InWin Monsters-E Animal Series-CALICO

[testman78]

Introduction

Today, your PCs are relatively uniform and illuminated metal boxes that don’t drastically differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. Even though many manufacturers continue to try new things, they eventually bring up controversial cases. One of those manufacturers is InWin, who released some new cases during the meeting CES 2023, whose requirements differ from a child to a fanatic who loves the internet to space fetishists. Its aim is to encourage the development of hands-on skills to build not just the computer inside, but the case too! The Case Monsters cases are suitable for ATX or mini-ITX systems and can be personalized via an associated website. The Taiwanese manufacturer calls the line iBuildiShare and releases two computer cases for it. Those are the Case Monster A Lab and Case Monster E Animal. That stands for the personalization options. Each character has its own unique personality, colors and style. In the website interactive playroom, young users can add their own custom flair and self-expression with the included emoji stickers that create fun faces. Each animal also features its own headphone hangers that neatly attach to each side of the cases, giving you a helping hand, arm, ear, antler or wing to keep the desk tidy. For animal lovers, the E Series offers four to choose from. This super cute mini-ITX chassis combines space efficiency with ample expandability. Added tool-less features such as: quick release side panels, dust filters and front panel simplify the build/maintenance process. They support three-slot graphics cards up to 330mm, 160mm ATX PSUs, and two storage drive bays to provide plenty of potential build options. InWin bundles three Sirius Loop ASL120 ARGB case fans into the chassis, enabling the E Series to deliver excellent airflow performance and a soft radiating glow right out of the box. The front panel includes a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port, two USB 3.1 Gen-1 Type-A ports, and 3.5mm HD headphone and microphone jacks.



On paper, this reads like a special product and it’ll be interesting to see if it can offer the performance to match.





Packaging & Contents

This section of our InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO Mini-ITX Case review will focus on the packaging and its contents. The Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO ships in a simple cardboard box. It’s a sturdy brown box that does a great job to protect the case. This cardboard face features the brand's name and logo. A piece of label appears. It shows a large line forming an angle.



One of the first sides of the cardboard gives us some initial characteristics. According to InWin, the Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO assembly is easy, it has Compact size with great possibilities, it Supports high-end three-slot graphics cards, it is Extremely light and will be able to accommodate many cooling solutions. We also see a drawing of the case and the usual logos related to transport and storage.



On the other side, InWin gives us the full specifications. We will not detail everything here. We just remember that it is a SFF case, measuring 392 x 285 x 307 mm, that it is made of plastic (ABS), steel (SECC) and tempered glass. InWin also details full hardware compatibility. We have a label with other details including color variant (CALICO in our case) and the weight (3.75 kilos). Barcodes and other usual serial numbers are there too. We have the other part of the label which bears the name of the case as well as the rest of the drawing.



Out of the box, the inside is not a complete case, but a modular component, which needs to be assembled by the owner. There are two additional boxes within the package. The parts of the chassis are neatly stacked in individual layers within the box, starting with the small parts and accessories before the framing and glass panels at the very bottom.



Inside the smaller package is a bag with black screws and several zip ties.



The InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO case model consists of 10 main parts. Most of them are made of steel and reinforced ABS plastic. The only parts that are actually metal are the front and back.



The front panel connector being a single plug instead of individual connectors will make your life a little easier as well.




The Top panel has a honeycomb structure on which rests a black filter with a bone white plastic outline.





Taking a quick look at the underside of the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO , there is that same symmetrical shape as in the top, as this is the same plastic part.



Both sides of the are made out of ABS. We have a total of eight screws which bind all the panels together.



The tempered glass panels are fastened by pins, which is easy to disassemble.



The tempered glass panel(3 mm thickness) can help the case increase its aesthetics. This is especially true cause there’s an RGB-packing system that’s installed.



The back is made of steel and painted matt black.



The power lead for PSU.



Power Supply Holder.



Two feet made of plastic, which can be clipped into the housing.



You will receive an assorted set of black screws, zip ties and a metal GPU support bracket.



Characteristic Headphone Hanger x 2 (Cat's ears).



There are plenty of provided emoji-themed stickers to create a special face for CALICO.



There is a collectable CALICO Card.




