Raijintek Pan Slim

[testman78]

Introduction

If we had to build a new PC for home use in 2021, there's a good chance it would adopt the mini-ITX form factor. The availability of compact components is getting better all the time and there's enough happening in the small-form factor space to make this an opportune moment to build something significantly smaller than your traditional tower. Alas, for those of you (like myself) who love mini-ITX as a form factor, Raijintek has got us all covered, with an impressive range of small form factor cases. Today, I have the Raijintek Pan Slim, crafted lovingly from brushed aluminium on a solid iron frame. Sure, it's a formula that's been done a thousand times before, but you won't hear me complaining about that. The new Pan Slim from Raijintek is a slim and stylish mini-ITX case that can hold high-end components and can also serve as a monitor stand.



The lineup includes three colors: black, silver, and gray.



Other detailed specifications.




Packaging & Contents

The packaging for the PAN SLIM is simple and to the point.



It comes in a brown box with black print and the front has a drawing of the case alongside its model name.



Turning the box around, there are four more images.



Raijintek placed it's branding on the right side.



Raijintek placed the specifications of the enclosure on the right side. The color variant of the case can be seen underneath. We are reviewing the black variant.



Inside of the box, you have the case wrapped up in plastic and then two foam panels that hold the case up away from all of the edges and absorb some shock from when the box gets tossed around.



Also inside you do get an instruction manual which has a picture and count for all of the screws right on the front. Then you get a bag filled with the case screws, rubber hard drive mounts, and zip ties. This is a small case and they give you a good amount of zip ties to get your wiring in order. You also get a flexible PCIex16 riser.




A Closer Look Outside

Pan Slim features a very minimalist outward appearance. If there is any case I would identify for home theater use, it would definitely be the Pan Slim. Unlike many of the other chassis we have seen here targeting the gaming or standard computer user, this one looks much more like a video cassette player or an audio receiver with the full black front. In terms of sizing, Raijintek's Pan Slim measures in at 590mm in width, 348mm in height, and 155mm in depthbweighing in at 8.2kg with its steel and aluminium construction.



Material choices are pretty good, as everything feels pretty sturdy, though you will see some of the internal reinforcements later on. In order not to spoil the design of the aluminum case, the externally exposed screws have been reduced as much as possible. There are 2 screws each for the left and right sides to fix the side frame and the upper and lower frames, and there are a total of 10 screws for fixing the lower frame. Above all, it has a unique shape with long left and right sides and low top and bottom, so you can see the concept different from the existing ITX case at a glance.



Pan Slim has air holes all over the chassis, from the top, bottom, side, and back. On the top of the case the right openings allow for air to pass through the VGA card. The left ventilation area is located right above the AIO cooler's place.



The front of the Pan Slim is where you can really see the Raijintek styling. If you look at it from the front, it has a luxurious monitor stand, similar to the Xbox.



Τhe height of the stand is 64 mm, which is higher than the existing cases. There is enough space to slide the keyboard in like a monitor stand, and it is designed to allow smooth airflow through perforations in several parts of the chassis. It has a large round power button with led on it to the front right top and beneath that there are 2 USB 3.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1) and 1 USB 3.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1) Type C ports. I was really happy to see the Type-C connection, not enough cases are including them. The Raijintek logo etched into it in the bottom left corner. Unfortunately there isn't any audio port in the front.



The back side of the case looks nearly the same as the front/left side. This also gives a better angle to see the small wings on the back of the case on each side where the aluminum panels stick out. You can also see that those panels have a brushed finished and are anodized black and then the outside edge has been re-machined for a little bling. The motherboard rear I/O hole is on the left. There is a dedicated hole for the graphics card right next to it, and three PCI slots are designed to accommodate flagship graphics cards. On the far right is the SFX power supply place.



The last area to take a look at is the bottom of the Pan Slim. There are plenty of vents across the entire span of the chassis.




A Closer Look Inside

Detaching the frame is simple. It can be easily removed by removing the 4 side fixing screws and 10 bottom fixing screws. The upper frame is fixed with 4 side screws.




When you open the top frame, you can see that there are a total of 3 frames fixed inside to increase the internal strength of the chassis. It can be divided into four main sections.



All the cables within the Raijintek Pan Slim are black.



On the far left is the place for power supply unit. The Raijintek Pan Slim can fit an SFX / SFX-L power supply. In front of this area a dedicated SSD caddy is configured.



In the middle, there is an area where a mini ITX sized board will go.



As this case is intended for mini ITX motherboards, the riser is already pre-installed to the case.



In addition, there is an HDD cage, which offers enough space for a 2.5-inch drive and two 3.5-inch HDDs.



Two 120 mm cooling fans or an 120/240mm integrated water cooler can also be installed through the space on the right. Fans here, which will help with airflow in such a small case. I think it would have been nice to see Raijintek include these two fans. It also would have been nice to see some mesh here to prevent dust from getting into the sides.




Installation Process & Finished Looks

If there is anything I learned about computer and building, it is just the fact the smaller you go, the more challenging the project becomes. This is only natural, as working with smaller components becomes quite a bit harder as we move into tighter environments. The first step I did was to install an ITX motherboard into this enclosure. The case height is about 110 mm, so it is not possible to install a tower type cooler. However, it is possible to install the bundled cooler or flower type cooler provided when purchasing the CPU.



The Wraith Stealth cooler provided by the Ryzen 5 5600X was able to confirm that it was possible without difficulty.



