In Win BUC Computer Case Review

Manufacturer: In Win Development, Inc.
Product Name: BUC
Model Number: BUC666
Price As Tested:$99.99 (NewEgg)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by In Win.

Ever dream of a mid tower case that had four hot swap internal SATA drive bays that you could access easily? Of course the case would have to have plenty of fans for cooling, and a pass thru ventilation design for the PSU to reduce heating the internal components. And of course, you would want your mechanical drives to be noise isolated. It might also help if the case had a cool look with a back lit LED fan to kind of show it all off. Hey let's throw in water cooling holes just in case, and what would be nice is if the price was affordable. Perhaps less than a hundred bucks?

But before we get to fulfilling that day dream, lets talk about In Win Development. The corporation is an ISO 9001 manufacturer of computer cases. Its philosophy is based around eight elements, Innovation, Service, Speed, Value, Safety, Warmth, Faithfulness, and Diligence. Its a rather pleasing list. The company has been manufacturing cases since 1986. So, it turns out that In Win Development, has been innovating and listening.

And they created the In Win BUC. It has all of those features, including the modest price. They even included top mount USB 3.0 access. The question is can they provide all those features with ease of use, and quality engineering. Let's see if all those features come in a package that looks as good on the inside as well as the outside.

In Win BUC Features*

• Easy Access to HDD Bays on Side Panel

• SATA HDD / SSD Hot-Swap Module x 4

• Supports Multiple High-end Graphics Cards (Max Length 30cm / 11.8 in)

• Up to 9 Drive Bays

• Cable Routing Space

• Tool Free Design**

• Removable Anti-Dust Filter

• 12 cm silent fan

• Water Cooling Ready

• Tool-Free Expansion Slot

• USB 3.0

• USB 2.0

• eSATA

• RoHS

• SSD ready

*Features and certification per Box literature.

** See review for details.

In Win BUC Specifications*

*Features and certification per In Win product literature at website.

**per box label.

Fans: 120 mm x 25mm Fan Specifications (12V DC)*

*In Win did not include the fan specs, the model # of the fan possibly traces back to a Scythe DFS122512L. Specifications are based on the Scythe DFS122512L per scythe-usa.com product literature.

Closer Look: Exterior

I found the In Win BUC styling to be more than adequate, especially as it is seen in this view. The front fan has a soft blue glow due to several LEDs, and the In Win Logo is back lit in red. Sometimes LEDs can be annoyingly bright but these had a perfect glow behind the bezel, nor did they blink to distraction. Of course, your style preferences may differ, and that's the way it should be.

The front of the case provides easy access to three 5.25 in drive bays, and one 3.5 in drive bay. The drive bay covers can be removed and snap back in place as needed.

The In Win arrived in a stylish box with full color graphics on all sides without damage. The case itself was encased in Styrofoam. All the parts were present. In Win includes a single page multi-language insert, several zip ties, a pair of case keys, a mini speaker, a molex to 3 pin fan adapter and four parts bags. The insert directs the buyer to a web site where they can download the complete manual as a pdf. A first time builder may want to have the manual before starting their assembly. The BUC motherboard tray comes with built-in standoffs so they only include a few extra. Also, 8 fan screws are included should the system builder decide to add up to two more 120 mm fans. In Win includes rubberized grommets with mounting screws for all the hard drive trays.

The perforated area on the left side of the left case cover has two unoccupied mountings for 120 mm fans to help cool your graphics card(s) and other peripherals. Internally, there is a separate screen that will trap dust, however, there appears no way to remove it. To the lower right, there is an unfiltered lockable hard drive access door. At first glance the lock seems almost superfluous, until we discover that the rear of the case hides a case lock loop. The access door enables adding or removing up to 4 internal hard drives easily without taking the whole side cover panel off the case.

The top of the case shows the 120mm fan that vents air to the outside and the tray. The tray has a USB 3.0 port which cannot be seen in this view.

