Gadgetory

let's do the case review dance one more time before end of year we've got another one here that ticks all the boxes this is the Leon Lee alpha 550 which launched alongside its smaller Leon Lee alpha 330 we saw both at Computex and they both immediately ticked all of the boxes tempered glass on every surface possible vertical GPU mounts minimal air flow in the front of the case RGB LED fans and then whatever other various sundries and accessories were found with cases at the time this one came out to be $200 when we looked at them originally the prices weren't final so this is a $200 enclosure at this point the Alpha 330 is $100 and it kills a lot of the smaller accessories and the visual elements of this case so we'll look at this one and then the review will pretty much apply to the other one outside of the price proposition before we get into that this content is brought to you by the thermal take flow RGB closed-loop liquid cooler which is a 360 millimeter radiator plus 3 120 fans that are RGB illuminated the if then we'll take it rain fans at that this is a 4.5 done a stack pump which is one of the faster pumps you can learn more at the link in the description below so first off the differences between the two cases before getting into it too much the Alpha 550 contains a few pretty obvious changes one is that it's physically larger it also uses that extra size to accommodate this front door which just pushes out like that and conceals the front i/o including USB type-c something that a lot of cases lack and this one isn't even an afterthought like the define are six and several other cases some of the be quiet ones as well where you can see that they've basically commandeered a USB slot and stuck a USB type-c port in there with a plastic shroud molded around it this one accommodates it natively so that's interesting but that's only on the 550 model you won't get the front i/o with the front i/o covered or on the 330 the front IO is also accompanied by a difference in fan configuration the 330 model only has a rear exhaust fan it does not include the three 120-millimeter RGB LED front didn't take fans these fans make up a huge amount of the price if you're wondering how a case that's only maybe an inch or two bigger in any dimension costs $100 more it's not that I owed panel and it's not the i/o cover either it's those fans those fans despite how effective they are functionally and practically are expensive if you look at them they're actually they are ensconced in metal so the fans have metal shrouds are on the outside and a thick plastic interior it's not cheap to make something like that and that doesn't necessarily mean it's good or bad it means that it's expensive which goes along with what Lian Li does the reason that this case got so much attention when we first covered it and everyone else covered it at Computex is specifically because of that point Lee only makes expensive things they are known for being basically unobtainable this case at $200 is one of the most affordable cases Lee ami has ever made that's saying something so they've finally learned wait a minute aluminum is that expensive what if we did steel and they did steel so they did steel and then they said you know a case under $100 just feels wrong so they added one two three four tempered glass panels some of which have the partial shrouding at the bottom like this back went over here the bottom quarter of it is actually shrouded in black so they're doing that thing except they're not applying it to the entire case like some of the other cases on the market are the intake problem is something we'll talk about in the thermal section but they've they've tried to compensate this is a thing we need to talk about again with cases that have a closed-off front or a glass front there is a natural trade-off if you want your PC to look discrete or low-profile or you just like tempered glass a lot and you want the front finish on it then you're going to trade off on air flow you don't have to trade all of it there can be changes made to the case to accommodate this for example space not the front panel to be about an inch away from the chassis we'll give those fans enough room to pull in some air from the side you lose some pressure by nature of making multiple 90-degree turns in that process but it will help out significantly with air flow despite being a closed off face not every case does that on the market though and it's not inherently bad to have a closed off face just like anything else that's partially subjective or based on user scenarios there are reasons you would want that it doesn't mean that you need to buy the worst possible one for example the worst possible closed-off front panel that has poor air flow but you could buy something and sacrifice some airflow in exchange for having the visuals that you want so with that kind of out of the way what they've done here is as expected at this point closed off the front and sacrifice some airflow we tested with the front panel removed to see just how much that was but what I can tell you right now is that this ventilation on the side is very small it's not really enough to help counteract the sort of sleekness or the visuals that going for with that front panel not the worst we've seen this here but you need a bit more space there to breathe maybe some more space in the bottom or even some cut out somewhere in the top would help out on the airflow front the case does do a couple of things artistically it's got the sort of diamond the lattice front finish on it that's a bit new and different and now that we have a case that's actually come whole we can see what it looks like rather than the one that came in many shattered tiny glass pieces but that was more of the carrier's fault than Leo Mia's fault it you know it doesn't look too bad it just depends on who you are as a user the RGB LEDs are really the main focal point here as they are with most things at this point but let's go through some of Patrick's build notes then we'll get to the thermal and noise section first of all on the build side the Alfa 550 is again all glass externally it's got thin strips of mesh at the top and the front so both of those are a bit choked off and it looks a bit like the BitFenix Shogun that we previously reviewed there's minimal brand in here just a subtle edging at the bottom of the front panel and a couple of logos embossed on the interior along with that diamond pattern on the backlit filters building in the Alpha 550 was pretty easy there was a brief moment when it seems like the hard drive caterer is gonna block the power supply from entering the case like it did in the BitFenix and so but removing one thumb screw allows the entire hard drive cage to slide out easily the front and top panels are held firmly enough to avoid danger