Enermax LuxuRay ATX Midi Tower Review

1. Introduction2. The Enermax LuxuRay (External)3. The Enermax LuxuRay (Internal)4. The System Build5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Acoustic Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

We have seen many high quality chassis being released this year from various manufacturers, and while it is fun to concentrate on luxury high end products like the Thermaltake Level 10, not many people will be willing to part with £550, just for a case.

Enermax, better known for their power supply and fan designs have just released a new, budget oriented Midi Tower case called the ‘LuxuRay” which is said to deliver fantastic aesthetic appeal while costing 1/10th the price of the Level 10.

One of the main talking points with this specific chassis is the Vegas Light show, but we will look at this later in the review.

The Enermax LuxuRay arrives in a plain brown box with the name of the product on the sides. The case is protected inside a plastic wrapper with thick styrofoam pieces on either side.

Enermax supply a good bundle with the case: drive mounts, screws, a fold out manual and a handful of cable tidies.

The LuxuRay is home to a high gloss finish on the front bezel, this is made from black transparent acryl with air intakes on the bottom and sides. It is extremely reflective and looks rather nice, although it is a fingerprint and dust magnet. At the top there is a space for a 120mm/140mm fan and the side has two positions for 120mm fans. Neither of these spots are populated by Enermax, so you will need extra fans if you wish to increase the airflow.

The paintwork is attractive and as good as anything else we have seen in the budget sector.

The front panel supports two USB 2.0 devices as well as a single eSATA and offers ports for both a headset and a microphone. On the right is a Power and a reset button. On the far left is a fan button, but we will look at this particular option shortly.

The rear of the chassis has 7 expansion bay positions, rubber protected holes for watercooling and a 120mm fan (supplied).

Each side panel is sealed shut with two plastic protected thumbscrews. We are noticing these being used more often, which is a good thing.

The case is very light, especially after I had just stripped down the heavyweight Bitfenix Colossus. I think one of the side panels on the Colossus weighs more than the whole Luxuray case.

Internally the case is painted black which is a popular and somewhat common feature in 2010. There are no inconsistencies in the application, which impressed us.

At the bottom is a dust filter for the PSU air intake, another surprising addition for such a modestly priced budget case.

At the rear is a 120mm fan which is set to exhaust warm air outside the chassis. The 120mm intake fan rests in front of the hard drive bay, directly blowing cool air over it.

There is a motherboard cutout space to aid a system build for people who use a backplate cooler.

The PSU is mounted at the bottom of the LuxuRay, this is slightly raised to stop vibrations against the outer wall, as this is a relatively thin chassis, this is a good principle to utilise.

Installing the motherboard involves a traditional fitting method that everyone will be used to. In the case of the build on this page (using the Corsair H70 cooler) we had to remove the rear 120mm fan. Although Corsair recommend that the fans are set to intake we prefer the traditional methodology of expelling heat out the rear of the case.

No point throwing away a perfectly good quality 120mm fan, so we fitted it to the side panel as an intake. Sadly, while the top chassis position has a dust filter installed, the side panel includes none.

The LuxuRay has a 90 degree rotated HDD cage which eases the installation of hard drives. There is also an area below the cage to install a 2.5″ SSD drive. In the image above we used a 3.5″ tray to install into the standard location.

At KitGuru we no longer use optical drives for testing as we prefer to install the operating system via a USB flash drive. The top section however is straightforward to use and anyone who has built a system before will not experience any issues fitting an optical drive.

Enermax are keen to point out that this chassis can take graphics cards up to 310mm in length, which would include the AMD HD5970. Our biggest card is a Artic Cooling Xtreme based HD5870 which is around 310-312mm in length. As you can see it is impossible to fit by simply sliding into position due to the bottom rack width, but it is possible to rotate and fit into the first (top) slot only. It is a tight fit however and not an ideal case for this size of graphics solution.

We opted for a more modest HD6850 reference card for our system build and there were no fitting issues at all.

One of the main talking points with the LuxuRay is the Vegas Light show option built into the front panel/fan design. We had a look at the EnermaxVegas fans before if you want to read more.

The video below shows the front panel of the LuxuRay with audible ‘clicks' as we press the front FAN button to rotate between the various modes.

Sure, the flashing LED lights won't be everyone's first choice, but some of the static based options are appealing.

For our testing today we are using a Core i7 920 D0 system which we will overclock to 4.1ghz later. Room ambient temperatures were maintained at 24c.

Chassis: Enermax LuxuRay
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 D0
Motherboard: ASRock X58 Extreme 6
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer (thanks to Crucial as always for this)
Storage: GSkill 60GB Sandforce SSD
Graphics: HD5870 modified Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower 750W

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit

Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2

Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.

We are testing the case as it comes supplied, with the 120mm front intake and 120mm exhaust fan at the rear. While the case can accept up to 5 fans, there are only two supplied.

The airflow from both fans is quite impressive and the ambient temperatures are maintained at an optimal level.

Now we want to overclock the 920 D0 to 4.1ghz to see how this will affect not only CPU temperatures, but ambient flow.

The overclocked results are impressive, with only a slight rise in some of the ambient locations. The motherboard and memory temperatures rise slightly due to the increased heat in this area.

Now we will add two Enermax 120mm fans to the side panel, one in an intake (lower) and one as exhaust (top).

Simply by adding two high quality Enermax fans to the side panel we were able to reduce the temperatures of both the CPU and the graphics card. Sure, the differences aren't massive, but ambient temperatures were also reduced via our diode readings.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on 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 environment and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the case. The room rates as 21-23dBa before powering on the system (air conditioning unit in the far corner of the room causes this).

We removed the additional fans from the side panel to measure a ‘out of the box’ scenario.

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 Refridgerator
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 have replaced the graphics card with a Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate edition.

A rating below 34 dBA is a fantastic result. The case isn't silent, but it is in the lower 30% of all samples we have reviewed to date. The Enermax fans are quality products and it shows with this specific test.

Enermax have been releasing quality power supplies and fans for a very long time now and this venture into the budget chassis sector is shaping up to be a positive experience for their customer base. The LuxuRay build quality is high and the front panel offers a strong portfolio of connectivity.

We really like that Enermax have spent a lot of time incorporating their Vegas fan into the front panel. The material they are using gives it an almost transparent feeling when viewed, as if there is actually no material in front of it at all. Both supplied fans are high quality and a welcome inclusion on a budget model. Not everyone is going to enjoy the rotating LED colours on a daily basis, but some of the static modes are pleasant and you can always turn the lighting off if it becomes annoying at night. This level of fine control is welcomed and the user base will certainly appreciate it.

At £55 inc vat, there are always going to be compromises made and the most obvious to us is that the material is rather thin. We wouldn't say it was going to be easily damaged over time, but care would need to be taken to ensure it remained in perfect condition.

Our previous budget case of choice was the Silverstone Precision SST-PS05 which retails for around £40 inc vat, slightly less than the Enermax LuxuRay. When you factor in the lighting system, superior front panel and dual 120mm fan configuration they become much harder to seperate with regards to value for money.

If you are working to an extremely tight budget then the Silverstone Precision SST PS05 is a fantastic option, but if you can spend £15 more, then the LuxuRay is the stronger design.

KitGuru says: The Enermax LuxuRay is a daring, quality chassis which should dominate the budget marketplace.

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