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InWin A3
Introduction
The InWin A series includes A1 Prime, A3, and A5 chassis. With such planning, this series covers ITX, mATX, ATX, and E-ATX motherboards to meet the needs of different consumer groups. Following the minimalistic, modern design traits of the popular InWin A1 Series, the new A3 and A5 provide new opportunities for PC builders to maximize support for larger hardware while retaining the smallest footprints. Offered are both cases in a black color scheme. They are made of aluminum and ABS plastic and feature a Tempered Glass side panel. Visually, both PC cases go for a subtle, minimalist look. With the mini-tower market so congested, finding the right case for a new build can be a minefield. With looks, value, performance, and features all being so important, today we are taking a look at the A3 and using it for a full system build. Paired with the company's Mercury AM120S fans, let's see what we can put together inside this chassis…
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Before we move on, here are the specifications as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
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Packaging & Contents
The A3 is delivered in a standard cardboard box with little to no graphical elements present. The front of the packaging has only the A3 logo printed alongside the In Win logo and name. There is a front drawing of the A3 at the back.
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The sides of the box have the complete technical specifications of the case and monochrome diagrams of the main features of the A3.
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Two sturdy Styrofoam spacers on the ends of the case hold it in place and protect it from damage during transport. On top of that, a bag keeps scratches and fingerprints away. As is customary with an InWin chassis, there is a zip lock bag with all the accessories inside the box as well. It holds a good number of sturdy zip ties, a piece of cardboard with a QR code for the digital manual, and all the small parts and screws in sealed bags.
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InWin has also included a GPU support bracket.
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A Closer Look Outside
In terms of appearance, simple design and elegance is the style. On the outside, the design is effectively minimalist. It takes up the lines of the InWin A5 with a full steel front. With dimmensions of 401 x 215 x 347 mm for 5.24 kilos uses the same design, but lengthens a little. On each side, the lines are curved to make the link with the side walls. From the side, we see a 3mm thick tinted tempered glass wall with a strong tint, but which reveals a pre-installed fan at the back of the InWIn A3. This time, there is a very practical change in the design of the left and right side covers, from the A1's push-button lock to a more convenient snap-on quick-release fixation. Both sides of the new side cover have upper buckles and lower ones. The snap tenon can be easily disassembled only by aligning and applying force.
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The right side is a solid panel that does not have ventilation holes. It is a completely closed type.
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The front panel has a simple flat design. Only the In Win logo is designed on the upper part of the center, and the finish of the matte black paint looks good. The steel panel surface is resistant to fingerprints and fingerprints, and the rounded side edges minimize the joints between the two side panels. The elaborate construction with a sense of unity is also a manifestation of the polite In Win.
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The design is continued in black and gold on the upper side. A brushed aluminum gold band embellished with the brand name.
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The I/O on the case provides 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1, 3.5mm headphone/microphone and a power button.
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The top uses a large area of ventilation holes, and this part is modularized and can be quickly disassembled.
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For easy access, the top wall is removable. Just slide it sideways to remove it. This wall is made of semi-rigid plastic. Once removed, it leaves access to a space that will be able to accommodate two 120 mm fans or a 240 mm radiator.
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The rear of the A3 case. In terms of PCIe installation slots, A3 has 4 slots, which is a little less than the 7 slots of A5. However, it should be noted that the lower two slots are designed for one-time use. To ensure the maintenance of the components that will be installed at the level of the PCIe brackets, InWIn has provided a locking system. It releases by removing a single screw. The opening for the power supply unit that should be there is missing, and instead there is a 3-pin inlet on the upper left side.
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You will find that one included Mercury AM120S ARGB fan, set to push hot air out the back. Its left hand is cut for the back panel of the motherboard.
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The InWIn A3 rests on four fairly wide feet to ensure good stability. These feet also have anti-slip pads. A space is created between the installation surface and the intake of the cooling fan. The bottom of the case also has a large filter that will protect the internal components from any intrusion of dust.
