by Yury Vayukin
03/28/2005 | 09:50 AM
Foxconn is the trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., which is among the major semiconductor companies on Taiwan. The company began to write its success story in 1974 as a manufacturer of plastic products. In 1981 Hon Hai Precision Industry started to make connectors for mainboards and other PC components and has thus established its worldwide reputation. The company’s current trade name was registered in 1991.
<%BANNER[article]%>Today, Foxconn is a leader in mainboard, system case and connector markets. It has offices in the U.S., Japan, Scotland, England and Ireland and production facilities in China.
The system cases covered in this review were tested according to the following rules: first I describe the exterior of the case and its internal design. Then I assemble a computer system of the following configuration in it:
To avoid interrupting the airflows, all the cables in the case are neatly twisted into plaits and fastened to the sides, where possible. Having assembled the system, I write a report on all the positive and negative aspects of the internal design of the case and the quality of manufacture, accompanying the report with photos.
To ensure a stable ambient temperature, I place the assembled computer into the chamber of a Sanyo MIR-253 incubator that maintains a constant temperature of 25 degrees centigrade inside.
Our tests proper are carried out two modes: Idle (the OS is booted up, and the computer is idle) and Burn (the system is running a demo record in Far Cry, at 1024x768 resolution and with the maximum graphics quality settings, in a cycle). We have determined experimentally that the temperature of all system components stabilizes after 40 minutes of being in a particular test mode. So, after these 40 minutes have passed, I read the temperatures from the following diodes:
Having tested the case with its standard ventilation, I install additional fans and run the tests once again.
I use the following software:
I want to remind you that I test the system cases as they are, i.e. as they come to our test labs. The manufacturer can change their characteristics or exterior without a prior notice.
The manufacturer’s website says this system case can only be black with a silver insertion on the front panel.
There are four 5.25” bays and two 3.5” bays on the front panel, under plastic faceplates. These are black, so you can install devices with black as well as silver face panels into this system case.
The case stands on feet of a curious design, which hold it firm when unfolded. But you must take care – the feet should be unfolded both at one time! If you’re pulling at one foot only, you’ll most likely tear it off.
Under the floppy drive, along the center of the face panel, there are Power and Reset buttons. The oval-shaped Power and HDD indicators are placed on the sides of the Power button. There’s a lid at the bottom of the front panel that conceals a connections unit with four USB ports, one 6-pin FireWire port and two audio connectors (microphone input and headphones output). The mechanism that keeps the lid open or closed is very stiff, and the lid hits heavily against the props when you open or close it. The plastic of the lid will wear out eventually because of this beating.
A bunch of nine cables trails from these connectors into the system case, each of which ends in a single-row plug or in an independent single-wire plug. This solution may suit well for a leisurely and thoughtful assembly at home, but is hardly desirable for mass assembly, especially on a conveyer. The design of onboard USB, FireWire and front-panel audio connectors on mainboards seems to have long become unified, so I don’t think there’s much sense in using the disjointed connectors.
The left side of the case holds on two thumbscrews. You shift it backwards and then take it off to gain access to the inside. The right side is not removable – it’s riveted to the chassis. You receive a loop with this case for installing a lock that would prevent unauthorized access to the components of your computer.
To install devices into the “open” bays, you have to remove the plastic front panel by pulling it forward.
The bays – for three 5.25” and one 3.5” device – are originally closed with metal brackets. The 5.25” brackets are kept in place with metal holders, while the 3.5” bracket is disposable – and you have to apply some force to tear it off.
All the devices go into the open bays on metal rails. To install a device, you attach a rail of the appropriate form-factor to its side (each rail has a marking).
Each rail has two juts which fit into the mounting holes in the side panel of the device. The device is then inserted into its bay and is fixed in place with a spring-loaded latch. Two spring-loaded plates are pressing on the device from the direction of the right side of the case. The overall impression is somewhat spoiled by the unfinished metal of the rails – the edges are all rather sharp. The metal is also too soft for such an application. When disassembling the testbed I tried to pry a rail out with a flat screwdriver, and the rail immediately bent into an arc. :(
But all the holders that keep the devices in their proper places have translucent plastic fingerholds for you not to cut your fingers.
