Case Labs Mercury S8S Review
Category : Cases
Published by Marc Büchel on 12.05.16
The Mercury S8S from Case Labs is basically a short version of the S8. As with all enclosures from Case Labs also this one is individually configurable in their shop and therefore the possibilities of what kind of build you'd like to realize are sheer endless. Water cooled rigs, workstations, file server, you name it, anything can be done with this case.
Rating |
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Cooling |
Features |
Layout |
Build Quality |
Value for Money |
| Pros |
+ Good
compatibility for watercooling |
+ Water cooling
+ Number of fan spots
+ Individually configurable
|
+ Interior
space
+ Good space for cable routing |
+ High quality materials
+ Rubber groomets
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| Cons |
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- No dust filters
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- Expensive |
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Preview
Specifications
| Model: |
S8S |
| Case Type: |
Cube |
| Dimensions: |
368 mm (W) x 400 mm (H) x 485 mm (D) |
| Material: |
Aluminum |
| Color: |
Black |
| Drive Bay: |
5.25": |
0 |
| 3.5": |
5 |
| 2.5": |
1 |
| Expansion
slots: |
7 |
| Form factors: |
ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
| Cooling: |
Front: |
max 3 x 120mm |
| Rear: |
1 x 120mm |
| Top: |
max 6 x 120mm |
| Bottom: |
max 4 x 120mm |
| Side: |
max 3 x 120mm |
| Watercooling |
Front: |
1 x 120mm & 1 x 240mm |
| Rear: |
1 x 120mm |
| Side: |
1 x 360mm |
| Top: |
max 2 x 360mm |
| Link to the product: |
S8S |
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Features
Two compartment layout
Case Labs chose a two chamber layout for this case. In the top part of the case there is the motherboard with processor, memory and graphics, while in the bottom compartment the PSU and all the drives are being placed. |
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Cable management
For a great looking and high-priced case it’s almost self-evident that there is a well-thought cable management in place. As we already mentioned Case Labs decided to create a two chamber layout, which offers plenty of space. Below the motherboard you can hide away all your cables to achieve clean looks. Apart from that there are numerous rubber grommeted cut-outs allowing the user to route cables from one side of the motherboard tray to the other. |
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Support for custom watercooling
The S8S offers immense flexibility when it comes to custom watercooling gear. If you'd plan on equipping every single slot with a radiator, then you could place one 360mm radiator on the bottom left side, two 360mm radiators in the top, one 240mm radiator in the front, one 120mm radiator in the front and another 120mm radiator in the back. |
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Dual HDD tray
Also when it comes to hard drives this case offers interesting options. It's possible to place two hard drive cages in the bottom left half and each of those cages can be equipped with up to four 3.5 inch and up to eight 2.5 inch drives. |
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Product overview
Overview |
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| The Mercury S8S from Case Labs is a cube case which can be configured individually. If you really decide to buy a Case Labs case then you might spend quite a while on their website, actually their configurator checking all the different options and features. The list of things you can change is sheer endless as there is case color, form factor, top chassis mount, top cover, left door, right door, front cover, flex-bay configuration, low left chamber configuration, power and reset switch and I/O panel. With our sample Case Labs surprised us and it turned out that we could have either made a file server or a custom water cooled rig.
A closer look at the configuration we’re having here shows that this case is based on a two chamber layout. In the bottom area the power supply and/or drives/cooling are placed, whereas in the upper part of the case you put the components like motherboard and graphics card. The motherboard is mounted horizontally and the area where is lies is very easily accessible, once the side panels and the top cover have been removed. That process is actually very simple since there are four “click mounting points” for every panel (left/right side, top/front cover). A quick look at the panels shows that all edges have been folded and deburred, which makes it virtually impossible that you might cut your finger.