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The filter can be removed by sliding it toward the front, and it can be easily pulled out even when the PC is fully assembled, making maintenance easy. The frame has multiple openings in the shape of a hexagon. This space will be able to accommodate two 120mm fans.
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A Closer Look Inside
After removing the side cover, you can see that there is no compartment configuration inside the A3.
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In addition, the rear fan of the A3 is pre-installed with its own brand new Mercury AM120S. The accessories also provide PWM and RGB extension cables for easy installation. The motherboard is to be installed upright with the front used for storage & the PSU.
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It is partially hidden behind the front cover strip of the chassis. That plate may be removed by detaching two flush screws. It has mounting positions for the pre-installed PSU support clip and the GPU support beam found in the accessories package of the chassis.
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At the bottom, it will also be possible to accommodate two 120 mm fans and a 3.5″ hard disk.
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At the top of the case, it will be possible to house two 120 mm fans or a 240 mm radiator.
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As mentioned in the rear panel design session, the upper left corner of the rear panel is equipped with a 3-pin inlet. As you can see, the A3 uses the InWin's favorite vertical front mount for the power supply.
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There are one 3.5” and one 2.5” hard drive mounting brackets in the rear space, which are installed directly behind the motherboard, and can be easily disassembled by simply turning the screws.
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On the far left, we have a large opening through which the cables corresponding to the I/O located on the top of the case pass. In addition to being used to hide cables, there are also keyholes for the PSU and VGA support brackets on the baffle. You can adjust the support brackets according to the length of the power supply and graphics card.
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Mercury AM120S
Included with both cases, but of course also available separately, is the InWin Mercury AM120S ARGB fan. It relies, as the name suggests, on customizable RGB lighting and is supposed to work particularly quietly.
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The packaging is mostly black. In addition to the manufacturer and product logo, a large product photo and information about RGB compatibility are printed on the front.
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The manufacturer and product logo can be found on both sides while specifications take place on the back.
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In addition to the three Mercury AM120S fans, Anti-vibration pads to stick on the fan, screws, an ARGB One-Click Controller and four extension cables (2x PWM 500 mm and 2x ARGB 500 mm) are included in the scope of delivery.
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The InWin Mercury AM120S have a black frame with a white/translucent inlay, as we also find on fan blades. This is intended to emphasize the lighting effect of the InWin Mercury AM120S.
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They are ARGB and compatible with software from major motherboard brands. The impeller is covered by a full color sticker with four clean wires routed across one of the four slightly curved support beams.
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Their thickness is only 20mm.
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You will have to install rubber pads yourself.
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InWin has developed a new design for the fan blades to “smooth the airflow and balance the blade pressure”. In addition, these blades are associated with an inner frame. The airflow is thus improved, because it is leak-free and more concentrated than conventional fans.
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Each fan also has a 4-pin PWM and a 3-pin ARGB connection cable (cable length about 2.5 cm) to connect it to the next fan. The cables are 150mm. It's short, but InWin has provided extension cords for power and lighting in the accessory bag. The novelty of these Mercury AM120S is their “Lock-N-Go” system. Each connector has a tether. The two elements together guarantee a secure attachment.
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The fan speed is 400 ~ 2000RPM, the maximum air volume is 60CFM and the maximum air pressure is 2.72 mm/H2O. The noise value is controlled within 17~29 dBA. The Mercury AM120S have a lifespan of 60,000 hours MTTF.
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Installation Process & Finished Looks
The case can receive motherboards in Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX format, 162 mm high coolers and 340 mm long graphics cards.
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The power supply must be installed behind the front panel. Just remove the cover with two screws. The InWin A3 is equipped with an extension that goes from the back of the case to go to the power supply. The power cable is angled but offer plenty of height and cable length, so that you won't have to worry about the direction of that plug on your power supply.