The rails are all initially stored in a kind of “parking” below the hard disk drive basket.
There are eighteen threaded holes in the side of this parking box for storing the screws. In the sample of the case that I tested, eight holes were occupied with screws with non-standard cylindrical heads for installing hard drives.
Hard drives are put into this system case from the left side. The case can accommodate four drives, but the appropriate screws will only suffice for two devices. For an easier extraction of the drives from the basket, two special handles are fastened to the bottom of the PC case. These handles are screwed to the drives at their rear panels using the same cylinder-headed screws.
After that the drive slides down the guides into the basket until the plastic holder snaps shut. Unfortunately, you have to apply a considerable effort to do that, and the drive hits heavily against the internal side of the basket, which can be dangerous for drives that park their heads on the platter (like the Maxtor MaXLine Plus II 250GB I use in my tests).
The mainboard is installed onto a special tray without using any screws.
Although this fastening seems unreliable, the distances between the mounting poles are so well matched that the mainboard holds very firm on the plate. This solution actually saves your time during the assembly of the computer as soon as you grasp the idea. The whole operation is then performed with a single movement.
The mainboard on the plate, you move the plate towards the rear panel and fix it in place with a metal holder. There are holes for the mainboard’s pegs (not included with the case) under the plate, so you can fasten it in the old way, with screws, if necessary.
The seven slots for the expansion cards are covered with reusable gags. The gags and the cards’ brackets are fastened with the help of a curiously designed holder – you don’t need your screwdriver for that. The only alarming fact is that the holder’s ‘latches are made of plastic.
There are spring-loaded plates between the slits of the slots which press the brackets and the gags even tighter to the rear panel of the case.
The 300W ATX-300GTF power supply from FSP Group Inc. has a power-on switch and a power connector at its rear panel. This PSU offers you five Molex connectors (for hard disk drives and optical drives) and two mini-plugs for floppy drives. The cables are long enough for a comfortable assembly of the computer in this system case.
The case is ventilated with a 120mm exhaust fan installed on the rear panel. Holes for passive ventilation are located in the front, bottom (below the HDD basket) and rear panels of the case. Besides that, there are two vent holes in the left side: there’s an air-duct on the inside, against the top round hole. It directs air to the CPU cooler. The bottom hole is shaped like a rectangular and is positioned below the installed graphics card. The height of the output of the plastic air-duct can be regulated relative to the CPU cooler.
There’s an air filter – a metal grid – on the inside of this air-duct. This filter won’t protect against dust (the grid isn’t fine enough), but the CPU cooler’s fan will really be less dirty.
The temperatures of the computer’s subsystems in the TH-61 system case:
This is a black case with a silvery insertion on the front panel. There are three open 5.25” bays and two open 3.5” bays here. Devices of silvery and black colors alike are going to look nice in this system case.
On the front panel, to the right of the 3.5” bays, there are headphones and microphone connectors and two USB ports. Five cables that end with one-wire or single-row plugs trail from these connectors into the inside of the case. The Reset and Power-On buttons are situated in the center of the panel.
There are three horizontal slits in the front panel. That’s aesthetically appealing, but also functional – air comes through these slits into the case.
The case is opened up by removing the left side (the right side is riveted to the case, so you cannot take it off), which holds on two thumbscrews. The screws have a hole for a hex-headed screwdriver.
There’s a loop on the chassis of the case for a lock that would prevent unauthorized access to the inside of the computer.
There’s a hole in the left panel of the case through which air comes from outside to cool the CPU. A plastic funnel is installed against this hole on the inside of the panel. Between the funnel and the panel there is a filter, but I don’t think this filter is going to prevent dust from getting into the case – the holes in the filter are too big. You have to manually regulate the distance between the funnel and the CPU cooler by unfastening the cone of the funnel along the threading. It can take several tries to find the necessary distance, that’s why I think the self-regulating corrugating pipe employed in the competitor models is a better solution.
To put 5.25” and 3.5” devices into the “open” bays, you have to remove the face panel first. It is held by metal rivets which can theoretically sustain many such remove/install procedures.
The open bays are initially covered with metal brackets; once out, these brackets cannot be put back.
