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Spire Pininfarina


Date
: 09/15/06 – 02:39:54 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Spire Corp.

Price:
$130 USD (Newegg.com) / $160 CDN (NCIX.com)

Looking through the archives I was only able to pull up a couple of reviews of Spire products here at Overclockers Online which is a bit surprising because Spire has been in this game of cooling computer hardware for 15 years now. With a factory built to specifics in Shen Zhen, China along with corporate offices for Asia located there, you could call that home to Spire but many international offices exist to help better provide for their customers including North American head offices in California.

As I said earlier, Spire has been in existence since 1991 and has been focused on cooling this entire time. Although still primarily a cooling accessory company, Spire has evolved into providing more than just CPU coolers. Their product line-up now contains CPU coolers, power supplies, storage solutions, and even computer cases. Today we look at one of their most esthetically pleasing cases, the Spire Pininfarina.

The Pininfarina is no ordinary case and the name says it all. A joint venture between Spire and world famous design house Pininfarina SpA, the Pininfarina is certainly a work of art. Pininfarina is an internationally renowned company with offices in Germany, France, and Italy. Dating back to 1930, Pininfarina has grown to a massive 2,500 employees that are most known for their work in developing car designs with many manufacturers including Volvo, Ford, and most notably…Ferrari.

Page 2 : Package & Contents

I certainly didn't receive a Ferrari in the mail but had I, it wouldn't have come in a box. The Pininfarina that I did receive most certainly did come in a box though.

Sure it is a fairly large box but what would you expect for a computer case? Immediately a large image of the Pininfarina presents itself on the right hand side with some text on the left. The box is mostly black and has a nice feel to it.

The top left sports a Pininfarina logo in the attention grabbing top left. Make no mistake about it, Pininfarina had a large role in making this case and it shows by using their company brand for the name.

Just below the Pininfarina logo is some brief information about the case. I like the silent factor and tool-less design but even the best design groups have spelling errors go to press. 6.0mm Aluminum Alloy, which by the way is a bit misleading because the weight of this box suggests a solid steel case.

One side shows handy carrying handles and the selection of colors available. I was fortunate enough to have received a black sample as black is always nice in my opinion. I would, however, have not minded a yellow or red sample. I think a Ferrari red Pininfarina could really make an impact on a computer room.

The rear of the package adds another photo of the case and further details to the features the Pininfarina provides. The image of the butterfly design really doesn't do the case justice, you will understand when you see my photos of just how different this case is.

The only way to get inside is to open the top and in doing that we reveal excellent protection for this special case.

The case is enclosed in thick styrofoam for shipping and despite my friends at UPS taking their best care with the package, it did manage to sustain some minor damage to just about every side of the box including a couple of holes right through the cardboard. Because of the excellent packaging though, no damage to the case occurred.

We only get a peek of this beautiful case now but I would like to show the plastic piece I have peeled back from the front aluminum panel. This plastic actually runs all the way to the back of the case to protect the aluminum panels.

Like I said, the entire rear and top are also covered with this protective film. When you see the finish of the exterior you will understand why such care was taken to protect it.

Page 3 : Specifications

I have to start off by saying that the Spire web site is a pleasant experience to browse through un-like so many major manufacturers web sites these days, Asus, DFI, I am talking to you. The Spire web site is clean, easy to navigate, has plenty of information, and is FAST. I start with the list of features listed by Spire:

The above list of ingredients won't make a coffee cake or tin of muffins but it sure does look like a recipe for a solid case. All the components are there including a removable MB tray, Removable HD cage, and tool-less panel access among others.

Specifications:

My biggest issue with this spec sheet is the use of 80mm fans. I really dislike using 80mm fans as the performance/noise ratio is terrible when compared with even a 92mm fan let alone 120mm fans. My suggestion, if the case won't fit a 120mm fan everywhere you want an 80mm fan…then re-design the case. That said, we will have to see if the Pininfarina group can do the impossible and make two 80mm fans silent. We leave this section with a brief excerpt from the Spire web site:

Page 4 : Exterior

With Pininfarina being the designers of this piece, one would expect an elegant and unique design. We find out right now if it is.

From this 3/4 angle shot we get a nice profile of the front face as well as the lines along the side and top on the case. The Pininfarina is certainly different from your typical square case but it is a clean and smooth unique unlike a gaudy unique such as the Asus Vento.

