by Kirill "ALT-F13" Balalin
02/11/2008 | 11:31 AM
England-headquartered High Performance Group is generally known as the manufacturer of high-quality power supplies, but like any wise company it tries to extend the model range selling very good keyboards, microATX cases for media-centers, fans and cables. The release of a PC system case from Hiper was to be expected, too. Its first serially produced model of a full-ATX case is somewhat surprisingly called Anubis, the name of the Egyptian god of death. I don’t quite grasp the meaning of this naming, but I’ve seen even queerer names for IT products.
<%BANNER[article]%>In the bottom and medium segments of the market there is toughest competition between dozens of well-known brands and a number of obscure Taiwanese-Chinese factories. The Englishmen from Hiper who have always followed a rather strict pricing policy wouldn’t be welcome there. But in the top sector there is a place for everyone who can offer a high-quality and original product regardless of the price. Shipment volumes are small here, but the margin is high. The market is not saturated, and the release of high-end products has a positive effect on the company’s image. This is why the market positioning of the Anubis (a recommended price of $250) is quite logical. It is in the top-end market sector that Hiper may be competitive.
The Anubis comes in a cardboard box painted black and purple.
The box contains quite a lot of accessories including:
Curiously enough, the Anubis comes without a power supply. Of course, it is the norm for expensive system cases, but Hiper turns out excellent PSUs… Frankly speaking, I had expected to find a PSU in here.
The box with the Anubis proved to be unexpectedly heavy for an aluminum case. The reason was revealed when I looked at the product: the case is made from thick (3mm) aluminum and has a total weight of over 10kg. This generosity makes the Anubis very robust – there is not a hint of flimsiness typical of many other products. According to the manufacturer, this system case can withstand a load up to 100kg, not only due to thick panels and also due to good welding. Indeed, you can just sit down on it without fearing to crush it!
The exterior design is a subjective thing, of course. I am personally fond of the technological brutality and the laconism of lines of the Anubis. It looks monumental. The implementation is not perfect, however. If you choose this system case for your PC, you should be ready to put up with certain drawbacks and inconveniencies.
The black anodized surface of the case is top class but needs regular cleaning.
The bays for optical and hard drives are hidden behind a massive aluminum door that has a magnet lock. The lack any handle is somewhat inconvenient as the lock is rather strong and your fingers just slide on the edge of the door. A loud clang of metal on metal can be heard when you close the door: there is no noise insulation although a simple rubber pad would have solved the problem.
The front fan receives enough of cool air through the grid with a stamped Hiper logo at the bottom part of the door. This is the good news. The bad news is that this $250 system case comes without the front fan – you have to buy one separately and install into the HDD cage. By the way, the cage can accommodate four HDDs installed vertically.
Power and Reset buttons, LED indicators, two USB ports and three audio connectors (input, output, and line input) are placed on the top panel of the case. This is the most optimal solution ergonomically when the system case has a full-height front door. Moreover, this makes it easier to work with the PC if the system case stands on the floor (the Anubis is rather too large to be placed on a desk; hiding it into the niche of a PC desk is no good, either, as beautiful things must be shown off). I think FireWire and eSATA connectors would make a good addition to the available ones. Although not as popular as USB and audio, they are important for some users.
An eye-catching feature of this system case is its ribbed top panel. The total heat dissipation area of this improvised heatsink is very large. Aluminum is a good conductor of heat and the hot air inside the case is always rising up, so this solution surely lowers the temperature inside the case. The preinstalled 120mm exhaust fan improves the cooling even more.
Another innovation is the fastening mechanism of the side panels. As you know, even thumbscrews, let alone ordinary screws, require some time to be unfastened, and you often have to access the rear panel to do that. The traditional system of grooves and juts at the top and bottom of the side panel employed in many system cases is not perfect. Hiper’s engineers took a completely different approach: two locks at the top and two spring-loaded clips at the bottom. The fastening mechanism is even more reliable than usual, and the system case can now be opened in a moment. You only have to use both your hands as there are two locks on each side of the case.
The acryl side window has a meshed grid like in the top and front panels. This helped Hiper achieve the required level of EMI screening to pass the certification. The user can remove the grid or the acryl from the window but lose the warranty.
