AMS Elec. gTower CF-1006 Aluminium Case Review
Date : Monday, 18 March 2002
Author : Sn1per
Provided by : AMS Electronic
Introduction
Welcome ladies and gents to a review by sn1per. God did that sound stupid. Went brain dead trying to think of a way to open this review. Well now that I have your attention, let me fill you in on the item up for review today. Almost a month ago I get an e-mail from a company I haven't heard of before asking if I would be interested in reviewing their gTower CF-1006 all aluminum case. Hell, I heard all aluminum and jumped right on it before I even read into it at all. After speaking with a couple of different representatives from the company I got a better feel for who they were and who they were trying to target. Well after a little behind the scenes research on their company, I got a little more interested. The name of this company you are asking? AMS Electronics. AMS stands for America Media Systems. I looked through their site at the different types of products they offer and from the looks of things it seemed like it just may be a good case. So today, I bring you the AMS Electronics gTower CF-1006 All-Aluminum PC Case.
Specifications
First off let me list some of the things that are included with this case. Let's take the case out of the box. Good packaging and pretty much the standard way of packing a PC case now a days.
 Pretty Box |
 WOW. What do we have here? |
 Bad picture of a pretty side |
 Box of goodies |
 The infamous connectors |
 80MM Intake Noise |
 120MM Exhaust LOVE @#@!@# |
On to the specs now shall we?
Case
Features
Features In-depth
Seems like a lot of features if you ask me. How many case manufacturers out there are incorporating BLUE LED's into their cases these days? Hell none that I know of, with the exception of AMS Electronics of course. The ORANGE LED for the hard disk indicator leaves a little to be desired, but hey, 99% of us change out the LED's that come with stock cases anyway. Let me just say this too, when they say high-intensity in their features, you better damn believe they are high-intensity. The BLUE LED in this case lights up one of my computer rooms like a champ.
Here you see the
BLUE and ORANGE
LED's
Polished, scratch resistance coating cover? HMM, how can it be scratch resistant? I really don't know, but I did happen to accidentally lay the side panel on it's side. Needless to say, I must have dropped a fan screw on the ground that the panel rested on. Not paying attention as to where I sat it down, I added a little weight to the panel that was off balanced and caused the panel to run across the screw. No gouge or anything, but a very fine scratch did happen. How did I notice the scratch? I was showing the case to my dad and he noticed it in the light. He is one of those that put on those magnifier glasses and looks over everything. The scratch wasn't noticeable at all unless you really looked for it. The polished part, when they say polished they do not mean chrome looking. It is shiny, but at the same time has that aluminum like dullness to it.
All folded edges. Yes, if any of you are familiar with the Antec series cases, you will notice these folded edges big time. With the Antecs, they fold over, or roll over the edge that your side panel connects to when taking off and putting on that side panel. Well AMS incorporated this type of folding or rolling on the insides of the case. Why? Easy, really don't have to worry about wire damage, cutting yourself with sharp edges, or worry about cutting your tubing for your water cooler. Still don't get what I am trying to say? Lian-Li's use that plastic strip molding on their edges, well AMS just folds over or rolls over their edges instead.
Can you see the
folded edges?
1/4" Clear Acrylic Bezel with Blue Anodized Accent Insert. WTH are they talking about? The front of the case silly. Yes that is right. The front of this case isn't the boring all aluminum front you are used to seeing with many of the aluminum case manufacturers on the market. They take that extra step in providing you with some added looks to the front of the case. They anodize the aluminum behind the acrylic bezel blue to make it stand out a little more, then place the acrylic over the aluminum. Personally, I think it looks cool as hell, and adds some wicked ass modding possibilities. Now of course since it is acrylic up front, if you do plan on any cutting, be forewarned that acrylic tends to crack while cutting. So take your time or be super pissed, it is up to you ;p
Here is the aluminum
front piece and the acrylic
120MM Ball-Bearing Exhaust Fan w/ Grill and 80MM Intake Fan w/ Filter. That's right folks, 2 fans here. 1 120MM exhaust fan and 1 80MM intake fan. I bet you all are doing the same exact thing that DiceMan did when AMS asked him about reviewing the case. "120MM EXHAUST WITH A 80MM INTAKE = NEGATIVE PRESSURE"....NEGATIVE. No, I mean you are wrong. It seems they thought about this ahead of time and used a lower CFM 120MM fan and a higher CFM 80MM fan. The 120MM fan they used for this case is super quiet. I mean almost to the point that you cannot hear it. As for the 80MM fan, well I think this is where they may have gone just a tad bit off course. The 80MM fan is just a tad bit to loud in my opinion for a case fan. For a CPU fan it is fine, but for the case it tends to be a little loud. I have been running this case now in a spare system for almost 2 weeks, and let me just say with the provided filter on the 80MM intake fan, I have virtually no dust inside of the case at all. The way they placed the filter though is not the best way. They have the filter on the side that blows the air. Whoopee do you may say, but to me, I don't like when my fans get all dirty and clogged with dust, which is what happens with this type of setup.
