Take an Apple Mac Professional tower and zap it with a Home windows-PC styling ray, and the consequence may resemble In Win’s hanging Dubili. In Win is not any stranger to quirky and way-outside-the-box case designs, however the Dubili is a refreshing step within the different path, a brutalist industrial chassis that in some way exudes a great deal of charisma and simply sufficient RGB to maintain it full of life. In Win calls this metal-and-glass beast a full tower. Though a lot of the options that when outlined this type of PC case are not present, the Dubili actually weighs as a lot as the total towers of previous—certainly, greater than lots of them. Simply know: This case is just a little expensive, and it’s possible you’ll run into a number of construct quirks, as we did, that’ll make you say “Huh?” for the $249.99. However we expect it is well worth the cash, and the minor struggles, as a result of we Dubili-eve it seems to be nice when it is all constructed out. (Sure, that you must say it out loud.)
The Design: So Very Steel
See the U-shaped hoops at back and front of the Dubili? Within the photographs right here, they act because the case toes, however you possibly can flip them to work as handles and set up separate toes. The hardly full-tower top of 21.5 inches proven in our spec record expands to round 23 inches in case you do this. That mentioned, customers preferring a cleaner look will possible follow the factory-delivered configuration, no less than for the skin elements. The good metal-and-silver aesthetic sticks to traditional design traits with out getting into case-fashion fake pas similar to exterior drive mounts. Additionally, know that silver’s not your solely color-scheme selection: Customers preferring one thing just a little richer could desire In Win’s alternate model of the Dubili that is obtainable in a golden hue.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)In contrast to the opposite exterior surfaces, the rear panel is painted gloss white to match the Dubili’s inside. It’s an odd look, to this reviewer, however I don’t usually see the again of a PC whereas utilizing it, so its superficial affect is momentary. Different uncommon options embody a set of fan mounts that mix into the rear panel’s vent slots, and the presence of eight, quite than the standard seven, enlargement slots.
A number of of the case’s options will be flipped, however the ports are usually not amongst these: They’re mounted to a card that’s screwed to the motherboard tray, so the highest panel is mounted to this one configuration. Up there you will discover an orange energy button, two blue USB Kind-A ports, a headset combo (headphone/microphone) jack, and a black Kind-C port. That final one is related to a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 header cable.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)Eradicating the face panel exposes a front-panel mud filter that’s secured by three strategies: (1) It’s caught to the chassis behind it utilizing magnetic strips; (2) it’s unable to maneuver laterally as a result of shut proximity of the body surrounding it; and (3) the quilt panel we simply eliminated is screwed into place over it. Three 140mm-by-25mm ARGB consumption followers are factory-mounted behind that filter.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)Right here’s a glance behind that filter, the place we discover mounting holes for each 140mm and 120mm followers. Radiators as much as 482mm in size will be positioned behind these followers, and prime radiators as much as 430mm may even match, so customers who want to mount a 420mm-format entrance and a 360mm-format prime radiator concurrently must be well-received in most cases. The highest radiator mount can also be 63mm from the highest fringe of a motherboard, and if that’s not sufficient clearance, it’s additionally offset a bit greater than 30mm horizontally from the motherboard’s floor (assuming you’re utilizing any 120mm-based radiator format). And if that’s not sufficient, you are additionally welcome to put a 240mm-format radiator on the underside, assuming that your energy provide is brief sufficient to clear it.
Talking of power-supply clearance, the 180mm restrict listed by In Win supplies fan clearance: with out backside followers, customers can place any energy provide as much as the total inside size of the underside panel (about 460mm).
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)Three drive trays are positioned behind the motherboard tray: two up entrance for two.5-inch drives, and two alongside the underside that may match both 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives. You possibly can mount two extra drives to further trays which might be included within the Dubili set up package.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)You additionally get an eight-fan ARGB/PWM hub premounted within the case. House round it’s busied by the presence of pass-through connectors on each cables of every fan. The hub itself has three further inputs: ARGB and PWM for motherboard headers, and SATA energy for direct power from the ability provide.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)To grasp how motherboards match on this case, a little bit of historical past is so as. XL-ATX was a normal that the majority incessantly included motherboards as much as 12.8 by 10.8 inches and had as much as eight slots. It existed from roughly the Intel X58 chipset by AMD’s TRX40 (which is to say, roughly 2010 to 2022) and primarily served so-called high-end desktop (HEDT) designs.
Many boards dubbed Prolonged ATX (EATX) are brief sufficient (depth-wise) to suit both an XL-ATX- or EATX-compliant case: Excluding EVGA’s big nine-slot variation, the Dubili helps each. Although we’ve by no means seen an XL-ATX motherboard with a full additional set of standoff holes in entrance, the Dubili has these, together with one other set of standoff holes for 13-inch-deep EATX motherboards. The picture under exhibits the additional standoff holes bracketed in blue.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)We must always observe that the above picture exhibits 9 standoffs put in. These embody the six put in by the manufacturing unit and the three included within the assist package. The case doesn’t embody 12 standoffs, regardless that customers of 13-inch-deep boards will want them, so it’s a great factor that the standoffs themselves are a standard dimension: #6-32 (each threads) by a quarter-inch.
Proven with the case laying on its proper facet, the holder tab for the PCI Specific card brackets protrudes by the again of the case and is roofed by way of a flip-down hinged shroud…
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)All eight enlargement slots are crammed with replaceable slot covers, and the holder tab passage slot is about 11/16 inch extensive. Extra about that in a second.