Here we can see that In Win provided 7 tool-free expansion slots. There is a 120 mm fan that pulls air from inside the case and vents to the exterior. Except for the first port, the expansion ports are of the disposable knock-out type, therefore, you will have a large gap in your case if you remove the card that was supposed to be there. However, if you save the single included removable port cover, then you can use this as a replacement unless you remove multiple cards without any substitutions. You may also note the two large punch-outs with rubberized grommets for water cooling. The remainder of any water cooling efforts are all left to after-market devices. Also, we note that this case is designed to have a bottom-mounted power supply. There is a slide-out filter at the bottom of the case. Another interesting aspect is the blue USB 3.0 cable that loops from the top tray thru the case and to the back. The idea here is that motherboards that support USB 3.0 often only have a rear panel USB 3.0 port without an available 3.0 header. This allows the builder to bring one of the USB 3.0 ports to the top front of the case.

Detailed Exterior Features

The BUC is manufactured using SECC steel, meaning that it is protected from rust and corrosion by an electro-galvanizing process. All of the steel was painted black in perfection. The molded plastic parts felt solid and had a very nice finish

The top tray includes a USB 3.0 port. This port is not angled and is very close to the floor of the tray. There is a good chance that some of the USB devices will simply not fit properly without an extension cable.

The power switch, reset button, and front jacks are all housed as part of the front bezel. This panel includes two USB 2.0 ports, audio in and out jacks and eSATA.

Here we see a handy place for those case keys for those of us who are not concerned about anyone removing our hard drives surreptitiously. For those who are concerned, please notice the vertical slot to the right. This hides a retractable case lock loop so you can lock up the left rear cover of the case. Otherwise, the lock loop is hidden internally until it is needed.

The case covers are easily closed using these plastic latches and the latching mechanism gives a solid lock in place feel. I found these to be handy but also if they are turned clockwise to their extremes they can removed. I found this “feature” somewhat non-useful when they fell off several times. However, they are easily placed back on.

The underside of the In Win BUC is completely painted. The mounting feet are sufficiently tall enough to leave space to allow the PSU fan to vent properly. This is also shows the removable filter.

Closer Look: Interior

The inside of the In Win BUC is completely painted black, with the same high quality as the exterior. All of the edges were finished. There was one issue with PSU mounting. The case is designed to fit the PSU between a metal guide and two rubberized pads toward the motherboard tray side. Unfortunately, the metal guide is not rolled, and it has a raised tab, this can result in scratching your PSU on the tab unless you are very careful not to allow the PSU to touch the guide while you place it.

There are several great features in this case. The first is that the expansion ports have an excellent tool-free latch system. My graphics card locked in perfectly and with a very positive feel to the latching. Removing the video card was also easy. There is a large window for the cpu back plate. The motherboard tray is not removable, but it does come with all the built-in standoffs for ATX. This saved me from having to place any motherboard standoffs. Another feature is the tool-less external drive bay mounting system. The external DVD easily slid in place by pulling the knobs out, and locked in place by pushing the knobs back in. Also seen here are the 3.5” drive sleeves. The case comes equipped with 4 Hot Swap SATA and 1 standard internal bay. You may have to enable AHCI in order to enable hot swap capability.

In Win claims an allowable length of 11.8” for expansion cards which is very close to the measured 11.75” (298.54mm) with a simple measuring tape. This is also unencumbered by internal hard drive wires because of the hot swap SATA modules and the fact the HD cage faces to the right side of the case.

The BUC has several cutouts for passing cables and a dedicated area for running cables. The cutouts are somewhat smaller than desired, and the space for cables was barely adequate.

The right side of the case reveals the hot-swap SATA modules and the main cable raceway. Note that the SATA cables are permanently mounted. There is 5/8” (15.875mm) of space between the motherboard tray and the case cover. There are a few pairs of holes designed to accept the zip ties for cable management along the cable raceway, but tie mounts were lacking elsewhere.

Detailed Interior Features

The In Win BUC is looking pretty good so far. Lets get into more detail, and see what else the BUC case has to offer.

The In Win BUC has plenty of room to the right and just below the motherboard. However, unless you have a modular PSU, this will be filled with unused PSU wiring. There is simply not enough room on the back side of the motherboard to store all this cabling. The last expansion slot might be best for USB or e-SATA expansion brackets or similar because it will not accommodate more than 1.125” (28.575mm) to the PSU. The loop lock slot is hidden in this view. The depth from the motherboard tray to the inside cover edge is 6.75” (171.45mm). There is 7/8” (22.225mm) space between the top of the motherboard and the case.

