Enermax Ostrog Mid-Tower Case - More Than Just a Name?
The Enermax Ostrog mid-tower chassis series seems to be a promising lot. With multiple cooling options and sporting a clean facade, we take a close look at an offering from this series, the Enermax Ostrog ECA3253 to see what is really behind its exotic-sounding lineage.
Introduction
Enermax is a Taiwan-based company that was credited as a market leader in bringing the now-ubiquitous PC power supply unit (PSU) to the mass market. Founded in 1990, it has expanded its repertoire to include PC chassis, CPU coolers, cooling fans and other peripherals. Recently the company has added a new series to its mid-tower chassis offerings that is known as the Ostrog.
From a quick online search, the word "Ostrog" refers to a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church that is located in Montenegro. We didn't pursue further with our online fact finding but we can be sure that there is no direct relation between the two. Anyhow, we managed to get our hands on the Enermax Ostrog for our trials. Our initial impressions of the chassis, due to its clean and simple exterior, were that it was functional and fit for the average DIY builder.
With a suggested retail price of S$89, the Enermax Ostrog pits itself against other entry-level offerings like the BitFenix Outlaw and Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus. Read on as we dissect the Enermax Ostrog casing over the next few pages and find out if it has enough features and a good enough implementation to make it stand out from the competition.
The Enermax Ostrog sports a clean and unblemished facade, save for a white inset wire mesh (also comes in red).
External Design
According to its specifications, the Enermax Ostrog is manufactured from a mixture of SGCC and SECC steel. Both are basically galvanized steel, but the former is formed form a hot-dipped galvanization process whereas the latter is formed via the electroplating process. Either way, you'll have no concerns of the steel getting rusted as with most other chassis too. The best is its overall matte black finish which gives it a higher-class feel than the usual entry-level casings. To break the monotony of the black steel, there is an acrylic side panel to showcase the components that will make up the system. The presence of the transparent side panel does remind us of the Antec One Hundred Window; however, in this case, the Ostrog has the option of mounting up to two cooling fans on the panel, a literal one up on the former that features only one optional side cooling fan. Beware that mounting high speed fans on the acrylic side panel can contribute to vibrations, thus contributing to the noise produced by the case.
This mid-tower casing has a nice solid feel unlike some entry-level casings where the panels flex due to very thin metal sheets used.
Looking at the top of the chassis, we located the front panel ports that feature a pair of USB 3.0 ports and a pair of USB 2.0 ones. The power button is featured centrally while the reset button is recessed to its left. The headphones and microphone jacks crown the power button. To the button's right, are the indicator lights for power and HDD activity respectively.
Crowning its facade are front panel I/O ports that sit horizontally. We would have preferred them to be angled like the ones found on the Antec One Hundred Window - this would have been friendlier if the casing is placed on the desk or under the table.
The Enermax Ostrog sports a pleasant and clean facade. The white mesh frame, which is seated in the recess of the front panel, can be replaced with a mesh of another color to update the casing's appearance (though it's not really a mentioned feature). We had with us an extra red mesh (which costs S$8). In order to remove it, the front panel has to be detached from the chassis. The panel's removal involved a fair bit of finger work as we had to pinch and push a pair round clips (near the bottom of the front panel) before we could remove it from chassis with a quick jerk at the bottom grip of the front panel. The white mesh was held in place at the front panel by a total of twelve retaining tabs, which are part of the mesh itself. The tabs had to be pried straight before the mesh could be removed; hence, we certainly do not recommend doing this often as the tabs could be broken off with repeated prying. We advise against using your fingernails; instead, use a flat-tipped screwdriver for this task.
On the right, the photo shows that round clips that we had to pinch in order to dislodge them slightly from their fastening holes. We really haven't seen a case in a long while using such basic fasteners and this could be a bother during case maintenance.
The mesh of the front panel does play a role in the front ventilation of the chassis as we noticed there weren't any additional front vents, save for the bottom cut-out of the panel that doubles up as a grip for the panel.
The replacement front mesh has a SRP of S$8. Locally, there are only two colors available - white and red.