and there are enough wide filters clipped underneath to deal with any potential dust problems the filter below the case slides out from the side which is sadly brilliant and not something that a lot of case manufacturers do so it's easier to access them those that slide out from the back where you would have to basically pull your system away from the wall to get access to it the side panels have nothing to catch them once the screws are removed which should be standard by now in tempered glass cases this is something where Thermaltake actually is ahead of the game and so you just have to be a bit careful when removing the panel's there's a cable management shield behind the motherboard held in with heavy duty hinges that helps squash the nest of RGB fan cables that you will ultimately have to combat many cases allow space above the motherboard for a fan and radiator mounting but often it's separated from the rest of the case in the 550 there are just a couple of inches of clearance above the motherboard but it's Apple for most radiators that we can think of aside from a couple of standouts and it's still enough to allow for easy CPU power and other cable routing this is impressive given that it shares tooling with the much shorter alpha 330 there are a cable cutouts in the motherboard tray but they're at the very front of the case and are mostly useful for the fan cables for everything else there's an excellent cable management bar with cutouts for velcro ties it doesn't look like any cables would be able to fit beneath it but there are cleverly placed cutouts that allow 24 pin ATX cables to pass through as well the LED fans bundle for RGB and 3 PWM wires into a single plug which is convenient in terms of cable management but doesn't allow the fans to be connected to typical fan or RGB headers instead they must be connected to Leon Lee's controller this controller seems like it's replaced an older design there's only one screw hole there should be two drilled into the case for it and there's an empty spot on front i/o with a diagram of a labeled RGB but there's no actual button this indicates to us that there was intended to be a button at some point in front i/o for RGB control however they replaced it with an actual controller as an a remote controller there's no mechanical control in the case there's no software like cam it's just an LED color and pattern and speed button that you can adjust via remote on the bright side there's a lot of customization available and there are some wild baked in animations the fans an LED strip sync well with each other for the most part our bottom fan was rotated one turned out of alignment if you really care and the use of the remote does allow for more detailed controls than the usual press button to change color and besides if your alternative is something like cam you're probably better off going with Hardware fans be it is controlled via a pwm header attached to the motherboard so the main benefit of bundling RGB fan and power together and connecting the fans to the hub is reduce cable clutter Lee onliest fans must be connected to Leon Lee's controller and that RGB controller must be controlled by Leon Lee's included remote the Bora 120 RGB fans are certainly well made from a physical material standpoint ignoring the performance of them and currently go for $40 on Amazon with the controller included it's understandable that Leon Lee would want their fans to be connected to their RGB controller to make sure they take full advantage of the individual addressable RGB s but you do end up limited in where you can connect them let's get them to thermals in noise the Alpha 550 comes with three intake fans and one exhaust so we didn't bother testing with extra fans or serious reconfiguration instead we did the usual vertical GPU test spoiler it's bad for an air-cooled card with an open-face and we also tested without the front panel to see how much it obstructs air flow start with CPU tortured tests under the full system torture workload senior temperature average sixty point four degrees Celsius over a means and 56 point two degrees Celsius delta T over a minute with the GPU mounted vertically that's typical of cases we've tested but the GPU typically reports a higher temperature in the vertical orientation given that is pushed up against a glass insulator the reason the CPU temperature goes down in this configuration is primarily because we've removed some of the radiative heat coming off the back weight of the Jeep you or at least relocated it which will favor CPU temperatures marginally with the front panel removed and the filter left in place CPU temperature plummeted to forty six point seven degrees Celsius Delta over ambient that degree of airflow limitation is to be expected in a case with so much glass but it also shows what you're giving up in favor of a front glass panel the difference of course comes down to whether the case is marketed as high airflow in this case it doesn't have marketing materials that lay claim to high airflow or high performance cooling unlike the Enzo and H 500 P it could however still use help in that department the crazy thing here is that there's a 10 degree swing or more by removing the front panel we're suffocating the CPU for airflow here the case doesn't have to be fully redesigned it can still have glass everywhere and can still have the Leon Lea look just make more side ventilation on that front panel and make it a bit wider give it some more breathing room at the bottom or the top and you'll make up for a lot of that performance with a front panel on the 550 is around the BitFenix Shogun and the stock in win 303 and CPU cooling it's definitely warm but Leon Lee has been trying to make this somewhat of a functional case rather than exclusively a showpiece it's still more towards showpiece though the view 71 significantly lower CPU temperature of 54 point 7 degrees is the strongest direct competition to the 550 thanks to thermal takes off set glass panels that allow air to circulate all around the case the Alpha 550 runs about the same as the dark base 700 with its silent three setting and four degrees warmer than the airflow marketed to H 500 P as for GPU temperature that reached fifty two point three degrees Celsius over ambient and torture testing but overheated as usual when vertically oriented with an average of about 10 degrees higher for 62 degrees when vertically oriented we are starting to see boost 3.0 lower the clocks of it as it continues to climb this isn't an inherent problem with the orientation being vertical itself it's a problem with a typical case dimension and layout we've tested every vertical mount option this year that's been afforded to us and almost every single one of them pushes the GPU as close to the side panel as possible that's done for a few