Bjorn3D.com Bjorn3d.com – Satisfying Your Daily Tech Cravings Since 1996
If you are tired of the same old beige cases, then check out the cases from Athenatech U.S.A. Inc. This company has been manufacturing computer cases and power supplies for over six years. Athenatech GmbH has a factory located in Mainland China with a workspace of 40,000 square meters and more than 1,500 staff. Their current production capacity is now around 600,000 units monthly.
Introduction
If you are tired of the same old beige cases, then check out the cases from Athenatech U.S.A. Inc. Athenatech has several unique designs that should appeal to some of you seeking a case with a little personality.
Athenatech has been manufacturing computer cases and power supplies for over six years. Athenatech GmbH has a factory located in Mainland China with a workspace of 40,000 square meters and more than 1,500 staff. There current production capacity is now around 600,000 units monthly.
The case up for review today is the Athenatech A747SC Mid-tower Case.
Features / Specs
- Standard ATX form factor
- 350Watt power supply
- Intel P4 Ready
- 3.0Ghz Compatible
- Dimension: 8 ¼” x 17 ¾” x 18 ¾”
- 10 Drive Bay Capacity:
5.25” x 4 External
3.5” x 2 External
3.5″ x 4 Internal - Mother Board Size (maximum): 12” x 10”
- Fan Options:
1 x 8cm fan, rear (standard)
1 x 9cm fan rear (optional)
1 x 8cm fan front (optional) - Adjustable CPU Fan “Cooling Tower”
- Expansion Slots: 7
- No Screws needed to secure left panel
- Top front mounted two USB, speaker and microphone connectors
- Snap off front panel
- Colors: Silver or Charcoal
Installation and Impressions
The review system is built around the following:
Quality and Looks
The Athenatech A747SC Mid-tower case looks sharp and has some unique features. These include a top mounted access panel with a door for two USB ports and speaker and microphone connectors.
A CPU “cooling tower” is used to evacuate the warm air from the CPU directly. During installation no sharp edges were noted inside the case. This is a great relief because I am tired of bleeding on the motherboard during installation. The power switch is surrounded by a blue light to let you know that power is on.
A yellow light in this surrounding lights up when the hard drive is working. Best of all, the case operated quietly.
Installation and Operation
The case was easy to access. There are two slide locks on the side of the access panel. The front panel comes off for access to the CDROM and floppy for installation. It was nice to remove a front cover and not have wires attached to it. I installed the CPU, CPU fan and memory on the motherboard prior to installing the motherboard into the case. Additionally, I used the stock Intel heatsink and fan. The motherboard was inserted easily; the only problem was keeping the grounding straps from the connectors out off the way. The drives mounted quickly and easily — no need to worry about screws falling down into the case and no need to use a screw driver. Athenatech calls this a tool-less mounting rack, and it worked quite well. The hard drives mounted easily in a removable drive cage. The case comes with an 80mm rear fan and a place for a 80mm optional front mounted fan. Mounted to the case access panel over top of the CPU is a CPU “Cooling Tower.” This is used to remove the heat from the CPU directly and not send the heat through the rear of the case or through the power supply. The only time that any tools were used during installation was to mount the motherboard and secure the video card in place.
After the installation of the hardware, I installed Windows XP Professional. This installation took about 30 minutes with no problems. The case and CPU temperature were monitored during operating system installation and during Windows updates. The system ran a total of about one hour with the temperatures hitting 96.5 degrees F for the motherboard and about 100 degrees F for the CPU.
Conclusion
This was a nice case to work with. It was easy to set up, ran quiet and had many impressive features. I recommend it and award it 8 out of 10, giving it the Bjorn3D Seal of Approval.
