A cheap and cheerful box that begs the question: would a PC case by any other name smell as sweet?
There’s a lot to be said for cheap and cheerful gear, but one of the areas you probably want to avoid it is in a serious PC building endeavour. And, frankly, that’s what Atomic’s all about – building the best PCs we can, to deliver the best experience in day-to-day computing and gaming. So how then does this Chinese-made, oddly named enclosure stack up to our enthusiast-grade demands?
Well, first up… huh. From most angles there really isn’t a lot to write home (or here) about in terms of the SF-800’s looks. The front fascia is an unimaginative curve of black metallic mesh, with a finer anti-dust filter behind. The left side panel is unremarkable, whereas the back-panel hints at a rather colourful interior, as well as being studded by three rubber water-cooling grommets and a set of crudely-vented expansion brackets.
The right side panel, on the other hand, is much more interesting.
Here, you’ll find a large 140mm fan in a circular grilled mount sitting just proud of the panel. It’s got a kind of turbine feel to it – combined with the split side-panel it delivers a real industrial vibe that the rest of the case design compliments nicely. On the top is another grill, albeit without a fan. Sadly, neither the side grill nor top mount have filtering material – quite an oversight, in our opinion.
With the panel off, the main selling point of the case is revealed – it’s red! Sadly, not an anodised red, but a rather watery, painted on red. Still, it makes for a striking contrast with all the black case components, and clever build choices would make for a wonderfully striking case interior – this would be a great case for serious AMD video card fans!
However, while quite bright, the interior is also quite plain. There’s a distinct lack of rounded finishes on most of the metal edges, and no tool-less options to be seen. There’s a hint of sound-dampening in play, but only a hint – there are some thin rubber supports for the PSU, and some rubber lining in the handily removable HDD cage. This same cage also has a red LED-lit 140mm fan mounted on it, rather than directly onto the front fascia.
Similarly, cable-management is only hinted at. There are two cable cut outs on the right of the motherboard plate, but there’s not quite enough room to make full use of them. There’s also no CPU cut-out, so installing new heatsinks/CPUs is going to be a real chore.
Ultimately, for all its striking looks and theming possibilities, there’s just not enough to recommend the SF-800 as a true enthusiast case. For a shiny project more interested in looks than power or cooling, it might suffice, but even then only if you like the colour red. The price is good enough, especially with the larger than usual fans, but for just a bit more you’ll find far better cases.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012