Introduction
Contents
Ironclad is the latest full-tower case from In Win, being basically a Maelstrom case with a screwless mechanism for holding daughterboards and an SSD adapter added. Like Maelstrom, the highlights from Ironclad include foam pads to absorb noise and support for 10 fans. Let’s see if this new case is a good buy.
On Figures 1 and 2 you have an overall look at the Ironclad, which is almost identical to the Maelstrom. The biggest difference is that the manufacturer replaced the two green tubes from the front panel with a military-inspired silver part.
The case is available in black, like the model we reviewed, or with a camouflaged pattern using white, black, blue and brown (“special edition”).
The left panel has a huge mesh coming with a 220 mm fan installed (no word on speed, airflow and noise level). The blades from this fan measure 210 mm, so this fan is actually bigger than some 230 mm fans that use 190 mm blades. It glows blue when turned on, but there is a switch on the left panel for you to turn its LED’s off. This fan is connected to a standard peripheral power plug and has only two wires, so you can’t monitor its speed through your motherboard.
By removing this big 220 mm fan you open space for installing up to six (yes, you read it right!) 120 mm fans on the side panel.
Figure 1: In Win Ironclad case.
Figure 2: In Win Ironclad case.
The front of the case can be seen in Figure 3. No door is present and the case has five external 5.25” bays. All bays use meshed covers featuring washable air filters. On the lower part of the front panel there are three covers similar to the ones used on the 5.25” bays, i.e., meshed and with washable air filters. Ironclad comes with a 120 mm fan behind these covers, this time using a small three-pin connector for you to connect it on your motherboard (and thus allowing speed monitoring). You can, if you want, use one of the two adapters that come with the case to install this fan directly on the power supply instead of connecting it on the motherboard. Once again, In Win does not say anything about airflow, noise level or rotational speed.
If you pay close attention you will see that the top 5.25” bay comes with an adapter for installing external 3.5” devices such as floppy disk drives and memory card readers.
Figure 3: Front panel.
Figure 4: Front fan.
