Anidees Al-6B Mid Tower Case Review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing3. Anidees Al-6 Exterior4. Al-6 Interior and system build5. Testing methodology and performance6. Acoustic Performance7. Closing thoughts8. View All Pages

Today we have a newcomer on our test bench, the Anidees Al 6 Mid Tower. This is the first offering from Anidees … a very stylish chassis with a brushed aluminum finish and plenty of features to capture the attention.

Anidees is a small independent company with staff in Europe, Japan and China. Their staff in Europe focus mainly on design and concept ideas while the group in Asia handle the engineering side of things. The goal for the Al6 was to offer a chassis that was well built, simple and stylish but without a heavy reliance on the overuse of mesh panels.

Lets first look at the features and specifications of the AL6 before we get into our detailed analysis.

Key Features:

• Brushed Aluminum finish on top and front panels
• support for top or bottom mounted 120 or 240 mm radiators
• front and bottom dust filters
• top panel I/O includes 2, USB 3.0 ports
• Velcro PSU retention strap

Specifications:

MODEL	Al 6
CASE TYPE	Mid Tower
Materials	Aluminum /Steel body / Plastic + Mesh bezel
Cooling system	140/120mm fan x 2(140mm x 1 fan included) Rear: 1 x 120mm (included) Top: 140/120mm x 2 (optional) Bottom: 140/120mm x 2(optional)
Drive Bays	• 3 x 5.25” drive bays •8 x 2.5” drive bays •7 x 3.5” drive bays
Front Ports	USB3.0 *2, USB2.0 *4, Audio* 1,Mic *1
Expansion Slots	8 + 1
Dimensions	L*W*H=527*207*509mm (ATX Mid Tower)
Motherboard Support	M-ITX,M-ATX,ATX

The Anidees Al6 is packaged in a tough corrugated cardboard shell with a glossy finish. There are no flashy images showcasing the product, instead they have opted to simply list the product name.

Looking at the package side on, there is a a list of the product specifications provided.

Shipping can take a toll on review products, especially heavy, large cases. The Stryofoam pieces protecting the Anidees AI-6B absorbed punishment during transit causing them to be broken into several pieces. Thankfully the case survived the trip, even if the Styrofoam didn't.

Anidees also placed their chassis in a plastic bag which serves as a second protective layer to help prevent surface scratches. Anidees have supplied a complete hardware package that will look after all of our installation needs. They have also included two cables that act as a resistor which reduce the fan voltage level. These cables lower the RPM of the fan as well as the subsequent noise levels.

The Anidees Al6 really is beautifully designed. There are no flashing LED's or monster size fans, instead they have opted for straight clean design lines.

The only indication of who made the case is Anidees branding on the bottom edge of the side panel. The brushed aluminum front and top panels are simple but very easy on the eyes. Both of the side panels are solid but there are ventilation grooves built into the trim that supports the side and the top panels.

The front panel opens to gain access to the bezel. The door of the Al6 can be removed and setup to open from either side. There is a small plastic clip at the base of the panel that will release the door once the screws are removed.

There are 3 x 5.25″ bays available and they all have simple to remove bay covers. With the front panel removed we can easily remove the metal plates that block access to these drive bays. We can also see where the front intake fans are mounted, between the steel mesh on the front bezel and the removable hard drive cages that are located inside the chassis.

The top panel is very cleanly presented. It consists of 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 4 x USB 2.0 ports, On/Off and Rest buttons as well as 2 audio input jacks. After removing the panel we can see where all the cables from the top I/O panel would be routed as well as where the optional top mounted fans or a radiator would be placed.

Both top and front panels have a brushed aluminum finish which is eye catching. Because the panels are solid, Anidees have added grooves to the outer edges of these panels to allow air to flow into and out the chassis.

The rear of the top panel is where all the I/O functionality originates. There are small PCB's mounted here to control the USB ports and other switches. The bottom area of the front bezel behind the front door is made of steel mesh. This mesh grill is removable from the inside once the panel is taken off. There is also a removable foam dust filter that sits behind the mesh grill.

The bottom panel of the Anidees Al6 is designed for optimal airflow. There are thin mesh dust filters that sit below the power supply and are positions we can use to mount an optional fan. They are easily removed for quick cleaning.

The entire interior of the Anidees is painted black. This all black colour scheme is very common in 2012 with case designers.

The Al6 has two removable hard drive cages which are secured with a number of thumb screws. If you are the proud owner of a full length graphics cards such as the 6990, removing the top drive cage makes installation a painless experience. Each of the cages are able to hold three x 2.5″ SSD drives or three x 3.5″ SATA or IDE drives.

