In Win Mt. Jade BK623 Case Review

[One4yu2c]

SFF (Small Form Factor) enclosures are great for space management, particularly for HTPC (Home Theater PC) enthusiasts, but they always seem to trade limited space requirements for an equally limited amount of enthusiast fanfare. More often than not, they cramp our style with poorer cooling than our desktop counterparts, leaving them better suited for mainstream users than the average system tweaker. But does it have to be that way? Today HardwareLogic takes a look at In Win’s Mt. Jade chassis, a SFF case co-developed by Intel. Can these two companies fuse together and create a miniature sized case with mammoth cooling potential, and will it ultimately end up another ‘also ran?’
Matthew Page

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[stinger608]

Man, IMO, that is one homely looking case.

[PrOLifIC_onE]

haha. I didn't think it was that bad. I would prefer it over almost all the other mATX cases I have reviewed, except the Silverstone SG03.

[Yellowhello]

Too bad is only compatible with the Intel stock cooler.

[halutzparilla]

i would prefer Lanbox over this one... but great review btw...

[[Dr. V]]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

i would prefer Lanbox over this one... but great review btw...

+1

[PrOLifIC_onE]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

Too bad is only compatible with the Intel stock cooler.

Well just about every mATX case isn't big enough to allow for 99% of the aftermarket coolers out there. At least this one takes advantage of the stock cooler and gets the maximum use out of it.

[halutzparilla]

allowing the stock cooler is not enough, as we all know stock cooler stinks and made from cheap aluminum or hybrid of cooper and aluminum and the design is not enough to dispense heat... i wonder if the Zalman Low Profile Cooler will fit in this one???

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

allowing the stock cooler is not enough, as we all know stock cooler stinks and made from cheap aluminum or hybrid of cooper and aluminum and the design is not enough to dispense heat...

That statement is, in a word, false. There are certainly higher quality third party coolers out there, both in terms of thermal performance and noise control (and the best ones IMO balance both), but the stock coolers do what they're supposed to do, which is to keep the processor from burning up. Lost in the enthusiast mindset is just how hot these processors are actually capable of running, and you'd be surprised at how toasty the Q&A team ramps up the CPUs to qualify them (a buddy of mine worked for and help design Intel processors until fairly recently).

Keep in mind that retail procs from both Intel and AMD are backed by a 3 year warranty, and technically speaking, that's only valid when you use the bundled heatsink. It wouldn't make fiscal sense for either of these companies to offer a lengthy backing and then ship out a cooler that couldn't keep their processors from failing.

And as it pertains to the Mt. Jade case and the cooling capabilities when combined with the stock cooler, the design itself is a joint collaboration between In Win and Intel (which was likely mostly Intel, and In Win working off of the reference specs).

[One4yu2c]

PRICING UPDATE

Stumbled upon this by accident, but Amazon is selling the In Win Mt. Jade chassis for just

$34.99, with FREE shipping
$34.99, with FREE shipping

.

EDIT: No Fortron PSU included. Do'h!