So today in the mail I was graced with the HCG-620M for the Reiter rig, as well as the I/O Shield for the Broadway rig. The I/O Shield came a bit bent up but I managed to straighten it out with my trusty pair of double sided pliers. I installed the I/O Shield into the system and it makes it look a bit cleaner on the back now.
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| Back of the Broadway rig with the I/O Shield in place |
On Friday I got a slip in the mail for another package and picked it up on Saturday (May 26th). To my surprise, it was my 30g tube of Prolimatech PK-1 thermal paste. It was shipped from Ireland! I was actually kinda surprised and wondered what lie in the package until I opened it and was graced with the 30g tube. I have tons of other thermal pastes, but who could pass up a deal of 30 bucks (plus shipping) for 30g of thermal paste. And the Prolimatech stuff is pretty decent as well, with a thermal conductivity of 10.2W/m-°C and overall excellent performance. Comparing that to a 13 dollar Arctic Silver 5 4g tube, I would have to say that it's definitely a better deal. Because I use so much thermal paste while building systems and also for renewing the thermal paste in my own rig (which is something you should do every few years to make sure that your heat-sink performs the best that it can) getting a massive tube like this is a fair bit more cost effective. I have tried a numerous amounts of thermal pastes and am looking forward to using the Proliamtech for everything in the future. I've tried others like Tuniq TX-4 (which has horrible shelf life btw), Arctic MX-4, Gelid GC-Extreme, Xigmatek PTI-G4512, Xigmatek PTI-G3606, and of course Arctic Silver 5 (which makes a huge mess when you go to clean it off a cpu). Out of those, I preferred the MX-4, it spread on easily and had good thermal performance, but now that I have the Prolimatech stuff I'm sure that I'll enjoy using it over the others I have. That being said, I'm going to eventually use up the left over tubes of my other thermal pastes as I need to.
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| Prolimatech PK-1 Thermal Paste & Box |
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The Antec HCG-620M comes packaged in a nice and descriptive box outlining it's performance, specifications, and design. From the looks of it, they seemed to have altered the box art as the one that the Broadway's rig came in had slightly different artwork and coloration. Inside the box, you get a standard 8 language overview pamphlet outlining the cables it comes with and also a bit more on the specifications of the power supply. One thing noted on the pamphlet is also that you can plug the SATA and Molex cables into the 10 pin PCI-E ports (if you're in the situation where you have a fan mounted right next to the power supply and require a bit of clearance that may not be available if you used the standard bottom port for the SATA/Molex cable). Moving on, removing the top cardboard protecting the power supply itself you are greeted with a nicely wrapped power supply and cables. This is one thing I like seeing from premium power supply manufacturers is when they put a cloth wrapping around the power supply to protect the finish from getting scratched as well as it makes for a neat bag to put the extra cables in. The modular cables come packaged in a plastic bag, all individually twist tied. If you didn't actually read the pamphlet, included with the power supply is 2x 6+2 pin PCI-E power cables, 2x Sata power cables that have 3 plugs, 2x Molex power cables of which one has a FDD plug. The bag that wraps the power supply is of decent quality and seems like it would stand up OK to a sharp object so protects the power supply finish adequately. The power supply comes equipped with a 135MM fan that you get greeted with when removing the power supply from the sleeve. I love the look of the logo in the middle of the fan grill with Antec's signature A in black encased by silver. It's an impressive looking power supply both in and out of a rig, and the finish on the power supply itself is a dusted matte black finish (which is something I prefer as it doesn't attract fingerprints and helps resist scratching). Installing it into a rig is like any standard power supply, slide it in, screw it down with standard case screws (which are also included) and you're done. Reason I bring this up is because there are some unnatural power supply shapes out there (like the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand I have in my own system) that use abnormally long screws and require a bit more attention to getting it installed correctly. All in all, a great design by Antec and being that it's 80+ Bronze certified, helps a bit with the power bill too.
