Cubitek Has Big Aluminum Case Plans for 2012

[siopao1984]

---

Cubitek wants to play in the big league of premium all-aluminum PC cases, targeting almost every consumer form-factor: ATX mid-tower, EATX full-tower, HPATX, micro-ATX, and even mini-ITX. All part of the company's new ICE series, these cases will be fabricated with extruded aluminum that's as much as 3 mm thick in some parts, making the cases both sturdy, and radiate heat better. We got to take a peak at each of these

The series starts off with the most common PC form-factor, the ATX mid-tower. The ATX Ice is larger than most mid-towers, treading very close to being categorized a full-tower. It measures 230 x 508.5 x 513 mm (WxHxD), weighing in at 7.1 kg (net.). As mentioned earlier, Cubitek designed these cases with aluminum sheets as thick as 3 mm to give them the sturdiness of 1 mm thick SECC steel.

Pictured above is the main facade. You can find four exposed 5.25-inch drive bays, and a dust-protected inlet for the 200 mm intake fan. You can also get an idea of the outer texture of the aluminum body, dark brushed aluminum.

The internals don't used anodized aluminum, rather exposed. This helps with radiating heat. Although some cable management holes are rubber-valved, there are some wide open holes, such as the one next to the PSU bay, a cutout over the CPU socket area (to help with handling coolers with backplates), and one on the top-left corner of the motherboard tray (for CPU power capbles. You can immediately tell that Cubitek's Ice cases are not tool-free.

There's nothing "loud" about the rear panel. You find the usual PSU bay at the bottom, a 120 mm grilled fan exhaust, two rubber-valved holes for water cooling tubing, and the expansion slot bays. Beating the ATX specification, there are eight bays instead of seven. This should help with multi-graphics card setups in which one of the graphics cards occupies the bottom-most expansion slot of an ATX motherboard.

Read more: Cubitek Has Big Aluminum Case Plans for 2012 by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

The EATX Ice is for bigger systems, and 2P workstations, as most 2P workstation motherboards these days come in the EATX (extended ATX) form-factor. With EATX, it's not the height of the case that stands to increase compared to ATX, but rather its depth. This case measures 230 x 518.5 x 583 mm (W x H x D), weighing 8.2 kg.



Its front-side is just a slightly taller version of the ATX Ice, there's an extra 5.25-inch drive bay thrown in there. On the top side, you can find two exhausts, the ATX Ice has just one.



Although a well-intentioned EATX case design so far, Cubitek fumbled with the CPU cooler cutouts on the motherboard tray, there's just one, making having the cutout useless for people with 2P motherboards. You can notice that the 3.5-inch drive bays are partitioned into three sets of three bays each. The top set can be detached making even more room for long expansion cards than EATX cases naturally come aplenty with. The third set is detachable, too, it's supposed to be located next to the PSU bay.



The rear panel is as uneventful as the one on the ATX Ice.

[siopao1984]

HPTX Ice is the largest case in the series. It's designed for motherboards of nearly any shape an size, be it longer EATX, taller XL-ATX, or a combination of both - HPTX. The extra room can be used for pretty much anything your imagination comes up with - large cooling assemblies, large storage arrays, large liquid reservoirs or radiators, etc. This tank measures 230 x 559 x 613 mm (W x H x D), weighing in at 8.9 kg.



As large as it seems, this case has the same number of 5.25-inch bays as the EATX Ice - five. Then there's the usual 200 mm fan intake. On the top, there are two 120 mm fan exhausts, again just like the EATX Ice.



Now we're talking. Just look at that tray, peppered with mount holes, large cutouts, and valved cutouts. Like with the EATX Ice, this case has split 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive bays. The stack closest to the front intake consists of two sets, the top one has three bays, the one below has four, among which the bottommost bay is natively 2.5-inch capable. The top movable set can be reattached next to the PSU bay at the bottom, making room for...I don't know...an expansion card the length of a kid's Cricket bat?



To be XL-ATX capable, a case needs to have at least ten expansion slot bays. This case meets that basic requirement. The rest of the rear panel is just that - basic. Cubitek could have easily added more valved holes for liquid cooling tubing.

[siopao1984]

After the three mucho large cases, we move on to the more compact ones, starting with Micro Ice, designed for motherboards in the micro-ATX form-factor, and smaller. Many case designers mess up micro ATX, because they work on the assumption that micro ATX motherboards are smaller both lengthwise, and heightwise, ignoring the fact that micro ATX motherboards, particularly the high-end ones (such as ASUS ROG GENE series), make full use of the micro ATX board area specification: 240 x 240 mm. Thankfully, Cubitek's designers were mindful of that, when sketching up this roomy case that measures 230 x 448.5 x 513 mm (W x H x D), weighing 6.6 kg.



Although met with obvious size limitations, Cubitek Micro Ice still makes room for a large 200 mm front intake fan. There are three exposed 5.25-inch drive bays, on the top you can see just the one 120 mm exhaust.



The motherboard tray is quite spacious, with room to spare even with 240 mm long micro ATX motherboards installed. There's the usual set of cutouts. Although the micro ATX specification dictates four expansion slot bays, this case has five, so you could go ahead with installing a double-slot graphics card on the bottommost expansion card slot. There are six 3.5-inch drive bays, one of these can be converted to two 2.5-inch bays for your SSDs.



Except for the number of expansion slot bays, everything else is the same with rear panels across the Cubitek Ice series, so far.

[siopao1984]

Lastly, Cubitek didn't miss out on the emerging mini ITX form-factor. Mini ITX is a hit with emerging markets, not just because of prices, but even because you can end up with smaller PCs in general. Gotta leave room for a million other things in that urban crib. Measuring 230 x 338.5 x 363 mm, the Cubitek Mini Ice weighs 4 kg.



The case is so small that the large front intake featured on other Ice cases couldn't make it. Instead, there is a side 120 mm intake, apart from a top 140 mm exhaust. The intake builds up positive air pressure in the case. The only exposed drive bay is a 5.25-inch one.



Apart from the top exhaust, the Cubitek Mini Ice comes with a bottom-mounted 140 mm intake fan. There are four 2.5-inch drive bays, from which one can be converted to two 2.5-inch bays. The drive bay cage is detachable. The PSU and the motherboard will be oriented parallel to the plane of each other in this case.



The PSU bay is detachable, so you could tilt the orientation of the PSU (in case the PSU has a bottom intake fan instead of a rear exhaust). The PSU can then be oriented to draw in air from the 120 mm fan intake on the side panel. There's still room for two valved tube holes. Like with every other Cubitek Ice case, there's one expansion slot bay extra over specification. So you can use a beefy graphics card on the lone expansion slot of your mini ITX motherboard.

The top panels of all Cubitek Ice cases consist of two USB 3.0 ports (with USB 3.0 standard front-panel header), two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and audio jacks. The front of all these cases have basic power/reset buttons.

Cubitek will start manufacturing these cases later this week, which will then start appearing on shelves in January 2012. Pricing is being finalized.