Hiper Anubis

Feelin’ hot, hot, hot!

There are a few standard tests we like to do on our new cases when we get them into review. We always start simple and kick things off with the Martin Test, which involves putting your finger on the power button and shaking like a new PlayStation 3 controller. Then we move things up a notch.

Our main test focuses on the heat performance of the PC on a number of different components. First we use temperature probes to measure the ambient temperature and the idle operating temperature of the PC to form a decent control group.

Next, we stress the system using some complex algorithm bombardments and a lot of other stuff made by people a lot smarter than me. The idea here is to push the CPU temperature up and see how well the case cooling compensates.

After that we stress the GPU by running a real-time high dynamic range image based lighting demo. Call it RTHDRIBL for short, even if it does make you sound like you’ve had too much to drink. This program is free to download and is an excellent way to stress your own graphics card if you want to.

You can check out the results of our tests in the table below.


Personally, I think the results of the stress tests on the Hiper Anubis are pretty impressive. Not only was it pleasantly warm in the office that day thanks to it being so cold outside, but you have to bear in mind that the Anubis is only using a single fan in the top of the case.

With regard to noise, the case also performs well and the case lets out only the barest and least noticeable of hums. A closer inspection of the case in between tests revealed that the HDD cage does actually have rubberised strips to stop the drives from vibrating and that the case rests on rubberised feet as well.

Cable routing wasn’t a problem in the case either as there was plenty of space in which to tuck loose wires away. The design of the case leaves room for six optical drives too – one 3.5” and the rest 5.25” – so even if you have multiple displays and drives you should still have room to cluster most of your wires. Failing that, there’s plenty of room behind the motherboard panel.

Conclusions

And so, as our time with the Anubis draws to a close, it only remains to sum up our thoughts and discuss the hard, vulgar reality of pricing.

I’ve freely admitted that I approached the Anubis with a bunch of opinions already half-formed in my head but as I finish this review and prepare myself for the task of boxing the Anubis back up, I think those opinions have changed quite dramatically.



What I originally thought was going to be an ugly, heavy and useless case has turned out to be quite a good-looking, aluminium case which is individually numbered and well designed. The performance of the case is good also and could be even better if a few extra fans were added to the case, bringing the temperatures down by a few degrees.

Cost is what unfortunately brings the Anubis down a little and interested parties can expect to pay around £130 in the UK or $219 in the US. Discussion of whether this price was worth it or not was originally quite heated and the argument between Richard and I spilled over out of the office and into our Heroes evening.

For the record, I thought the case was a bit too expensive whereas Richard thought that the aluminium construction made up for the cost.

Originally, I would have continued to fight my corner on this issue, but after seeing the performance of this case in our tests I’m tempted to back down. The case could still probably do with losing a tenner or so in both markets, but it isn’t something worth getting bent out of shape over and the fact of the matter is that the Anubis is a beautiful, well made aluminium case which cools down excellently. Plus, it comes with a numbered keyring!

All in all, the Hiper Anubis is a brilliant case which falls easily into my list of favourite designs and performers. It’s just a shame that the name still sounds a bit stupid.

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

• Ease of Use
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• 10/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

What do these scores mean?