With the FC8 Evo from Streacom
you get a good looking, compact case, which measures just 240mm (W) x
250mm (D) x 100mm (H) and weighs 2.5 kilogram. On the inside, there is
space for motherboards with MiniITX form factor. It's important to know
that only certain MiniITX motherboards are compatible to this case. To
be a bit more precise on this point: there are MiniITX boards which have
the socket centered on the motherboard, like the ASUS Maximus VII Impact
for example, or there are boards where the socket is closer to the
bottom edge, like for instance the Gigabyte GA-Z87N WiFi we've been
using for this review. Compatible are only the boards, which have the
socket closer to the bottom edge. Maybe Streacom will offer a different
set of heatpipes in order to make the case (actually the cooler)
compatible with motherboards, where the socket is centered.
If we start looking at the front panel as well as all the side walls and
bottom plate in general we find rather thick aluminum plates. The right
side acts as CPU cooler and as we already mentioned it should be
capable of removing up to 95 Watt of heat. Having another look at the
front, we find space for a slot-in drive and apart from that there is a
power button in the bottom left corner as well as two USB 3.0 headers
and an IR receiver in the bottom right corner.
Turning the case around reveals the back, where there is a half-height
expansion slot as well as the usual cut-out for the I/O shield. A closer
look at the portfolio of Streacom shows, they're not offering any case,
that is compatible with full-size expansion cards. We would actually
love to find such a case, since it would further increase cooling
capacity and also allow for completely different fields of application.
The bottom of this case is equipped with four solid feet and furthermore
there are quite a few ventilation holes, which are there for improved
convection. It's also good to see that below the massive cooling block
on the right side, there is a cut-out, which is also there for
appropriate convection and therefore improved cooling.
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