Spire Ridge 6602B Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 17.07.14
The Spire Ridge 6602B is a seriously low priced case with a rather aggressive design. With this product Spires wants to attract gamer who are looking a new home for their hardware that doesn't burn a hole into their pocket. What this case has to offer, that we will show on the following pages.
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Today, we will be checking out the latest mid-tower case from Spire, the Ridge 6602B.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |
Preview
Specifications
| Model | Ridge 6602 |
| Case Type | Mid-tower |
| Dimensions | 415 x 192 x 418 mm, 4.30 kg |
| Material | SGCC, plastic |
| Color | Black |
| 5.25'' drive bay | 2 |
| 3.5'' drive bay | 4 |
| Expansion slots | 7 |
| Form factors | ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX |
| Cooling |
Front: 1x 120mm (Included) Rear: 1x 120mm (Included) |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |
Bundle
Overview |
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| The Spire Ridge 6602B bundle is pretty straight-forward. The actual box is made out of cardboard with all the basic information is printed on it. Inside, we found the Ridge 6602B wrapped up in a plastic bag, and safely placed inside two big pieces of styrofoam, so that even the roughest shipping will not leave a dent in it. Along with the case itself, the bundle also includes an the instruction manual, which is always helpful, and a few other things like plastic bags with enough screws needed to assemble your system, zip-ties and a speaker. | |||
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |
Product overview
Overview |
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The Spire Ridge 6602B is a mid-tower case featuring a huge front mesh and rather edgy lines. The front has three 5.25" slots devoted to the installation of optical drives and fan controllers. Both side panels share the same style with debossed sharp and box shape. The upper part of the case, however, is very simple without any mesh or slot for fans. The connections are located on the front and you get a single USB 3.0 port, single USB 2.0 ports and a mini audio panel. The Ridge 6602B is a case made for entry-level systems equipped with moderately sized graphics card and systems which will not need an exceptional cooling solutions. |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |
Installation
Overview |
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| Despite its rather compact size, the inside of the Ridge 6602B can house an ATX form-factor motherboard, in addition to the mATX and mini-ITX form factor. The two points that you will notice right away in this model are the lacks of the classic hole for easier installation of the large heatsinks and the placement of the power supply. Since there is no hole for the installation of the backplate, you will need to remove the motherboard in case you want to mount any better CPU cooler. The HDDs and SSDs are placed in the cages that are not removable and not rotated, so if you use an ATX system with longer graphics card, you could run into some problems with the wiring. As mentioned previously, the power supply is positioned at the top of the case with fan facing inside and to the CPU. The motherboard tray includes a few holes, which are unfortunately not rubberized, and which allow some cable management. |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |
Ventilation options
Overview |
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| As far as cooling is concerned, the Ridge 6602B provides enough room to install a maximum of three 120 millimeter fans. The package includes two fans with 4-pin molex connectors positioned at the front and rear of the case. Despite its small size, we were able to install a medium size CPU cooler. | |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| The Spire Ridge 6602B is a cheap entry-level case aimed to be used for low-end or office systems. Despite its affordable price we believe that there are still some aspects that could be improved, such as ventilation, the placement of the power supply and the management of the internal space. |
- Bundle -Price |
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| Manufacturing quality / Ergonomics | + | - | |
| The Spire Ridge 6602B is made of black painted SGCC of good quality, internally and externally. Although the side panels are quite light and thin, which is never a good sign, we did not observe any sharp edges. As for the mounting, the Spire Ridge 6602B does not feature a standard motherboard cut-out for the CPU cooler backplate mounting and we detected some problems during the placement of the ATX motherboard in our case. During the installation, we rubbed the motherboard PCB in several places against the HDD cages of the Ridge 6602B. Another aspect that could be improved is the retention kit for HDDs and SSDs. The case offers few holes for routing of cables but as you can see from our pictures, those end up covered by the mainboard. |
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- No backplate window - Space | |
| Design | + | - | |
| Of course, the design is always a matter of taste. In our opinion, the Ridge 6602B has a rather eye-catching design with angular and non-regular lines but we think you definitely have to like it. Regarding the cooling, since the power supply is positioned at the top of the case, we would like to find a mesh or a fan for the cooling of the upper components. The fans installed do not use the classic 3-pin header but are powered via molex. | - Design |
- PSU on top
- Cooling |
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| Recommendation | + | - | |
| The price of the Spire Ridge 6602B is set at about 25 euro excluding VAT on the official manufacturer website. In our opinion, the price is perfectly aligned with the features and quality of the product. This model would be suitable for entry level systems, but we believe it is more suitable for office systems or for casual gamers. In case of office systems we would prefer to see more decent design. | -
Casual Gamer |
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| Rating | |||
| The Spire Ridge 6602B gets good 2.5 out of 5 stars. | |||
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Installation |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Ventilation options |
| Page 3 - Bundle | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Product overview |