The devices are fastened in their bays with the help of plastic latches, which make the whole process much easier. To fasten a device, you insert screws into it, which will serve as stoppers, and then insert the device into the bay where it will be held by the latches. This solution has its drawbacks, though. The device is held by the latches at one side of the bay only – on the other side it is held by the metal tabs cut out in the right side of the bay. Besides the tabs, there’s a slit in the HDD and FDD bays into which the screws inserted into the side of the device can be put. This makes the fastening stronger, but not too much.
The latches are made of plastic. You’ll have to find your own ways of fastening the device in the system case if this latch is damaged.
The case also offers two “closed” bays for hard disk drives. These are fastened with the help of the same plastic latches that don’t provide the necessary robustness of the fastening.
Unpredictable vibration is the most dangerous thing that can happen to modern high-capacity hard disk drives with their accurate precision mechanics and tiny heads that hover on a thinnest layer of air above the platter. No tricks like integrated accelerometers can save a hard disk which is loose in its bay.
Hard disk drives are quite conveniently put into this system case through the left side.
The mainboard is fastened to the mounting plate riveted to the chassis. The fasteners are already in the plate, to save some of your time during the assembly. You fasten the mainboard with screws in 10 points.
There are seven slots for expansion cards in the back panel of the system case. They are covered with reusable brackets, fastened with screws. There’s also an 80mm exhaust fan installed on the inside of the rear panel of the case. You can substitute it with a 92mm fan using the mounting holes provided. A place for a plastic case of a fan is also to be found at the front panel, under the HDD basket. A nice feature about this system case is that all the sharp edges are finished and folded so you can’t cut your fingers. The only exception is the mainboard’s mounting plate – its top is folded but not finished.
This system case comes with a power supply from FSP GROUP Inc., with a specified wattage of 300W and a power-off button on the rear panel. There’s no power connector for the monitor. The PSU offers five Molex connectors for hard and optical drives and two mini-plugs for floppy drives. The cables are long enough for a comfortable assembly of the computer.
The temperature diagrams for the TS-05 follow:
This model only differs from the TS-05 in the design of the front panel and the lack of the Reset button, so we decided not to test it.
This case is black; its silvery façade has black details, too. The front panel has four open bays for 5.25” devices and for one 3.5” device (drives with a silvery or black case are going to look well here). One plastic bracket in a 5.25” bay may be left in place – it has a cut for the tray of the optical drive and an Eject button.
In the center of the front panel, to the left of the floppy drive, there are microphone and headphones connectors and two USB ports. The wires from these connectors go into the case in a single cable. The plugs are all labeled, so you won’t have problems attaching them to the mainboard’s onboard headers.
There are four air-intake holes at the bottom of the front panel, covered with a plastic grid. This looks cute enough. The Power button is in-between these holes (the Reset button is missing).
Both right and left panels of this system case are removable; they are held on screws. The left side has an opening for cooling the CPU via a plastic funnel whose design is the same as we saw with the above-described cases.
To install 5.25” and 3.5” devices you should remove the face panel. But before that, you have to remove the right panel, too, to gain access to the latches. By the way, be careful with the latches – they can be broken too easily. It’s not very simple even then: the face panel can be taken off, but it doesn’t detach completely – it remains hanging on wires, which may become an obstacle during the assembly.
The chassis can accommodate four 5.25” and six 3.5” devices, two of which are installed into “open” bays. The remaining four 3.5” places are for hard disk drives, and there’re mounting holes against them for fastening a fan which would improve greatly the thermal conditions of your hard drives.
The 5.25” devices are fastened with ease, although the fastening mechanism seems difficult at first. You insert two screws into the device and place it into the bay, then lower the mechanism of the holder down, put the 5.25” device in place and fix it by lowering the holder.
Thus, the device is held more or less firmly on the left side only. On the right side it is supported with the tabs cut out in the right side of the 5.25” bay.
This system case has only one place for an external 3.5” device, although the chassis could have accommodated two. That’s because there’s no second bay for the second device in the front panel.
Hard drives are fastened in this case in the classical way, i.e. with four screws.
The mainboard is installed on a metal plate that consists of two parts riveted to the chassis, and is fastened with screws in nine points. The screws are already in place. The fact that the plate is divided in two ensures an additional airflow to the back side of the mainboard for better cooling.