Lastly, there is an assembly manual to get the case itself built. For those needing help with putting in the system components, InWin has placed a QR code on the back of this booklet that takes you to a digital copy.



Everything in the manual is very well written and clearly illustrated.



In addition to the case elements, the kit includes 3 Sirius Loop ASL120 fans. This constitutes a $40 value, which is packaged into the price. The outer box of the fan/s.




The package also includes screws and an ARGB controller powered from a SATA connector.





The anti-vibration pad needs to be pasted by yourself.



The fans are Sirius Loop ASL120 models with a maximum speed of 1800 RPM, airflow of 50 CFM, pressure of 1.67 mmH2O and noise of 27 dBA.



They have 4-pin PWM and ARGB connectors with male and female plugs.



The fan and the fan's power supply and lighting effect wires can be connected in series to make the whole line process easier.



The 7-piece moon-shaped fan blade design can provide a large air volume to enhance the system Heat dissipation.



The Sirius Loop ASL120 are equipped with rubber buffers so that they don't pass on too much vibration to the housing.





A Closer Look Outside

Now I will tell you how to assemble InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO. The first is the combined frame. This part is the outer frame of the side panel, which is divided into upper and lower parts. Building the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO mostly revolves around using one of the bags of screws with the highest ammount. We first assemble the bottom of the case with the motherboard plate. Fixing is made by two screws. The two pieces are mainly of metal structure, and the outer frame of the bottom plate is a reinforced ABS plastic frame.



Then separate the glass side panels from the frame. The glass side plate is fixed by pins and can be removed by pulling it up, which is quite convenient. The second step positions the first side panel over the first assembly and the top of the case. The panel is fixed at the corresponding screw holes.



Then install the left side panel and top panel, and use screws to fix the connection. The side panels do not completely fit the outer frame, which is a somewhat open structure.



In the ceiling is a white plastic layer with a cloth mesh filter glued into it. You may pull that layer off to reveal the fairly elaborate and thick plastic structure meant to give the frame some rigidity while allowing for 120 or 140 mm fans or a 240 mm radiator to be mounted.



When it comes to its steel front panel, it isn’t wobbly or shaky.



In up-left corner at the back, you must put the power plug (we have already installed the power lead to the PSU unit).



InWin has well thought out the hold of the cable since there are notches in the top for the passage of the cable.



The location of the power supply is at the front, and the mounting bracket is used.



You need to install the Power Supply Holder by screwing two screws.



Looking at the underside of the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO, you can see that this is the same shell piece as in the top of the chassis. InWin did not include a dust filter as it would not be easily removable due to the feet getting in the way. While that is understandable, one could argue that it would still be better to have a non-removable filter than none at all. Before being able to stand up the CALICO, you have to clip on the feet. There are two sets long stands on which the chassis will sit. After inserting the long stands on corresponding position, four regulatory screws are turned into the hole in the middle to fix them.



There are four anti-slip rubber pads that you can put them on the bottom of the stands.



If you are afraid of the stability of the CALICO, the four rubber feet at the bottom of the case will please you. These make sure that the case never slips at any time. In addition, it conveniently protects the standing surface on which the CALICO is placed.



By design, the glass panels leave about 6mm of space with the case frame.




CALICO's ears (hangers) in his head.



Looking at the front, InWin has placed their logo on the front for branding purposes. There are two types of panels. The I/O is up top with the power switch, one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C, two USB 3.0 ports, and a combo audio jack. You may unscrew two screws to remove the cover, which reveals the air vent intended for the PSU. With that, you won’t have to worry about pulling the front panel I/O along with it. While the default plastic variant essentially has no openings for airflow, the steel variant behind it provides such cutouts.



The InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO black, orange, and white case that we’re featuring in this review looks pretty cool. It isn’t flashy nor is it painful to the eyes. We love how perfectly the paint was applied since there were no bubbles or imperfections.



And although it’s sleek and simple, the case isn’t boring at all. Supporting ATX PSUs is the only reason I can see for the case being this tall.



