range a gold rating when it cannot out of the box make use of some of the cooling methods that are now almost standard with that range of PC builds.

So basically if I'm understanding you correctly here, you are saying that water cooling is a standard in the $150+ price range. When I bought my first Lian-LI it was over $200 in price and offered no such thing as top mount radiator support out of the box. Support could be provided if you bought an aftermarket top panel or if you got creative like me and made it yourself. While this case does not have support out of the box for this it would be a lot easier to modify to add it on than most other cases that do not include support. And really calling it a 'standard' is laughable. Watercooling is reserved for those of us who have the extra cash to dole out and want the bragging rights that come with having setup a watercooling system. Go cheap on it and you risk your whole system. Good solid waterblocks are not cheap and generally do not support more than one socket. Air cooling on the other hand is standard and they definitely did not skimp on fans with this case.

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Comp, regardless it was an excellent review. Thank you. I understand that being a Reviewer is a passion of pain and love :)

 

And always remember that detractions or negative comments are (or at least should be) always directed at/to the hardware being reviewed.

 

It's tough when you have to add Pros/Cons to the review to summarize and close out the report, Sometimes these can be very subjective and unfortunately

not everyone is going to agree.

 

But again, thanks for the great review.

 

On the side panel ventilation...... for an enthusiast class case this is almost a must for anyone running one, two or three of today's top dog video cards. The influx of outside air in, around and through the cards during operation can really help cool things down.

 

Guess it becomes a moot point for those that water cool their gpus, but of course many don't.

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So basically if I'm understanding you correctly here, you are saying that water cooling is a standard in the $150+ price range. When I bought my first Lian-LI it was over $200 in price and offered no such thing as top mount radiator support out of the box. Support could be provided if you bought an aftermarket top panel or if you got creative like me and made it yourself. While this case does not have support out of the box for this it would be a lot easier to modify to add it on than most other cases that do not include support. And really calling it a 'standard' is laughable. Watercooling is reserved for those of us who have the extra cash to dole out and want the bragging rights that come with having setup a watercooling system. Go cheap on it and you risk your whole system. Good solid waterblocks are not cheap and generally do not support more than one socket. Air cooling on the other hand is standard and they definitely did not skimp on fans with this case.

 

First Comp please do not take my opinion here as a slight on your review, I thought you did a good job.

 

I am not saying water cooling is standard, I am saying that there is a growing trend toward the self contained units, especially when a person is paying upwards of $150 for the case. The H60 and 620 are both great options for providing higher level cooling at very low noise. Plus the slef contained systems offer a much easier solution when you work a lot in the case.

 

If this was an older design that has been around for a few years then this choice of the 140mm fans without the option to switch easily to 102mm would make sense. However a new design that does not take these new and growing options into account is just an example of engineers that do not build PCs very often. A sad trend we see in a lot of case designs. I mean to not offer these options for cooling is as silly as not having the ability to put in an SSD already built into the design.

 

As for the pricing I get that pure aluminum construction is expensive. However at the end of the day in my opinion this deserved a silver more than a gold.

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