Through the years, open-frame PC instances have risen and fallen in reputation. Historically, the most well-liked type have been “desktop orientation” horizontal ones, designed for simple entry to elements to allow fast change-outs or testing work (say, in a pc lab). The DA6 XL, from Rotterdam-based case maker Streacom, is decidedly not a type of utilitarian varieties. As a substitute, it’s a blank-slate alternative for intrepid DIY-ers who prioritize exposed-innards model over practicalities like mud filters (or preserving curious fingers or paws out of followers). This $175 case is a free design fabricated from tubes and rails that help your elements suspended in air, and it’s all about flexing your inventive muscle groups. Purchase it if you’d like your PC to be a dialog piece, not if, say, you wish to set up plenty of drives. It earns an Editors’ Alternative award for the perfect compact open-frame chassis we have seen in ages.Design: These Traces Are Onerous to DefineWe bought a chrome pattern of the DA6 XL; Streacom additionally affords a model in all-black. Notice that Streacom additionally affords a model of this case merely known as DA6. The added “XL” within the identify signifies an additional 35mm to the peak, extending its most supported graphics card size to 358mm. A fast take a look at the case straight out of the field, although, offers us little indication of how that card connects to the motherboard. Even figuring out the place the motherboard itself would possibly go requires a more in-depth look. (Spoiler! It mounts on the 2 thick vertical posts that jut up the case’s heart.)
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Within the picture under, you’ll be able to see the facility button and the USB Sort-C port. However earlier than you’ll be able to say, “In fact! That have to be the highest,” now we have information: We’re truly displaying you the underside of the case. The port and button reside on a detachable panel that’s located on the identical panel because the motherboard I/O plate in Streacom’s as-delivered configuration.
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You possibly can transfer the button and port to one of many high panel’s mounting holes, in case you’d like, and Streacom will even ship you a special sort, if that’s what you’d want. Twin Sort-A, Sort-A plus Sort-C, twin Sort-C, and even fingerprint-scanner choices are all on the menu, if solely the remainder of your elements depart you sufficient area to make use of them.
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The button meeting is secured by simply two screws that pinch in opposition to the sting of any corresponding gap within the high or backside panel.
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The DA6 XL’s backside panel additionally incorporates a triple-slot opening on your GPU with a single replaceable slot cowl. (In fact, the notion of closing such gaps with slot covers may appear pointless on an open-frame chassis.)
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Streacom even places an ordinary PC energy jack on the underside, to assist preserve all of the cables that protrude from the enclosure pointing in the identical path. An extension cable with a right-angle finish stands proud the again of that jack.
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The cross-rods you see listed below are hooked on one finish and partly lined in vinyl sleeves to supply grip in opposition to the chassis tubing. Loosening a screw permits all the rod meeting to slide aside and fall into your hand. Reinstallation is as simple as holding one finish collectively along with your left hand, the opposite finish collectively along with your proper hand, and tightening the screw with the Allen key…OK, so possibly it’s not really easy. However we bought it executed.
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As a result of the DA6 XL’s design is so versatile, we’ll want so as to add elements earlier than the chassis makes a lot visible sense.The DA6 XL comes with a PCI Specific riser cable, a complete of 20 #6-32 threaded screws divided into three kinds, and 12 M3 screws in two kinds. You additionally get a dozen stars for attaching numerous units to the enclosure’s metallic rods, rubber mounting pegs for 2 followers (they are often as much as 140mm format), 4 cable clips, two lengthy screws with spacers, two brief screws that match the empty screw holes on the PCIe card bracket, 4 washers, and a ball-end hex key.
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Cables are a easy affair, as the 2 small ones go to the facility button and its centered indicator LED. Unusually sufficient, the Sort-C port is fed by the kind of cable that usually feeds two Sort-A ports. (We’ve by no means seen one among these wired as Gen 1×2 earlier than.) The facility extension cable’s right-angle finish helps it to protrude…much less…from the case.
