Posted: May 12, 2000
Written by: Nafterclifen
Price: $179.99 (Canadian)

Installation

First, let me start off by saying I was disappointed as soon as I opened the box and took the case out to see that it was broken. It seemed that the front bezel had been broken during the course of shipping. However, that problem was quickly resolved by AMK's friendly and remarkably fast RMA department. Even though it was probably not their fault, they immediately shipped me a new front for the case and all was well. After everything was in good condition, I preceded to transfer my system. For most people who are familiar with building computers, this is just as easy as all the others. Slap in the motherboard via the removable motherboard tray, plug in all your cards, connect all the wires and cables, and you're good to go. With plenty of room to work with, I managed to transfer my whole system in just about 30 minutes. Just a little FYI, all of AMK's custom cases, after being built, are thoroughly swept and cleaned out to insure the safety of your hardware. :-)

Performance

Now you might be saying, "So what! What's so special about a case that has only three fans?" How about the fact that with only 3 fans, it blows a total of 180 cfm of air, keeping your whole computer pretty damn cool. Powered by only the finest Sunon fans, AMK places the fans in an almost perfect configuration. The 3" fan on the top acts as a chimney exhausting air while the 3" fan at the bottom intakes air. The problem comes with the 4" fan on the side which, from the factory, is set to blow out. Since the fans can be set to either blow in or out, it's not really a big problem. For optimal performance, I'd suggest setting the fan to blow in. That way, the hot air will circulate to the top more easily and at the same time, it will cool your motherboard, video card, and processor. Along with the fans, VBlock material (optional) was included. As you'll see in the picture below, it's applied to the sides of the case in order to reduce the noise of fan vibration. "Does it really work," you might ask. To a certain extent, yes. It does cut down on some of the noise but it does not completely eliminate it. Running a Celeron 366 overclocked to 550 Mhz with a Voodoo 3 3000, I was able to keep a constant system temperature of about 78° with noise low enough to get a good night of sleep.

Internal pic, with VBlock (optional)

Conclusion

If you're in the market for a new or even cooler case and want one that is "overclocking approved," the AMK OCD-0334 is an undoubted choice. If you add up the cost of a full tower ATX case with a sliding motherboard tray, the cost of the extra fans, and the time it takes to cut those holes, you'll see that this case is worth just about every penny. Even if you're not running an overclocked system, keeping your components cool can only extend their life. And if you think you need more performance potential, don't hesitate to check out the rest of AMK's line of custom cases.

Good:
-Great price
-Good performance
-Good overall service
-Many upgrade options

Bad:
-Moderate noise level
-Case quality could be better

Overall Rating: 9.0

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