Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1281
Ahanix Black Knight X195
by Purav Sanghani on March 29, 2004 9:52 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
| Quick Look | |
| Ahanix Black Knight X195 | The Good |
 Click to enlarge. |
+ Front Panel USB/IrDA + Foldaway door + Five exposed 5-1/4" drive bays + Up to eight 3-1/2" drive bays (1 exposed) + Two 120mm fans + Included toolkit |
| The Bad | |
| - Heavy for its size - Lack of front panel Audio/FireWire - Lack of screw-less design - No removable motherboard tray |
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Based out of California, the Ahanix Corporation has been manufacturing PC cases for years. They are well known for their LCD displays and fan control systems, which can be found on most of their cases.
Ahanix manufactures products ranging from water cooling systems and case fans to home theater PC and mid-tower cases. The power supplies are silent as are their case fans, and their LCD displays are the latest in technology.
The Ahanix Black Knight is the exact same model as the R101 from 3R System, a company based in Korea. We looked at all of the Black Knight's features and put this mid-tower through our tests to see how it performed.
More information on the Black Knight is available at Ahanix's website.
Design
The X195 (Black Knight) has some great features that make it a worthwhile addition to any system. The sliding door on the X195 is the first that we have seen in the industry. It can be folded away on the left side of the case to allow access to the drive bays, USB ports and the optional IrDA transmitter.
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To open the door, either slide it on its track to the left while in its closed position, or open the door and then push it back along its track.
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On the inside of the door at the height of the 3rd drive bay is a hollow area, which is useful if the need for a third party Rheobus (fan control, sound module, etc.) arises. This will allow the door to close properly. The door as well as the bezel behind it has magnets that secure them together when the door is closed.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
The USB ports and IrDA are placed conveniently at mid-height on the front bezel. This way, they can either be hidden away when not in use or exposed by folding the door to the left. The motherboard connectors for the USB ports can be quite confusing for a novice user, but Ahanix has included a detailed instruction guide to help ease frustration.
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LCD's for temperature displays have become the talk of the town as many case manufacturers are beginning to include them in their products by way of a rheobus or other drive bay solutions. Ahanix goes a step further with built-in LCD displays and fan controls. Directly below the door lies the 4-digit display, which shows as the standard red color. There are also clearly labeled lights for power, HDD, and also for fan speed levels and alarm levels. This entire system has its own circuit board mounted on the inside of the chassis. Another great feature is the auto shutdown system. If the sensors detect a component overheating, the system will shut down the computer automatically to avoid any disasters. This feature alone makes the X195 a great performer.
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Below the LCD panel are the control buttons for power, reset, fan speed, and sensor select. The sensor select button switches between the 3 different temperature sensors, which can be placed on any hardware. The buttons, though not labeled, match the case's style and provide for a unique design.
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Case Fans
The X195's cooling system is composed of two 120mm fans, one at the bottom front for inflow and one at the back under the power supply mount for exhaust. One positive aspect to using the larger 120mm fans as opposed to pairs of 80mm fans is the reduction in noise levels. There are also reports that larger fans can move greater volumes of air, which helps cool the components. The front LCD panel with all of its features combined with the case fans makes for an interesting system.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Furthermore, the fans are placed strategically to allow those hot components to receive as much air flow as they possibly can. The front fan is placed directly in front of the 3-1/2" drive bays, which directs air at hard drives, keeping them cool. The back fan is placed at the height of where the CPU normally would be on a standard motherboard, allowing warm air from the CPU to be exhausted in greater amounts than any smaller 80mm fan could.
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In our benchmarking section, we will test the effectiveness of these fans as far as temperature of key components as well as noise levels.
Construction
The X195 is made entirely of steel, with exception to the front bezel, which is plastic. The use of this strong metal produces a well-built chassis that can withstand the rigors of everyday operations. The drive bay mounts are strong enough to hold the heaviest components and, most importantly, can keep securely mounted hard drives from vibrating, which can cause damage to the platters.
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One shortcoming of steel is sharp edges. The Ahanix dBox that we reviewed in January of 2003 had sharp edges in some areas of the chassis. Ahanix has folded over most of the exposed edges on the X195, but some sharp edges still remain. It is wise to proceed with caution when installing hardware in any steel case.
Another downside to using steel is its weight. Though many users don't usually mobilize their systems often, it can be a pain to lift, especially with components installed. The X195 weighs about 20lbs empty. With components like a few hard drives, a few optical drives, a large CPU heat sink and the heaviest of all components, the PSU, the entire machine may weigh in at about 30lbs.
Expansion
Many cases that we have come across in the past do not make use of empty space efficiently. For its compact size, the X195 makes the most of its internal space. It has four 5-1/4" bays and a total of eight 3-1/2" bays, one exposed for a floppy drive.
Click to enlarge.
The drive bays are all screw-based as opposed to using mounting rails (screw-less solution). The only exception was the tension clips used on the right side of the 5-1/4" drive bays. Though these tension clips are not to be used as the primary method to mount drives, they can be especially helpful when adding a temporary drive.
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Ahanix uses thumb screws to hold the side panels on, but they provide a tool kit that includes screws, for all hardware applications, as well as a screw driver, all in a partitioned plastic tool box.
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There are seven add-on card slots at the back, which is the standard on mid-tower cases.
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Motherboard Tray
One feature that is emphasized on almost all new cases, but has been left out of the X195, is a removable motherboard tray. The only cases that we saw with the removable tray feature were the EX110 and the Just series in the Ahanix line.