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And so, onward to meeting. As you’ll be able to see, the Mini-ITX motherboard, mounted on its posts, will get sandwiched right here between our graphics card and our liquid cooler’s radiator, with the GPU connected to the motherboard through the riser cable and hiding a lot of the motherboard from sight. You see, we actually wished to make use of our closed-loop cooler to check the DA6 XL, and whereas the case was delivered with two of its rod units tucked inward (to maintain the facility provide’s cable tucked in), we didn’t suppose ours would match that means. However it labored out high quality. We used an SFX energy provide right here, as we do with some Mini-ITX instances; had it not been for our radiator, we might have stood a full-size ATX energy provide vertically in opposition to the again of our graphics card, dealing with in one of many two different attainable instructions.
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Now, if solely we’d discovered a spot to cover the facility provide’s output cables up high there…
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…however all informed, a fairly neat-looking construct, contemplating we used our commonplace check elements, nothing specifically chosen for such an excessive high-visibility case.The DA6 XL may also be used horizontally, making hiding cables and accessing the front-panel ports somewhat simpler. Right here, it stands subsequent to the lately reviewed InWin POC One, which was additionally designed for use both horizontally or vertically.
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As for putting in drives, we relied on the M.2 slot on our Asus check board to hold the boot drive. We didn’t try to stuff any 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives on this body, particularly as every would require a knowledge and SATA cable that may be arduous to cover. We’d recommend the identical and advise on the lookout for a Mini-ITX mainboard that has two M.2 slots if you’d like future storage growth past the boot drive. Nonetheless, if you wish to strive, attaching an SSD or a tough drive entails what Streacom calls “common brackets” (translation: rails) that may run up or down any of the 4 sides. Streacom notes that the case, at most, can host two 3.5-inch and 4 2.5-inch drives, however the fitment will all rely on what different {hardware} you select and set up, which can intervene with a full complement of drives and the place you’ll be able to put them. (A full ATX PSU, for starters, will eat a bunch of rail actual property you may use in any other case for drives, versus an SFX PSU.)Right here’s a recap of the present suite of ordinary case-testing elements we use for Mini-ITX chassis…
The excellent news is that the DA6 XL leads in all three of our thermal assessments, which is one thing you may need anticipated from an enclosure that’s not enclosed in any respect. The one unhealthy information was for InWin’s competing POC One, since that case needed to be flipped “wrong-end up” to remain cool vertically.
Surprisingly, the DA6 XL examined barely quieter from some angles than the POC One did. Then once more, the POC One did have a fan of its personal.
Verdict: PC DIY within the Nice Huge OpenBuilders who purchase the DA6 XL for its aesthetic (and that’s, certainly, the primary purpose to purchase it) must make peace with no matter Mini-ITX {hardware} configuration they will match into its rails. (A modular PSU is a should, for starters, to maintain the cables to an absolute minimal.) These on the lookout for comfort could want one of many different two instances we in contrast. However for max publicity on your GPU and different elements, nothing beats no cowl in any respect, and few open-frame chassis we have seen can beat the DA6 XL on appears. It made our odd testing elements look spectacular; think about what it might do for you in case you select yours with intention!
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About Thomas Soderstrom
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Years again, when a small web site known as out for product-review editors. I leapt on the alternative: I’d simply wrapped up a four-year stint as a programs provider. That have offered the credentials I’d want for the transition from business provider to business observer. For one factor, I’d been the primary supply for an exposé on capacitor plague (“Bought Juice”) at EDN. By that point, I’d already self-published some tips on hardcore PC stuff: pin-modifying processors to defeat compatibility checks and overclock non-overclockable programs. I noticed an opportunity to receives a commission for my information, and have since written greater than a thousand items (lots of them for the seminal tech web site Tom’s {Hardware}) earlier than discovering my newest alternative: with PCMag.
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