As we have mentioned earlier, one of the side panels has a clear acrylic panel for showcasing any installed components of the system. The top vents of the acrylic panel support either a 120mm or a 140mm cooling fan while the bottom ones only support a single 140mm one.
The optional side cooling options on the Ostrog.
The removal of the side panels is a tool-free affair as the thumb screws that held them in place were easy to screw out. The side panel, with its clear acrylic panel, sports a handle that can be flipped up for the panel's easy removal.
The handle flips up for a comfortable finger grip.
The rear view of the Enermax Ostrog presents a single 140mm exhaust fan, seven expansion slots and two grommets for liquid-cooling setups. There are also numerous exhaust cut-outs next to the expansion slots. The bottom of the chassis does reveal a surprise; a removable dust filter for the air vents of for the bottom-mounted PSU. Just next to the vent is the optional 120mm cooling fan mount for further cooling options, but as you'll soon see on the next page, this is hardly usable in a practical system installation.
The rear view of the Ostrog that is typical of a mid-tower ATX casing. Note the expansions slot covers aren't re-usable and need to be bashed out on initial use - very old-school.
The washable dust filter for the air vents of the PSU; to its right are the air vents for the optional bottom 120mm cooling fan.
Internal Design
Accessing the interior of the Enermax Ostrog is easy and it is made so with the side panel with the finger handle (as shown in the earlier page). The four rear thumbscrews that held the side panels in place were easy to remove without the use of any tools. With the side panels removed, we found its interior roomy and according to Enermax, the Ostrog is capable of accommodating high-end graphics cards up to 413mm in length. There is a removable 3.5-inch HDD cage as well as a removable external-facing 3.5-inch drive bay, which sits on top of the HDD cage. Both of these are removable so that they can make way for high-end graphics cards with oversized customized coolers. Lastly, we noticed the motherboard panel features numerous cut-outs for easy cable management.
The cables from the front panel were neatly bundled and tied to the cut-outs of the motherboard panel.
The Enermax Ostrog gave us the impression that it is a relatively tool-free chassis when it came to the installation of our test components. There were a number of retaining clips that are featured with the 5.25- and 3.5-inch drive enclosures; hence, installation of drives were done without the use of any tools. For example, in order to install our floppy drive into the external-facing 3.5-inch drive bay, we slid it into place, making sure its securing holes line up with the holes of the bay. Once the drive is in place, we fastened the enclosure's retaining clip with quick ease - just ensure the short, black tips at both ends of the clip are inserted into the securing holes of the drive. The center fastening stub rotated into place once it was inserted properly into its corresponding cut-out of the drive enclosure.
The clip has a cheap plastic feel to it; effective but a somewhat crude implementation of such retaining devices.
The installed retaining clips are shown here with an inner view of the drive cage; you can see their center fastening stubs in locked position.
Making sure the screw holes of our 3.5-inch drive (such as the good old floppy drive) are lined up properly with those of the drive bay.
Besides the 3.5-inch external drive enclosure, we also tried installing a HDD in the removable 3.5-inch HDD enclosure that can accommodate up to three such drives. We had to fit the bundled HDD rails onto both sides of our HDD. After that, we slid the HDD, with its pair of attached rails, into the HDD enclosure - simple and straightforward. The Ostrog chassis also came with a single 5.25-inch bay adapter that will allow a 3.5-inch drive to be installed into any of the four 5.25-inch drive bays.
We lined up the rail and mounted it onto our HDD.
We slid the HDD into the bay until we heard a comforting sound of a click as the HDD rails snapped into a locked position.
The bundled 5.25-inch drive bay adapter.
To ascertain how roomy the interior of the casing was, we proceeded with the installation of the other common components that make up a typical system. After we screwed on the board's standoffs, we installed the board, followed by our 267mm (10.5-inch) long graphics card. After our graphics card was installed, there was very little clearance between the card and the drive bay ahead of it. Hence, it was impossible into install any drive at the bay, effectively rendering it redundant.
It was too close for comfort between our 267mm graphics card (a typical 10.5-inch sized card) and the external-facing 3.5-inch drive bay.
