Gadgetory

the story of case labs is a tragic one case labs was a small manufacturer of high end PC cases that went out of business in August of 2018 bankrupted by acclaimed combination of new 10% American terrifying and the loss of a major account the latter of which was likely more responsible we'd been in contact with case labs in the months prior and about a month before its own doom we even received at one of the SMA eight - a magnum enclosures for review unfortunately we had just started moving into the new office and by the time the dust had settled they were done for case labs almost certainly knew that the end was coming when they shipped our case and probably knew that the review would never release while the company was still around it stopped being a priority for us after that reviews of products that nobody can buy aren't especially helpful but it's been sitting in storage ever since unopened and now that even more time has passed it's worth a revisit to see what everyone is missing out on with case labs gone before that this video is brought to you by thermal grizzly and their high-end thermal compounds thermal grizzly makes cryo not paste for high thermal performance and conductivity without being electrically conductive so you don't have to worry about shorting components cryo knot is particularly good for replacing stock GPU pastes as cryo knot is a non curing compound learn more at the link in the description below a couple really important things here for this review one can you see me out if this thing's pretty big it's blocking 60% of our light sorry - this is difficult to review so typically our case reviews if you're not familiar with them are really detailed on the thermal and acoustic testing side of things with this case this isn't our standard to ignore this with this case our standard test bench is aa biz it's just comical it's clearly not what this case was meant for and that makes it difficult to do the thermals and noise and stuff like that because there's no point so we did do a few tests anyway just for posterity sake but this case is meant for a few things meant for something like a server build which is what Patrick is working on I can see he has a lot of pride in it and also things like dual water cooling loops and there are plenty of those out there for you to see but we really wanted to work on this as a server case it's big it should support dual socket boards ours is sort of jerry-rigged in there but we'll talk about that later so it's a large case and we have some b-roll shots of this thing that it looks a bit better than in its current state but we'll talk about this shortly because it is important as well so anyway case labs the company originally opened with expert machinists so that's what case Labs was before it became the company that made these they were machinists and that gives case labs a very unique gave case labs a very unique position in the market and that you're buying from people who are skilled experts in making the thing they're selling as opposed to most companies and there's nothing wrong with this approach either where it's experts who are skilled at designing the thing and then they send it out to be made elsewhere so that's where case labs deviates from all the other case companies unfortunately it's also why it's it's really difficult to stay alive with that business model because you're paying people who are going to be higher wage workers in the US especially and who are hands-on making these things without a massive automated Factory and a huge supply chain and all the stuff that the big companies that pump out cases have the benefit of so it makes case labs cases genuinely boutique cases and they're amazing in a lot of ways we'll talk about them through Patrick's filled notes they're also expensive like crazy expensive this one was we're not even fully sure cuz the the company I mean the company is gone we can't check her order information but when we requested the sample the case would have been a retail equivalent equivalent of over seven hundred dollars easily for the case that's what a computer costs if you build it on a budget so it's interesting anyway they are expensive boutique cases they're high quality high build quality high attention to detail there's some small things that case I was missed in here we'll talk about those given the circumstances they might not have normally missed those things and then the cases are often focused on things like dual liquid loops really unique custom build and server type builds which is what Patrick's working on here dual socket build and things like that so case labs also became somewhat famous during the thermaltake scandal where Thermaltake developed the name quotes thermal fake because of allegations that thermaltake had stolen case labs design ideas and we won't get into the details here on on how those allegations ended or how that a legal battle concluded but it doesn't really matter because what mattered was that case labs and Thermaltake got into a big legal fight and thermal takes much bigger so regardless of who's right and who's wrong when it's a legal battle money's at play ultimately and the Thermaltake might have had more of that available so these are all things that led to case labs dying and it's unfortunate to lose a company that really focuses on a high quality product but also at the same time that's what happens a lot of the time when there's no volume mover to really hold financial stability while you're working on building something like this which took like months to even get because things like powder coating that we don't think it was done in-house because powder coating for the blue on the