In Win Fanqua Mid-Tower Chassis Review

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Product: Fanqua
Manufacturer: In Win
Supplied by: In Win
Price: 75USD/RM257
Launch Date: Oct 2009

We have been following In Win products very closely due to their creativity & uniqueness regardless of their new branding. Today we will have a deep review of one of their latest chassis; Fanque. In Win Fanque can be considered as the smaller or lighter version of In Win Maelstrom for those are looking for insane & quality chassis but more portable & cheaper.

Company Profile

IN-WIN Development Inc., an ISO 9001 manufacturer of professional computer chassis, power supplies and digital storage devices, is the leading provider of enclosure solutions to system integrators worldwide. Founded in 1986, IN-WIN provides high quality chassis that conform to all safety regulations, as well as unsurpassed customer service.

In Win was well trained to become a top-notch manufacturer of core technology to enhance internal core competence to meet what customer and market needs constantly. Top Management has been executed four major elements to reach our growing goal: Innovation, Service, Speed, Value, Safety, Warmth, Faithful, Diligence in order to remain our leading edge position and differentiate with other players.

Features

Specifications

Package & Contents

In Win Fanqua is packed inside a strong and solid cardboard box but we believe a more eye-catching box will definitely enhance its attractiveness. In Win Fanqua is an economic version of Maelstrom but it is still packed by quality foams and a plastic bag to avoid scratches and to be waterproof.

In Win Fanqua doesn't come with luxury accessories like other expensive chassis but a completed set of accessories is given; 4to3-pin fan adapter, spare PCI filler, installation screws, user's manual and so on. So far In win user's manual is one of the best user's manual that we have found as it provides a step by step installation guide with colorful diagram.

A Closer Exterior Look: In Win Fanqua

In Win Fanqua is not a full tower chassis like Maelstrom but it is still a complete mid-tower chassis which is suitable for most of the enthusiast end users. The dimension of In Win Fanqua is 456 x 225 x 480 mm (H x W x D) but the weight is a bit heavy since it is not an aluminum chassis. There is only black color available for In Win Fanqua at this moment but it is still the common and favorite color among the rest.

One of the key selling points of In Win Fanqua is its front panel where it can support up to total nine 5.25" or 3.5" external drives. All the stylish front panel fillers are mesh fillers for enhancing its airflow circulation but it will be very dusty so frequent maintenance is needed. The front I/O ports and buttons are located at the top of In Win Fanqua front panel; power button, reset button, LEDs, 2 x USB ports, 2 x audio jacks and one e-SATA port.

Same with Maelstrom chassis, In Win Fanqua is also come with a giant cooling fan on its left panel; another selling point for gamers, overclockers and PC enthusiasts. This giant cooling fan is a 220mm Blue LED fan where the LED can be controlled by a On/Off switch. In case end user doesn't like this giant fan or if this 220mm fan is dead then it can be replaced by four 120mm fans; this is pretty innovative and well designed; great job done by In Win R&D team.

In Win Fanqua's right panel is a standard panel but it comes with a handle for user to hold the panel much easier during handling. In win Maelstrom supports dual 120mm fan for its top panel but Fanque is also not bad where it is still able to support a single 120mm cooling fan at this hot spot area. This cooling fan is playing an important role as this is a dead zone area where the hot air will be circulated here.

As expected the rear panel of In Win Fanqua is also equipped with a 120mm cooling fan. In order to maximize the cooling performance of In Win Fanqua, the PSU is relocated at the bottom of the chassis. Besides that in order to cool down the PSU more effectively, an additional air vent is specially created at the bottom of the chassis to pull in more fresh air and provide more reliable PSU performance.

A Closer Interior Look: In Win Fanqua

The interior design and spacing of In Win Fanqua are pretty well designed and spacious since it is still a full complete mid-tower chassis. The PSU placement at the bottom of the chassis gives advantage to the airflow circulation where the heated air (generated by CPU) can be dissipated out from the chassis immediately through the top and rear 120mm cooling fans. This is something not rare as most of the mainstream and high chassis are practicing such design.

Something we like very much about In Win Fanqua is the pre-cut opening on the motherboard plate for cooler backplate. This is very useful design for those are planning to use a giant high end CPU cooler on this chassis where a backplate bracket is required to secure the cooler on the motherboard without over burden it. Besides that the spacious of In Win Fanqua gives users to manage the cables more easily and neatly besides improving the airflow.

As mentioned previous here is the bottom air vent for the PSU and it is recommended to place the PSU with the standard orientation where the cooling fan is facing downward and sucking the fresh air from outside to ensure the PSU is as cool as possible to minimize the power stability issue. Same with Maelstrom, In Win Fanqua is also come with tool-less tool where the PCI slots is equipped by these green push locks.