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The X195 accepts a variety of board types, thanks to the extra machined out holds provided. To mount a motherboard, the provided "clamps" need to be inserted into the holes where the screws will be inserted. The clamps are strong and will hold any type of board with low to moderate weight. The back face plate can also be removed if using a non-standard motherboard.
Installation
Installation of the necessary components took about 15 minutes. A screw-less design would have saved a good amount of time and made things simpler to install; however, all hardware fit perfectly in their places. The power supply was surprisingly easy to install with the motherboard and CPU heatsink in place albeit the small size of the X195.
Click to enlarge.
Drive installations were also simple to perform. The bays all have machined platforms that drives can sit on while screwing them in, and the tension clips on the right side of the 5-1/4" saved time for temporary installations of those drives.
Installing the motherboard also took about half of the total installation time due to the lack of a screw-less design. Instead of screw-in standoffs, the X195 uses mounting clamps, which anchor to the rectangular holes provided. Ahanix has provided more than enough holes to use for a variety of form factors.
Click to enlarge.
Benchmarking
When benchmarking the X195, we tested the temperatures of key components, including the actual CPU temperature, the actual temperature inside the heatsink, the temperatures of the DDR, Northbridge, Southbridge, HDD, PSU, and the ambient temperature inside the case, all during normal operation. For a system to operate efficiently, the components need to stay at a specified temperature to avoid system crashes, or worse, hardware damage. A well designed case should have an air flow system that is effective in keeping the hottest running components at a constant and stable temperature for optimal performance. During our testing, the PSU and CPU heatsink fans remain on to measure temperatures during normal system operations.Gigabyte GA-7VRX |
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We took temperature readings of the components at 10 and 30 minutes of system operation time. Compare the results from our past 2 case reviews below.
| Ahanix Black Knight X195 | ||||||||
| System On-Time | CPU | Heatsink | HDD | DDR | Northbridge | Southbridge | Power Supply | System Ambient |
| 10 | 51.9 | 35.3 | 25.3 | 35.1 | 38.4 | 39.1 | 29.2 | 28.2 |
| 30 | 52.5 | 36.2 | 26.1 | 38.4 | 40.0 | 39.9 | 30.8 | 29.6 |
| Lian Li PC-6070 | ||||||||
| System On-Time | CPU | Heatsink | HDD | DDR | Northbridge | Southbridge | Power Supply | System Ambient |
| 10 | 52.5 | 36.8 | 26.2 | 35.3 | 39.9 | 39.7 | 29.4 | 30.2 |
| 30 | 53.8 | 37.7 | 26.9 | 39.5 | 41.6 | 40.2 | 31.6 | 33.4 |
| SilverStone SST-TJ03 | ||||||||
| System On-Time | CPU | Heatsink | HDD | DDR | Northbridge | Southbridge | Power Supply | System Ambient |
| 10 | 51.2 | 35.4 | 26.9 | 33.2 | 38.2 | 38.1 | 29.1 | 28.5 |
| 30 | 52.6 | 36.8 | 27.4 | 35.5 | 39.5 | 38.5 | 31.2 | 30.1 |
The result tables show that the X195 comes very close to the performance of the SilverStone TJ03's cooling system. It did perform a little better than the Lian Li PC-6070, most likely due to the choice of two 120mm fans. This combination of large fans provided a higher volume of air flow throughout the system, cooling all the key components. We were especially surprised to see the hard drive temperatures lower than those read from the TJ03. The front mounted 120mm intake cooled the hard drives mounted directly behind it effectively. Temperatures for the drives mounted in the upper three 3-1/2" bays were slightly higher at an average of 31.6 at 10 minutes of operation and 32.9 at 30 minutes of operation. Since these bays were mounted above the intake fan, they did not receive any air to cool them.
We have learned in the past that using 120mm fans as opposed to the smaller 80mm fans help keep noise levels down due to lower RPMs resulting in lower sound frequencies. We measure the decibel level of the case 12" from the sealed chassis with the power supply fan and CPU heatsink fan turned off. Take a look at how the X195 performed in the noise level category.
| Case | dBA |
| Ahanix Black Knight X195 | 50 |
| Lian Li PC-6070 | 44 |
| SilverStone Nimiz Temjin III | 53 |
| Kingwin KT-424 Aluminum | 48 |
| Thermaltake Xaser III Aluminum Fan Low | 52 |
The X195 performed at mid-level compared to the others as far as the noise levels went. The two 120mm fans along with the steel construction helped keep noise levels as low as possible. One feature that we would like to see in more cases is the use of sound dampening foam like Lian Li used in its PC-6070. This would further reduce noise in any configuration, even one with a loud CPU fan.
Final Thought
The X195 performed better than some of the other cases in our benchmarks. The noise level, at 50dBA, was lower than the TJ03 as well as Thermaltake's Xaser III, but not as well as the foam padded Lian Li PC-6070 or the Kingwin KT-424, which had a reduced number of 80mm fans. Temperature levels, however, were slightly lower than those of the PC-6070. The 120mm fans provided efficient air flow throughout the case during normal operations and cooled the components effectively.A screw-less, or even a tool-less design, would have improved upon an already great performing chassis. We are seeing more manufactures implement screw-less designs, making their products more attractive and saving precious time on installations. The X195 does, however, include the tension clips for its 5-1/4" drive bays, making for easier installations in that area.
Though the X195 lacks some great features like a removable motherboard tray and screw-less design, Ahanix has done a great job in constructing a chassis that meets the needs of the average user. The solid steel design and features, like quiet case fans, innovative fold away door, more room for expandability and its famous LCD panel, make the X195 a competitor in its class.
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