One issue that is noted is that the cut-out at the top of the motherboard tray is covered by the standard ATX motherboard. The result is about 1/4” (6.35mm) of useful space to squeeze a cable thru. The included zip ties are barely long enough to wrap around the cables. Another problem with the included zip ties is that they serve only as a permanent tie downs. In order to remove a tie to add, remove or re-route a cable, you will need to cut them, potentially cutting a cable if you are not careful.

The front bezel lifts away from the case but is tethered down by the wires feeding the front jacks. And once the cables are routed, zip tied, and mounted to the motherboard, removing the front case bezel is not going to happen without some major reconstructive surgery.

The case design allows you to access the external drive bays without removing the front bezel, but if you want to change the front fan or clean the front fan filter, then there will be considerable difficulty.

Here's a close-up of the hot swap SATA modules. I found that once the drive sleeve was properly assembled with a hard drive, the combined unit slid tightly into its slot and engaged with a positive feel.

The hard drive is mounted to the drive sleeve using the included rubber grommets which are placed into the sleeve by sliding them from the larger hole into the smaller, and then placing the included phillips shoulder screw thru the grommet and into the hard drive. Also, you may notice the hard drive sleeve also includes holes for the smaller SSD form factor which are then screw mounted from the bottom of the sleeve.

In Win BUC Final Thoughts

The In Win BUC case has a fine exterior appearance. I like the overall look and also the blue back lit LED fan on the front was done tastefully. However, if you are looking for a lot of flashy LEDs this case will require additional lighting mods. The SECC case is painted flawlessly. The case itself was solidly built. One of the best features of this case is the tool-less design of the expansion ports. The expansion port locking mechanism is simple, functional, and locked with a nice positive feel to it. The external drive bays also allow for tool-less placement. This is a huge plus. The BUC has plenty of internal drive capacity with four hot swap SATA modules, and a fifth non-hot swap. The HD cage is mounted to allow for large graphics cards, another big plus. On the negative side, the HD caddies require a screw driver, and a bit of dexterity in mounting the drives. This is because of the way the rubber grommets are placed into the sleeve, and the use of the shoulder screws. I think this design is very good, especially for diminishing hard drive gronking, but its certainly not “tool free”. I am uncertain why In Win did not also use a similar tool-free design of push-pull knobs for the hard drive cages, perhaps a silent design in this manner is difficult or possibly because the pressure needed to slide the drives into the hot swap mount might be too much without some additional steel in the design.

On the other side, cable routing was not a big feature in this case. There were some issues. The small window at the top of the motherboard tray becomes too small once the motherboard is in place. The included Zip ties are difficult to remove unless one uses care to prevent harm to the cables. The case is designed to be “tool free” and thus there is an expectation that there will be frequent changes in hardware. It makes sense to go with a better choice for the great majority of users, using reversible cable ties such as “Y rap”, “millipide”, or velcro ties.

Because of the bottom-mounted PSU arrangement, you will most certainly need at least 24” cables or a PSU extension if you plan to route behind the backplane. For my build, I had to add a 24 pin adapter to the 20” cable of the PSU which gave the additional length I needed. You may also want to find some extensions for the other PSU cables depending on your board layout. This case has a metal tab that functions as the guide for the PSU but it can also scratch the PSU during placement. This was the only area where I found a problem with a metal edge.

The case includes three 120 mm fans. They are mounted such that the top 2 fans exhaust to the exterior, and the front fan blows over the hard drive cage. The fans are remarkably silent. Another plus, is that the bottom mount PSU design includes proper underside ventilation and a filter. All the hot air from the PSU comes in and gets immediately exhausted without heating up the internal components. The case is going to operate with a slightly negative pressure due to the 2 fans exhausting and only 1 fan venting inward. This will inevitably cause dust to build up on the external perforations that are not intended to be filters. It seems a better design would have been to place a filter on all the fans similar to the PSU and front mount fan, and have all the fans vent into the case. But that is not how this case was designed.