Looking at the rear. There is a fairly notable, large gap at the top with exposed screw holes and a cutout in the top of the case. This is once again due to symmetry as both the top and bottom are made from the same mold, but the floor of the case is used to secure the rear steel frame. I have no idea why InWin did not simply design the rear plate to fill that gap and use two more screws to attach at the top edge—it would have certainly looked much nicer and possibly reduced that gentle one-dimensional flex. Taking a closer look, three expansion slots are arranged vertically to the motherboard, so you will not need a riser cable when installing your graphics card. Above the motherboard cutout is also that 120/140 mm fan-sized cutout for one of the Sirius Loop ASL120 fans to push hot air out the back of the InWin CALICO.




A Closer Look Inside

How to access the interior should be clear if you assembled the Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO. Simply pop the four push pins holding each panel in place and take them off their frames. You are left with unobstructed access on both sides, which is also how you are meant to install all your parts. The I/O PCB is fully exposed to the windowed side, which is unfortunate as there is no way to hide it from view.



The aforementioned metal tray in the floor is mainly used for the ITX motherboard. Funnily enough, there is a cutout in it, which is usually there for the user to access the CPU cooler mounting plate without removing the board. Naturally, that is not the case in the InWin Explorer, which suggests that the tooling for the floor plate has its origin from somewhere other than this chassis design. The front of the floor tray is for either two 2.5" or one 3.5" drive, both of which are meant to be secured through the floor of the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO. There are no hooks or any other aids for cable management inside the case, which will make keeping things tidy quite difficult.



A fan's place is right above where you would find such an opening in relation to the board in most cases, whether classic ATX towers or cubic like the Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO.



The Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO arrives with 3 Sirius Loop ASL120 fans. You must place them yourself in the ceiling and rear of the case. Taking a quick look at the ceiling of the Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO, you can see ample room for active cooling purposes, with the mounting for the fans or radiator centered. At this angle, you can also see that there is loads of space above, so putting a 240mm radiator setup into the ceiling won't interfere with any components. The cloth mesh filter looks great.



The PSU frame in the front of the chassis is offset to the side of the I/O PCB, giving you as much room for long GPUs as possible. InWin opted for ATX here, which is fine as you can always choose to go SFX with a simple mounting adapter.



All the cables within the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO are sleeved black and will work just fine on modern ITX motherboards. Even the case leads have been unified into a single plug, so you no longer have to fiddle around with individual one or two-pin cables.




Installation Process & Finished Looks

The Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO Mini-ITX case fits standard mini-ITX boards. As it sits in the rear-left corner of the case, you should have no problems accessing it for all the additional components and cable connections. The area around it is vented, which is another reason why it makes sense, especially for mini-ITX boards. Board manufacturers utilise small fans that rest on the VRM heatsink. Installing a motherboard within the InWin Monsters-E Animal is done by utilizing classic screws. There is lots of room around the ITX board. You can fit a modest size air cooler (160mm height) in here easily enough.



The second component to install after motherboard adding is one Sirius Loop ASL120 fan in the rear.



You need to uninstall the Power Supply Holder by unscrewing the two screws. Screw your power supply to the bracket.



Connect the power cord to your power supply and install the bracket back to the chassis. The lenght limitation of the PSU for the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO case is 160 mm.



As you may opt for either two SSDs or a single 3.5" drive, both of which utilize the same installation method, we chose the bigger 3.5" drive to show you how things come together when using the 160 mm PSU as well.



The storage drive screws down by putting the case on its side and removing the feet that cover the mounting holes. While that works just fine since the feet come off with a gentle pull, InWin could have put holes into the feet lining up with the mounting locations, as those would be visible anyway, thus allowing you to skip that step.



There’s plenty of room near the HDD-SSD area for storage. You could technically use it for a little cable management space if you really need it.



Adding two Sirius Loop ASL120 fans at the top is straightforward.



You have to remove the top dust filter and secure the fans to the ceiling of the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO with screws.




As there are three expansion slots on the GPU side, you are free to use 2.5 slot GPUs. The GPU installs right onto the expansion slot plate, and then installs easily into the case. The length of the expansion card is limited to 330 mm.



This is also an easy way to connect the PCIe power cables.



I appreciate the bundled front I/O cables because they stay in their housing and you don’t have to plug them individually for power/reset/led, etc. Just make sure that no cables are touching the fan blades. In the rear, everything is where you would expect it.



With that done, the build is complete. I slapped all the paneling back on, of course using the glass panel for your viewing pleasure.




