Spire Pininfarina

[Rob Williams]

If you're a PC enthusiast chances are you've heard of Spire and if you're a car enthusiast the chances are you've heard of Pininfarina. If you're into both the chances are good that when you heard those two words together your first thought was "WTF?". Well, Spire just didn't pull a name out of a hat for this case, it was indeed designed by the folks at Pininfarina. This begs the question "Just what do car designers know about PC cases?" Read on to find out.

You can read Matts review of this interesting case here and discuss it right here in dis thread!

 

[SwaroG]

Meh, ugly black box with subpar cooling. I think Pinifarina had nothing to do this with hunka junk, they just got paid for the name.

 

[madmat]

If that was the case and it was ever proven then Spire and Pininfarina would both be in for hefty fines due to the truth in advertising laws in this country. Laws I'm pretty certain that they're both aware of.

 

[Motivator]

The cooling issue you mentioned.... think it'd be solved by replacing the duct with a low speed 120mm fan being used as intake?

 

[madmat]

No, then you'd be stuffing more air into the box which is already getting too much air. Using the 120 as an exhaust would be better actually but the best cure would to be to balance the airflow by opening up the rear fan hole and putting a very low CFM 120 in the front.

 

[Motivator]

I actually have 2 80mms in their special "slim" spots, the support bar and the other side, (mobo). i got a 37.44 CFM fan up front replacing the OEM 120mm fan that came with the case, and i got the silverstone 92mm in a 80mm frame Link: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-fn82.htm in the back for exhaust.

both 80mms are blowing in, so would placing the OEM 120 in place of the duct on exhaust even it all out?

 

[madmat]

It should. If you've got access to a Dremel I'd suggest popping off the rear panel and opening up the grille. That'd really help.

 

[Motivator]

I've got the dremelling skills of a blind lemur. Maybe i'll try to track somewhere on campus i can have it done, or try to clip it away somehow with metal shears, shouldn't be too impossible.

 

[Motivator]

oh yeah, do you think the new AM2 Zalman cooler will fit? tryin to go with an aftermarket cpu cooler for my chip, and that's the most attractive size to performance-wise.

 

[madmat]

The 9500 AM2? Yes it should fit.

 

[Jakal]

I like the look of this case. It does have a very clean look to it, and would make a fine desktop case. If I were to build pc's for a business this would be on my top 5 list. I think the simplicity, is what draws me to it. It seems to be designed very well on the inside too. The toolless contsruction is abolutely awesome. For a simple desktop case this is great. The sides folding down is quite neat, different. In situations where quality is more valuable than performance, I do believe the Pininfarina fits quite well. As far as performance/airflow, no it wouldn't be the greatest. The fan wires being short is a definate drawback.

I think everything you've mentioned in the article Matt, is quite relavent to the consumer. You touched on the important factors. I do like the design myself.

 

[madmat]

Yes, it's a very slick case and looks great IMHO. For someone building a work PC or a PC for non PC geek family members (moms, dads, spouses, etc) it's great since it's easy to work on for the most part and very easy on the eyes.

If it's only going to be opened to work on then the fan wires don't make a difference since they are (barely) long enough to do the job but if you're a wiring nazi then they're still a point of contention.

Thanks for the kudos Jakal.