During my visit to CES 2012 in Las Vegas, one of my many stops was at the In Win booth. While visiting In Win, the star of their display of chassis was the undoubtedly the XFrame. Overclockers Tech was lucky enough to be given a review sample to explore in more detail than the limited time at CES afforded.

In Win has made a big splash as of late with some great enthusiast products ranging from computer cases to high end power supplies. With the release of the XFrame, In Win is certainly not sitting idle and continues to push out unique products geared towards the PC gaming and enthusiast crowd. Those of you that frequently rebuild systems, overclock, and bench test components should be particularly interested in the XFrame and what it can do to make those processes easier to perform.

We invite you to read on as we take an in depth look at the In Win XFrame and all it has to offer, but first a little about In Win:

“The distinctive, lively red In Win logo, derived from the Chinese calligraphy “如”, symbolizes “如意” or “Satisfaction, according to one’s wishes”. With no sharp edges, the logo also portrays a state of energetic harmony between technology and art. Thus, our slogan “Contemporary and Innovative” serves as the foundation of not only our product development but also our attitudes in serving and catering to our strategic partner’s wishes. We take the “im” out of “impossible”… …A brand without persistence is only a name.

IN-WIN Development Inc., an ISO 9001 manufacturer of professional computer chassis, power supplies and digital storage devices, is the leading provider of enclosure solutions to system integrators worldwide. Founded in 1986, IN-WIN provides high quality chassis that conform to all safety regulations, as well as unsurpassed customer service. “

The In Win XFrame arrived in a brown box with a few plastic straps around it, and inside was another retail box that houses the XFrame. When the retail box is removed you see a blue and white themed box with the XFrame Limited Edition branding on the sides. One of the sides has a list of the features and specifications, and the other side has some branding and icons depicting some of the capabilities of the XFrame.Upon opening the retail box, you see the XFrame snugly sitting in some custom made foam blocks and wrapped in a cloth bag. Of note here is the quality of the packaging – it was sturdy, well designed, and will do a great job of protecting the XFrame during transit.

Continue reading as we zoom in on the In Win XFrame Chassis…..

Once we completely unpacked the XFrame and set it out in the open, we were able to see the awesome looks and build quality of this unit. It is made up almost entirely of thick aluminum, except for some switches, standoffs, and the rubber feet on all the corners. While the XFrame is very unique in its appearance and layout, we did notice that there are not really any provisions made for water cooling. There are no included fan or radiator mounting options, but perhaps in the future In Win will provide these as accessories. However, if you use extreme cooling, such as DICE (Dry Ice) or LN (Liquid Nitrogen), you will find the open air design easy to work with when using the pots that accompany those cooling methods. Before we dive into the different sections of the XFrame, here are some full view pictures from the different angles.

The first look at the front of the case reveals a slide out tray that has much of the hardware needed to mount the hard drives, optical drives, and the motherboard. Below is a picture of the accessory tray and the plastic bag that has some additional components.

In the accessory bag is the following:

• Motherboard/Add-on card screw X 22
• Hex Key Wrench X 1
• Cable Ties X 10
• Rubber Mounts X 6

The accessories on the screw assembly rack are as follows:

• PSU Thumb Screws X 3
• Optical Disk Drive Screws X 8
• 3.5 HDD Screws X 28
• Motherboard Standoff X 14
• Motherboard PIN-Type Tool-Less Standoff X 7

Missing from the accessories was a users manual, which can be downloaded from the In Win website if needed. However, I’m sure it will be packaged in the box at time of release.

As we get a closer view of the XFrame, we start at the front of the unit where the front panel connections are located. Also, from the front you can access the first of two 3.5 drive bays and the 5.25 drive bay. The front 3.5 drive bay can hold up to three hard drives while the 5.25 bay can accommodate two drives. The tray used to keep all the various screws and standoffs can be stored in any of the 3.5 drive bay slots. Also worth noting is that the front panel is easily removable and can be relocated to one of the sides, if so desired.

The front panel includes a HDD activity LED, power on button with built in LED, reset switch, two each of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectors, and headphone and MIC jacks.

The two yellow slide locks allow for easy installation of hard drives and optical drives (more on this later).

As far as cable leads go, all the usual suspects are accounted for, including motherboard header connections for the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

The second 3.5 drive bay is located on the left side of the XFrame and can provide space for an additional three drives.

Looking from the rear of the XFrame towards the front, you can see the huge amount of room you have to organize cables and keep things nice and tidy.

The right side area is where the the power supply mounting shelf is located. The shelf allows you to use three screws to secure the power supply. Because it is located towards the front of the Xframe, there is an abundance of room to route cables behind the power supply.

Both top handles can be removed by taking off the eight bolts that hold them in place. If you like a real “open air” benching station, removing these handles will satisfy that need.

On the platform that supports the removable motherboard tray there are two black handles. Pushing downward on the handles allows for easy separation of the motherboard tray from the platform. Once the handles are pushed down, you simply lift upwards to remove the six supporting pegs from the platform. Removal of the motherboard tray also gives access to additional wire management holes cut into the platform. The motherboard tray, and the platform it sits on, have an additional large hole that provides access to the back side of a CPU cooler’s mounting hardware. The access holes are a great feature and can save you a lot of time when it is necessary to change out a cooler.

The PCI expansion slot bracket has provisions for up to eight expansion cards making full utilization of all motherboard form factors up to E-ATX in size.

Installing drives is a relatively painless operation requiring you to select the proper screws from the accessory tray, install four of them into each drive and then slide the drive into place. Raising the locking levers allows for positioning the drives into their corresponding bays. Then simply lower the levers back down which securely locks them in place.

As mentioned earlier in the review, to the right side of the XFrame is where a power supply gets installed. We thought we would show you what it looks like with a PSU actually installed.

As far as mounting a motherboard to the XFrame, you have two choices of standoffs included on the accessory tray. The standard screw in type standoffs you see on most cases are available; or you can choose the screw-less design, which allows for even quicker installation and removal of the motherboard.

At the time of this review, the In Win XFrame is selling for $399 USD at the In Win Retail Website. The In Win Limited Edition XFrame is certainly a one of a kind as far as looks and functionality. The XFrame all aluminum build quality is terrific and should provide many years of system changes and benchmarking sessions. Cable management was obviously a big consideration when the XFrame was designed and a great job was done in this area. The ability to lay the unit flat or stand it up on a side adds even more versatility to the XFrame’s functionality. Supporting motherboards up to E-ATX in size and up to six hard drives gives the XFrame an advantage over competitive products on the market.

About the only complaint we have with the XFrame is the lack of any bracketry to accommodate fans and radiators, thus hampering the XFrame’s ability to accommodate a water cooling system.

Pros

• Awesome Looks
• Supports mATX/ATX/E-ATX platforms
• Eight PCI Expansion slots
• Great Cable Management
• Ability to Rotate to Different Positions
• Support up to 8 drives (6X3.5 and 2X5.25)
• All Aluminum Construction
• USB 3.0 Compatible

Cons

• No Built in Option For Fans
• No Radiator Support

If you have been waiting for a open air benching station that is very customizable, looks terrific, and is very convenient to use, the In Win Limited Edition XFrame might be just what you have been waiting for. Overclockers Tech has awarded the In Win Limited Edition XFrame 9/10 and the accompanying Gold Award!

Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)