 80MM Intake w/ Filter |
120MM Exhaust w/ Grill |
Removable 4-bay 3.5" Internal Drive Cage. That is correct. The 3.5" cage that can be used for you hard drives is removable. This is becoming more and more popular with today's current standards in PC case manufacturing. To me this is a very nice feature and probably one that is very much needed if you plan on running multiple hard drives and want to be able to install and uninstall a little easier. With the removable cage you don't have to lug the case on your lap or work surface, dig through countless miles of cabling, or even have to take off both panels in order to remove or add a hard drive. If you are one of those people who don't use the familiar removable cages for your hard drives (like me ;p) you can either remove it totally or use it to house a radiator, water pump, reservoir, or whatever you heart desires (like me ;p). How many of you are familiar with the Lian-Li removable 3.5" drive bays? You know, 2 thumb screws and you just pull it out. Well AMS did it a little different. You may or may not like the way they did it. You may like it since it adds more protection insuring that the cage will not come loose at all during say, a transfer to your local LAN Party. Personally, the first 2 thumb screws were perfect and all I had expected. That's not it, they have 2 more on the other side of the cage. 4 thumb screws in total. To me this would be a pain if I was going to just hurry up and sling in a system. Why? You can either fit your small hands (unlike me) into the space to remove the 2 extra thumb screws, or you remove the other side panel (like me) in order to remove them.
 3.5" Removable Drive Cage |
 Thumbscrew 1 |
 Thumbscrew 2 |
 Thumbscrew 3 |
 Thumbscrew 4 |
 Slide it out |
 Let's put some drives in there |
Polished Metal Mechanical Power & Reset Switches plus Front-mounted Dual USB, 1394, Microphone & Headphone Jacks. Yes that is correct. All that in then some. The front of this case to me is super sexy. I really like the design and they way they set everything up. The added front jacks were exactly what I needed for this spare system since I will be playing Nascar 2002 on it most of the time. With the front USB ports, all I have to do is plug in my wheel into one of the open USB ports up front, and plug in my head phones to the front port. Why can't I just leave them plugged in? Easy, the computer is in a high access area in my house, so this way here I can save some space when I am not playing Nascar. Everyone that has cases out there these days that do not include these front ports are now modding them into the fronts of their cases. Well it seems that these front ports are also becoming a standard for the case manufacturers. Nothing new really, but the added IEEE 1394 Fire Wire port to the front is something I haven't seen much of. Actually, I really don't ever remember seeing a case out there with it. My dad loves it. He just walks up to the computer, plugs in his digital camera, and 2 seconds later all 200 of his pics are now on the hard drive. Another positive space saver. I will show you in a few minutes just how to hook everything up here.
God I love the ports
and the looks
Of course, I cannot forget about the thumb screws. The greatest things to happen to a computer case since...Hell I don't know. Tried to be witty and screwed the pooch. Thumb screws everywhere, except...The front bezel, no big deal, and the motherboard (who uses thumbscrews on their motherboard?).
Invasion of the
Thumbscrews
Extra Features They Didn't List
Yes, for some reason, I couldn't find anywhere a couple of features or added bonuses on their site concerning this case, yet I found some. For instance, break away cables for you power button, reset button, and LED's. Break away? Well I don't know how to exactly call them, but for an example, I will use Lian-Li again. You know how Lian-Li has the wires that connect to your motherboard from the case just like every case in the world does? OK, well do you know how the Lian-Li cables can be unsnapped in the middle allowing you to keep the cables attached to the motherboard so you don't have to power up and down numerous times just to get your LED's connected correctly? Hell, how do I explain this one? Oh, by pictures of course. I LOVE THESE TYPES OF DESIGNS !!!!
