Enermax SteelWing Small Form Factor PC Chassis: Aluminum and Glass, $160
by Anton Shilov on November 1, 2016 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Enermax
- mATX
- SFX
- SteelWing
Enermax has started shipments of its new SteelWing chassis this week, designed specifically for small form-factor desktop PCs. The new PC case is made of aluminum and tempered glass, it has an extravagant yet capacious design with advanced ventilation and can fit in a custom liquid cooling system, a high-end graphics card and a powerful processor. The SteelWing is essentially designed to be an aesthetic centerpiece.
The Enermax SteelWing (ECB2010) chassis can accommodate an mATX or a Mini-ITX motherboard, a typical full-height high-end graphics card (up to 290 mm in length), one SFX PSU, as well as two or more 2.5"/3.5" storage devices (one 2.5"/3.5" SSD or HDD can be installed next to the case fan, but only if the space is not used by an LCS radiator). The PC case uses a semi-open design featuring seven aluminum plates as well as one 120-mm fan to ensure proper airflow in the constrained space of the SteelWing. For front panel IO, the case also has two USB 3.0 Type-A ports as well as two 3.5 mm audio jacks on the front panel.
Enermax's press image. That graphics card looks like a banana (says Ian)
Since the PSU is located right next to the CPU, maximum height of the CPU cooler is 80 mm. This limits the choice of the cooling system to either something low-profile (Intel's stock coolers, or something like Noctua’s LH9A), or a sealed liquid-cooling system with a 120-mm radiator (such as the Enermax Liqmax II 120S). Enermax does not impose any limitations for TDP because there is enough space inside the case to house a custom liquid cooling system. As a result, the maximum SFX PSU wattage could be the only limiting factor when it comes to CPU or GPU TDP.
| Enermax SteelWing | ||
| Motherboard Size | Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | External | - |
| Internal | Front: 1 × 3.5"/2.5" if the space is not used Rear: 1 × 3.5" and 1 × 2.5" |
|
| Cooling | Front | 1 × 120 mm (included) |
| Rear | - | |
| Top | - | |
| HDD/Side | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| Radiator Support | Front | Up to 120 mm |
| Rear | - | |
| Top | - | |
| Side | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| I/O Port | 2 × USB 3.0, 1 × Headphone, 1 × Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | SFX | |
| Dimensions | W: 176 mm × H: 300 mm × D: 387 mm | |
| Colors | Green: ECB2010G Red: ECB2010R |
|
| Features | Glass side panel | |
| Price | $159.99 | |
On the aesthetics end, the Enermax SteelWing has either a green or a red aluminum side panel accompanied by a green or a red 120mm fan. Such styling is clearly made to appeal to performance enthusiasts with a color coded GPU arrangement as well.
Enermax says that the SteelWing chassis are set to be available in the U.S. in the coming days for $159.99 (a tip: first at Newegg).
Source: Enermax
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rocky12345 - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
Wow talk about Video card sag and bend not cool. To me this whole setup is ugly but that is just my own opinion and this would be something not ever allowed to grace my desk. That cooling system looks totally useless but again I myself would do this whole setup completely different from what they got there in the pictures. Other may think it is smexy and that is totally up to you and your likes no fault there.bill.rookard - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
I think the case itself looks pretty decent, the setup is a little borked but sometimes putting a pretty complicated cooling system in a tiny case introduces some compromises.etamin - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
Nope, won't be bothered with having to clean a front fascia like that.ZeDestructor - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
Aaaaand like most other gaming-oriented mITX cases, they could have made the damn thing one PCI slot taller and fit a goddamn micro-ATX board in it instead.FFS case designers...
Death666Angel - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
"Motherboard Size Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX"And I count 4 PCI slot brackets. Unless you want 5 so you can have a double wide card in the 4th slot, I'm not sure what you are complaining about. :)
ZeDestructor - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
I am evidently a blind, blind man when it comes to spec sheets. Only 3 PCI brackets though, so some modding required to fit the bottom card if it needs to have things exposed to the outside world.DwayneAK - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
What's the point of putting a window on a computer where the PSU blocks the motherboard? Not to mention with this form factor it's gonna be a lot harder to make all the cables look neat through that window.Squinoogle - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
That was exactly my first thought. Enermax need to make some very pretty PSUs if they want us to be showing them off like that.The entire internal design for this case seems to have had zero though applied - utterly shocking given the price of the thing.
etamin - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
It's kind of sad that they're using Z87 for the promo image of a new product in late 2016.Valantar - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
The various ways in which this is an awful design were pretty thoroughly discussed on TechReport when they reported on the case a few weeks ago. Let's see.-PSU blocking CPU cooler (acceptable at best, but generally not good)
-A window with a view of ... the top of your PSU. What? Huh? Seriously?
-A tiny, semi-useless top fan mount in a case clearly wide enough to support 120mm fans.
-Shoddy build quality. Misaligned power buttons IN THE PRESS SHOTS? Wow. Not to mention the amazing amount of bending/sag in both the top and bottom panels of the case. How they manage this with aluminium this thick still baffles me.
-NO CABLE ROUTING. At all. In a $160 case.
-"290mm gpu space." Unless you want a radiator (which you need, due to the PSU blocking any not-awful CPU coolers). In which case you'd need a much shorter GPU.
-What's up with that "put your radiator or fan here" thingamajig in the front anyway? Why not just ditch the unnecessary aluminium frame and use a regular 120mm fan mount, with more free space inside the case? Is it for structural support? If so: wow.
-LOADS of wasted space in the top front of the case (for an ITX case, anyway). Why not mount the PSU here?
-Using an SFX PSU (which always runs hotter than ATX) while forcing it to take in air from inside a poorly ventilated (see above) case. Or if you're running a radiator, forcing it to take in air from the exhaust of the radiator.
Tl;dr: http://imgur.com/a/dqmLW courtesy of commenter Philldoe at The Tech Report.
And yeah, that GPU might be watercooled, but it sure isn't going to last long with that kind of bending. Ugh.