reasons one of them is looks the other is getting the card away from the CPU cooler to allow for maximum clearance but you're ultimately ending up with open-face air cards against a giant glass insulator where it's there's no room for air to get into the card and when it exits the card it's got nowhere to go either so you just recirculate it in hot air this configuration as we've said in basically every video at this point is primarily meant for open-loop cooling that doesn't mean everyone will use it that way which is why we still test it with an open phase card to show you when not to use it open face cards or when not to use it actually even blow our cards aren't great a bit better but as you'll see in our disappointment PC build that we uploaded still not great still throttles so ultimately that's a configuration you use for open-loop cooling and that's about it it looks nice but doesn't work well with open phase cards removing the front panel entirely only lowered GPU temperature two degrees to fifty point one degrees meaning that the stock configuration is already close to the best-case scenario and boost functionality begins interfere in any way once we get into the hotter scenarios like vertical orientation stock GPU temperature was impressively cool relative to other cases given that the restrictive front panel and the warm CBD temperatures were interfering with pins it's on par with the stock NZXT H 700 I and third will take Corp III both cases that performed well in our testing even though stock view 71 is less than one degree cooler 60 loops of three marks fire strike extreme stress test warmed the GPU to fifty four point four degrees Celsius delta T of ramit another competitively cool score so to speak the Alpha 550 does surprisingly well on GPU thermals and as a factor of how the fans are aligned with the face of the card the vo 71 is again less than one degree cooler and the H 700 iron core P 3 are again roughly equal the three 120-millimeter fans do a great job of pushing air along the bottom of the case to the GPU which is top priority for those anyway blender rendering on the CPU cost CPU Delta Theta average forty point nine degrees Celsius on the same end of the chart as sealed off cases like the anti p8 and cases with half as many fans like fractals define C and mesh by C in stock configurations there's a fan pushing air into the CPU cooler and another fan pulling air out so this is the best the Alpha 550 can do stock without better and it's just partly the distance of the cooler from the front of the panel the air loses most of its pressure by the time it gets anywhere and so we end up with slightly higher temperatures when working with an air cooler on the CPU GPU rendering brought the GPU delta-t at a twenty six point six degrees still slightly warmer than the Vue 71 but not by much considering that the worst result the corsair spec of four was about 11 degrees higher the 550 is definitely pulling its weight in the GPU cooling Department overall as for noise this is a loud case that shouldn't be a surprise there are a lot of fans there 120 millimetres they spent up to nearly 2,000 rpm if the spec sheet is to be believed and 40.4 DBA is audibly equivalent to the H 700 I and the view 71 both of which are near the top of the chart for noise levels and by top here that's generally worst not best the fans could be turned down for daily use just make sure to turn them back up for thermal improvements when working with heavier workloads the Alpha 550 is a lot like NZ fcsh 700 I it's a decent looking case if you're into that kind of thing with pretty good build quality that's ultimately dragged down in terms of the price to performance value proposition by all the accessories that are bundled into it however unlike NZXT Sage 700 I the Alpha 550 comes with a cheaper alternative the Alpha 330 this is the one that we think is the most worth looking into if you can forfeit that front panel it's worth considering it's $100 cheaper the Alpha 330 at $100 basically flat is actually a pretty good deal the build quality of these cases is reasonably high yes they're a bit warm but that's kind of the point of buying the 330 you buy that then you buy better fans and you resolve that issue for the most part entirely so that's what we would recommend looking into the most you can even get the fans for cheaper than the extra $100 now you lose a couple of things but these Leon Leaf fans again are expensive and not necessarily for the reasons that drive performance they look pretty good you can find similar to better-looking fans depending on how you feel about them that's all subjective and so if you can it's worth doing and grabbing the smaller case again you just lose some of the top so if you want a top radiator probably consider this one instead as a case the 550 isn't bad in terms of strictly its build quality its layout is even pretty good it follows a lot of the trends without just being an outright copy like a lot of the other cases are right now and it has at least somewhat unique tooling in here this case is a genuine actual effort at making a good case and that's nice to see it is however very warm in its stock configuration for air-cooled components so just consider that and make sure you plan accordingly with the rest of your build the case does not claim that it is the best at air cooling it doesn't claim that it has super high air flow so you can only fault it so much because it's ultimately trying to be more of a showpiece that has high build quality to some extent so we do like the case but it does have a lot of competition the Alfa 330 is more of what we would point you toward if you like this one it's basically the same and it's a lot cheaper that one competes with the S 340 elite and it's pretty competitive in that category this one competes with things like the dark bass pro 900 big a bit different audience but certainly a strong competitor it competes with the NZXT a 700 i which despite its smart controller we do like quite a lot but not the smart controller and it competes with a couple of other cases dark bass 700 and it's fighting some other enclosures up there at the top of the list as well if you 71 isn't too far away bit cheaper similar glass focus so there's actually a lot of competition this year at $200 and that makes it hard for this one to win we do however like the price proposition of the Alfa 330 and if you don't like the alternatives of this one subjectively speaking and while you're left with that one so for more information on this check the article link in the description below for the full review written by patrick if you'd like to help us out directly go to patreon.com/scishow to store that gamers nexus net to pick up a mod mat like this one or a shirt like this one subscribe for more I'll see you all next time