 The Extnensions (break away cables) |
 The end that plugs into the case |
 See how they go together? |
 You can do it like this |
 Or this |
Much easier then having to stick your hands in the case trying to pull and install the cables to the motherboard. I'm sure you all agree.
The front ports are attached by one cable, except for the IEEE 1394 Fire Wire cable. How? They almost do like a miniature IDE connector (I just brain farted and forgot the name) with individual wires for each port. The USB ports have the connectors that plug directly into the USB headers on your mother board. The head phones and microphone port on the other hand are different. They won't plug into any motherboard that I have seen. So I had to mod the connector so it would attach to a mini-stereo type plug to plug it into my SBLive. Not really a big deal, but if you are going to incorporate a connection like this, at least include 1 or 2 different type connectors that would allow users to plug it into their necessary hardware.
 USB0, USB1, Ear, Head Connectors |
 Connector that plugs in.... |
 HERE !!! |
 IEEE 1394 Fire Wire |
 Fire Wire Looks Cool |
Oh, I almost forgot to add. The other benefit I found with this case is with the way it connects to the front buttons and LED's. Pretty much the same way that the USB and the sound ports plugged in. Just a white connector and a little smaller. Here take a look.
The white connector
in the background
Overlook of the Case
The case has a lot of nice features, and one thing that I find to be very bad. Yes, very bad. I might as well point out what I found to be very bad right now. For one, no power supply is included. OK, so that doesn't matter you say because you have an Enermax Power Supply. Well, it really isn't OK. How come? For one, the opening in the back of the case that allows you slide in a power supply isn't big enough for you to slide the Enermax in w/o taking off the grill. Well hell, that isn't to bad. There are a lot of cases out there that make you take the grill off your Enermax before you can install it. True, but how many of them won't allow you to attach the grill after words? Well this is one of the first I have seen. Really a pisser to. Here, take a look at what I am talking about.
 Looks like a tight fit |
 Oh no, my Enermax won't fit |
Of course this can be easily fixed with your Dremel, jig saw, or nibbler. But you can see as to what I was saying. Actually, I tried 3 different power supplies (1 Enermax, 1 Antec, 1 Deer) and all 3 fit into the power supply slot very tightly.
Now that I got my one gripe that I found to be very bad, I will go on with the rest of the case with which I found almost flawless and flat out sexy. So without further a do, lets see the case in it's glory.
 Oh that looks so cool |
 PCI/ISA Slots |
 120MM Fan can breathe |
 Hey, why only 2 holes for screws? |
 Nice little PSU Cover |
 AHH, it fell off (just kidding) |
Pretty much your basic back end of the case. What stands out the most about the back of the case? Of course that monster 120MM fan. One minor negative would be the fact there are only 2 screw holes for the fan. I noticed the case had a very low sounding rattle to it. I simply drilled out the 2 holes and added 4 screws to the fan. The rattle was gone. Very easy, 30 second fix. Another positive is the actual cover that goes over your power supply in the rear. Granted I listed the power supply area a negative, this cover simply makes the back of the case look nicer then using a cut out area like a lot of other cases have. The PCI slots are pretty much the same as any other case and also have a positive point to them. They are attached with thumb screws. God bless thumb screws.
Thumb screws = yummy
!!!
One more negative I found with the back of the case, and was only because the set of speakers I used were damn near ancient for PC speakers, the I/O slot for my onboard sound card didn't come out the back of the case enough and my mini-stereo plug from the speakers kept popping out on it's own. No big deal really, all I did was take my leatherman and trim down the mini-stereo plug from my speakers to stop this problem. I did somewhat notice that there seems to be a bulgy (have no clue if that is a real word, but you get the idea) type sticker that indicates which I/O port is. My advice, get rid of it. Yes, get rid of it. This was part of the problem that caused that speaker plug to pop out on its own. Most places just stamp onto the I/O shield what each port is. If you want the pretty sticker, don't make it so bulgy or puffy.