Three things are noteworthy at the back. First, there are holes for the pipes of a liquid cooling system closed with rubber plugs. This first appeared in the Gigabyte Aurora as far I know, but other manufacturers haven’t taken to the idea with enthusiasm. With such holes it is much easier to install the radiator of your liquid cooling system outside the PC case.
Second, there is a seat for a system fan. You can install an 80, 92 or 120mm fan but you don’t get one with the system case. So the Anubis offers three fan seats but comes with only one fan, the top one, preinstalled.
Third, there is a small plaque with the engraved ID number of the case. That’s quite a rare thing for IT products. The included trinket bears the same number.
The Anubis is roomy and simple inside. There are no screw-less fastening mechanisms, no air-ducts or extra cages. I personally prefer such simple designs if there is enough space to install every component without problems.
For a system case of its class the Anubis lacks a mainboard tray. This is somewhat made up for by the engraved markings for screws. You don’t have to place the mainboard against the case to see what holes you should inserts screws into in order to install your ATX, microATX or other mainboard.
When putting the system together I found one silly flaw which made it more difficult to install devices. You can see it in the photo above: the back panel is U-shaped and overlaps the side panels. This side part of it is as wide as to prevent you from accessing the mounting screws of the PCI cards with your screwdriver! Of course, the cards can be fastened with your fingers using thumbscrews, yet I think it’s the silliest flaw in the whole Anubis design.
The case being very long, over half a meter, there is enough space for the cables and connectors of devices installed in the front bays even if you’ve got a very long graphics card like a GeForce 8800 Ultra. There is a total of 11 such bays here: six 5.25” bays, one external 3.5” bay (it is the topmost one; you can install a card-reader into it), and four internal bays for HDDs.
The PSU bay is placed at a distance from the mainboard. I’m sure it is a deliberate solution to make the Anubis compatible with Hiper’s Type-R HPU-4S730 power supply which has a non-standard placement of power connectors. Well, extra room won’t hurt anyone especially if you install a PSU with a 120mm fan that is going to work more efficiently under such conditions.
One more problem was revealed when I installed 5.25” devices. The bays have such dimensions that the front panels of optical drives, which are wider than the installation shaft, cannot be aligned flush with the front panel of the system case. As you can see in the photo, the optical drives protrude forward somewhat, which is not quite aesthetic. This problem is usually solved by making the whole 5.25” bay wider (like in Lian-Li products) or by means of a “ledge” on the front panel.
I should say a few good words about the quietness of the Anubis. The rubber pads in the HDD cage suppress vibration, and the same solution is employed to reduce vibration from the PSU. The case has rubberized feet to enhance the overall effect. And finally, the thick panels and the overall massive design help reduce the noise from the components. The Anubis is good from this aspect.
There are four test modes:
The CPU and mainboard temperatures are read with ASUS PC Probe which is included with the mainboard. The temperatures of the graphics card’s GPU and PCB are reported by RivaTuner. The temperature of the hard disk is read with HDD Thermometer.
The ambient temperature during the test remained constant at 23°C. All the temperatures were read after they have fully stabilized.
I guess two factors account for the drawbacks in the Anubis design: a number of innovations and a lack of experience of Hiper’s engineers at developing ATX system cases. It seems as if the developer didn’t draw on the experience of other companies at all but created the Anubis from scratch. Inventing a few splendid global solutions such as the ribbed top panel, screw-less fastening of the sides, and a latticed window, they forgot about trifles…
Highs:
Lows:
I don’t want to say that the first ATX system case from Hiper is no good at all. The Anubis is undoubtedly stylish, original and efficient in terms of cooling. There are more highs than lows about it, and the drawbacks are quite easy for the manufacturer to correct. I’m sure this system case is going to find its admirers even in its current form. The Anubis is an ideal playground for a technical modder – there is almost nothing to improve in it on the outside, yet there is quite a lot you can do with your Dremel inside of it.
Hiper should be working on the issues we pointed out now because other reviewers and users are sure to find the flaws I noticed, too. And the developer has to listen to user reports if he really wants to make a stand in the market of PC cases.