With the clear windows, you are able to see all the parts and details of your build; thus, any ARGB elements will shine bright and true.



In the rear, everything is where you would expect it, with the power plug away from your motherboard and GPU connectors.




Don’t hesitate to hang your headphones. CALICO will safely protect/display them with his ears (hangers) in his head. If there is danger approaching, he is the 1st to hear it with his ears.



Happy, angry, serious… There are plenty of provided emoji-themed stickers to make him wake by just changing his sleepy face.




When you power your system on the RGB LEDs on the fans should light up in your system.



However, it’s the Top part that really steals the show. It’s not massively bright, but it does give a more premium “gamer” look.



You can cycle through a range of colours, and even effects, by using the ARGB controller. There are plenty to choose from, and you can turn them off too if you so desire. A picture speaks a thousand words with RGB lighting though, so here are a few bonus shots of it in action.




Performance

Of course, we got hands-on with this case for our InWin Monsters-E Animal Series-CALICO Mini-ITX Case review. Although the case looks pretty cool and clean, it’s important to see how efficient it is. We tested the InWin Monsters-E Animal Series-CALICO with an AMD Ryzen 5 1600 mated to a Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240 Mirror ARGB AIO all-in-one cooler, Gigabyte AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 8G and ASUS ROG Strix X370-I Gaming motherboard. In order to determine the maximum temperatures of the processor, the CPU was loaded for 20 minutes using the free stress test tool Prime 95. Since experience has shown that the Small FFT test has the highest heat dissipation, we use this mode and log the maximum processor temperature with AMD's Ryzen Master program. At the same time, the graphics card is loaded with Unigine Superposition. In contrast to the previously used Furmark, the boost rate remains constant in this stress test. The CPU fan/s is operated for the temperature measurements at a moderate 1,000 rpm, the graphics card fans run at 50 percent. In this way we rule out that an automatic fan control can influence the measurement results. Due to the test system's effective energy-saving mechanisms, we can do without idle measurements. Our measurements produced the following result:



These are good results for this InWin Monsters-E Animal Series-CALICO. The airflow is efficient, the components do not suffer and maintain good temperatures under load.




Final Thoughts

The InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO aim to introduce the DYI assembly experience of PC cases to the mass market. It’s not only the design that is innovative when it comes to computer, it’s also the way it is delivered to the customer. The case comes completely disassembled and is fully do-it-yourself, meaning that it has to be built from scratch. Every frame and panel that’s part of the case can be dismantled with ease. Screws are present to secure the frame parts, allowing advanced disassembly and different angles to better work in the chassis. It also looks great thanks to its 2 tempered glass panels. The external panels with tempered glass, are properly secured with pins for easy removal. This facilitates faster access to the inner portion of the case without having to use any tools. A drawback to the Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO would be the size. It's small, for sure, and takes Mini-ITX motherboards only, but the case is larger than competitor SFF offerings out there, and that's worth bearing in mind if you want the absolute smallest chassis possible. The increase in volume allows for more air to be pushed through, which aids in keeping temperatures low. While running some stress tests on the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU and GTX 1080 GPU, even when overclocked, temperatures didn't surpass 57 degrees Celcius for the processor. The Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO Mini-ITX case performed well and proved that little products can still pack high-end components. The case was much easier to build in compared to other small form factor cases thanks to the thoughtful design and extra space. By design, the panels leave about 6mm of space with the case frame. That means dust. Bad point for Storage installation, is the fact that you will have to remove the front foot to be able to fix your discs with the four regulatory screws.



The price of the Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO is 139€. If you consider the included ARGB fans with ARGB fan controller worth 39.98 euros, the price seems quite reasonable. It’s a pretty capable mini-ITX case. The fact you have room for tall CPU Coolers, full-length 2.5 slot VGA card, cooling expansion options, and even a ATX PSU is impressive. It’s a little quirky, but it’s certainly a bit different too. For those who want a PC case that you want on top of your desk rather than tucked into a dusty corner, it’s certainly an interesting choice! In summary, the InWin Monsters-E:Animal Series-CALICO is a Mini ITX case that perfectly combines great design and functionality. But in addition to material value, there is also emotional value. The entire review is as objective as possible, but this time we talk about emotions. Therefore we give our "I am Special Award".