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Anidees AI Crystal Cube Lite Case Review
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By Meng Vang
Manufacturer: Anidees
Product Name: AI Crystal Cube Lite ATX Steel/Tempered Glass Cube PC Case
Model Number: AI-Crystal-Cube-Lite
UPC: 848043000874
Price As Tested: $139.99 (Amazon)Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Anidees.
With tempered glass becoming a trend on modern computer cases, the Anidees AI Crystal Cube Lite certainly stands out from the crowd with its 5mm thick tempered glass panels. But what exactly is Anidees? This design company was founded in 2011. It is popular in European countries, such as Germany, France, and more. Most people may not have heard of Anidees, but the company strives to provide great quality products by listening to ideas from people like you and me. With that in mind, the Crystal Cube Lite looks very promising with its flexible water and air cooling capabilities, glass panels, and small form-factor design. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, we will be taking a look at the AI Crystal Cube Lite case to see what Anidees has in store for us.
Features & Specifications
AVAILABLE COLOR
- Black Interior / Light smoky Glass
MATERIAL
- Steel body / Plastic / 5mm thickness Tempered Glass
DIMENSION (D / W /H )
- 402 x 311 x 404mm / 15.82 x 12.24 x 15.9 inches
WEIGHT
- Net Weight: 9 kg / 19.84 lbs
MOTHERBOARD TYPE
- M-ITX,M-ATX,ATX,E-ATX
5.25†DRIVE BAY
- N/A
3.5†HIDDEN
- 3
3.5†EXPOSED
- N/A
2.5†DRIVE BAY
- 6 (2 from 3.5″HDD bracket)
I/O PANEL
- USB3.0 x 2, USB2.0 x 2 ,3 steps Fan Controller, Audio* 1,Mic *1
EXPANSION
- 7
FAN CONTROL
- H Mode=12V, S mode=0V, L Mode=5V
COOLING SYSTEM
- Front:140mm x 2 , 80mm x 3(optional) / 4 x120mm(optional) with Fan Bracket (included)
- Rear:120mm x 1 (included)
- Top:140mm x2 /120mm x 4 (optional)
- Bottom:120mm x 1 (optional)
POWER SUPPLY
- Standard ATX PS2 / EPS (optional)
- Max support 230mm length including Cable
MAXIMUM COMPATIBILITY
- Graphics Card Length: 335mm /13.2 inches (w/o front fan) 310 / 12.2 inches (w/ front fan)
- CPU Cooler Height: 168mm /6,6 inches
- Water Cooling : 240/280 mm Rad on top (Optional)
240/280 mm Rad in the front (Optional)
120 mm Rad in the rear (Optional)
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AI Crystal Cube Lite Overview
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The Anidees AI Crystal Cube Lite currently sells online for $139.99 (Amazon). It comes with a quick installation guide, some zip ties, plenty of screws in labeled bags, motherboard standoffs, and a fan bracket for four 120mm fans.
Tempered glass covers most of the exterior on the Crystal Cube Lite, so there is not much to see here at the front. Do note all the glass panels are tinted.
The case does come with a 120mm exhaust fan in the main chamber and an 80mm fan mount in the secondary chamber. There are seven expansion slots for up to an E-ATX motherboard with the power supply unit mounted vertically in the secondary chamber. The main chamber also has ventilation with a dust filter at the bottom.
The main side panel includes a reflective tempered glass window to show off the internal components of the system. Finger prints and dust will show on the surface of the window but they can be easily cleaned off with a microfiber cloth. At the front are the I/O ports and side ventilation grills.
On the opposite side, it looks identical to the main side panel with the absence of the front I/O ports.
At the top, the Crystal Cube Lite comes with a large magnetic dust filter to prevent dust from entering the system. Plenty of fan mounting options are available here, which we will take a look at shortly. The power button is located towards the upper right corner of the front panel.
Here at the bottom, we can see the four rubberized feet, dust filter, and two mounting locations for a water pump. Depending on your build, you can mount the pump in the main chamber or the secondary chamber. The main chamber does support a 3.5″ HDD over the water pump mount.
Now that we have seen a quick overview of the Crystal Cube Lite, let’s take a look at the features this case has to offer.
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AI Crystal Cube Lite Detailed Features
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With the tempered glass side panel removed, we can see the internal layout of the case. The entire frame has a matte finish, which is finger print resistant. You can install two SSDs over the rubberized cable cutouts if you choose. Rubber grommets are present on three of the cable cutouts, but an E-ATX motherboard will not allow you to use these. Instead, there are three more cutouts closer to the front. Unfortunately, those do not have rubber grommets.