Next to the PCB on the right side, two 120 mm fans or a 120/240 mm radiator can be mounted.



The official manual informs that it can be installed up to a thickness of 28 mm radiators.



The graphics card itself is placed to the left of the motherboard. A riser cable is also provided as standard for easy graphic card connection in a narrow space.



It was also possible to install a Radeon RX 6800 graphics card without difficulty.



The graphics card can be equipped with high-end models up to 340 mm. Everything in the rear is also where you would expect it to be, readily accessible as it is all flush with the exterior.



My next step in installation was to put the SFX power supply into this case. Although only the SFX standard is indicated in the product manual, I was able to check the free space where SFX-L power can be installed. Although it is an ITX case, it is designed with a long frame on the left and right, so there is ample space. Only SFX and SFX-L standards can be installed in the power supply part.bnI would recommend using a modular power supply if you can help it, as the extra cable bundle clutters up the internal area.



Commercially available SFX / SFX-L power is typically used for small mini PCs, so most of them have shorter cable lengths than standard ATX power. For this reason, you will need an extension cable with some SFX / SFX-L power units. After plugging all the cables in, I routed the extra cables away from the motherboard to allow as much air to travel through the case.





On the other side, there is space for two important things. One is the 2.5" drive caddy, which can hold up to three drives and another caddy which can hold 2 x 3.5" (HDD) and 1 x 2.5" (SSD). However, this caddy can also be removed if you do not need to mount this much storage in this area.




Storage options here are mounted with screws.




From here, you can see the finished look of the machine.



Overall, the installation was a pretty easy installation, and a lot of the space limitations are understandable as the intention is to fit everything into a small area. I still would have liked to see some fans included on the side of the case, as I definitely had the space for them, and they would have calmed any fears I had about keeping the system cool.




Test System & Methology


To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an AMD RYZEN 5 3600, Palit RTX 3080 graphics card and an SSD. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Raijintek Pan Slim's cooling capabilities.


Test System:

Processor: AMD RYZEN 5 3600
Motherboard: MSI MPG B550I GAMING EDGE WIFI
Memory: 32GB Patriot Viper 4 Blackout DDR4 3.200 MHz
CPU Cooler: ASUS ROG Ryujin 240
Graphics card: KFA2 GeForce GTX1060 3G
Power supply: Corsair SF600 Gold
SSD: 512 GB Intel M.2 NVME PCIe SSD
OS: Windows 10 Pro



We use Prime95 to determine the temperature of the processor. We let the CPU load tool run for 15 minutes. We monitor the values ​​of the individual sensors via HWinfo64.


Performance

Putting our components into Pan Slim was easy enough, but the real question is whether or not the fanless chassis can cool our hardware during demanding workloads. Our AMD RYZEN 5 3600 cpu kicks out plenty of heat, but in partnership with an 240mm AIO, Pan Slim has no trouble keeping core temperature to an acceptable level. There is a good airflow in the case. This is attested by the temperatures, which are a maximum of 75C.



The GeForce GTX1060 was always going to pose the bigger challenge, but Pan Slim once again does quite well for a fanless solution and the GPU didn't exceed 57C when gaming. The graphics card area seems to be adequately supplied with air.



A fanless chassis can be lovely and quiet, mind. Our test system can barely be heard when idle, and though the graphics card becomes audible when gaming, it isn't annoyingly loud. Given the fact that you might install it somewhere 2-3 meters away from you I doubt that you might hear the fan/s.




Final Thoughts

I've actually been using the Pan Slim for a while now and in a lot of ways the case met or excited my high expectations. All in all, I think Pan Slim has struck the right balance of including everything necessary for a media center enclosure or a powerful gaming rig. Starting with build appearance and quality, the overall feel of the Pan Slim is super. It may not have the extras like tempered glass or RGB LEDs, but everything included is appropriate in this context. The chassis is made of luxurious aluminum material, and it shows wide expandability even with an ITX motherboard. The internal steel construction do a good job in making a sturdy little box. The height of the stand is also 64 mm, which is higher than the existing cases. There is enough space to slide the keyboard in like a monitor stand, and it is designed to allow smooth airflow through perforations in several parts of the chassis. As a result we get very good temperature results. Graphics cards up to 340 mm are supported, and RTX 3090 with 3 PCI slots and 2.5 slots or more can be installed. The Pan Slim has ample internal space, allowing 2 x 3.5" (HDD) and 4 x 2.5" (SSD) storage devices, for a total of 6 storage devices. Pan Slim has a structure in which up to two cooling fans or a 120/240 mm radiator can be mounted.Installation is also pretty good, though we already know it is a challenge to build in small cases. The Pan Slim could easily hold not only SFX/SFX-L but also ATX PSU's without any issues at all. If there is anything to suggest, I would have liked to see just a few more extras included with the Pan Slim. Whether this includes a dust filter for ventilation areas or including smaller fans for the side, I think these things would put the Pan Slim over the top.



What a clean-looking, sleek and elegant case. I admire it every time I look at it. Definitely would be a nice touch to your living room and people might ask you what it is as it surely doesn't strike you as a computer case. I absolutely love the visuals of the case. At review time, the Raijintek Pan Slim retails online for 219 Euros. At this price point, it is a bit on the higher side, but this niche product is expected to end up having a higher price for the features you are getting. Raijintek did a fantastic job with the Pan Slim. It's only fitting that I give it an appropriate award, and that would have to be the Outstanding ribbon.