0. Before writing the assembly review in earnest, I'd like to list a few points I considered important in choosing a case. I picked a few parts I think are important.
1. Fan expandability
- Fan expandability means expandability in two aspects. One is whether there's enough space to mount a radiator and fans so that a kit can be installed, whether custom liquid or AIO liquid. I don't use a high-end system, but to buy and use a decent, higher-grade processor among consumer processors, you have to guarantee minimal cooling performance. In that sense, these days whether a case needs swapping is decided by whether AIO liquid cooling is possible, and on that point the model that came this time is hard to install an AIO radiator on top, though the front is possible.
2. Dust filter
- The reason a dust filter is important seems to be that I'm sensitive to internal dust. Long ago I used a desktop, and otherwise nothing but a laptop and a Surface. With laptops, dust piles up around the fan; with desktops, dust piles up on the power-supply fan, system fans, and CPU fan. All three are places where air blows and dust piles on the fan blades, so whether you can filter it once with a dust filter greatly affects internal dust buildup. Usually the positions a dust filter can attach are the front-fan side, the top, and the bottom or side. Usually either the front or the side is open, so the dust filter is also on only one of the side or front; for the top or bottom, it varies by case composition and design. For the rear, perhaps because it's used only for exhaust, no separate dust filter is given; for the bottom, there are cases that provide separate dust filters for the power-supply side and the fan side, and cases that provide them together.
3. Cable-management space
- The more cable-management space there is, the less sensitive you become about cable management. When cable-management space is too lacking, you have to pay a lot of attention to cable management. So I'm of the view that cable-management space must be secured at a minimum. The more both power-cable space and general-cable space are balanced, the better.
4. Finish quality
- The reason I bother mentioning finish quality is that it's the part judging how cleanly the case is painted, has holes punched, or is basically assembled. After all, it's the most basic part giving the feeling of a 'new product' and a 'well-made product.'
5. The actual case state, my impressions, and assembly review
1) Assembly process and state
Before assembling the case, the holes were all punched, and the space for the power supply was very large. It wasn't hard to fix.
For parts I used an Intel 9400F, a Gigabyte H310M board, an EVGA GTX1080Ti, a Crucial 120GB SSD, and two sticks of Chinese-made Vcolor RAM. Since this was the entire system I had, I moved with this system. There was no difficulty during the move, and I can say having a 2.5 bracket was very effective. Only, it was a pity that one port of the SATA cable I had was right-angled, so I couldn't fix the bracket.
The top dust filter was one of the parts I valued most, and as you can see in the photo, this dust filter was made so you can easily detach and reattach it via the 'magnet' on its outer edge. I think this kind of convenience should be praised no matter the company. And for the front ports and switch on the right, the power button was made nice and large, the reset button likewise made small, and there were two USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, and an audio port. A thought I have sometimes: maybe it's fine now to drop the 2.0 front ports. Honestly, I feel most devices wanting to use USB now use 3.0. Even if the price rises a bit, wouldn't three USB 3.0 have been better?
I connected the fans and turned on the power. The Intel stock 'Choco Pie' cooler is soon to be replaced with the Trinity. Anyway, fortunately there was no interference between the fan and board that I'd somewhat worried about at first. Of course this space isn't that large, but unless it's a big tower or RTX case, it'll be hard to see more than two rear fans.
The VRM and system temperatures are very decent. Running only two front fans for intake and one rear for exhaust, that the temperature is only this much means it's sufficient in performance and cooling.
This is one of the parts I felt disappointed about. In the hole-punching process, the steel plate wasn't cleanly finished. This was a part where I could get hurt while peeling off the PCIE cover area, so there was a bit of disappointment. With a slightly cleaner finish, there'd be no particular safety issue either, I think.
This is the side air-intake hole at the front. This product had no dust filter on the front. A little disappointing. If there had been a dust filter on the front too, it'd be amazing — I'd put the dust-filter completeness at about 80 percent.
Assembly finished well, and later, when the SATA cable comes again, I should just fix the bracket.
2) Review
Pros
- The bottom and top dust filters were very impressive. I'm very satisfied with DAVEN's product policy of providing such dust filters as standard.
- A friend said few companies provide an SSD bracket like this. My friend bought and assembled a case from another company starting with D this time, and said there were fewer brackets in the case than expected, so he struggled to fix the storage. On that point, this case has a very effective composition.
- Temperature management was satisfying. Fan performance was decent, and the LED fans were decent in their own way.
- There was no play in fixing the board, securing it, or mounting the graphics card.
- The front design, with nothing written on it, was very clean.
- The paint job was satisfying. I thought it was matte but it was glossy, and it was a blue-tinted white rather than a yellow-tinted white, which exceeded my expectations and was clean.
Cons
- There were no screws for mounting additional fans. I wanted to fix two 120MM fans I got from a friend and mount them on top, but the screws that fix fans differ in spec from the screws used inside the case, so I couldn't fix them. I get the feeling you have to use the screws bundled when buying fans. I think I'll have to buy screws separately.
- The top radiator could interfere. There was no separate space on the case top for AIO liquid cooling. I get the feeling they figured no one using a 40,000-won-range FT305 would also try to use AIO liquid cooling.
- There was no front dust filter. I'd like to buy a front dust filter separately and attach it somehow.
- The finish of the parts created during hole-punching was a bit lacking.
6. Overall
- I can call it an impressive case at a reasonable price point. If you want a white tempered-glass mid-tower case despite it being a low-spec gaming or office PC, I can recommend this case without hesitation.
- This review was written with a product provided by DAVEN Co. through a Quasarzone field test. I thank the host who provided it.
#DAVEN #FT305 #PCcase #fieldtest
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