IN WIN 909 Full-Tower Case Preview

Cases by leeghoofd @ 2015-12-29

Last month we introduced the marvelous IN WIN 805 enclosure.  For those that are not familiar with this Taiwanese company here's a small snippet from the previous article: IN WIN is one of those manufacturers which really continues to innovate. Last year they stole the Computex show with their highly acclaimed S-Frame, an open air chassis made from a single sheet of aluminum. This year at Computex they surprised friend and foe again with the H-frame case -> compare it with a hydraulic operated transformer case. Many of their prototypes and retail products have won lots of awards at many international trade shows. If you want to house your precious hardware in a luxurious case, have a look at the IN WIN catalog. Today we are taking a look at one of their latest breath taking case solutions, the IN WIN 909 Full-tower case.


 

Unboxing

Alike its smaller brother, the 909 is a see-through skeleton case, though this time featured in a full blown full-tower chassis.  The IN WIN 909 is compatible with mITX to super-sized E-ATX motherboards. The case is build around a single 4mm aluminum brushed sheet. Both the side panels are composed of 5mm thick tinted tempered glass, allowing you to show off the installed hardware.

The IN WIN 909 is available in two versions, either the silver version featured in this article or a black anodized one with red front strip. Already from the first glance one can tell this is again another masterpiece combining elegance and aesthetics. Since this a preview article we didn't conduct any temperature testing and will just highlight the feature set, explore the innards and do a quick install of the MadShrimps Lab hardware to see if we encounter any anomaly.

 

 

The IN WIN company is not bothered with flashy box art, we can just inform you their enclosures are carefully packed and protected inside the maybe dull looking brown cardboard boxes. The case itself is protected by the Styrofoam inserts and neatly wrapped in a black cotton bag. No scratches or any damage were observed.

 

 

 

No matter how many pictures we took, they didn't do justice to the classy looks of the IN WIN 909, seeing is believing my dear readers. Once we remove the side panels we can get a clearer view on the internals of the full tower 909. Again the IN WIN engineers have deviated from standard designs and have put the storage on the top part of the case, The cooling options and support for optional water cooling are awesome, though again we have to stress not even a single fan is included with this high luxurious enclosure; a missed opportunity as at least two white LED Fans would have been welcome.

 

 

A Closer Look Part I

The 5mm tinted tempered glass panels are secured by four oversized thumbscrews. Easy and fast removal warranted, yet firmly secured whenever needed.

 

 

The tempered glass panels elegantly follow the sleek curves of the IN WIN 909 case. The craftsmanship and eye for detail is superb with both IN WIN offerings we reviewed at the MadShrimps Lab.

 

 

As mentioned on the previous page the IN WIN 909 has the main storage space located in the top compartment of the full-tower case, supporting up to four 3.5" HDDs or 2.5" HDD/SSDs. In comparison with the smaller 805, one was limited to two easy removable trays. Again the engineers are betting heavily on the SSD storage devices as on the back of the motherboard tray there is room for up to six drives, all individually mounted on quick removable brackets.

 

 

Nice detail is that the top four storage devices are accessible from behind via cutouts in the motherboard tray. So no problem to have access to the SATA and power cables.

 

 

The removable trays are tool-less if one installs a 3.5" storage device. If the end-user prefers to use 2.5" HDDs or SSDs he will need to secure these small drives with four tiny screws. IN WIN includes a bunch of small black washers that can be used to increase the distance between the bracket and the drive itself. This to facilitate the plugging of the SATA and power cables, as without these washers the space is limited. We recommend to use these from the start.

 

A Closer Look Part II

Cooling wise the IN WIN 909 can pack some serious potential, though the lack of any fan in the box is something that should be addressed. In this price category at least two fans should be included to provide an airflow inside the enclosure; nevertheless one can install a total of a whopping eight fans in this 909.

  • Front: 2 x 120/140mm Fans
  • Bottom: 2 x 120/140mm Fans
  • Middle: 1 x 120mm Fan
  • Rear: 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm Fans

 

For the water cooling purists this case also offers several options, though we have some critics on what is possible and how it will be able to cool your hardware. Let us first list the numerous options which are provided by the IN WIN team.

  • Front: max 280mm radiator with up to 35mm in height
  • Bottom; max 240mm radiator with up to 35mm in height
  • Middle: 120mm radiator with up to 35mm in height
  • Rear: maximum a 360mm radiator with up to 60mm in height.

 

The front and bottom fans (radiator) are mounted on two separate quick removable brackets, thus allowing fast removal for cleaning or other maintenance operations. Easier to remove two thumbscrews than 8 fan screws. Only the bottom fans have a dust filter that is kept in position by magnets.

 

 

A Closer Look Part III

We continue with the cooling possibilities: the middle fan is limited to 120mm dimensions, the cut-out is enlarged to allow tubing to pass above the fan in case of a liquid cooling setup. A total of 8 black PCI-e brackets can be observed too on the below picture.