Now that the rear of the case is out in the open, let's take a look at the front of the case. This case probably has one of the best looking fronts that I have seen to date. With 4 5.25" drive bay slots and 2 3.5" drive bay slots, it is damn sexy. Alrighty, I found something that might be a little difficult for you and maybe even something you could dislike. We all want our CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, floppy and what have you to match the front of the case. Well, with this case it will be a little more difficult. Of course you make a stealth drive with a little modding (which would probably be one of the pimpest solutions), or you could paint your drive face the same color as the anodized aluminum behind the acrylic front bezel. To me a stealth drive would look way better, but you never know, a painted drive that matches would probably look pimp as all hell also. That is probably the bad thing. With the slot covers for the 5.25" bays and the 3.5" bays looking so damn good with the front of the case, I don't want to muck it up and add a drive now. I like the way it looks already. OK, just a little humor there to break some tension and dirty faces you all are giving me ;p Let me just show you the front of the case so you can see what I am talking about.
Look familiar? |
 Looks sweet, but can it breathe? |
Hey, I have seen this before |
 3.5" of beauty |
 5.25" of more beauty |
See what I mean by damn gorgeous? The only iffy item here would be the drilled holes for the intake fan. Though they accent the front of the case nicely, I would think they limit the amount of outside or fresh air that the front 80MM fan wants to pull in. I am actually thinking about adding dual 80MM fans up front (quieter clear bladed fans) side by side, and cutting out circles and either using normal chrome grills, or maybe a laser cut grill painted or anodized to match the front of the case. That would look damn good and now I am starting to drool just by thinking of how that would look. Oh, the front of the case is super easy to pop off too. 6 screws (designer type screws at that) is all that stops you from removing the front.
 Screw 1 of 6 |
 Take the acrylic off, eww, put it back on fast |
I am likin' the acrylic big time |
2 Screws is all
that holds you back
from removing this panel
for modification (LED's)
So just how roomy is this case? Actually pretty roomy for being a mid-tower. The case is actually pretty darn wide as you may have noticed from pictures of the front part of the case.
I think I can fit 2 systems in here
With everything installed inside of the case, my wire management seemed to be better then previous cases I had reviewed. Due to the width of this case, you have room to run cables from your power supply down the right side of the case which allows for most of the cable to be hidden. All except for the part that plugs into a drive. Actually now that I look at the case, there is actually a butt load of room considering the mid-tower size that this case has. The case seems to have more room inside then my Antec SX1030 case has. Here is everything installed inside of this computer.
 Well maybe 1 and a half, roomy? |
 LOL 1 HD in a big rack |
 All those cables (easy to manage) |
See, that is an MSI K7T Pro 2A, T-Bird 900MHz, GF2 MX 64 DDR, 512MB PC166, 20GB ATA100 7200RPM, 52x CDROM, 24x CDRW, floppy, and a lonely NIC. Still a lot of room to play with.
Results
OK, my room temperature idles right around 71°F or 21°C. My case temp seems to be idle at 75°F or 24°C and has a maximum case temperature of 77°F or 25°C. I can't give you my CPU temps as of right now because the heat sink on that system is in the midst of a review. That should be done in the next few days also.
Conclusion
Well it has come to my attention that this is almost the end of the review. But no need to worry, since I still have MY Pro's and Con's plus my final thoughts (eat your heart out Jerry Springer). Let's hop right into the pro's and con's section shall we? Even if you said no, I am going to do it anyway ;p
Pro's
Con's
Overall, pretty minor Con's except for the price. Personally, the prices of Aluminum cases these days are just a tad bit to high. I have noticed that the Lian-Li's, which seem to be the undisputed Kings of the Aluminum chassis have come down in price. I feel it may be a little difficult to spend the extra $20 or so on a case with a name that isn't all to familiar. To me, aluminum cases really aren't worth the money these days, and with the economy in the shape it has been, more people are looking to cut some costs. I hope they don't cut costs in their cases (especially if they read Virtual-Hideout ;p). To me the case is just as important as the motherboard and processor you choose. Why have a kick ass system in a less then honorable case? That is like some high paid super model driving a frickin' Yugo. Instant chub killer if you catch my drift. Now get your mind out of the gutter on that one. Now, if you are like me and are totally bored with the looks of a Lian-Li but you still want aluminum and you still want the space, then hell this case is for you. Go back a year ago when I was an aluminum case nut, I would have easily paid the $179 for the case. Well, I have opened my eyes a little since then and realized that Lian-Li's are flat out ugly ass cases. For instance, and I will use my dad on this one. Check it...Dad, what do you think of my Lian-Li PC-60 Aluminum Case? Dad responds just like this in his own words..."It is gay, boring, ugly." I thought for the longest time that this was his typical answer on my cases, mods, and everything geeky that I do. Well, Dad was home when Mr. UPS man dropped the case off. I opened up the box and pulled the case out of the box, and his first words were, "That case is mine." Shoot, I thought I was going to have to box my dad for this case.