The forehead of the case, if you will, is a clean curved shape that houses the power and reset buttons as well as a pair of LEDs for power and hard drive activity.

This front piece is not only home to these buttons and lights but performs double duty as it acts as the cover for the external USB, firewire, and audio connections. These are hidden and out of sight when not in use.

The way the cover works is clever as well with nothing more than slight pressure required to bring the lid back down after opening the lid and it propping in place.

Moving down the face of the case we are next presented with the hinged door that covers our 3 external 5.25" drive bays and the pair of floppy bays as well.

The door and hinge are plastic with an aluminum cover. The door is held in place with metal pins and is a very nice fit. Because of the outer aluminum shell, the door is very solid and well weighted despite being plastic.

Unfortunately my sample has the door sitting slightly out of place. I have tried to adjust the pins manually to alleviate the misaligned door when it is closed but I can't smooth that joint out. The door uses simple magnets to keep it closed and I haven't found the door to be the type to want to open on its own so the magnetic latch works well.

The last of the front face elements worth discussing is the front grill area that allows plenty of fresh air to be sucked in by the front mounted fan. These grill holes also add to the styling of the unit tying in with the side panels and their grills.

The side panel of this case has what appears to be the largest side intake hole I have seen and could very likely be 120mm wide. Below it we also have a smaller opening for fresh air to enter the case around the video card. The handle is what makes this case so unique and I will discuss this further later on.

Turning around to the rear of the case we can see the smooth rounded top continues down the backside of the case. These aluminum panels match up very nicely to the rest of the case and share a common theme. The exhaust fan is only an 80mm one and looks fairly restricted as far as airflow goes which doesn't really excite me.

What is this? Is that another fresh air intake and another handle on this side too? That side intake introduces even more fresh air into the case and passes that fresh air in over the floppy bays. Again, the restriction at the rear has me concerned there is too much air going into the case and not enough allowed to escape out the back.

The top of the Pininfarina is another solid aluminum panel and its fitment is perfect with both the side panels and the rear aluminum pieces. The black aluminum is so rugged feeling and nice to look at. The eyes definitely can relax when looking at this case with its clean lines and lack of bright colors.

The underside shows a more common appearance with simple rubber feet and an un-painted metal bottom. This indicates that the case is actually metal with just aluminum panels. The weight of this unit also gives that information away as soon as you pick it up. Let's pop the doors and get inside to see how it all comes together, no tools will be required thanks to the convenient handles on each side panel.

Page 5 : Interior

The only way inside of a case is through the side panels. With the Pininfarina, we can open both and shoot a canon through the interior if need be. I will not be shooting a cannon for this review but perhaps when a cannon becomes available from the 'Cannon Rent-A-Store', I will.

The photo above is the just of the butterfly design. Both panels on each side have the ability to fold down flat, opening like butterfly wings. This is the first case that I have worked with that has this ability so it should be a fun experience.

I will start from the side that normally doesn't allow such great access into a case. It really is weird looking into a case from this side but already I am seeing the potential of a design like this. I am envisioning a loose enough cable setup to allow for the side panel to be opened with the system running providing unprecedented access to the motherboard during operation.

This rear side panel also acts as a removable motherboard tray because not only does it fold down, but also lifts right out of the hinges it opens on. The standoffs used are nice a solid in their mounts and we can see that the case comes pre setup for a full size ATX install.

With the gaping opening at the back of the tower I couldn't pass up a chance to crawl inside and get a photo of the drive tower that you normally can't get. I am seeing four hard drive slots in the bottom compartment and what appears to be another three 3.5" mounts for floppy drives or additional hard drives.

The top compartment houses our 5.25" drives and also plays home to our external USB 2.0, Firewire, and audio connections. The cables are very neatly placed and a hook is actually pre-installed for easy management of those cables.

I almost didn't see it at first but there is a small pull out tray underneath the hard drive cage. I have superimposed two images here to show the compartment pulled out as well as tucked in. I am assuming our tool-free mounts are inside.

Naturally the tray is as organized looking as the rest of the Pininfarina with a spot for all the pieces and as much as I tried, I couldn't get anything inside to shake loose from its mount. There shouldn't be any rattling coming from this little box under operation.

