Why the CA-M?
I now own a long time the MS140. However, since my hardware so slow to play is unsuitable, and I therefore sold my graphics card (ASUS AMD HD6950 DirectCUII), a smaller, schreibtischtauglicheres housing was needed that can accommodate ATX power supply in spite of everything, a micro-ATX motherboard and a standard.
After interminable research, I was about to order me a small Chenbro tower because Tower, so I think, make good on your desk. But then I discovered by accident the Sharkoon CA-I, the smaller brother of the CA-M, which can take mini-ITX boards. After a visit to the official Sharkoon website I saw then the CA-M and'm in love right away. Aluminum body, small, incredibly elegant designed, micro-ATX motherboards, standard ATX power supply, etc..
In short, I have, of course, directly ordered.
Packaging, delivery:
The case was, as usual from Sharkoon, packaged in a plain cardboard and was designed by foam, in which it, wrapped in a sheet, was held. In addition there were two instructions. Once how to install the motherboard and the power supply, and then another, which explains how you can install which disks on the caseback. Class info but I was already known.
In addition to housing was a small box. Their contents surprised me: in addition to a package with the necessary screws and cable ties also a special SATA cable was, more on this below. Otherwise there was not much to see, but what you also, of course, do not expect anything else.
First impression, assembly:
When unpacking and reviewing the housing has almost left only positive impressions. So it is not made of durable plastic and heavy metal, such as the MS140, but made of lightweight and incredibly high-quality aluminum. Everything fits together and it does not leave any impressions, where you might think that it could here and there have been done better. Despite the shooting, which it promises, the housing is very small. One already knows before buying the extent yes, but when you see it then stand in front of a, it is already something else. The housing weighs just 1.8kg, making it owes the thin plates. Here, however, I have a small point of criticism: the thin and beautiful aluminum plates affects the body, takes you from one side, very fragile. You do not want anything "together clap", but can be rather time to just nothing to bend or damage here. What many might surprise you: you can remove both side panels and the cover. Whether you can take off the bottom and the front, I did not test, because with 3 removed pages I managed it all before, I had the MS140 but only a side panel for assembling open. Here, however, caution must be taken! One should with the screws not too rough deal because the black paint can flake off quickly, then by no means looks very nice in the assembled state.
To remove the side panels, in this case 4 screws are unscrewed. Two at the rear, well-known places, and two that continue to sit at the front. The lid can also be very easily removed by the 4 visible screws. Here, however, one should not be too rough, because the two recessed USB 3.0 ports are a little bit about, so that you only have to push a little to the rear lid.
First was from me the fan that was preinstalled by the way, replaced with a 120mm PWM fan Arctic. Then followed my motherboard. In this case, unlike in larger cases, 4 spacers available on which the motherboard can be screwed. When putting on the USB connections you realize this, but by no means interfere and keep doing it of course. The lying on the cover USB 3.0 ports have a 19 pin connection cable, which can be placed on motherboards that support this. Since my motherboard does not have this, but I wanted to use the connections anyway, I have ordered me an adapter, which the 19-pin connector lets you connect to standard USB pin connectors. As it turned out I could save me, because the cable from the case already has a built-in adapter. Class! But if that would have been anywhere would be better.
I, 1x 3.5 "and 1x 2.5", 3x 2.5 "Because: After connecting the cable to the motherboard then followed my three 2.5" 2x 3.5 boards, two HDD's and SSD Basically, the following board combinations in the housing can be realized. ". just one SATA cable with straight terminals and otherwise had only bent, but I really could forget more than 2 plates. The supplied special cable from Sharkoon, this was no problem. Because of the angled connector is not as standard, down but upward. Sharkoon the Supplement explains the fact that motherboards with the dimensions 255mmx255mm who the SATA ports are pointing outwards, thus can have a hard disk in the array. For me not the intended area of application, however, it worked exactly good to say. is not that in the screw bag inserts several rubber plates that are to decouple the disks, by placing them under it to the screw holes. If even great, but the installation of tile is somewhat fiddly.
Lastly came my power supply. This is a non-modular be quiet! 530 watt power supply. The tightening is a little tricky, because the power supply touches the 120mm fan in the lid and covered part of his face. Also you have to make it tighten, press slightly against the bolt holes. Once it has been fixed, it will not budge. Since it is not flat modular, many cables are unnecessary. So Molex, graphics cards and remaining SATA power connectors have to be placed under the PSU and the hard drives. But there is still more than enough space for it. Between power supply and CPU fan is still plenty of space, what impressed me in size. Sharkoon is the CPU cooler height with 10.5 cm.
Then screwed all sides and turned it.
First test run:
What has disturbed me right times was the extremely loud buzzing of the fan, although this resulted in the almost lowest speed. My fear has then also been confirmed: after pick up of the lid it was quiet again. The vent holes in the lid so cause a circulation of noise when the fan is turned on. Since I have installed a graphics card, or high-end CPU, it is also a bit redundant, in principle. So I pinched him. Very sad, but if you plan hineinzustecken a small gaming machines in the housing, the buzzing in me would not even bother, but rather interested temperatures.
Otherwise, the case is very, very quiet. The plates do not hear, all connections are used high-quality, the LED is beautiful but discreet and not too bright. Temperatures remain in a completely acceptable range. So the CPU in idle about 30-35 ° stays warm, the disks 29-30 °. The PSU has specially milled fan holes (the same as the 120mm fans) who think it nice and cool. Here occur no noise. Optionally you can install a 60mm fan, which keeps the hard drive cool and warm air from the graphics card, if one builds one that sucks even under the power supply.
Conclusion:
With the CA-M is Sharkoon once again succeeded in developing an absolutely great, high-quality and well thought-out housing. At this size, install hardware that would fit well in a tower, but without sacrificing much, is already great. On the lack of a built-way drive or extremely long graphics cards (max. 25cm) I can do without. And then you look at the price at which housing in its class in my opinion is unbeatable after.
A few flaws it has, but they are confident to cope. I would highly recommend anyone to look up to the home of Sharkoon. There all the specifications of the case and also published many photos are available.
All in all, just buy it!
*** EDIT (temperatures under stress) ***
I have my PC just undergone a one-hour stress test with Prime95 and Furmark, both with and without the Toplüfter. Full utilization of the RAM, the CPU and the GPU.
Temperatures after 1 hour (without 120mm fan):
- CPU: 70 °
- GPU: 70 °
- RAM: 63 °
- Northbridge: 73 °
- Southbridge: 55 °
- SSD: 35 °; Seagate HDD: 41 °; Samsung HDD: 39 °
Temperatures after 1 hour (with 120mm fan):
- CPU: 61 °
- GPU: 61 °
- RAM: 58 °
- Northbridge: 60 °
- Southbridge: 48 °
- SSD: 35 °; Seagate HDD: 35 °; Samsung HDD: 35 °
All values in ° C and read with SIW.
As can clearly be seen here, the temperatures are lower with Toplüfter, but not to such an extent that I would say I let him run all the time. For this purpose it is me with the fan holes through which rushes the air, too loud. It should be only a comparative value to none at ventilation and the large fan on the ceiling of the housing. Unfortunately I have no dedicated GPU, these values would probably have been a bit more interesting.
---- ---- My System
CPU: AMD A8-3800 (4x 2,4-2,7GHz) [APU]
GPU: Onboard
RAM: Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
Motherboard: Micro ATX
PSU: be quiet! 530 Watt Pure Power
HDD: 64GB SanDisk SSD 2.5 "500GB Seagate HDD, 2.5" 120GB Samsung HDD
