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Enermax are well known for producing some of the best quality power supplies on the market and have recently produced a range of flashy LED fans which Zardon tested a few months back. But they also produce a range of PC cases, one of which they have sent us to test out.
Today we are going to look at the Enermax Hoplite Mid-Tower case which features one of their Apollish fans in the front. It also has a number of other exciting features such as hot-swap hard drive bays and a hard drive docking station in the top of the case. And, for those who are up-to-date with their connectivity, there are two front-panel USB3.0 connectors.
Specification
| Model | ECA3220 |
| Type | ATX Midi Tower |
| Dimensions (mm) | D 493 x W 200 x H 490 |
| Material | 0.6 – 0.8mm SECC |
| Drive Bays 5.25″ | 4x |
| Drive Bays 3.5″ | 4x + 2x hot-swap bay |
| Drive Bays 2.5″ | 2x |
| Hot-swap Dock on top side | for HDD/SSD 2.5″/3.5″ SATA |
| M/B | ATX & Micro ATX |
| I/O | 2x USB 3.0, 1x eSATA, HD/AC’97 Audio |
| Air Cooling Front | 1x 12cm Vegas fan (preinstalled) |
| Air Cooling Rear | 1x 12cm fan (preinstalled) |
| Air Cooling Top | 2x 12/14cm fans (optional) |
| Air Cooling Side | 2x 12cm fans (optional) |
| Expansion Slots | 7x |
| Liquid Cooling Holes | 2x |
Enermax supply the Hoplite sandwiched between two polystyrene slabs inside a sizable brown cardboard box. The box is devoid of any fancy design or finish but it is certainly fit for purpose thanks to the thick cardboard used in its construction. This should provide a high level of protection for the case during transit.
The included bundle is reasonably generous, consisting of all the required screws, a couple of cable ties and straps, a case speaker and an installation guide. The installation guide isn't the best we've seen as the instructions are quite vague but anyone with a basic level of computer know-how should be able to build a system in this case without difficulty.
There isn't anything immediately striking about the design of the Hoplite but that doesn't mean it's an unattractive case to look at. The front and top panels are constructed from plastic with inlaid steel mesh. At the top of the case this mesh covers two roof-exhaust 120/140mm fan locations which aren't populated as standard. There is, however, a 120mm fan in the front of the case and a 120mm rear exhaust fan included.
The fan included at the front of the case is one of Enermax's Apollish fans which we tested a while back. To the right of this there is a button which lets us control the different LED functions of the fan alongside a small knob used for fan speed adjustment.
We find the front panel connections along the top of the case. Enermax have included everything we could ask for even though there are only six connections in total. On the far left we find an eSATA port, followed by a USB3.0 port, two 3.5mm audio jacks and a final USB3.0 port. To the right of these we find the power and reset buttons.
In the front of the case there are four 5.25″ bays above the snazzy-looking Apollish fan. This fan is easily servicable as it is mounted to a flap in the front of the case which can be opened by pressing a button of the left hand side of it. At the bottom of the front panel there are two hot-swappable 3.5″ hard drive bays which are also accessible toollessly using a button on the left hand side of the flap.
Rather than having a window in the left-hand side panel of the case, Enermax have opted for a large mesh area to improve airflow. This has fan mounting points for two 120mm fans to improve airflow. The rear of the case is a standard affair which has a couple of holes for watercooling and a slot at the top of the case which lets you route the USB3.0 front panel connectors around to the rear I/O panel.
Both left and right side panels are secured by thumbscrews which let you access the inside of the case toollessly. These differ slightly from regular thumbscrews as the part you grip is made from plastic rather than metal, making them easier to grip securely.
After removing the side panel, we are greeted by a vast amount of interior space which should facilitate installation. The inside of the case is painted entirely in matte-black which is sure to show off your components well so you can make the most attractive system possible.
Over on the left hand side there are seven expansion slots which should be more than enough for most users. Unfortunately, Enermax haven't felt the need to use replaceable add-in card covers and have opted for pop out ones instead. Once these have been removed, they cant be replaced so you need to make sure you don't remove the wrong ones unless you wan't to be left with a gaping hole in the back of your case.