With that all said, I would like to say a couple of things to the guys over at AMS Electronics concerning the case and maybe some future changes they can look into. The power supply area for one. I am grateful that you guys came to Virtual-Hideout with your case for us to review. With that said, most of the people that read Virtual-Hideout won't have your typical 250w power supply. They want bigger and they want better. So they go out and buy a 450w Enermax power supply. Now when it comes time to get a new case, they are going to research all of the cases here on Virtual-Hideout to make sure for one that their Enermax power supply will fit. If their Enermax will not fit, they will just look the case over in most cases. What I would suggest to do in order to fix the problem I listed is simple, enlarge the opening in which the power supply slides into from the back. The second thing you should do if you think this may be a little to much work, or to make it even easier on them, is to get rid of the aluminum area that the power supply rests on inside of the case. This area blocks the air supply to the 2nd fan in the Enermax power supply. I know that area is there for stability, so don't take it all out, cut out the center of that area so a power supply with that 2nd fan can work properly. The other thing besides the power supply area that I think could be reworked would be the fan layout. Granted we love the 120MM fan in the back, but that little power house of an 80MM fan is just a little much. Maybe double up the 80MM fans up front. This would allow you to go with a quieter fan and with 2 of them you would be able to still have more CFM then the rear 120MM fan which would mean positive air flow. Negative air flow is bad, it brings in the unwanted dust into any little gap it can find. The last thing I could think of would be the I/O Shield. Although it worked fine with my newer speakers, I had that little problem which was easily fixable with my older speakers.
Wow, I have finally finished the review. AMS Electronics are on a very good road to producing some of the best aluminum chassis that are on the market. Since this is the first product I have seen from AMS Electronics, I am simply amazed at the quality and the thought they put into it. They definitely did a lot of home work. Now this case is not in any means a perfect case, but in my opinion I don't think there is that perfect case unless you build it the way that you want. The looks of the case are that of no other aluminum case that I have seen. With the Lian-Li cases you get that rugged feel from the looks of the case, and with the gTower CF-1006 you get the aluminum ruggedness but you also get the feeling that you have in your possession the looks of a model. The case is gorgeous and appeals to many different people.
Now that my mind is wasted on the review here, I would like to thank the great people over at AMS Electronics for their generosity and for allowing Virtual-Hideout to do their first case review. If you are in the market for a new case and were looking at the aluminum chassis, but just weren't to excited over the looks of the current aluminum cases, well then this case may be what the Dr. ordered. The modding possibilities for this case are damn near endless. The one thing I played with and didn't get a picture of was LED lighting the acrylic cover on the front. Anybody seen that mouse pad that one modder made from plexi and LED's? Well you can get that same glowing effect with the front of this case using a couple bright LED's of your choice. If you are interested in this case make sure you get over to AMS Electronics and check out the gTower CF-1006 as well as the other products that they carry. AMS Electronics also sent me a Hard Drive RAID Enclosure and wanted me to mention it. Well guys, mentioning this case wouldn't do it justice. I have to do a review on it for all to see. You guys, the quality of this RAID Case is like no other. It is gorgeous and one of the most ingenious ideas that I have seen in any product of it's type. If you are interested get on over and check them out now. Once again I would like to thank AMS Electronics for the help they provided me as well as the products to show you all. Keep an eye on this company as I can only expect greater things from them in the future. If any of you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail sn1per@virtual-hideout.net or head on over to the forums to discuss this review and product further. Thank you.