Some pictures of the Antec HCG-620M:
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| The red box art (Broadway rig) |
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| The alternate box art (Reiter rig) |
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| The pamphlet |
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| The inside of the box |
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| The cables in the plastic bag |
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| The 6 modular cables included with the power supply unit |
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| The cloth bag covering the HCG-620M PSU |
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| The HCG-620M revealed |
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| The HCG-620M installed in the Reiter rig |
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When I look for a gamer rig, one of the first things I look for is an all black finished inside. Next I tend to look for a bottom mounted power supply. Having a bottom mounted power supply allows you to mount the heat-sink prior to installing it into the system without having to worry about clearance of the power supply (or if you have a huge power supply, just clearance in general). Looking over the Raidmax Reiter rig, it's an excellent buy for 45 dollars in my opinion. Comes loaded with features that normally only come with premium rigs but for a budget price. The inside is all black (vs some other budget systems which have bare metal finish), a bottom mounted power supply, and numerous other features. First thing, it has modular drive bays. This is a bit of a peculiar design though. It's not a matter of pressing together 2 plastic tabs and sliding the hard drive out of the bay, the way that Raidmax designed these is that the entire bay itself will come out when the two red tabs are inward. However, one thing to note, you have to release the tabs of the bay below the one you wish to remove not the one on the bay you wish to remove. This is because of how they mount and attach together. Those two red tabs have pins that slot into the holes of the bay above it to lock it into place. The rig comes equipped with 4 bays to which you can insert drives and most of the process is tool-less except for actually mounting the drive to the bay. The bays come drilled for use with all 6 holes on a standard 3.5" hard drive, however you only need to use the 4 outer holes to secure the drive to the bay. I would have liked to see a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter included with the system, but considering it's price range I am not too upset by that. With the drive installed, it fits flush against the back part of the bay (that being the part that has the red tabs) and sticks out at the front of the bay and protrudes into the cut out slots on the case. I find that this would be useful if you were in a situation where you have multiple drives installed in several bays as you could easily pick out which bay or bays you need to remove in order to get at that specific drive, or just a useful indicator of how many drives you have currently installed into the system.
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| The bays on the Reiter Rig |
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| The rear of the hard drive installed into the individual bay |
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| The side of the bay where the screw holes are located |
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| With the screws installed into the bay |
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| How it looks from the rear with a drive installed into the rig |
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| How it looks from the front with a drive installed into the rig |
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| How the bays look from the side when all locked together |
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| How a bay looks when unlocked from the others |
Installing optical drives or other 5.25" drives is completely tool-less as you simply rotate the dial a quarter turn to the left, remove the red bracket, slide the optical drive or other 5.25" drive into the system to which it secures via the pins on the other side, then replace the red bracket and rotate the dial a quarter turn to the right. The drive (from what I've noticed) sits rock solid as the pins from both sides secure tight against the outer casing.
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| Installing the optical bay into the slot |
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| Drive installed with the retention bracket removed |
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| The other side of the optical bay area |
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| Front panel end result |
If you're looking for a case that need to accommodate four 5.25" drives, you'll have to look elsewhere. Like the Broadway rig, this Reiter rig isn't a true mid-tower system as the top slot for the 5.25" bays is taken up by the front I/O panel. That being said, I have never come to a situation where I required the use of four 5.25" bays (at most you usually only need two of which one is the optical drive and one is a card reader or a second optical drive). And speaking of the front panel, the glossy plastic bit is made of stiff cheap plastic, so if you plan to remove the front panel, make sure you remove any optical drives from the system first. Then remove the panel carefully and slowly, or else you may end up breaking one of the retention teeth.