There are seven slots for expansion cards at the rear panel of the case. They are covered with single-use brackets. The expansion cards can be fastened with screws or with a special bar:
But brackets with additional connectors shouldn’t be fastened with this bar; such brackets will be just hanging about loosely since they are not firmly connected to the mainboard.
The back panel carries an 80mm fan. There are mounting holes there for the installation of a bigger, 92mm fan.
This system case is equipped with an ISO-400PP power supply with a specified wattage of 300W. The PSU offers four Molex connectors (for HDDs and optical drives) and two mini-plugs (for floppy drives). There’s a power switch at the back of the PSU, but there’s no additional connector to power up the monitor. The power cables are all long enough as to cause no problems during the assembly.
And here are the temperatures of the subsystems of the computer in the TLA-570 system case:
The TLA-473 model is absolutely identical to the TLA-570A, but the design of the front panel is different. The TLA-473 has a Reset button and offers two open 3.5” bays instead of the TLA-570A’s one such bay. You also receive a bracket for the optical drive bay with a door that opens when the drive’s tray is ejected. There’s an Eject button on this bracket, too.
I don’t test this system case because it is internally an exact copy of the TLA-570A.
This case comes in a colorful box with a carry handle.
The design is very creative; the face panel and the sides are silver colored. The “open” bays for 5.25” and 3.5” devices are covered with blue brackets.
With this color scheme, you may want to stick to devices of the same silvery color as you’re unlikely to find blue-colored ones. It’s not very good as you may search for long for a silvery optical drive or floppy drive of the model you need.
The front panel itself might have been more original. As it is, it looks as if they started to draw a fearsome chimera, but ran out of pencils at the most important moment. But that’s my subjective opinion, of course.
When power is on, the chimera’s eyes begin to glow:
At the bottom of the front panel, right in the jaws of the chimera, there are four USB ports, one 6-pin FireWire port and two audio connectors – a microphone input and a headphones output. They are all hidden under a plastic latticed cover. The HDD activity indicator is to be found in the Power button. The Reset button is missing here.
The left side of the case has a transparent window. There’s a plastic funnel on the inside of the case to direct air to the CPU cooler. The funnel is regulated on its threading, and I soon found out that the funnel was too short and there remained a gap of about 1 centimeter between the funnel and the ordinary box cooler of the Pentium 4 processor.
There are decorative silver plastic insertions on the left and right sides of the case.
A lamp to highlight the innards of the system case comes enclosed.
Internally this system case is identical to the Foxconn TH-61.
The difference is in the model of the power supply. This system case is equipped with a HIPRO HP-450WP unit with a specified wattage of 400W. The PSU’s cables offer four Molex connectors for your hard and optical drives, one mini-plug for the floppy-drive, and two power connectors for SATA devices. There’s a Power-On/Off button on the back panel of the PSU; the power connector for the monitor is missing.
And here’s the diagram of the temperatures in the TH-202 system case:
The chassis and the internal design of the TH-230 model are absolutely identical to the TH-61. The difference between the two is only in the design of the face panel. That’s why we didn’t test this model.
The temperatures of the computer’s main subsystems in the reviewed system cases from Foxconn:
As you can see, an additional fan placed on the front panel of the chassis doesn’t practically affect the temperature of the CPU or GPU, but it does affect the temperature of the hard drive. The TLA-570 should be considered the winner of this subtest: with the additional fan, the temperature of the hard disk drive in this system case equals the ambient temperature. That’s a great performance! This effect comes due to the placement of the fan opposite to the basket with hard drives. That’s not a unique solution, though – you can see it almost anywhere.
I liked the exterior of the system cases; the quality of the chassis and painting give no cause for me to be critical, either. The selected color scheme will surely attract the attention of potential buyers to the reviewed cases.
I’m also pleased with Foxconn engineers’ striving to reduce the time it takes to put a device into the bay as much as possible. The mechanisms they have invented for that purpose do speed up this process, although I would prefer the devices to be fixed more firmly. I can’t also pass by the use of the “disjointed” connectors on the cables that output the USB ports to the front panel.
An indubitable advantage of Foxconn’s system cases is the use of really high-quality power supplies of Foxconn’s own manufacture. This fact alone makes these cases superior to the ordinary products manufactured in mainland China.