You may have seen this arm in the earlier photos and wondered what it was. At first, I wasn't exactly sure on what role it played but the sticker located on it explains all. Obviously an 80mm fan can mount on this arm to provide some fresh air for the video card location but there are also PCI expansion card support arms that extend out from this arm into the case.

These are the fingers here that can extend as far in as they need to go to help steady any PCI expansion cards that are in the top three slots.

The other end of the arm has another sticker on it with instructions for installing the tool-free devices as well as removing the arm from the case. I like the idea of instructions being on the case because it lessens the chance of losing them, unless of course you peel them off but then you have no one to blame but yourself.

Naturally, the hard drive rack also contains instructions on mounting drives but also how to remove the hard drive cage. Thats right, our hard drive cage is removable for easy drive mounting.

With the hard drive cage removed we have access to the first of three fans that come with the Pininfarina. This is the only 120mm fan location in the case and being right in front of the hard drives, it will not only provide fresh air to the case but also keep the drives as cool as they can pretty much get with air cooling.

I would like to mention that up until this point in time, I have not had to pull out a screwdriver. Getting a case as un-assembled as I have without a screwdriver is quite a feat. The tool-free clips shown here for the floppy drives really are a metaphor for a tool-free case.

My tool-free streak ended when I went to take the front panel off which is completely understandable as there is no point in taking it off. The front fan comes installed and all the connections are already hooked up so taking it off is really a waste of time, unless of course it is for a review and you are trying to show every square inch of a chassis.

On the backside of the drive tower is an 80mm fan that draws fresh air from outside and introduces it to the case via the floppy drive cage. Again, a sticker is located here to explain installation and removal.

Here are our three fans that come pre-installed with the Pininfarina. Yes I needed a screw driver to take the 120mm fan out but the other two come out with the use of just a couple fingers. The fans are basic sleeve bearing units from F.T.C. (Fanner Tech Co. LTD.) and the part numbers are…
FD12025S1L for the 120mm and FD08025S1L for the 80mm fans. All three fans are powered by molex connections so there will be no controlling them with motherboard fan headers. It would have been a nice option to have that ability with 3-pin fans.

You may be thinking…but we already saw the front panel off and it looked different than this. That is correct because this is the top panel. This piece is all aluminum on the top side with some plastic pieces underneath for the mounting. The wires are for the power and HD activity LEDs as well as the top mounted power and reset buttons.

Here is the chassis in all its naked glory. If you concentrate on the front panel you will see the cable holes are all rounded so there will be no fingers cuts or severed cables. At this point, even without side, front, rear, or top panels; the chassis is rock solid and fights to flex with me applying pressure at opposite corners. There will be no worries of chassis integrity should you be the modding type and strip the Pininfarina down for some 'adjustments'.

I mentioned throughout this section that there were very little incidents of tool use to tear the case down. In the front right corner you can see the 10 screws that are required to take this entire case apart…that is impressive and very handy. I will now put the case back together and add a few things in the process.

Page 6 : Installation

Installation should be a breeze with the butterfly design of the side panels, lets find out.

Since the standoffs were already in place, I simply added one from the package of accessories and the rear I/O panel for the motherboard I am installing.

A few turns of the screwdriver later and the DFI Infinity NF4 Ultra is secured and ready for some more components.

In goes the CPU cooler, video card, and memory…so far so good. Except I used too long of screws and had a slight frown coming from the motherboard. That was easily fixed with the right screws.

Hard drive installation couldn't be easier. Simply place the provided clips on the side of the drive in the screw holes and slide it in place. The drive locks in nicely and shows no sign of rattling or vibrating.

Installing the optical drive is fairly straight forward as well. The front cover pops out easily and the drive can just slide right in. The tool-free clips couldn't be easier to use but there is only a clip on one side.

Even with just one clip, the drive locks solidly in place and has no intentions of moving or rattling around in there. The fit is nice with only the slightest of gaps between the top and bottom of the drive and the opening.

From here, it is time to install the motherboard tray/side panel and begin to hook everything up. I can't say enough how nice it is that the whole side panel comes off and acts like a motherboard tray, it makes life so simple.

Things are looking good so far. I noticed that there was a nice gap between the top of the motherboard and where the PSU is mounted so there should be no problems un-folding the side panel with the power supply in place.

Cable installation is easy but looks a bit messy at this point. I recalled seeing some stuff in that small compartment under the hard drive rack so I went digging through there.