The Al6 has six removable hard drive trays which are capable of mounting both SSD or 3.5″ SATA/IDE drives. While the installation process does require a screw driver, Anidees provide all the required screws for both types of drives as part of their extensive hardware package. After attaching our drive with four of the screws, we simply slide the tray back into the drive cage and connect the required cables.

The Anidees is designed for a bottom mounted power supply which will draw air in from beneath the case. Anidees have included a thin mesh filter to prevent the power supply from intaking too much dust. After securing the power supply with four mounting screws we have the option of using the included Velcro retention strap to provide additional stability.

With the case laying on its side we can see the 120mm rear exhaust fan and the two areas that are designated for two x 120/140mm fans or a 240mm radiator for water cooling. There is a large cutout on the motherboard tray to simplify changing your cooling solution. This area provides direct access to the backplate used to hold the cooler in place, virtually eliminating the need to remove the motherboard from our chassis.

The Al6 includes 2 small PCB's with 3 pin fan headers on them. One of the circuit boards has a Molex receptacle that we need to populate with a Molex connection from our power supply. This connection supplies the power needed to run the fans that we attach to the headers on the two PCB's.

The 3.5″ drive bays in the Al6 are not tool free and Anidees opted for thumb screws instead of a tool free mechanism. This is one area where Anidees potentially looked at reducing production costs without really interfering with the functionality of the Al6.

To finish of pictorial portion of our review here is the Anidees Al6 with our system installed and ready for action. Even though there are plenty of cable management options, an additional 5mm or more added to the width of the Al6 would have been a welcome addition.

To test the Anidees Al6 Mid Tower we will be using the AMD Phenom X4 FX-5000 CPU matched with a Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H motherboard. We are sticking with the reference AMD cooler to cool the CPU.

Test System

Chassis: Anidees Al6 Mid Tower
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 FX-5000
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H
Cooler: AMD reference heatpipe cooler
Memory: 3GB DDR2
Storage: Seagate 150 GB Sata II
Power Supply: SilverStone Strider Plus 850w
Graphics Card: HIS 5570

Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
Everest Ultimate Edition
Prime 95

Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2

To get started lets look at the out of the box air flow pattern.

For our temperature tests, we used Prime95 to load the system for 15 minutes and then recorded our results. We then let the system remain idle at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording the temperature results. The fans in the Anidees Al6 and the CPU fan are running at full speed for this test. The ambient temperature was maintained at 21c for the duration of the tests.

The results of our temperature testing fell in line with what we would have expected. Our CPU maxed out at 52 degrees Celsius which is acceptable considering the stock heatsink is being used. Adding a quiet bottom intake fan and top mounted exhaust fan should reduce these temperatures significantly without adding much to the noise levels.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built our test system to be as quiet as possible. We can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate specifically on the individual components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

Today to test the chassis we have taken it into our acoustics room and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the case. This represents a real world situation and gives us an accurate reading of the noise level produced by the fans inside the Anidees Al6 Mid Tower.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

We are using a passively cooled HIS 5570 graphics card.

The noise level produced by the fans in the Anidees Al6 was very good indeed. Our Style 2 Digital Sound Level Meter registered a reading of 33.7 dBA with the fans in the Al6 running at full speed. Anidees should be proud especially considering this is their first product to hit the market.

It is hard to believe that this is the first product to be released by Anidees. The version we tested was their most basic design but there are two other versions of the Al6 available. One version has a large side window while the other version resembles the model we tested, but is supplied with factory installed sound dampening panels. Ideal for those of you that really want an ultra quiet system.

Anidees score points for the sleek appearance of the Al6. The brushed aluminum used on the top panel and front door add a look of class. Anidees have designed the front door of the Al6 so that it can be configured to open in either direction, this could prove very useful for some enthusiast users.

The cooling offered by the default configuration is perfectly acceptable but is nothing spectacular. Anidees have opted to focus on lowering noise emissions, giving the customer the option of adding more fans if the airflow needs to be enhanced. There are positions to add four more fans or a 240mm radiator if watercooling is a prerequisite.

Pros:

• built in fan headers for multiple fans.
• great visual appeal.
• decent cable management.
• removable front and bottom dust filters.
• plenty of cooling options for both liquid and air cooling.

Cons:

• chassis is a bit too narrow for “optimal” cable management.
• only 2 fans included.
• drive bays are not tool free.

Overall the Anidees Al6 is a well built chassis with enough options to satisfy a wide enthusiast audience currently shopping for a new case. The model we tested can be purchased in the UK from Overclockers for £99.98 including VAT which is a reasonable price considering the superlative build quality of the Al6.

We have no problem recommending the Al6 version that we tested and feel that it is a product that easily qualifies for our “Worth Buying” award.

Become a Patron!