inside of this took something like between I think they cited between 3 and 12 weeks or 8 and 12 maybe it was a lot so you could be out of a case for 3 months after you order one because you're waiting for it to be how powder-coated you don't have to get a powder coated but it's just all these little things that make it difficult to compete clearly so let's talk about the case will go through Patrick's build notes the testing there will be some discussion on testing there are technically some thermal numbers they are not important at all because normally we're testing a reasonable case with some fans included and it's tested in that config for the user who's building on that budget to use those fans or maybe do a slight mod to them this is a it doesn't come with fans it's meant for like 200 loop liquid or it's meant for a massive server and so there's honestly no point we did a couple tests anyway just because no no why not we had already built it so they're just not that important so keep that in mind let's get into patch to build notes the packing job was impressive in itself almost none of the case sections are thicker than 2 centimeters so they were all stacked tightly and wrapped with paper so much paper a lot of paper and then placed in a box that wasn't much larger than the finished product unlike mass produced cases case labs enclosures shipped as a stack of completely disassembled parts to be assembled in Ikea like style complete with an 18-page instruction booklet our booklet was filled with pictures of a black case against a white background printed entirely in color so maybe toner refills were the secret third reason for the bankruptcy the manual is thorough when it comes to basic assembly but not all of the custom options we chose were covered and it took some serious experimentation to figure out where the fan and LED mounts went properly the core of the chassis is built from 2.5 millimeter thick aluminum panels assembled with dozens of countersunk screws we're no machining experts but for a team as small as case labs 16 employees at the end drilling threading and countersinking all those holes must have been a time-consuming operation all the cable cutouts are lined with strips of rubber that have been carefully cut to just the right size external panels are made of thinner 1.75 millimetre aluminum and the tempered glass window is just a flat rectangular sheet bolted onto one side the whole package is surprisingly light given the size we're used to XXL cases being covered in packing materials packed with extra material around glass panels and shipped all as one piece a lot of cases also used heavier metals for example or are just less efficient in their packing the SMA 8 is just a stripped down box that doesn't even come with fats the all aluminum construction doesn't hurt either it is very expensive though and that thickness of aluminum is particularly steep for the bill of materials even though the quantity of screws is large the variety is thankfully small a Phillips head driver and a 5/16 hex socket driver are the only tools necessary and the ladder is supplied with the case the front IO includes USB 3.1 and an HDMI pass-through for VR we chose a kit that includes an optional reset button which is packed separately along with an alternate faceplate to accommodate it a third faceplate could be ordered that was entirely blank except for the power button but we didn't pick it up all the cables are generously long except for the ones on the power and the reset buttons would struggle to reach their connections on the opposite corner of the case the motherboard tray and PCI backplate assemble as one unit and fit into the rails of the case so the system can be almost fully assembled outside of the case and then slid in technically it also has standoffs if you wanted to use this as a test bench but realistically that's probably not too common of a use case it's a tight fit so there's no rattling once everything's seated and those tight tolerance for fitment is part of what made the case such a high-quality build may be the most disappointing aspect of our specific SMA 8a was that it only supports standard ATX motherboards and the smaller EI TX boards despite its massive size case labs are offered a $10 option for a longer motherboard tray that would support dual socket EA TX boards but we either didn't choose it or didn't get it so the whole front half of our case is usable only for reservoirs and nothing else at least not unless you have an active imagination and can build something like our dual socket system by using a PCIe slot cover radiator screw a nut and some zip ties our case didn't even come with front fan mounts which is potentially a normal thing it just depends these cases are fully customizable to order so if we specified that we wanted them in our order we would have gotten them but at the same time the company was shutting down and we're not really sure what the specification was anymore because it's probably one of the last things they threw together before shipping out it's impossible to tell at this point unfortunately specifically what we ordered either way we jury-rigged our case to fit longer boards by double stacking standoffs so that the board could clear the forward section of the case it doesn't seem like there was a good reason to buy the more limited a TX version of the case leaves more room for reservoirs in the front but even the SSI EE B version has plenty of space cable management is accomplished with aluminum bars that screw in to the rear of the motherboard tray these bars are definately sturdy but clearance is tight for 24-pin power cables especially sleeved ones that can't be flattened