In Win S-Frame Open Air Case Review

Unlike in a traditional case the side panels are made from tempered glass and don’t’ actually seal against the case side.  Instead they are offset from the chassis about an inch and are rubber mounted on four corner posts. 

Removing the side glass is quite simple and allows you access to the areas inside the case.  Of course, given that the S-Frame is an open air design the glass parts are mostly a precaution against remote control cars, cats and wild size (insert your shoe size) ‘s that may happen to be in the area.

With the side panels removed we can get a closer look at some of the lesser known components including the four internal drive bays/trays.  The trays are constructed from the same 4mm think aluminum and are held in place with a single spring loaded screw and rail mount.  Each tray will hold a single 2.5” or 3.5” hard drive and could be retrofit to hold a variety of other 3.5” drive compatible items.

The drives are very prominently displayed near the front of the case with only a single corner of the drive being exposed to the main side of the chassis.

In Win has designed the S-Frame to support ATX and smaller motherboards and has provided spots for 8 expansion bays.  This is done to facilitate 4-way graphics card setups but, could be used for USB breakout panels and fan controllers.

There are slots cut into the motherboard tray for the expansion cards along with threaded holes at the top to accept standard case screws.  Unlike on the motherboard tray these are threaded directly into the aluminum instead of having a threaded insert.

Turning the case over you will find provisions for three 120mm case fans with spacing for standalone fans or a triple fan radiator.  Be wary of the lip used to hide a standard 25mm fan we discovered that some radiators are too wide to fit and would need to be spaced away.  Normally this isn't a huge deal but does prevent you from using the optimal pull configuration.  That is assuming you only use one set of fans.