 

 

Finally the rear fans or radiator setup can be mounted to a removable 4 mm aluminum panel. This panel has stylish cutouts, that serve as safeguard while not limit the air flow too much. It is secured by four thumbscrews and has nice CNCed holes for the different fan mounting positions.

 

 

One can spot the stylish pattern in the rear plate; the large rectangular opening allows the user to guide and attach the PSU power, VGA and USB cables to the rear I/O plate of the motherboard. Keep in mind no big hands though, might be easier to remove a side panel and work from there.

The power supply is positioned in the bottom part, no anti-vibration pads to be spotted. Weird that IN WIN has positioned the sticker how the PSU should be mounted on top of the compartment. Power Supplies up to 220mm in length are supported.

 

 

The I/O panel is for once not located at the front but at the side of the 909 case. Three USB 3.0 ports and a C-type Micro USB 3.1 one and of course the in and out jack for the audio. On top of the I/O panel there's a white LED bar with different light effect functions that highlight the installed hardware. Support for optical drives has been omitted, a shame as for sure as there is sufficient place to install one.

 

Hardware Installation

The Madshrimps hardware comprises of the following components:

  • ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard
  • Intel i7-3960X OC'ed at 4.5Ghz 1.37Vcore
  • Corsair Hydro110i cooling
  • 16GB CORSAIR 2666C10 RAMs
  • 1 x AMD 7970HD graphics card
  • 2 x Western Digital 1TB Caviar Green Hard Drives
  • 2 x HyperX  120GB SSD
  • Corsair AX1200i Power Supply.

The build was at first glance pretty straightforward. Though instead of mounting the Corsair pump in the normal orientation we had to turn it over 90°, otherwise the radiator couldn't be mounted on the rear panel as the tubing was a tad too short. For the same reason we had to mount the fans behind the radiator too in a pull position. The cable routing and co. was a smooth ride. Normal as the cable management with these panoramic, see-through cases is a must.

 

Now looking at the above I'm puzzled for the air flow. Let me clarify: If we opted to mount the radiator in the front, we would be dumping the heat inside the case; not an ideal solution, so we opted to go for the rear mount. Now focus on the rear chamber only, imagine it with both the tempered glass side panels mounted. There's no ventilation in the rear chamber besides the one provided by the middle 120mm fan. Once we have more time to conduct proper thermal tests it will become clearer if our skeptical thoughts are justified yes or no. To be honest I would have opted if I was IN WIN to make a cutout in one of the side panels to provide better ambient airflow.

 

 

Our Corsair AX1200i is measuring 200mm in length and you notice in the below picture it is already getting pretty cramped in there. So when installing a 220mm one it will be a very very tight fit.

 

 

The four cut-outs allow easy access to the storage devices from the rear. There's no need for angled SATA cables as there is plenty of room (2cm) between the tray and the glass side panel.

 

 

 

Preliminary Conclusion

The IN WIN 909 is another splendid looking enclosure, combining craftsmanship, innovation and the usage of high-end materials. It is one of them stunning cases that will turn many heads when being on display at any booth. The tinted tempered glass side panels perfectly match the elegant contours of the 909. The included lighting effect also adds that little extra, though a dimming function would be a nice touch.

But there is of course more than looks; the case has to be hardware compatible, especially a full-tower case has to have plenty of storage space, allowing multiple graphics cards to be installed. Besides the omission of optical drive support, the IN WIN 909 has got you fully covered.

Last but not least it has to have good cooling. When buying the IN WIN 909 the end-user has to take into account that he/she still needs to cash out for at least two or three fans to get the airflow going. Too bad that for the retail price of approx. 400 Euros not even a single fan is included in the package.

Second note on the cooling is when one opts to install an AIO or DIY water cooling gear. If one opts to install the radiator in the rear chamber I fear a lack of airflow. Again before drawing any conclusions let us await the thermal testing by Stefan once the sample comes back at the [M]lab.

 

 

The IN WIN 909 is one of them supreme cases that carry a hefty price tag, this mainly because the used materials are top notch. The build quality is impeccable and the eye for detail is insane. Their enclosures are really what this market needed: a fresh current design, where the IN WIN style and elegance are giving a new meaning to the PC case. To maintain the sleekness the engineers had to take some decisions, this being highlighted above. If you want a perfect blend between the functionality of a high end full tower case, the usage based on high end materials and ultra-luxurious looks, then look no further. The IN WIN 909 should be high on your wanted list!

 

PROS:

  • High end materials (Tempered glass and Aluminum frame)
  • Multiple GPUs up to 360mm supported
  • Air or water cooling upgradability
  • Craftsmanship
  • USB3.1 C-type supported
  • Extension cables in the box

 

CONS:

  • No included fan(s)
  • No optical drive support
  • No LED intensity control


We wish to thank Katerina from IN WIN for the provision of the 909 media sample. Sven from ASUS for the X79 Black Edition motherboard Harry from Corsair for the AX1200 and Dominator quad channel kit. The Tones crew for the years of support, kuddos lads!!


 

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