In the secondary chamber, there are plenty of cable tie down points but no Velcro straps present. The HDD cage supports two 3.5″ HDDs or three 2.5″ SSDs, which sits over the CPU cutout. Here we can also see the built-in fan controller and it is capable of supporting five fans. The power supply unit can be mounted with the fan facing the side panel or facing the motherboard and there is a cutout so the power supply unit can breathe.
With the front panel removed, we can see the two large air intake areas with dust filters. The top does have a 5.25″ drive bay if you really need to use it.
You can install up to a 280mm radiator on the main side, and up to three 80mm fans on the secondary side.
With the dust filter removed, we can see all of the different fan mounting options on the top. There is room for four 120mm or two 140mm fans. You can also mount two 120mm or two 140mm fans directly in the center to give the build a symmetrical look. A radiator with fans will fit in the center assuming it is not a push-pull configuration.
In the next section, we will take a look at more features the Crystal Cube Lite has to offer.
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AI Crystal Cube Lite More Detailed Features
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The front I/O ports include two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, standard headphone/microphone jacks, a reset switch that doubles as the HDD activity LED, and a fan controller. The fan controller has three steps; H mode, S mode, and L mode. H mode runs the fans at high speed with 12V, S mode stops the fans for complete silence, and L mode runs the fans at a low speed with 5V.
The power button is connected via a small cable which is screwed onto the frame. It is important to be very careful when taking off the front panel as excessive force may damage the button.
There are a few screws holding the HDD cage in place. They also double as a hinge allowing the HDD cage to slide open about 45 degrees.
Here is the bottom hinge for the HDD cage.
Included in the accessories are six screws for installing the front fan bracket. With the front fan bracket installed and populated with four 120mm fans, the front dust filters would have to be placed inside of the case. The fans will have to be installed prior to installing the fan bracket.
Let’s take a look at the system build in the next section.
System Building with the AI Crystal Cube Lite
In this build, I will be installing a standard ATX motherboard with a water cooled graphics card and CPU. I will also be putting in a large CPU air cooler to see how much clearance there is between that and the surrounding components. Since the tempered glass panels are tinted, I am also throwing in some BitFenix Alchemy 2.0 Magnetic RGB LED strips with a dedicated controller to brighten up the interior. Let’s take a look.
Test System
-
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4
-
System Memory: 4x8GB 2666MHz DDR4
-
Processor: Intel Core i7 5820K @ 4.5GHz
-
Audio: Realtek ALC1150
-
Video: MSI GeForce 780 Ti
-
Disk Drive 1: Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
-
Disk Drive 2: WD Blue 3TB HDD
-
Enclosure: Anidies AI Crystal Cube Lite
-
PSU: EVGA 850P2 850W Modular
-
Monitor: HP 23bw 23″ IPS display
-
Operating System: Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit
Results
The build was rather straight forward and there was plenty of room to move things around. I mounted the radiator of the Corsair H100i to the front of the case and the H55 to the rear fan mount. As you can see, there is still enough room to mount a top radiator with fans even if you were to mount it directly towards the center of the case.
Cable management was a bit on the tricky side as I normally do well in this area. I used a few zip ties to keep the cables together to make them as neat as possible. Plenty of cable tie-down points were present around the motherboard tray. The tempered glass side panel will show all the cables back here, so be sure to keep your cables clean so they do not look like spaghetti. Save that for dinner.
With four Thermaltake white LED Riing fans installed at the front and powered on, we were in for a show. I mounted three Alchemy 2.0 Magnetic RGB LED strips to the top of the case. This lit up the interior making this cube case a great desk ornament to stare at.
Not only did it look the part, the case ran very quietly and looked amazing with the smoked tint from the tempered glass panels.
Depending on the LEDs you install, some colors may be brighter than others. Since the tempered glass panels on the Crystal Cube Lite were tinted, you would need some bright LEDs if you want to see the interior of your build.
Although the Crystal Cube Lite looked great, there were a few flaws that stood out. Let’s take a look at them in the next section.
System Building Continued
Here we can see even with a large air cooler, like this Phanteks PH-TC14PE, the Crystal Cube Lite with its 168mm CPU height support had just enough clearance to house this cooler. Be sure to use RAM modules with short heat spreaders as tall heat spreaders would make contact with the fan. This would not allow you to install the side panel.