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If the length of the power supply itself exceeds 170mm, the user can only choose a graphics card shorter than 280mm , if the power supply is between 140 – 160mm, it can support a graphics card with a length of 340mm. The drive tray removed with a single screw. The drive tray has multiple screw holes for 2.5/3.5 inches. Since the lighting of the InWin A3 is realized exclusively via the fans, it is recommended to install additional RGB fans, in our case two additional InWin Mercury AM120S.
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Performance
Our case testing involves comparing the acoustic performance of the case in several configurations with an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler installed. These tests will include measuring sound levels with our sound meter from approximately 300mm from the front of the case, under 100% CPU and GPU load. Load noise levels will be measured by running AIDA64 stressing CPU, FPU, cache and GPU for 30 minutes which give the system enough time to reach its constant steady-state temperature. CPU and case fan profiles will be set to their standard operating profile in the motherboard BIOS and GPU fans are set to their default fan curve. The ambient noise level (noise floor) in our test room is measured at 33.1 dBA. The following configurations will be used to test the effect they have on thermal and acoustic performance. Given the A3 include only one case fan, we added two InWin Mercury AM120S fans to the bottom of the case to act as an intake with the InWin NR24 AIO both cooling the CPU and providing an exhaust to the top of the case.
Test System
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro
Memory: 16GB (2 x 8GB Modules) Corsair Dominator RGB DDR4-3200Mhz
Graphics card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 XC3 Ultra
Storage: 500GB Corsair MP600 PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD
Case: Deepcool Macube 110
CPU cooler: InWin NR24
System fans: 3 x Deepcool CF120 Plus 120mm RGB
Power Supply: Deepcool DQ850-M-V2L 850W 80+ Gold
Operating System: Windows 10 20H2
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The thermal performance of the InWin A3 isn't bad considering the airflow restrictive nature of the closed front panel. The vents on bottom and top do offer good airflow.
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In terms of the noise levels, this is where the closed front panel design comes into its own. Choosing the right fans and creating custom fan curves can keep noise to a minimum in any case.
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Final Thoughts
The A3 was for us the opportunity to meet again InWin on the field of the cases and, we must admit, this model is rather original. The case has a very understated and sleek looking appearance which I like, however, the front panel is a trade-off between clean looks and airflow, with airflow losing out. Although I am fond of the appearance of this case, I would like to see maybe an airflow version or an alternative vented or mesh high airflow front panel for users who intend on installing high spec components that will produce a lot of heat. This would mean that everyone's taste is catered for. Moreover, it remains true to the brand’s style with its sober look and noble materials based on aluminum and tempered glass. The glass side panel, as well as the covers on the front, other side and bottom can be removed without additional tools. Internally, we have the same organization as inside the A5, namely, a power supply unit installed vertically on the front. For this component, we have a space of between 14 cm and 20 cm. Of course, depending on the length of the graphics card, we will have to be careful, 17 cm max with a 28 cm long GPU. Building a system inside the InWin A3 was an overall good experience, being able to install a 240mm AIO in the top of the case. Space for two 120mm bottom fans should help a little with airflow through the restrictive front panel too. InWin A3 provides 3 hard disk bays, and users can install up to 2 3.5/2.5-inch hard disks + 1 2.5-inch SSDs. Installing components, in this case, is fairly straight forward with nothing causing any issues. InWin A3 comes standard with a 120mm Mercury AM120S fan. Fortunately, the addition of two fans at the bottom and two fans at the top of the case solves this problem… But you’ll have to pay for a fan pack. We find the A5 at 115€, to which you will have to add a little to get some fans. At this price, we would have liked at least one more or two fans, which would have saved us some trouble. If you choose fans that are not too noisy with components that are quiet overall, you should have a very quiet machine. For daily use without headphones, it’s great!
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If you are a fan of micro-ATX thinking of building a new system soon or you are looking for a new case to upgrade your current micro-ATX chassis, the InWin A3 will be a good choice as it offers impressive component support, it looks great and build quality is fine.
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