In term of cooling performance of In Win Fanqua, it comes with a front intake fan and two rear + a top exhausted fans. All of these three fans are In Win standard 120mm fans with green attractive fan blades; 12V DC fan with 0.32A and the exact airflow of this fan should be around 60 CFM since no exact specifications are given.

Besides the PCI tool-less device, HDD & Optical cages are also come with tool-less installation method where these drives are secured on the drive cage with the tiny lock bar (turn & lock). However for better security on these drives, it is good to tighten them on the right panel with standard screws since these lock bars are not provided on the right panel.

Here is the HDD cage of In Win Fanqua and it can support the up to three standard 3.5" HDDs. The front intake fan is pre-installed at the front of this HDD cage so that the HDD temperature can be lowered down as much as possible. For the front I/O cables, there is standard set of I/O cables such as power button, reset button, HDD LED, system LED and USB & e-SATA cable; if these cables come with UV sleeving then it will be perfect.

Here is the giant 220mm LED cooling fan of In Win Fanqua. This fan is definitely able to cool down the system temperature gradually but of course noise and dust can't be eliminated; just perform frequent maintenance will solve this issue. Another alternative way to reduce the dust issue is to replace this 220mm fan to either one or two 120mm fans; just focus on the graphic card and motherboard chipset area will do.

Installation, Testing & Performance

For the installation of In Win Fanqua, it is pretty similar with Maelstrom but slightly smaller only. Overall we didn't encounter any major compatibility issue as it is quite spacious although it is just a mid-tower chassis. Anyway let us go through the installation process in detail.

Motherboard installation is nothing different with other chassis but if the motherboard plate is removable then it will be ideal for overclocker like us; not really necessary, just good to have. For CPU cooler installation, In Win Fanqua is pretty suitable even for giant high end cooler since the installation issue of cooler backplate is solved with the pre-cut mounting opening on the motherboard plate and Fanqua is also width enough to support them.

HDD & optical drive installation are very simple as well with the tool-less locks but as we said before, it is good to add the manual locking on the right panel since no tool-less lock bar is provided on this side. HDD is installed inside the HDD cage and maximum three HDDs can be supported; additional HDD has to be installed on other third party rack or cage; we believe no one really needs more than three HDD since the HDD capacity is pretty promising lately.

In term of PCI installation, In Win Fanqua comes with tool-less lock as well but these locks are only good with normal light weight card. For heavy dual PCI slot graphic card then it will be better to add in additional screw to secure them on the chassis as such graphic card is not light at all.

From the cooling prospective, In Win Fanqua already provides the best combination where a single 120mm intake fan and dual 120mm exhausted fans are equipped. All these are high performance cooling fans from In Win which provided adequate cooling to the system but reasonable operating noise. Without futher delay, let us go through the cooling performance of In Win Fanqua.

Test Bed

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8300 @ 2.83GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 (Gigabyte G31M-ES2L)
Heatsink: Noctua NH-C12P
Memory: Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR2 8500
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Seagate
Graphic Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX260+
Casing: In Win Fanqua
PSU: Aerocool V12XT-800
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Optical Drive: HLDS DVD RW +/-
Monitor: Dell 22" Wide Screen LCD
Speaker: Edifier R501
Mouse: SteelSeries Ikari Laser
Mouse Pad: SteelSeries QcK+
HeadSet: SteelSeries 3H
Operating System: Microsoft XP Pro SP2/Vista Home Premium
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

Here is the cooling performance of In Win Fanqua, and overall In Win Fanqua performs pretty well compares with other similar chassis. One of the obvious advantages over other chassis is the HDD cooling performance as the HDD is directed cooled down by the front 120mm cooling fan. Other sectors like graphic card, processor and system temperatures are performing pretty good as well since all of them are cooled down by 220mm giant fan nakedly.

Verdicts

Once again In Win Fanqua is another champion in mid-tower chassis market with its stylish design, user-friendly features, fabulous cooling performance and so on. For a 75USD mid-tower chassis, In Win Fanqua is deserved for the best value award as it is pretty difficult to get a similar great value chassis in the market; so far we are not aware yet. If you are looking for a mid-range chassis with great performance, good looking then you must not miss this In Win Fanqua.

Pros:

+ Stylish & outstanding design
+ Spacious mid-tower chassis
+ Excellent cooling machine
+ 220mm side cooling fan
+ Tool-less devices
+ Support 9 External drives
+ Pre-cutting mounting opening for cooler's backplate

Cons:

- Dust collection easily due to mesh design
- Good to have tool-less lock bar on right panel too

Thanks to In Win for providing this sample for us to review.