Streacom FC08 Evo Review
Category : Cases
Published by Marc Büchel on 26.08.14
With the FC08 Evo, Streacom has a case in its portfolio which allows for completely passive cooled HTPCs or office PCs. Apart from that you can even assemble quite powerful rigs, since the cooling should be capable of removing up to 95 Watt of heat. At this point we're really curious to see what this case is like using.
The FC8 Evo from Streacom is a case that allows
for 100 percent passive cooled systems. It doesn't matter if you want to build an
HTPC or an exclusive desktop system. Streacom claims that this case should be
able to keep CPU with up to 95 Watt TDP at decent temperatures. On the following
pages we're going to have a closer look and we also want to find out if the
FC8 Evo is capable of providing a Core i7-4770K with sufficient cooling.
[pagebreak]
Preview
Specifications
| Model |
Streacom FC8 Evo |
| Case Type |
HTPC |
| Dimensions |
240mm (W) x 250mm (D) x 100mm (H), 2.5 kg |
| Material |
Aluminium |
| Color |
Black / Silver |
| 5.25'' drive
bay |
1 (slot-in) |
| 3.5'' drive bay |
1 |
| 2.5'' drive bay |
1 |
| Expansion
slots |
2 |
| Form factors |
Mini-ITX |
| Cooling |
Passive
|
| Power
supply |
Nano PSU |
[pagebreak]
Bundle
Overview |
|
| Taking a closer look at the
delivery reveals a cardboard box and inside, there is the case enclosed
in a cloth bag wrapped in styrofoam. Apart from that there is also
the very detailed manual which guides you through the installation.
Inside the case there are lots of accessories. Since this case acts as
a CPU cooler you will find all the parts necessary to connect the CPU
to the right side of the enclosure.
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[pagebreak]
Product overview
Overview |
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|
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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[pagebreak]
Installation
Overview |
|
| |
As always
we're also having a closer look at the interior at the point. As we
already mentioned, this is a case with half-height form factor and
therefore everything is very compact and densely packed. Basically this
case consists of two layers, where the board goes in the bottom and
SSD/HDD/ODD (ODD = optical disk drive) are installed on a carrier plate close to the top. There is
actually space for an SSD as well as an ODD or quite a few other
combinations, like for example HDD on the bottom side of the carriage
and SSD on the top side. If you start building your system it's
recommended to first stick the nuts to the motherboard. After that you
screw the motherboard to the stand-offs. Once this is done you need to
check if the NanoPSU fits underneath the cooler. This is only the case
with motherboard that have the ATX power connector at the top edge of
the board. If you find sufficient clearance, you can go a head and place
the cooler on the CPU and fix it with the screws in the delivery. In a
worst case scenario you might have to bend the heatpipes by a little
bit. Doing so you need to be very careful. Now it's time to screw the
heatpipes to the side panel. For that purpose make sure you use a decent
amount of thermal compound but at the same time don't use too much,
since you would be making a mess in this case.
Installation as well as assembly of the FC8 Evo from Streacom can take
quite some time. If you buy this case and you assemble everything on your
own, make sure you take your time to do everything perfectly right.
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[pagebreak]
Cooling
Overview |
| |
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|
| The best part about this
case is obviously the cooling. As we already mentioned, the right side of
the case acts as a passive cooler for the CPU. Streacom is using
heatpipes to transport the heat from the CPU to this massive aluminum
profile. By using two small aluminum blocks and four screws as well as quite a decent
portion of thermal compound the heatpipes establish perfect touch with
the cooling block (aka the right side of the case). Streacom claims that this case can handle CPUs with
up to 95 Watt TDP. This means that the FC8 Evo should be capable of
adequately cooling an Intel Core i7-4770K processor with four cores and
eight threads, and this particular model we're using here features a TDP of 84 Watt.
When we were running prime95 we noticed that after 15 min the CPU
temperature hit 100 °C and apart from that the processor started to
throttle. When using this system as an office PC the temperatures rarely
went past 70 °C. In order to make the CPU go past that mark you have to
encode videos for quite some time. It was also interesting to see that
running wPrime 2.10 didn't make the CPU run hotter than 78 °C, which is
basically perfectly alright. If you don't run ultra heavy loads 24/7 the
cooling the FC8 Evo offers is definitely sufficient.