out there are barely any cable tie points and none big enough to fit the velcro straps that we would like to use none of this is especially important though because the sheer amount of space behind the motherboard tray and in the bottom chamber of the case I mean that an entire power supplies worth of cables could be hidden without any management at all there were also a few minor issues lifting either side panel off the hinges requires moving the top panel because it's slightly over Hanes them the screw holes for the rear exhaust fan were drilled slightly smaller than the ones on the rest of the case we're not quite sure why but we did have to use a different screw most of the fan mounts are single size designed to fit 120 millimeter fans of nothing else but it's not like this is hidden from you at purchase and then there are some features lacking that are common in the factory produced cases that we usually review the things that are mass-produced and massive factories in Asia the expansion slot and drive bay screws are difficult to access because they're obstructed by other parts of the case there are no screwdriver cutouts which makes it sort of annoying sometimes when working with PCIe expansion slots filters and fan mounts could be purchased separately and it seems like these are one of the few case Labs products that are still actively being sold so if you did want those you could go get them but just not the case using the Internet Archive to look at the case labs website reveals quite a few custom options in order case color.black default $35 or gunmetal or white optional two-tone color scheme $25.00 extra form factor ATX or e ATX default $10 for SSI eep or wider EA TX which we really wish we had gotten but we might not have asked for we're not sure standard or reverse case orientation case floor with either lighting mounts which were brand new at the time they shut down or removable plate motherboard chamber floors solid default or 15 for the three-time 120-millimeter fan cutouts and five-and-a-quarter cut out a side door salad default $30 acrylic $50 glass top cover ventilated solid $20 for thirty nine millimeter extended height ventilation and somebody dollars for 120 millimeter extended height also ventilated more than twenty different options for various front cover fan mount combinations all boiling down to whether they're ventilated solid or tempered glass motherboard tray styles can even be changed the case is 100% customizable what we're getting at you can have their eight slot default motherboard trays you can do $34 for 8 slot plus two vertical and a riser cable your $36 for five vertical and riser cable fifty six dollars for five vertical and two riser cables front i/o is customizable you can do none you can do USB 3.0 by two and audio by two being two of them $35 for additional USB 3.1 type-c and HDMI $35 for a second side fan mount $25 for an LED strip mounting kit and $29 for the reset switch retrofit kit all this is on top of a $650 base price it's absolutely crazy how customizable this case is cooler master wishes they could be this customizable with their maker series cases it's ridiculous and this isn't really something that you could do with the normal factory mass production setup it has to be done at a smaller scale because there's not feasible otherwise so case-knives really had something unique there unfortunately it's also what makes the case is really expensive and it makes it hard to run it and stay in business when you have that type of model small operation expensive products and a lot of competition in the market testing the SMA 8a with our standard hardware is a bit of a joke since it's specifically geared toward overkill liquid cooling loops the case that is our air cooled bench is as a full ATX board but it looks like a mini ITX board huddled down in one corner of the massive case we chose to add four 1900 rpm Lian Li Bora fans for testing because this test doesn't particularly matter too much and because Lian Li and their Bauer sent us nine of them and we can't figure out what else to use them for to were placed under the top of the power supply shroud as intake bottom and one was at the CPU cooler level as top intake one more fan was in the single rear slot as rear exhaust and we didn't bother doing any test beyond this for reasons already stated so there's no stock baseline because this doesn't ship with fans and it's not meant for that use honestly well let's just let's just get through them CPU temperature during the torture test with just one fan pointed down at the cooler and one pulling exhaust out was forty six point five degrees Celsius one of the coolest results we've gotten and close to the age 500m mesh the massive size of the case means that with any airflow at all it's practically equivalent to an open-air bench and then you just use the fans to guide the air we did try torture testing without any fans at all but even in a case this big because it's still not purely open air it caused overheating problems so we dropped that test GBO tortured temperature was forty four point six degrees Celsius over ambient slower than any of the other cases on the charge that's because to ninety hundred rpm fans were directly blasting the cooler with air pulled in from the vast empty chamber at the bottom of the case we could have populated two slots directly under the GPU for an even lower temperature but we put one under the GPU and one farther towards the front so that the air split and also benefits the CPU GPU temperature and fire strike was slightly higher at forty six point one degrees but it usually is slightly higher and again this is the lowest temperature on the chart approach