Our Mercury S8S comes with an armada of features and the following lines will walk you through them. We start with the motherboard tray which is removable and our version is capable of holding a motherboard with EATX form factor. If you have an SSI CEB form factor motherboard, you can order another motherboard tray and then even dual socket motherboards can be installed. Apparently this case also offers enough space for huge graphics cards as well as large CPU coolers. Looking for the I/O panel we find four USB 3.0 ports in the front, two 3.5mm jacks and power as well as reset button. Our case is made from black aluminum panels, while you could also choose the colors “gun metal” or white. A look at the left side panel shows, there is a mesh in the bottom area and acrylic glass in the top half. The right side panel features a window in the top half and solid aluminum in the bottom. The top plate, like the left side panel, features a window and mesh. Taking the top off there shows a mount for radiators or fans on the left side, which would basically make it possible to put a triple radiator here. The front panel comes with two mesh areas behind which you can install up to three 120mm fans or a single and a dual 120mm radiator. The side panels as well as front and top cover can be ordered in different versions while you can choose from solid, windowed and meshed areas. |
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Installation
Overview |
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| Case Labs ships this case flat packed. This means you’ll spend the first half hour putting all the bits and pieces together. While doing that you get a great overview what will go where and how you can access it in the easiest way possible. Once you’ve put the chassis together you notice that all the key areas such as motherboard tray, drive cages and the place for the power supply are easily accessible. Since the motherboard tray is removable you can place the board on it while it’s not in the case, which makes the installation of the motherboard as simple as it can be. Also the installation of drives in the cages is very straight forward. If you don’t plan on installing any hard drives, you can use that area to install a triple radiator. Putting the power supply in place is as straight forward and there is plenty of space and cables can be hidden away nicely.
We’ve decided to equip this case with an extensive custom water cooling loop, for which we’re using a triple, a dual and a single radiator as well as a pump/reservoir combo unit. The 360mm radiator was place in the bottom left area, the 240mm radiator is in the left half of the front and the 120mm radiator has been tightened to the left half of the front. In combination with an ATX motherboard and a gaming graphics card there were no issues while putting everything together. |
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Ventilation options
Overview |
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| As far as cooling is concerned, the S8S is one of the most flexible cases available. The front can be equipped with up to three 120mm fans, depending on the mount the top can carry up to six 120mm fans, the left side offers space for up to three 120mm fans, the back can take two 120mm fans and even the bottom of this case can house three 120mm fans. As we already mentioned this case is also great for custom water cooling loops, since you can place a variety of radiators at every single fan slot. |
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Temperatures
Overview |
| |
Using our extensive custom water cooling loop we've also had a look at temperatures. On an ASUS X99 Deluxe motherboard we have an Intel Core i7-5960X processor and also in the loop is a MSI GeForce GTX 980 Gaming 4G graphics card. The triple, the dual and the single radiator are all 26mm thick and equipped with 120mm, 1200rpm fans. To put the CPU under full load, we're running prime95 for 10 min and in the case of the GPU we use Furmark also for 10 minutes. After these ten minutes, we're going to write down the temperatures. The ambient temperature is 24°C. |
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All noise dampening panels installed |
Idle (°C) |
Full (°C) |
|
Intel Core i7-5960X |
28 / 28 / 28 / 29 |
50 / 51 / 49 / 48 |
| MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G |
38 |
53 |
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Less is better |
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Conclusion
Without the shadow of a doubt, the S8S is an absolute high-end case. Since this case is completely customizable the possible configurations are sheer endless and you’ll therefore be able to create the perfect case for your needs. Apparently the industrial design of this case is a matter of personal preference. When it comes to build quality there is absolutely nothing anyone could complain about since this case is just perfect. The only thing we couldn’t find on the features list are dust filters. It would be great if Case Labs could come up with a solution for this, since this way it doesn’t take a long time and there will be dust visible on the inside of your high-end rig. Apart from that it takes six weeks until you have your Case Labs case at home which is a pretty long time.
Nevertheless we’re very impressed by this case and these days we wouldn’t change it for anything else. The possibilities and the compatibility towards custom water cooling gear are simply on another level comparing this case to high-end offerings from other vendors. Next to custom water cooling loops you could also build an insane file server.
If you’re looking for an absolute high-end case, which you can configure individually matching your very needs, then we don’t just recommend the Mercury S8S we’ve reviewed here but the entire line-up of cases from Case Labs. Apparently this much high-end comes at quite a price and a nicely equipped S8 or S8S case quickly accounts for 500 US-Dollar. Apart from that it takes a rather long time until you have this case at your place. Nevertheless it’s worth waiting for this case and we rate it with
5 out of 5 stars.
