Cooltek CoolCube Maxi

[testman78]

Introduction


Up until recently there have not been many truly impressive Micro-ATX products. This form factor was wedged uncomfortably between ATX and smaller form factors, like Mini-ITX (which I always found much more appealing), but lately Micro-ATX has start to come of its own. Products like the Coolcube Maxi, Cooltek's flagship Micro-ATX case, and new motherboards have made it possible to build a very solid computer system with most of the features of an ATX system, but considerably smaller.



The Cooltek Coolcube Maxi is a simplistic looking Mini-ITX case that is has the traditional black cube design that many SFF PCs have.Some of the most important trends that happening with mini enclosures right now can be found on Maxi. These can be seen in aspects of the Maxi′s design including the use of quiet cooling, an aluminum chassis, and a cool-but-classy exterior.





Packaging & Contents

The box is a basic white-blue cardboard box.The company have opted out of using vibrant graphic arts, no doubt to lower costs.



The pc case instead was packaged very well in a film plastic polystyrene in front and rear and the front door had a plastic sheet protecte.



Cooltek delivers the Maxi with instructions, cable ties,motherboard spacers,screws and four high quality aluminum case feet.





A Closer Look - Outside

The CoolCube Maxi convinces with its minimalist design and is completely made of 1.5 mm thick, black anodized aluminum.To allow for the compact dimensions there are no drive bays on the front of the chassis.The cooling system of CoolCube Maxi is designed to minimize noise. For optimal system cooling the left side panel is perforated, allowing a continuous air exchange of the installed CPU cooler.



The use of aluminum as the material also contributes to improved heat dissipation.The CoolCube Maxi provides users with a classically stylish design that blends perfectly with any environment.
The right side is completely solid.Cooltek has placed here two USB 3.0 and a set of audio in- and outputs. It would have been nice to see an eSATA port here as well. It would have been nice to see an eSATA port here as well.



The power button actually acts as an LED as well and lights up when the system is turned on.



Taking a closer look at the front, we find a Cooltek logo below the power button.



The cooling system of CoolCube Maxi is designed to minimize noise. For optimal system cooling the left side panel is perforated, allowing a continuous air exchange of the installed CPU cooler.



The bottom is completely solid and only features a small air vent.Four high quality aluminum case feet are effectively decouple the housing and absorb vibrations resulting. The feet are durable and stable.



The rear of the Maxi may be divided into three areas.



The full size PSU bay is located on the top right, being one.On the rear side also you can mount up to three 80 mm fans to optimize the ventilation of the case.
The entire left area of the rear is taken by the mainboard tray.Below the fan grill we can find a little cutout in order to put some kind of fan controller switch .



The four expansion slots.




A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the interior of the chassis, one is required to remove four screws holding the side panel in place.



As you can see ,no cooling fans have been included.



Here is the cage with the two hard drive bays.The Hdd's and Ssd's can be installed also to the floor of the chassis.



Cooltek has opted for the traditional mainboard connectors to route the functionality of the I/O and the power button along with the LEDs to the appropriate areas of the chassis.The cables are quite long so I was able to route them nicely and hide them during installation. So you should be able to stuff it full of high-end hardware without having to worry about bending it out of shape.





Installation and Finished Looks

The CoolCube Maxi can be equipped with a micro-ATX or mini-ITX motherboard.The Maxi can be equipped with a standard ATX power supply.



The HDD holder can be disassembled in a few simple steps, which facilitates installation of the hard drives significantly.



Inside the enclosure can fit either three 3.5" HDD or 2 x 3.5" HDD and 1 x 2.5" SSD.Four rubber rings that may be used as a protective measure against vibrations. The attachment of the 3.5 "hard disks are naturally vibrate in CoolCube Maxi.At the bottom also you can install 1 x 3.5" HDD or 1 x 2.5" SSD.



In CoolCube Maxi graphics cards can be housed with a maximum length of about 260 mm.



If you use a standard ATX power supply cooler can be mounted at a maximum height of about 120 mm.



A look at the back.Please note that no 5.25 "drive bay for installation of optical drives is available.




Test System

My Test Rig


Intel Core i5 3770k
Shuttle z77
Hgst 7400 4tb
Ocz Vertex 3 240gb
Gigabyte GT 240
Kingston Hyper X 16GB PC3-12800
Xilence 1000w


Software

Windows 7 Professional SP1 32Bit
AIDA64 Extreme Edition
Core2Max Performance
Core-Temp
CPU-Temp



All of the testing is done with an ambient temperature of 25C and humidity is maintained to 35% sometimes less.I tested the Core i5 3770K at its default 3.4Ghz. Three NF-R8 80mm fans were installed on the case.



Temperature

I concede that I didn't go into testing with high hopes for the Cooltek Coolcube Maxi but i was wrong.It seems that three 80mm powerful fans blowing through the right components can definitely be an extremely efficient way to keep things cool .





Conclusion

The first thing that jumped out at me it that this case has no 5.25" external drive bays. This is going to be a deal breaker for some, but this isn't the first Mini-ITX cases to forgot the optical drive.Also the Maxi's bundle does not include the 80mm fans.If you are in the market for a Micro-ATX,Mini -Atx pc enclosure, the CoolCube Maxi case deserves to be up at the top of your list. The Maxi provides excellent cooling and it packs a lot of storage capacity into a small tower chassis. The overall build quality is very good and the beautiful black anodized chassis is just what we would expect from CoolCube.Add the fact you can use virtually any high power full ATX PSU and have enough room to install a decent sized CPU cooler and the merits of this case seem to outweigh the negatives!



The best part of this little case is the price.The CoolCube Maxi enclosure is currently available with a street price of 70 Euro's.It doesn't appear that this case is available in North America yet, but if it gets over here we expect it to be under 70 Dollars.This is almost a 'jack of all trades' case. I'd imagine you could use it as a high end gaming rig that you could then take it to a lanparty. Not only that but when you return home you could throttle the fans and use it as an HTPC.