The front bezel has a very good appearance especially when the power is on. However, the one problem with it is that the front jacks (and buttons) are all wired to the bezel itself. It would take a lot of slack in the wires to remove all of these jacks and buttons with a screw driver, and once the system is built there is simply no slack available especially because the cable ties are zip ties. The amount of hassle to clean the front fan with its included filter will probably be too much for most people to tolerate. If the front mounted jacks and buttons had been placed separately from the front bezel, or if they had a quick unplugable design, this would allow the end-user to open the bezel, and easily clean the front fan filter.

In Win BUC Conclusion

IMPORTANT: Although the rating and final score mentioned in this conclusion are made to be as objective as possible, please be advised that every author perceives these factors differently at various points in time. The author's experience with the product may differ significantly from your own. While we each do our best to ensure that all aspects of the product are considered, there are often times unforeseen market conditions and manufacturer changes which occur after publication that could render our rating obsolete. Please do not base any purchase solely on our conclusion, as it represents our product rating specifically for the product tested which may differ from future versions.

The In Win BUC has a very fine exterior with a flawless paint job. The front Bezel is eye catching but not too flashy. I must say the pleasant blue back lit fan looks amazing. Some people prefer a flashier case, and of course that is up to individual opinion.

I found cooling to be very adequate using one graphics card and a non-overclocked cpu with a stock retail heat sink, although I did not do any formal thermal testing. This case already comes with three very silent fans, and a very nicely done bottom-mounted PSU with filtered vent. Should you desire additional cooling capacity you can purchase up to two more after-market fans for the left case cover. I would have preferred for the case to use a positive airflow mechanism with filters on the intakes of all the fans. If you plan on overclocking multiple graphics cards and the cpu, you may want a better cooling solution. For most users, the included three fans will be more than enough.

The In Win case has a nice heft to it, it's strong and solid feeling but not overly heavy. The overall construction quality of the case is top notch. The steel had no sharp edges with the exception of the PSU guide tab. Cable windows were somewhat modest, and in case of the upper portion of the case, there could have been a larger window since an ATX board covers the majority of it. The right side of the case (backside of the motherboard tray), has just enough room to run the cables for this modest build. If you plan to use a non-modular larger power supply with heavily sleeved thick gauge wires, and populate the drive bays then there might not be enough room to run all the cables. I would avoid the zip ties, unless you plan to make your installation permanent, and get a few reversible ties.

The tool-free expansion and external drive bay system is excellent. The Hot Swap internal bays are snug and engage positively. The drive sleeves include rubber grommets for improved silent design, but expect to fiddle with mounting the drives as a phillips screw driver is required. Mounting the screws to a proper depth also improves the ease of placement of the drive sleeve.

It is important to note that the negatives and the positives listed here may not be the same as your own. For example, I found the hot swap bays to be very cool, with a snug fit, but others may find it too tight. Some people will never ever need to remove the front bezel because In Win kindly provided removable inserts to allow external bays to be easily mounted. My preference is to have easier access to the front if I need to clean the fan filter or swap out a fan. Each plus or minus listed should be measured by your own personal meter, and then you can decide if this case is worth your money.

Overall, for an ATX mid-tower computer enclosure that includes 4 hot-swap bays, tool-less expansion ports, tool-less external drive bays, 3 included fans with a bottom mounted PSU design with pass thru ventilation, at a cost of $99.99 at Newegg, this case is a pretty good deal.

Pros:

+ Solid Construction
+ Flawless paint job
+ USB 3.0 is present
+ Tool-free expansion slots, tool free external bay design
+ 4 hot swap 3.5" drive slots, all sleeves with rubber grommets
+ 3 silent fans, PSU pass-thru vent design
+ Good value

Cons:

- negative pressure design
- barely adequate space for cable routing, not enough tie mounts, no reversible ties
- PSU guide tab has a sharp edge
- USB 3.0 port is very close to floor of tray
- Front bezel will be hard to remove after full install
- 7 slots

Ratings:

• Performance: 8.75
• Appearance: 9.00
• Construction: 9.25
• Functionality: 9.25
• Value: 8.75

Final Score: 9.0 out of 10.

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Gold Tachometer Award.

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