Another nice detail of the system is the red vented expansion slot covers (of which all of them are removable and replaceable by way of a standard case screw). Typically on budget systems (such as the Broadway), the expansion slot covers require you to pry them off via a screw driver to which they cannot be replaced. Seeing Raidmax include this is a definite bonus because as you get newer generation hardware, your slots may be located differently or you may have upgraded to SLi or something of the sort so you will need to adjust the covers accordingly but are never left with a gap from a previously removed slot. Right next to these are two rubber grommet holes should you ever decide to liquid cool the system. It's conveniently located to route the tubes to cool the graphics cards without too much of a tangled mess (if using an external radiator). Right underneath the expansion slot covers, there is also a bracket installed to keep the power supply secured and prevent it from causing any unnecessary reverberation. It was a bit of a tight fit getting the Antec HCG-620M into the system (which measures 86mm (H) x 150mm (W) x 160MM (D) approximately). It was tight simply because there are rubber feet that cushion the power supply (so that it's not right against the bottom of the case) cutting out yet more reverberation.
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| The red expansion slot covers |
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| Another shot of the covers, grommets and metal bracket on top of the power supply |
The Reiter rig comes cut with a rather large area cut out for the use of installing aftermarket CPU back plates required to mount certain heat sinks to the motherboard. A great feature that should be on any rig considered for use with gaming. As years go by, you may be getting a newer heat-sink, renewing your thermal compound, or installing a new motherboard and having this large of an opening really allows for any imaginable size and location of the back plate to which you won't have a headache trying to install the heat-sink into the system.
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| The spacious cut out for the cpu back plate |
The cable routing system for this rig is a bit tight if you have a huge plethora of power cables running through your system. However for this build, because I will only be using the 24 pin, the 8 pin, a Sata cable and a Molex cable, it should have enough room to accommodate those cables. To keep down on size of the case, Raidmax has done a reverse rail design on the side panels which not only fits together easier (in my opinion), but looks better and allows the side panels to slide on the system without much fuss at all. This also allows for a bit more clearance for the cables that are on the routing system, however it is still a bit of a cramped space. If you were trying to run a 800W+ PSU with all the cables installed on a modular power supply on the system, I don't know whether it could fit all the cables and still be able to close the back side panel however I will say that if you are running all the cables of the power supply on the system, I would probably suggest going with a more spacious cable routing based system instead this budget rig.
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| Some of the cables routed through the back of the Reiter rig |
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| A close look at the rail on the Reiter rig |
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| A shot of the rail located on the side panel |
The Raidmax Reiter comes pre-equipped with two 120mm fans on the system. One is located at the front of the system next to the hard drives and is a red LED 120mm fan. Although it looks like you might be able to fit a 140mm on the front, the hole spacing isn't appropriate as they are just extra vent holes along the perimeter of the fan. The other included fan is installed on the back of the system and has no LED, however it does have solid red fins which go along with the rest of the red aesthetic look inside of the system. There are also two optional spots on the side panel to install 120mm fans. I have installed currently a Silenx 120mm red LED fan, however may be replaced in the future as I'm not sure as to how much life is left in the fan. The Reiter case has a clever system to keep the side panel looking clean rather than showing off screws and screw holes by having a plastic bracket cover the outer perimeter of the fan area. The plastic bracket is a solid black glossy finish. I would have preferred a frosted solid black finish instead of the gloss, but at least it goes along with the gloss of the front panel of the case. It is retained by 6 screws that go around the perimeter on the inside of the panel. I have only installed one 120mm fan on the side as the heat-sink that will be installed (CNPS10X Flex) into the system will be too tall to accommodate a second side panel fan. That being said, you only need to have one blowing in on the graphics card area so it's not so big of a deal in my situation.
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| The rear included Raidmax 120mm fan |
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| The front included 120mm Raidmax red LED fan |
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| The fan area of the left side panel with the plastic cover installed |
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| The inside of the left side panel |
All in all, the Raidmax Reiter rig is a good buy if you're into red and want a budget gamer style case without breaking the bank. Right now the Raidmax Reiter is only 45 dollars on Newegg.ca (plus shipping and tax) and is hard to beat for the amount of premium features it comes with.
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