Unlike some manufacturers, Enermax hasn't included a toolless mechanism for securing the power supply, opting for screws instead. But this isn't a huge issue as we can't see many users switching power supplies very often. On the underside of the case there is a vent for the PSU intake fan which is covered by a dust filter on the outside of the case. This is easily removable for cleaning.
On the right hand side of the case there are two hot-swappable 3.5″ drive bays at the bottom which have a PCB behind for you to hook up the SATA and power cables to. This also acts as the fan controller for the front fan and has a second 3-pin fan header so you can attach one of your own fans too.
Above these there are four more 3.5″ hard drive bays and two 2.5″ drive bays which are contained by a door which can be easily secured using a thumbscrew. At the top of the case on the right there are four 5.25″ bays which all have a tool-less mechanism for securing drives.
We can't say we would recommend the Hoplite to those building their first PC as the installation guide is far from the best out there and is very vague. But for those who know their way around a computer shouldn't have any problems installing their components into the Hoplite.
First we installed the power supply into the Hoplite which is secured to the back of the case using four screws. Enermax have kindly placed a sizable cable routing hole next to the power supply which makes the process quite straightforward. There isn't a huge amount of space behind the motherboard tray for cable routing but, as long as you're careful, you shouldn't have any problems replacing the side panel.
Enermax have cut a sizable hole in the motherboard tray to facilitate the installation of CPU cooler backplates. This is accompanied by another large hole a little further down which can be used to route front panel connections to the bottom edge of the motherboard. Our cables got a little lost in the large hole as we are using a compact Micro-ATX board for testing.
Installing the motherboard was a simple process, requiring us to install a couple of motherboard standoffs to comply with our Micro-ATX motherboard and then screw the board down to these. Enermax have cut a number of holes all round the motherboard tray for routing all your cables. We decided to use the Coolit Vantage for testing which forced us to remove the rear exhaust fan. This only has a four pin molex connector so can't be connected to the inbuilt fan controller.
To install a hard drive in the system requires you to insert it into one of the bays on the right and then screw it into place. The hot swappable bays also require you to screw the hard drive into the tray but these can be used without removing the side panel of the machine.
Finally we installed the GPU into our system. The Hoplite has space for graphics cards up to 310mm in length which meant there was ample room for our HIS Radeon HD5830 Turbo.
We decided to use an Intel Core i5 750 processor in our system in conjunction with a Foxconn H55MX-S Micro ATX Motherboard. The processor is cooled using a CoolIT Vantage A.L.C. which is one of the best factory-filled liquid cooling solutions on the market. We are also using an HIS Radeon HD 5830 Turbo in our test system.
Test System
Chassis: Enermax Hoplite
Motherboard: Foxconn H55MX-S
CPU: Intel Core i5 750
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2x2GB) 1600Mhz
PSU: Antec 550W
Graphics Card: HIS Radeon HD 5830 Turbo
Cooler: CoolIT Vantage
Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-3
Hard Drive: Corsair Force F40
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Furmark
Prime95
Everest Ultimate
The temperatures inside the Hoplite remained low even when the fans were turned down to their lowest setting. When setting them to max, the temperatures increased a little, but not enough for us to recommend using this setting.
The reason we wouldn't recommend keeping the fans on high all the time is the noise they can generate. On paper, a 5dB difference between low and high settings seems minor, but the reality is that high mode can be painful, especially if the system is close by. At low settings the system whirs a little but becomes inaudible if there is any background noise.
To sum up, the Enermax Hoplite has many decent qualities that are likely to win over consumers such as the snazzy Apollish fan in the front and tool-less hard drive bays. Build quality is very impressive. We would love to see this case in aluminum, but we can appreciate Enermax are acheiving a lower price point, making the Hoplite affordable to a wider spectrum of consumers.
When it comes to performance, the Hoplite is essentially what we would expect from a case like this. Despite being very loud when the fans are cranked up to their maximum, they remain relatively inaudible at lower speeds whilst retaining an decent level of airflow. The temperatures are perfectly acceptable, especially considering the reduced noise level when the fans are on a low setting.
The Hoplite is a very new product that has only just hit the market and UK pricing has yet to be confirmed. That said, Enermax informed us just before going live that retail pricing should be £90-95 inc vat (or less), which is a very strong price point indeed.
KitGuru says: A great quality chassis design offering fantastic value for money. We would love to see a more expensive aluminum version of this design released later this year.
