Review: Hiper Anubis mid-tower case
The basic computer case has come a long way from the beige box we all know. I've seen a lot of wild things in computer cases, some of them coming straight out of the box. I've had my love affair with lights and UV and things that flash and glow and scream "Look at me!". The sparkly veneer has worn thin. Call me jaded, but it's not often that I come across a case that catches my eye and make me really want it. When I first saw the Anubis case from Hiper, I knew I had to have it.
The Hiper Anubis is one of a select few cases that pull off the all-black minimalist look, and do it well. As I said, I'm done with flash and glitz (at least for the time being), and wanted something sleek, low-key, and yet eye-catching, in a more subtle way. Something that whispers "look at me" instead of shouting it. The guys at Xoxide had it.
I was a little taken aback when the box was lifted out of the notoriously rough-riding UPS truck. This thing had been around the block:
Wow. What kind of shape was my sleek black case going to be in? The guys at Hiper must have known how their products were going to be treated in transit. Look at this padding.
That's closed-cell Styrofoam an inch and a half thick. With the case further wrapped in a plastic bag inside its Styrofoam brick. Needless to say, there was no damage to the case whatsoever. Thanks, Hiper!
When I first opened the box I was greeted with a small nylon pouch, tucked neatly away into the top layer of protection:
When I pulled it out and opened it on the workbench I discovered all sort of cool stuff. All of the fasteners you could need to put a system into the Anubis are included, including some very cool satin black thumb screws meant for use with hard drives and power supplies. Also in the pouch were the instructions (such as they were), a long bristled brush (?) and a very heavy Hiper keychain with the number of this particular case stamped into it.
Before you go any further and see the actual product, be warned that I think the Hiper Anubis is an all-or-none proposition. You will either love it or hate it. I doubt there will be many on the fence about this one.
Slick, isn't it? The first thing that leapt to my eye, of course, were the inch-long heat sink fins running the entire length of the case along the top. At least now we know what the brush was for. These are matched in appearance by the center portion of the front door. I am normally not a fan of cases with doors, but this one is extremely well done, and as we will see in a minute, just about all the controls are outside the door, so I can live with it. It should be noted, however, that this door has fairly strong magnets and no handle whatsoever, making opening it a chore. It also rings like metal (because it is) when it closes. Here's a closeup of those eye-catching heat sinks:
Wow. This shot exemplifies the finish of the Anubis case. The entire case is fashioned of 2.5 mm aluminum (Hiper names it 6063-T5 alloy, but not being a metallurgist I'll call it aluminum), and actually welded together rather than riveted. This is a very tough box. The thickness of the heatsink fins is present throughout, even inside in the internal drive bays. Even the front door is fashioned of aluminum and is just as thick as the rest of it. This explains the weight of the Anubis, over 23 pounds (that's 10.7 kg to you misguided metric users) empty.
The Hiper is not all about low-key, though, as seen on the left side panel. Even here though it stands out. This panel has a window, obviously, and a very attractive mesh covering, but it also has a piece of acrylic underneath the mesh. This serves to give the appearance of mesh without the noise level or the dust intrusion.
The side panels securement is also very well thought-out, with two simple spring-loaded latches holding it in place. Press down on the latches, tilt the panel out and lift straight up. In about two seconds you're holding a loose panel and looking at the inside of your case. Excellent for those of us who find ourselves constantly opening our machines for some reason or another.
The bottom part of the latching system is also spring-loaded, with a kind of tension clamp that holds the side of the case tight against it. Here's a shot of both of the interior latches:
I wondered about the mesh and acrylic windows on the left panel when I bought it. How hard would it be to get those off for modification? It turns out it's not hard at all, they are held in with screws from the inside of the case. There are, however, clear warnings:
In other words, take this off and we won't cover it. There are a LOT of these little stickers inside the Anubis. I love taking off stickers.
The input for the Anubis is also well done, being placed on the top of the case, out from behind the door (and thereby allowing me to buy it). It includes power and reset switches (both in polished aluminum), two USB ports, headphone jack, microphone jack and even an audio in jack. The lack of Firewire or eSATA connections is unfortunate, but as I type this I don't have anything that uses them anyway, and we all know they can be added later if they are really needed.