With the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, there was not a lot of work room between it and the Corsair H55 radiator. If you have a water cooled graphics card with a CPU air cooler, you may have to maneuver the components around to fit them. There was a significant amount of tension on the radiator tubing, which could damage the radiator and other components if there were a leak.
After removing the HDD cage, the small CPU cutout was a big surprise to me. Since I was using an X99 platform, I did not have to worry about installing a back plate. But if you were using a platform that required a back plate for installing the cooler, you would have to install it outside of the case. This does not affect ITX motherboards.
I liked the option to move the front I/O ports to the opposite side of the case. However, this did create a problem as I was unable to install all four fans at the front with the fan bracket. The USB cables were well over the fan mount making it impossible to install a fan without bending and damaging the cable.
Here is a better angle from the front of the case. If you absolutely have to have four fans on the bracket with the front I/O ports on this side, you would have to do some improvising. A start would be to splice the wires and solder them to thinner cables creating a ribbon cable. The ribbon cable would then fit snugly between the fan, resulting in a fully functional front I/O.
The entire build process with the Crystal Cube Lite took more time and effort when compared to a standard case. Because of the tempered glass side panels, it is important to maintain good cable management as the panels are transparent. It is even more important if you plan to install interior lighting. A build with lazy cable management defeats the purpose of having a nice looking case.
In the next section, we will finish this review with my final thoughts and conclusion.
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Gaming Case Final Thoughts
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The Anidees AI Crystal Cube Lite is definitely one of the best looking computer cases on the market. It supports a wide variety of fan and radiator configurations with enough room for tall air coolers and long graphics cards. There are two water pump mounts in the case, but a long graphics card may interfere with a pump and reservoir in the main chamber.
Of course, the Crystal Cube Lite is not perfect. Cables take more effort to manage them correctly. When installed on the opposite side of the case, the front I/O cables do interfere when installing four 120mm fans with the front fan bracket. But for what it is, the Crystal Cube Lite is an elegant and affordable solution if you want a tempered glass cube case for your next build.
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AI Crystal Cube Lite Conclusion
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Performance wise, the Crystal Cube Lite did a fair job when relying on only the four front fans for air intake. I noticed with the front panel on, the internal temperatures were significantly warmer than having the panel off even with the fans at their highest speed. Once I removed the front panel, the system temperatures returned to their normal values. I do not suggest installing a radiator at the front with the four fans on the bracket as the fans do starve for air. I eventually installed the radiator at the top, which gave me the results I expected as air was actually passing through the radiator.
Now in terms of only appearance, this is by far one of the best looking computer cases on the market. The tempered glass side panels give the Crystal Cube Lite a modernized look with the option to install four 120mm LED fans at the front. Some people may like or dislike the tinted glass panels. I do not mind the tint as it is enough to hide the cables, but transparent enough to view the internal components with internal lighting. Some may argue that finger prints will show on the panel. Of course, this is just the nature of glass and it is not the fault of the company.
When it comes to construction and build quality, the internal structure is very sturdy throughout. The tempered glass panels are 5mm thick making it heavy and durable. Unfortunately, no rubberized layer was present between the glass side panels and the frame. The front panel was somewhat difficult to remove as the power button was a bit finicky, so just be careful not to damage the power button while removing the front panel. Ask me how I know.
The Crystal Cube Lite does well in terms of functionality. It has plenty of fan and radiator mounting options and enough room for multiple storage devices. The CPU cutout was rather small, and can cause problems for most users who want to upgrade their CPU coolers down the road.
As of May 2017, the Anidees AI Crystal Cube Lite sells online for $139.99 (Amazon). Compared to the competition, this is a great value with its flexible fan/radiator support, small form-factor design, and tempered glass panels. Lian-Li does have a few tempered glass cube cases, but they are too expensive for the average computer user. If you want something similar at a more affordable price, the Crystal Cube Lite is definitely worth taking a look at.
Pros: 
+ Looks great
+ Tinted tempered glass panels
+ Supports E-ATX motherboards
+ Plenty of fan/radiator mounting options
Cons:
– Small CPU cutout
– Finicky power button
– Rear supports only a 120mm fan/radiator
– Little to no airflow through front with four 120mm fans
Ratings:
-
Performance: 8.00
-
Appearance: 9.75
-
Construction: 8.75
-
Functionality: 8.75
-
Value: 9.25
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Final Score: 8.90 out of 10.
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