INTRODUCTION
If you've been around personal computers as long as i have then you should recall that up until 20-25 years ago most systems were housed inside rather small desktop cases and that didn't really change until the very first DVD-ROM drives made their appearance in the late 90's. Because of that I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the fact that even though today the market is overflowing with midi and full towers of all shapes and prices there are nowhere near as many desktop cases available for people to choose from. Some of the leading manufacturers did try to keep such cases available mainly for HTPC systems but most of them gave up soon afterwards. Well thanks to some smaller manufacturers like our friends over at Streacom HTPC and desktop systems will always have a high-quality home like their latest F12C Aluminium PC Case which we have here with us today.
Streacom was founded in 2010 by a small but experienced team that shared a common vision of producing uniquely designed and engineered computer cases. With our head office in Holland and manufacturing base in China, we entered the market by focusing on SFF and passive cooled products all made from premium grade aluminium. This combination of premium quality and compact design has established Streacom as a global player in the PC component market and earned us a reputation for making stylish well-crafted products. With a truly multinational team, we have the perfect balance of European design, Asian manufacturing and Global sales channels. This mix of influences also give us the ability to think outside of the box, pushing the design envelope, finding new and innovative solutions for our products and manufacturing processes, and importantly, allows us to fully understand and support the needs of our customers. Unlike many brands on the market, Streacom directly designs and manufactures all of its cases. Our production facilities don’t produce cases for anyone else which is one of the reasons Streacom cases are truly unique. From our design, engineering and fabrication process right through to end user support, our years of experience ensure a product and service that is unsurpassed.
Streacom is one of the very few companies out there that uses pure aluminium for their cases so just like the FC8 EVO which we reviewed a couple of years ago the F12C features the same quality exterior (with 4mmm thick panels it has even higher). Unlike the FC8 EVO however the F12C has room for even regular ATX size mainboards (micro-ATX and mini-ITX are also supported) and virtually any hardware component you may want to fit in it (with 7 full height expansion slots it can be a lot). Unfortunately this time over Streacom skipped on the slim optical drive bay and the passive CPU cooling feature but with the amount of space inside the F12C (which can be used with up to six 120mm fans or three 240mm radiators) that shouldn't be a problem. And if all the above weren't enough Streacom has also made it possible for the end user to install up to 24 2.5" and/or 12 3.5" disk drives inside the F12C (if you decide not to use any fans or radiators) a number which we don't even see with full towers.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
Much like their cases Streacom uses a "plain" box with their name, logo and model name at the front and rear.
As you can all see the F12C is wrapped inside a piece of cloth and placed between two thick black foam spacers.
Along with the F12C Streacom also packs 7 plastic bags with all the necessary bits and pieces to install your parts and the user manual.
THE F12C EXTERIOR
The F12C is available in silver and black and as you can see we got the silver version (just our luck).
On both sides of the F12C we see openings for 120mm fans which come ready with their own removable dust-filters (kept in place by magnets).
The front is very simple and just has the on/off power switch and LED and the HDD activity LED.
There are three openings at the top which also have their very own removable dust filters (again kept in place by magnets).
The 7 full height PCI expansion slots really stand out when checking the rear of the F12C.
You may have noticed already that there are no visible screws on the case and that's partially true since the top panel is held in place by two screws connected to two knobs which you use to release it.
The base of the F12C has 4 stands with rubber feet, features 3 small perforated areas and has 10 screws used to hold the front, rear and side panels.
THE F12C INTERIOR
Removing the top panel via the two knobs is very easy and fast.
As you can see for a desktop case the F12C has lots of available interior space not to mention two rails which can be used to mount 120/140mm fans, 2.5/3.5" drives and even a 240mm radiator.
These 8 pieces of aluminum (4 on each side) can be used to mount anything you want on the two sides from drives and fans up to radiators.
Streacom has used a unique way to keep these pieces in place and it all has to do with pieces of metal you place between them and the case itself.
Unfortunately the 7 PCI expansion slots are kept in place with regular screws.
Prior to installing your system parts i strongly recommend removing the left side panel as seen above (simplifies things) and of course the two rails.
BUILDING THE SYSTEM
As always the purpose of this section is not to build a functional system but rather to showcase what you can expect from the case at hand in terms of interior space.
Some of you will probably install micro-ATX mainboards inside the F12C but since it has the room we decided to showcase its interior space with a ATX model.
The F12C has room for up to 135mm tall CPU coolers so that along means that either you will need to use a top down model, one of the latest "small" models or a water cooling solution (AIO or custom loop).
Streacom has given enough room over at the PSU area for even the longest models but if you use a regular sized one it would be far easier to mount one or two 2.5/3.5" drives vertically as seen above.
The downside of using a full ATX mainboard is that you will not be able to mount a radiator on the left panel.
You can still mount however a couple of 3.5" drives (four 2.5" ones) and a 120mm intake or exhaust fan as seen above (or four 3.5" drives and eight 2.5" ones).
Did i mention you can also mount even the longest graphics cards (we used our own GeForce GTX590) in the F12C?
The great news however isn't that you can mount even the longest graphics cards inside the F12C but that you can do so and use a top 240mm radiator as seen above.
Of course if your memory modules have tall heatsinks you may not be able to mount a very thick radiator.
So are you impressed yet from all the components you can fit inside the F12C?
CONCLUSION
Streacom may not be one of the most popular PC case manufacturers in the world but first with the FC8 EVO and now with the F12C it’s clear that they have a bright future ahead of them. For good or bad they are not catering after the needs of gamers since their cases have little to offer in terms of design but for professionals, casual users and even enthusiasts that’s not really a bad thing. Now you can’t possibly fit as many hardware components inside a case like the F12C that you would in a full tower (nor as large) but for a desktop case it really offers a lot more than what other similar models do (as you all saw from our building the system section). Still although quality is great and it comes packing several useful features not all is perfect because the F12C has but a single incredibly annoying issue, its magnetic dust filters. We did get a heads-up when we saw that Streacom had each filter secured in place via two pieces of blue tape but we never expected that without those tapes the filters would just detach while we were adding system components. You can avoid that situation by not removing the blue tapes until after you build the system but still this is something I have no idea as to why Streacom didn’t notice especially since it could be fixed had they used slightly larger magnets.
Aluminum PC cases are never what we like to call “budget friendly” and that’s perhaps the main “drawback” the F12C by Streacom currently has since it retails for USD275 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and for around 240Euros inside the EU. Now I don’t know how much or even if Streacom can lower the price of the F12C but with such a price tag they are bound to lose some customers. The good news is that since the F12C is not targeted towards gamers (thus young people) chances are that whoever even checks it out will also be able to afford it. With that out of the way we all agree that the F12C is well worth of our Golden Award since it’s a very good desktop PC case that offers excellent build quality with a very spacious interior (always for its size) and a good number of useful features.
PROS
- Excellent Build Quality (Aluminium)
- mATX/mITX/ATX Compatible
- Removable Magnetic Air-Filters (7)
- Spacious Interior (Full Size PSUs/310mm Long GPUs/135mm Tall CPU Coolers)
- Drive Mounts (Up To 24 2.5" and/or 12 3.5" drives)
- 7 Full Height Expansion Slots
- Room For Up To Six 120mm Fans or Three 240mm Radiators
- Removable Panels (Side/Front/Rear)
- Optional IR-Receiver
CONS
- Price (For Some)
- Air-Filters Get Detached Very Easily
- No Optical Drive Bay & USB Ports