Constructing With the In Win Dubili
Within the accent package, the Dubili contains the beforehand talked about non-compulsory base stands/toes (for when the back and front U-hoops are flipped round to make use of as handles), a pair of further 2.5-inch drive trays that In Win calls “cable shields,” a set of froth toes for the bottom stands, 5 reusable cable straps, and a graphics card assist bracket. Different gadgets within the field embody a 5mm hex key for exterior panel screws, mounting screws for the motherboard and drives, a set of ratcheting cable ties, and a card with hyperlinks to the meeting information. The bottom stands are gloss white, in distinction to the case’s textured-grey exterior.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)As soon as our motherboard is in place, it’s time to attach front-panel cables. In Win features a 19-pin USB 3.x cable for the 2 USB Kind-A ports, a USB Gen 2×2 cable for the front-panel USB Kind-C port, a two-pin lead on a 9-pin block that follows the Intel front-panel button/LED conference for the ability button location, and an HD Audio cable for the entrance panel’s audio combo jack.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)Now, about mounting PCI Specific playing cards. Exterior card screw tabs was an indication of price reducing in PC case design, as merely folding down a flap of metallic from the again panel was far cheaper than including a complete card and I/O-bracket boxed part to a case’s inside. In Win gussied this one up with a hinged flap, but it surely nonetheless suffers the issue seen in so lots of its cut-rate predecessors: The opening isn’t large enough to get a cumbersome video card into place.
That’s as a result of the tabs on the slot finish of the cardboard hit the ornamental cowl that runs alongside the again of the motherboard. These are a standard characteristic on right this moment’s motherboards, which solely leaves the case responsible. Through the years, we’ve observed that our builds in instances with 5/8-inch-high (16mm) entry slots often have this drawback when utilizing high-end motherboards, whereas these with 3/4-inch-high (19mm) slots often suffice. The Dubili’s 11/16-inch-high (17mm) slot splits the distinction, and no less than helped us to find out that the minimal ought to be 19mm!
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)That’s to not say that we didn’t get the cardboard in; we merely couldn’t put it within the simple, proper method. The Dubili lacks heart bars between the slots, so what labored? Placing the cardboard in improper (i.e., misaligned with the slot connector) after which getting it to slip all the best way again, after which sliding it up and transferring it over to the slot connector. Whew. However with this a lot house to work with, why would In Win put us by all that?
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)You’ll discover that our construct above makes use of an SFX energy provide on a PS/2 mounting plate: It grew to become a part of our typical testing package as a result of it matches a number of case sizes. And also you’ll discover that we didn’t use any of In Win’s so-called “cable shields” to hide your view of that reality. But it surely does emphasize the dearth of a power-supply shroud or hiding scheme. When you’re going for aesthetics in your construct, you need to make certain the ability provide is not a eyesore. The one factor actually lacking from this construct is In Win’s graphics card assist bracket, as a result of it wouldn’t align correctly with any portion of our card that might use the assist. Ho-hum.
No matter these minor inconveniences, we will absolutely recognize the best way In Win’s Dubili seems to be when it’s all lit up! The glass tint did assist obscure a number of the issues we would quite not see, anyway.
(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)Whereas most of our customary take a look at {hardware} is a hard and fast set culled from prior overview parts, the CPU cooler and energy provide have been every despatched by their producers particularly for case critiques. Corsair’s iCue H100i RGB Professional XT matches most instances regardless of requiring a double-fan bay, and the FSP Dagger Professional 850W helps most hundreds regardless of its SFX-sized housing.
We’ve lastly used our take a look at platform on sufficient techniques that we will fine-tune comparisons to cater to totally different segments, similar to right this moment’s use of huge mid-to-full towers with full entrance followers. Those that want to examine totally different case varieties want solely guarantee that the configuration proven on that overview matches the one proven above.
Testing the In Win Dubili
Okay, we’re off to the testing races. The Dubili wins the CPU-cooling comparability, however solely by roughly 1 diploma C. (That win might be quashed by a poor noise studying, since sooner followers that cool higher by making extra noise lose their attraction, in some unspecified time in the future, so we’ll test on {that a} bit farther down this web page.)
(unknown)The Dubili additionally wins the voltage-regulator temperature take a look at, and at this level we’re beginning to develop a bit involved for its competitors.
(unknown)Dropping again to 3rd place in GPU temperature retains Dubili from attaining an amazing cooling victory.
(unknown)And, lastly, we see that it’s additionally the noisiest of our take a look at lot. In actual fact, the second-noisiest case on this comparability could also be higher total, because it additionally had a decrease graphics-card temperature. At this level, the dialog turns to your priorities in your construct…since we’re not those paying for the factor.
(unknown)Verdict: Steel With Some Actual Mettle
So, about that. When you are the one paying, the Dubili’s $249.99 MSRP solely seems a tough tablet to swallow earlier than evaluating the Asus ROG Hyperion’s $500 record value. The Be Quiet Shadow Base 800 DX prices round $185, for comparability, whereas the Cooler Grasp MasterBox 520 Mesh is barely round $100. Do any of the cheaper instances look almost as sharp, although? You be the choose.
Good PC instances have historically had a boxed backplate mounted to the within of the again panel, and In Win’s choice to make use of a less expensive fold-out-tab design on its excessive priced Dubili left us scratching our heads: Why danger alienating clients? I’d personally don’t have any issues utilizing the Dubili in a business construct that was meant to remain collectively till it’s outdated, however wouldn’t need to danger scraping round my very own elements throughout frequent card swaps in my very own PC. Not a giant deal in case you have a tendency to construct and rebuild with years between bouts, however we would not use the Dubili as a testbed PC into which you would be altering new GPUs incessantly.
That mentioned, as soon as it is collectively, it is a stunner and a righteous performer. When you like its vaguely Mac Professional-in-a-Home windows desktop aesthetic, you will additionally take pleasure in some efficient cooling efficiency with the Dubili—to not point out, the envy of your friends.