Spire provides this handy little clip that makes securing these cables a breeze to the backside of the drive tower. This is such a simple little addition to the package but a very welcome one.

I found out there is on small issue that may creep up with some users. The hard drive rack may interfere with long video cards when trying to take out or put the hard drive cage back in. You can see the drive just barely contacts the large cooler on my HIS X800 GTO. I didn't have to remove the video card to get the rack in and out but it was tight.

The power supply opening only lined up with three of the four mounting holes on my OCZ GameXStream 700W but with three securing screws and the support given by the case underneath the drive, the PSU is definitely held in place well.

Like I was saying, there is plenty of room between the power supply and the motherboard so opening the side panel will be a piece of cake regardless of what cooler I have on this motherboard.

There certainly is no problem opening this panel with everything installed and connected. This should make for easy hardware adjustments and provides wonderful functionality for those constantly going into the case for one reason or another.

As you can see, everything is hooked up and ready to rock. Cable management was easy enough and a nice clean system appears to be the result. I guess all we have left is some basic thermal testing to see how the Pininfarina deals with some heat.

Page 7 : Testing

Here is the complete list of hardware used in the thermal testing:

In Case testing:

Out of Case testing:

To test the cooling ability of the case I will be loading the system with StressPrime 04 for three hours. At the 3 hour mark I will record the temperatures of the CPU / MB / Chipset / HD using SpeedFan. The system will then be left to idle for another three hours before I will record the Idle temperatures in the same manner. During testing, a digital temperature probe was taped to the top of the case just behind the power supply to measure the temperature of the case throughout testing. The same method was repeated for testing outside of the case. Here is the results of this testing.

I think it is safe to say the Pininfarina does a very solid job of getting the hot air out of the case and letting in enough fresh to keep everything nice and cool. My earlier concerns appear to be un-founded. The lack of a large difference in CPU temperature indicates the fresh air vent on the side of the case is supplying the CPU heatsink and fan with the same amount of fresh air as the open bench setup. The hard drive was a few degrees cooler in the case than sitting out in open and that would have been thanks to the 120mm fan in the front of the case. The case temperature did rise 3 degrees at load from the idle state so the case does warm up a bit but not terribly bad.

Looking through the large 120mm side vent we can see why the CPU temperatures were so close in and out of the case. The only drawback to this design is that with large CPU coolers, you have to remove the tube because it sticks into the case quite far. The only other testing I did was to make sure the front audio connections performed well and they did providing crystal clear sound both through headphones and the microphone jacks..

Overall the system runs very quiet for the amount of fans that are spinning, especially with two 80mm fans at the side and rear of the case. In all honesty, the system is almost silent like Spire claims. The stock CPU cooling fan is almost in-audible and to keep that noise from rising above is a fairly impressive feat because we all know those stock AMD CPU fans can make a decent amount of noise at full tilt.

Page 8 : Conclusion

I am usually very torn when it comes to the end of an enclosure review. There always seems to be an almost even number of pros and cons because I am tough to please and even harder to please when it comes to cases. Spire has managed to alter that trend a little bit with the Pininfarina. The esthetics of the case are top notch with that aluminum shell highlighting the smooth lines very nicely. Interior layout is excellent with all the right moves in the right places and let's be honest, the butterfly design is as good as it gets for a system builder or enthusiast who is always in the case.

A few things did creep up during the review that could be changed such as the 80mm fans. They certainly weren't loud and the system was remarkably quiet but it could be even quieter with 120mm fans. The grills covering those fans are also fairly restrictive and I understand the design aspect of it, but I think the Pininfarina could benefit from a more free flowing exhaust port at the very least.

The bottom line is this. If youre looking for one heck of a nice looking case with functionality and a solid layout that maintains excellent noise suppression and decent cooling, the Pininfarina is the first and last stop you should make. It is big enough for any hardware list yet not so large that it can't sit on top of a desk for everyone to see. The Pininfarina is well built and equally as well designed and anyone owning it should be more than pleased with their purchase.

Advantages

Pininfarina design…looks great
Extremely functional interior
Butterfly design makes maintenance a dream

Disadvantages

2 x 80mm fans
Restrictive air intakes and exhaust
The case is slightly heavy

Overclockers Online would like to thank Spire for providing the review sample.