LEPA LPC302 Mid-Tower Case Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. LEPA LPC302: Exterior4. LEPA LPC302: Interior and Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

LEPA may not be a well known brand, but we have reviewed a handful of their products on Kitguru before. LEPA is Enermax's ‘mid-range' brand, developing products directed towards the price sensitive consumer audience.  That said, some of LEPA's products are simply rebranded Enermax models, including some of their power supplies. This is however, not a bad thing.

Today we are going to look at the LEPA LPC302 Mid-Tower case which boasts quite an impressive feature set for a mid-range case.  We look forward to seeing how it fares against the competition, because this sector is extremely competitive.

Some of the most interesting features that jump off the page include a tool-less installation procedure and extensive provision for cooling with no fewer than 13 fan locations.

Features

• Easy Connection top 3.5″ / 2.5″ hot swap dock
• Support 3-way VGA card installation thanks to 8x expansion slots
• Cable tie for advanced PSU securing
• Bottom mounted PSU slot with removable dust filter
• Rubber strips and grommets for PSU and HDD installation
• Tool-less installation for all devices
• Advanced cooling performance with up to 13x fan capacity

LEPA supply the LPC302 within an attractive box which features a black and leopard-print design.  The front of the box features a large image of the case contained within.

Turning the box around reveals a series of further product images which show all sides of the case.  There is also a lengthy list of the case's features.  Inside the box, the LPC302 is suspended between two slabs of polystyrene for protection.

The included bundle is adequate.  Aside from the screws and manual required for installation, the only items included are two cable ties and a case speaker.  We would like to see LEPA including a more plentiful bundle with future models that might include more cable ties and clamps for cable routing.

It's clear that the Enermax DNA behind LEPA hasn't influenced the aesthetic design of the LPC302 as it has a completely different visage to any of Enermax's cases.  In fact, the sleek front panel design reminds us a little of Corsair cases we've seen in the past. The case is finished exclusively in black and is constructed from a cocktail of SECC Steel, steel mesh and plastic.

All of the front panel connections are located on the top of the case at the front. From left to right we find an eSATA port, a USB3.0 port, a USB2.0 port, two 3.5mm audio jacks and a further USB2.0 port.  The power and rest buttons are located on the right of the front panel connections.  Behind all the front panel connections there is a hard drive dock suitable for 3.5″ models.

It's clear that LEPA are targeting the LPC302 at users who like their system to be as cool as possible.  In total there are no fewer than thirteen different fan spaces.  Not only is there room for six fans on the left hand side panel, there is room for a further 120mm unit on the right hand side panel, blowing over the back of the motherboard.

In addition to all the fan mounting points on the side panels, there are also two unpopulated fan vents in the roof of the case which can both take 120mm or 140mm fans.  LEPA have also found it necessary to integrate three fan mounting points into the front of the case, two of which are already populated with fans.  If you want to use the third fan mounting point in the front of the case you will have to sacrifice three drive bays and once you've removed the fan mountings to install drive bays, they cannot be replaced.

Moving around to the back of the case there is an exhaust fan vent which LEPA have populated with a 120mm unit to exhaust hot air from the system.  The most eagle eyed readers may have also noticed that the LPC302 features eight expansions slots, meaning you can install a vast number of graphics cards into the case without issue.  As usual these days, the power supply mountings are located at the bottom of the case.

To access the interior of the case we must first remove the side panel which is held in place with two thumbscrews.  From start to finish it took us about 45 minutes to install our test system into the LPC302.

After removing the side panel we are greeted by the entirely black painted interior of the case.  This is sure to complement any components you install within.  First of all we installed our ASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX motherboard into the system.

Even though LEPA claim that the entire installation procedure is tool less, we were forced to break out the screwdriver to install the motherboard as we were only supplied with regular screws.

Next we installed our NZXT Hale 90 750W power supply into the case.  There is a dust-filtered vent in the bottom of the case to supply to the power supply with cool air.  This isn't the highest quality dust filter we've encountered, though, so you might be better off pointing your power supply's fan upwards.

LEPA have included a velcro strap to ‘secure' the power supply in place and is meant to be used in conjunction with screws for a secure fitting.

Installing our hard drive and solid state drive into the system was a simple process.  The six drive bays are located over on the right hand side of the case.  Each drive bay contains a plastic tray which fits around a 3.5″ hard drive, securing it in place.

Installing a solid state drive is a little more time consuming as we are required to screw it down to the tray using the four provided screws.

Finally we installed our AMD Radon HD 6950 graphics card into the system using the integrated tool-less mechanism which secures expansion devices.  While this wasn't quite as bad as the power supply strap, it didn't give us much confidence as the graphics card was still able to move about quite a lot.  Therefore we chose to secure it firmly with a thumbscrew as well.

LEPA have cut a number of grommeted cable routing holes in the motherboard tray which are all placed very well.  Our only minor issue with them is that the one next to the power supply isn't big enough for all the power supply cables to be routed through.

There is also a sizeable cutout in the motherboard tray to facilitate CPU cooler installation and to allow air from the side panel fan vent to circulate behind the motherboard.  There are also a series of tie down points integrated into the motherboard tray to facilitate cable routing.

We managed to achieve a reasonably tidy build in the LPC302 without much effort.

To test the LEPA LPC302 we will be using the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU in conjunction with an ASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX motherboard. To cool the CPU we will be using a Cooler Master Hyper 612S.

Test System

Chassis: LEPA LPC302
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 612S
Memory: 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Power Supply: NZXT Hale 90 750W
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 6950

Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Everest Ultimate Edition
Prime 95
Furmark

For our temperature tests, we used Prime95 and Furmark to load the system for 15 minutes and then recorded our results.  We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording the  results.  The ambient temperature was maintained at 20c for the duration of the tests.

The temperatures recorded are quite impressive but we're sure they would drop by a few more degrees if you made use of all the fan locations in the system!

For our noise level tests we replaced the AMD Radeon HD 6950 graphics card with a passively cooled HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence.  We also turned off the CPU fan momentarily so we could be sure that the noise generated was only from the case fans.

The LPC302 is a reasonably quiet case but we wouldn't describe it as silent.  Expect the noise level to increase substantially if you install more fans into it, as there is no sound proofing at all.

The LEPA LPC302 is very different from all the Enermax cases we've reviewed, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  That said, it is clear that LEPA have tried to cut costs in a few areas to keep the price of this case down to a budget level, rather than targeting the enthusiast sector which Enermax is generally associated with.

Thankfully, the majority of the cost cutting seems to have been done in the various ‘tool-less' installation features – we don't consider this a huge problem as you also have the option to install devices with screws should you please.  The tool-less expansion slot mechanism is sadly far from the best implementation we have seen.

Aside from the small issues with tool-less installation, the LPC302 is a solid case.  It is pleasing to look at and is generally well built.  While we appreciate all the effort LEPA have utilised to provide users with as many fan locations as possible, we doubt that anyone will fill all six fan locations on the left side panel.  In fact, most users at this price point would probably prefer an acrylic window to the mesh panel that LEPA have used.

LEPA have advised us that the MSRP of the case will be £79.90 (inc vat) when it hits the market which we think is a reasonable price point for this specific design. Sometimes leading retail stores can offer more competitive pricing, meaning we may very well see it for £70 inc vat when it reaches the UK.

Pros:

• Sleek design.
• Build quality is good.
• Good cable routing support.
• Plenty of fan locations.

Cons:

• Poor tool-less installation options.

KitGuru says: Despite a few issues with tool-less installation, a solid design.

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