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Test Setup
| Case |
Streacom FC8 Evo |
| Processor |
Intel Core i7-4770K |
| Memory |
Corsair Dominator 16GB |
| Graphics
card |
IGP |
| Storage |
OCZ Arc 100 240GB SSD |
| Power
Supply |
Streacom Nano150PSU |
| Operating
System |
Windows 7 64 Bit |
| Software |
|
| Ambient
temperature |
23 °C |
Temperatures |
|
|
Streacom FC8 Evo |
Intel Stock Cooler |
|
CPU Idle (FC8 Evo) |
48 °C |
39 °C |
|
CPU Load - wPrime 2.10 (FC8 Evo) |
78 °C |
70 °C |
|
CPU Load - 15min prime95 (FC8 Evo) |
100 °C |
97 °C |
Running our
test system in idle meant the CPU was at 48 °C, which is perfectly ok,
considering the passive cooling environment. Once we execute wPrime 2.10 the
temperature is climbing to 78 °C, which is actually the average over all four
cores. Also this value is alright. When runnig prime95 for 15 minutes we
recorded a CPU temperature of 100 °C, which is definitely high and the CPU
started throttling.
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
| General |
|
+ |
- |
| The FC08 from Streacom is
one of the best HTPC cases money can buy these days, especially if
you're looking for a passive cooled solution. The cooling is
surprisingly effective. There is only the circumstantial assembly we
would like to see improved after all. Despite the fact, that this a very
compact case, you can install HDD plus SSD, but at the same time you
would be sacrificing the ODD slot. In the end there are several
different possible configurations when it comes to how to combine SSD,
HDD and ODD. A system based on this case is definitely a great addition
to any home theatre setup. Alternatively you can also build an
exceptionally sleek looking office PC or to a certain extent even a
workstation. |
|
- Bundle
- Aluminum
|
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| Manufacturing quality / Ergonomics |
|
+ |
- |
When it comes to
build quality, there is nothing to complain about. All the parts have
been well made and there are thick aluminum plates everywhere which add
up to a very high quality feel.
As we already mentioned the installation can take quite some time,
especially if you want to have everything done in a very nice way. Part
of the reason is that the cooler requires self assembly. It would be
great if the CPU block was ready in the delivery. Apart from that this
case, or actually the cooler, is not compatible with all miniITX
motherboard available on the market. If the CPU socket is centered on
the motherboard, then there is no compatibility. In fact you need a
board like the Gigabyte GA-Z87N WiFi in, which has the socket closer to
the bottom edge of the board.
Since this case only supports expansions cards with half-height form
factor you're quite limited at this point. We would love to see a
version of this case which can take full-height expansion cards. This
would also make for even further improved cooling. |
|
- Thickness of aluminum
- Panel mounting system
|
- Time consuming installation
- Compatibility with motherboards
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| Design / Layout |
|
+ |
- |
| Apart from the
carrier plate for SSD/HDD/ODD, Streacom only uses aluminum to build the
FC8 Evo. That fact that there are thick aluminum plates in place, largely
add
to the very solid and very high quality feel. If we had a wish free we
would like to see Streacom lap the edges a little bit more. This would
add even more to the quality feel. Apart from that look and feel are
simply outstanding. |
|
- Design
- Build quality
|
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| |
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| Recommendation |
|
+ |
- |
| Should you be looking for a case to build a completely
passive cooled system, then the FC8 Evo from Streacom might be just
perfect for you. It doesn't matter if you want silence for your home
theatre or in your nice and sleek office environment. This case offers
plenty of passive cooling in both use cases. If we start looking for
prices we find the FC8 Evo on Geizhals for 144 Euro. Since this case is
only compatible with Nano PSUs you will also have to buy one of theses.
The Streacom Nano 150PSU we've been using in this review will add to the
price with another 88 Euro. |
|
-
Office-PC
- HTPC
- Silent-PC
|
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| Rating |
|
The
Streacom
FC8 Evo gets good
4 out of 5 stars. |
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