to only by the SL 600 M that's not particularly fair since we did put 1900 rpm fans into a $700 case but you get the idea the right configuration and enough brute force makes anything good CPU temperatures when rendering our blender test file exclusively on the CPU averaged thirty six point six degrees Celsius over ambience that's tied with the half X and nearly tied with the open air ku or conquer the fans we installed our higher quality than most cases ship with but again it's a $650 case minimum that's designed for liquid cooling GPU temperature during the combined GPU and CPU render averaged twenty one point seven degrees Celsius over ambience which is still lower than anything else on the chart again almost even with the SL 600 M so conclusion I'm still not sure if you can even see me it's very dark this case is gigantic you can't buy the case as it was intended to be bought you can't buy the case at all at this point so you can't buy from case labs at least not the case can't buy with all the options and that's really where the case was impressive was just how customizable it was because when he bought from case labs as you heard when I went through the all of the different ways you could customize the case it was your case when it was done you basically sent them a spec and paid them and then they made a case for you that's pretty cool service it's expensive service aha and clearly not something that most people would ever pay for I mean you know we we probably wouldn't pay for it because just financially there are so many not necessarily better but there are so many more financially in our position responsible options or maybe just cheaper options in general and they're still suited for the job so that's the difficulty and yeah that's it's the same argument for any other boutique brand in an industry where it's hard to survive it's expensive because it's low volume and it's low volume because it's expensive and it's also low volume because it's people who are extremely concerned about quality to a point that they just don't trust anyone else to really do it or at least not at the same level of mass production as these larger companies where they're okay with pushy now $50 $100 cases $150 cases that still have lots of flaws because they know at the end of the day what matters is that it's good enough and you have to settle for good enough when you're dealing with mass production because you'll never make anything otherwise so that's case labs really deviated from that and that's where it shines because it's so customizable but there may be some stock left with case labs that various distributors of theirs there might be some used cases on eBay but the usual is it worth it conclusion to our review is not possible here so this is not a proper review you can't buy the product so it's not is it worth it it's not or the thermals any good it was it cool and the answer to was it cool is yes it's absolutely cool it's really well built it does have flaws so let's you know no rose tinted glasses here there are flaws we listed them but it's cool and this is a case that was more or less hand-built and that's very interesting so you know again it's 16 employees at a small company a lot of whom are machinists and that's not a story you get at a lot of places so the Giants opulently expensive case that this is is what makes it inherently interesting especially as a post-mortem it's sad however that no more will be made we understand why that's the case because expensive and losing a massive client is probably the biggest blow they took the terabyte does hurt a bit but at that time there was discussion of the 25 percent tears but they hadn't been enacted and they still haven't had time of filming ten percent tariffs we believe had been enacted at that point where we're very close to it so technically there was a tariff hike it was 10 percent it did affect this company they use a lot of aluminum it probably affected the bottom line but you can raise prices if you have to and ten percent on $600 is certainly a lot 660 now but when you're at that price the customers might still pay it so it's really more likely the default of an account or the loss of a big account that killed the company not necessarily just the tariffs although we certainly would believe that there was also impacted them so it's an expensive case it was made with expertise it was made with a lot of care and a lot of aluminum we'll probably be using ours too how is the dual Xeon system that we're currently working on we're troubleshooting it that's why it's a mess like this and probably for future content pieces too so keep an eye out for this thing again it's extremely likely we use this for a dual Xeon system it's also likely that we end up doing an open loop on it because that's kind of what the case was made for so check back for that but you've got the review on build quality you have a little bit of history on it and then you have the well a couple thermal numbers that are totally pointless so anyway here's what we want to know how did you feel about case labs whether you knew about them before or you just learned about them today yeah how how do you feel about this type of product even if you're not ever to buy on what's your feeling and you know do you do you miss that the company is gone or do you just not care because the market does what the market does what are your thoughts post them below subscribe for more as always go to store documents accents net to help us how directly you can buy a shirt like this one the GP disappointment build shirt or you get a patreon.com slash gamers Nexus to house out there as well thank you for watching I'll see you all next time