Cooltek W1 Windowed Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 25.07.14
With their W1 Cooltek have great looking mini ITX case in their portfolio suitable for gaming, enthusiast and HTPC builds. The enclosure is made of aluminum with overall reasonable dimensions. Other than that there is a good number of interesting solutions and installing a high-end graphics card for example is not big deal with this case. In this review we're going to have a close look at the windowed version of the W1.
Today
we have a yet another mini tower PC case in our lab, the Cooltek W1. It is not the first time that we checked this model,
as we have already seen it while we were reviewing the
KobraLan Extreme
PC system.
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Preview
Specifications
| Model |
W1 |
| Case Type |
Mini Tower |
| Dimensions |
356mm (H) x 242mm (W) x 362mm (D) , 5.8 kg |
| Material |
Steel, aluminium |
| Color |
Black |
| 5.25'' drive
bay |
0 (slot-in) |
| 3.5'' drive bay |
4 |
| Expansion
slots |
2 |
| Form factors |
Mini-ITX |
| Cooling |
Front: 1x 140mm (Included)
Top: 2x 140mm
Rear: 1x 140mm (Included)
|
[pagebreak]
Bundle
Overview |
|
The Cooltek W1 bundle is
simple and pretty straight-forward. The actual box is made out of cardboard with all the basic informations printed on it. Inside, we found the W1 wrapped up in a plastic bag, and safely placed inside two big pieces of styrofoam, so that even the roughest shipping
would not hurt the actual case inside. Along with the case itself, the bundle also includes an instruction manual, which is always helpful, and a few other things
including a plastic bag with screws needed for assembly as well as some zip-ties.
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[pagebreak]
Product overview
Overview |
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Cooltek's W1 is a very stylish
mini tower PC case made of aluminum and aimed to be used with ITX
motherboards. The front, as well as almost the entire case, is smooth and
features only a small opening for slot-in optical drive. The side panels are quite simple,
as the left features a large window while the right one packs all the I/O connections.
The I/O panel on this model has two USB3.0 ports and the classic 3.5mm audio jacks. As noted above, even the top is very smooth and elegant
and also features a huge mesh of excellent quality. Despite the small size,
the Cooltek W1 is easily accessible on every side thanks to an innovative system
for fixing panels.
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[pagebreak]
Installation
Overview |
|
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| The Cooltek W1 is compatible with mini-ITX
form-factor motherboards and the motherboard itself is placed in a horizontal way, therefore you will not have big problems with the installation of large heatsinks. The case
has two levels, with the the bottom placed PSU, where you can also find the area devoted to the cable management
as well as two 2.5-inch HDD/SSD slots. At the top, however, you can find the motherboard tray, surrounded by generous
amount of rubber grommets as well as the main HDD cage. The latter is not removable
and fixed directly to the structure of the case with rivets. The Cooltek W1 is able to accommodate up to four 3.5" HDD and two 2.5"
SSD/HDDs without a tool-less system. For our system we chose to use a Gigabyte H81N with
graphics cards of various lengths. After placing the motherboard in the special seat we have not encountered any problems
with space or wiring with any graphics card. The insides of the Cooltek
W1 definitely have enough room for both high-end CPU cooler as well as a high-end graphics card.
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[pagebreak]
Ventilation options
Overview |
| |
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| From the
cooling point of view, the Cooltek W1 provides various cooling options. The bundle includes two
3-pin header 140mm fans , with white blades and black frame. In addition
to those two, the case is able to accommodate two 140 mm fans at the top. If you are a fan of liquid cooling systems, you
will be pleased to know that there is enough space for 120, 140, 240 or 280 mm
radiator at the top of the case. Since fans usually means noise, the rear part Cooltek
features a small three-way micro-switch which can adjust the preinstalled fans
to work at 5, 7 or 12V.
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[pagebreak]
Conclusion
| General |
|
+ |
- |
| The Cooltek W1 is a mini case designed for
those that like an elegant and classic design. Contrary to what you might think,
the W1 is not an inaccessible case or difficult to assemble because of
its small size. During our tests we were able to use components of
generous dimensions. The build quality is excellent and materials are
pleasant to the touch. The bundle includes two 140mm fans with black sleeved
cables . The interior space is more than enough and you will be able to use high-end components without any problems. Even if you are
into liquid cooling, the top part has enough space for up to a 240 or 280mm radiator. In addition
to all cooling options, Cooltek has also installed a small three-way micro-switch in order to adjust the preinstalled fans
to 5, 7 or 12V. |
|
- Bundle
- Fan controller
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| Manufacturing quality / Ergonomics |
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+ |
- |
| Cooltek's W1 is made of aluminum and black painted steel with excellent quality, both internally and externally. The sidepanels are pretty light, but we did not observe any sharp edges or bad finish. The mounting process was easy and very simple, we have
not found anything to report and, paradoxically, we had more difficulty
with few other ATX cases. We particularly enjoyed the innovative system of fastening the sidepanels. Despite the small size of the W1,
it is able to accommodate up to four 3.5" HDD and two 2.5" HDDs/SSDs. |
|
- Mesh & Filter
- Panel mounting system
|
- Tool-less
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| Design / Layout |
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+ |
- |
| The design is clean and simple
and the lines of Cooltek W1 are definitely timeless. Even the space
inside is done in a very good way and the only drawback is the non-removeable HDD cage
which could have been mounted with screws. The cooling part of the W1
includes two 140mm fans and it is possible to install two fans at the top. As far as filtering systems, Cooltek uses small dust filters in front of all the intake fans. Despite its compact size,
you will be able to install CPU coolers with a maximum height of 215mm and graphics card
which are up to 320mm long. |
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- Design
- Internal space
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- HDD cage non-removable |
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| Recommendation |
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+ |
- |
| If you are looking for a mini-ITX solution with a very clean and elegant design and, at the same time, a very good quality, then Cooltek W1 is definitely for you. With this model it is very easy to obtain compact gaming configurations with air or, even, water cooling systems. At the moment, on Geizhals, the price of
the Cooltek W1 is about 90 euro without shipping costs. |
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Gaming-PC
- Enthusiast build
- HTPC
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| Rating |
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The Cooltek W1 gets good
4.5 out of 5 stars. |
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