In Win 509 Review

Performance Analysis

The cooling results were interesting to say the least. Out of the box, performance was generally poor thanks to no fans being included and the CPU suffered a fair bit here what with its cooler being a long way from the front and lower vents. However, it was still an acceptable result, bettering the likes of the Phanteks Eclipse P400S on its medium fan speed setting. Of course, add a rear fan to the equation and this massively improves things, lowering the delta T from 62°C to 48°C, which is the second best result on test.

It's clear the case's very porous nature with large front, lower and side vents in addition to the glass side panel offering a small gap round the edge, really promotes airflow, even with a single exhaust fan, although the interior of the chassis is undeniably huge too. Its prowess over the 805 when a fan was installed is no surprise either - it has much better ventilation, especially at the front.


The GPU delta T was more interesting with a mid-table result with or without the added fan. We suspect that the case's size plus ample ventilation as well as the low position in the case of the motherboard compared to smaller cases helped it achieve this. Again, though, we can't help but wonder just how awesome the case would be cooling-wise if In Win had only kitted the 509 out with single front and rear fans.

Conclusion

The 509 can probably be summed up in one statement - a case with huge potential. The lack of fans as standard did hurt it in our cooling benchmarks, but the GPU was still far from poor and the CPU was clear of the bottom of the graph too. However, even adding single front and rear fans would undoubtedly create a great air-cooled system.

Water cooling support is excellent, although realistically you'd be limited to a single 360mm radiator, unless you opted for a less than optimal stacked radiator setup in the front using the two large sets of fan mounts. Of course, there's loads of scope for modding the case too, with a huge potential radiator mount in the roof plus ample space for mounting pumps and reservoirs.

The case is less sparse and easier to work with than the 805 too, with more potential for hiding those unsightly cables. There is one last thing to consider though, which is that while the 509 is an excellent PC case, Corsair's soon-to-be-released Crystal Series 460X costs about the same, also features front and side tempered glass panels, but also includes three SP120 RGB LED fans and has both roof and front mounts for radiators and fans along with a PSU cover. It might not support E-ATX motherboards, but the competition for this style of case just got a lot fiercer. However, we can't deny that the 509 is still a great buy - just make sure you add a couple of fans or water-cool your system.