The Anubis has six external 5.25" drive bays and a single 3.5" external bay, fairly standard in a mid-tower case. It needs to be noted that, for whatever reason, Hiper did not make the openings in the drive bays wide enough for the plastic face panels on standard optical drives to fit inside them. The drive slides in very snugly, a perfect fit I would say, but the faces of your drives will protrude about 1/8" from flush. If the case didn't have the beautiful door it has this would have been a deal breaker for me. As it stands, it's only a minor annoyance, as I don't have to look at them very often. You decide. Also of note is that due to the construction of the bays, it is not possible to install anything that takes up multiple 5.25" bays. Each bay has its own aluminum rails running the length of the bay, and it would take some pretty serious modification to fit a dual-bay device into it.
Looking inside the case, we see a strange thing. The folks at Hiper have been kind enough to finish *most* of the inside of the case in a satin black finish that perfectly matches that of the outside. They have decided to leave the motherboard tray (which is not removable, at least not without the aid of a Dremel) and the rear panel in their natural state. This bothers me. A lot. If they're going to put a window in the case, and go to the trouble of putting a finish inside the case, they should have finished it all. It can be seen that these two components were the last to go into the machine at the factory, as they are the only things that are held in place with rivets rather than welds.
Finish aside, the motherboard tray is well done, being thicker than any I've seen, and with the holes for various standoffs stamped deeply into the metal. They have even included a legend of sorts on the bottom, telling the builder which holes are for which motherboard form factors. The Anubis is capable of holding ATX, MicroATX, FlexATX and ITX boards. Looking at the rear of the tray, there is not a lot of room for cable management, though the designers have made a small effort to help those of us who like our wires neat, if not hidden.
Looking here at the inside of the external drive bays, you can see that the front panels are actually held on with thumb screws. No stamped-steel breakaway panels here. Also in this shot you can see that each bay has a strip of rubber embedded into each side to absorb vibration and provide a snug fit. Perfectly executed, at least for the drives I have.
They continue the vibration-dampening rubber in other areas as well, including the shelf where the PSU will sit.
They also seem to really like their thumb screws. The expansion slot covers are not reusable, being stamped steel, but there are thumb screws included for holding all your hardware in place in these slots.
Here's a very nice touch for the Anubis. The internal hard drive bay holds up to four standard 3.5" drives vertically, each with its own vibration-dampening rubber strip, and slides out of the case from the front. It even has its own mount and grill for a 120-mm fan.
While this front fan mount is a good idea, providing air flow directly across the drives, and also the case's only forced-air inlet, unless you can find a 120mm fan that's only 10mm thick, it will stand out like a sore thumb, protruding well into the door area and looking like a cobbled-together mess. This glaring contrast to the rest of the case's elegant design still confuses me. I avoided it by simply not installing a fan there and moving my hard drive to one of the upper 5.25" bays to allow unobstructed air flow into the case. The Anubis only ships with one 120mm fan (a Hiper fan of course, and reasonably silent), mounted in the top fan position, exhausting straight up. There is another fan mount in the traditional spot on the rear panel which can accomodate 80mm, 92mm or 120mm fans.
On the bottom of the rear panel are two holes pre-cut with grommets installed for the water cooling enthusiast. A nice touch, as not all who cool with water can cut holes without marring this lovely finish.
Every Hiper Anubis is individually numbered, with a plate riveted to the back with the number stamped into it, matching the number stamped into the included keyring. Although this is an obvious marketing ploy, it will give some the feeling of individuality they want, especially after they mod the thing to be what they want it to be. (Mine is #001602.)
All in all, the Hiper Anubis is an excellent buy. It can be had at Xoxide for $169 USD at the time of this writing, and while this is the most I have paid for a case I have to say it is by far the nicest case I have laid my hands on. As I said earlier, it's not for everyone, with its stark straight lines and understated appearance, but I love it.
Pros: Beautiful (face it)
Roomy
Easy-open side panels
Top-mounted controls
Pre-cut tubing holes
Enough thumb screws for anything
Mesh-and-acrylic side window
Very cool keychain (I still don't get that...)
Cons: Pricey
Front intake fan is ugly
Front door has no latch and closes noisily
I'm fortunate enough to have been able to build a new system recently, and the Hiper Anubis was part of the parts purchase for the build. Personally, I am very pleased with it. Only minor modding will be required.
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Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA
so far left of center i'm in right field