In order to ascertain the claim by Enermax that the Ostrog is able to accommodate graphics cards up to 413mm in length (though we don't have a card that long), we installed a HIS Radeon HD 7870 IceQ Turbo that featured a larger-than-life customized cooler. We had to remove the external facing 3.5-inch drive bay in order to accommodate the HIS Radeon graphics card. Upon its removal, the 3.5-inch removable HDD cage below it felt a little wobbly since it has lost its top support. The problem could have been easily overcome had there been a securing hole on the other side of the case, so this is an oversight from Enermax.
So here's how the setup would look like without the external facing 3.5-inch drive bay. What if we needed a dual graphics card setup? The removable HDD drive cage would have to go as well! In such a scenario, HDDs will then have to be installed at the bottom-most hard drive cage or use adapters to mount them within the 5.25-inch drive bays.
There were four rubber stand-offs for the installation of our PSU which provided some allowance from the bottom vent, thus improving air intake of the PSU. However after installing our PSU, we found that there was little allowance for the optional 120mm bottom cooling fan vent that's in front of the PSU air intake vent. This was made worse once we installed our 3.5-inch HDD into the bottom 3.5-inch drive bay that was not removable from the chassis. While having vents is fine for improved air flow, punching four holes and calling it an optional fan mounting position is just bad planning and marketing.
Besides the almost non-existent possibility of installing a 120mm cooling fan at the base. the wire tangle from the PSU is enough reason to deter anyone considering adding an additional fan at this spot.
Besides the above mentioned non-usable fan mounting spot, there was no lack of cooling options for the Ostrog casing. Earlier, we highlighted the two side panel cooling options found on its transparent side panel. In addition to the rear cooling fan (which is provided), there were also top and front cooling options.
Users can opt to install a 120mm cooling fan that can be installed near the bottom front of the casing - ideal for hard drive cooling. Too bad it's not provided.
There was also the option of mounting a pair of 120mm or 140mm cooling fans at the top of the chassis.
This is how the internal of the Ostrog looked like after we had installed all our test components.
This is another perspective of the Ostrog's interior after we installed the HIS Radeon HD 7870 IceQ Turbo card. If a dual graphics card configuration is required, it would only be feasible with the removal of the 3.5-inch HDD cage, in addition to the prior removal of the external facing 3.5-inch drive bay.
Conclusion
Initially, we had a lot of misgivings about the mid-tower ATX Enermax Ostrog chassis as we were unable to perform even the most basic tasks like installing and securing components like the motherboard and graphics card. Thankfully it turned out to be a defective piece as we requested for a replacement version, which solved these basic issues and we were able to conduct our review in proper. You would hardly hear of these issues in this day and age, but if you do encounter something similar to our experience, just get the case exchanged.
The Enermax Ostrog has a decent entry-level case without sacrificing neither form nor function. Ease of use could have been better though.
Apart from the very initial setback, we like the strong solid build of the chassis and the transparent acrylic side panel to show off the installed components. The side panel is similar to that of the Antec One Hundred Window casing; however, the former has the advantage of fitting up to two cooling fans. In terms of the front panel ports, we feel that it is ample since it supports up to two USB 3.0 ports, along with the usual expected options. The layout of the buttons and other ports are well thought out, with the power button that featured centrally. However the location of the front panel ports and buttons could have been better positioned to consider users who would place the case on the desk as well as those who would chuck it below the desk. The current placement favors placing the chassis underneath your work desk.
Our almost tool-free installation was a pleasant experience due to presence of drive bay retaining clips. Their implementation is not as slick as that of the Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus but compared to the BitFenix Outlaw (which featured thumbscrews for mounting drives), Ostrog's tool-free retaining clips are a decent alternative. Its cable management cut-outs also made it stand out, especially against the Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus which lacks space behind the motherboard tray to allow any cable management efforts.
The interior space of the Ostrog is not as roomy as its Cooler Master counterpart, mostly because of its shorter casing depth. In the event you need to upgrade to a multi-GPU setup, the Ostrog can only accommodate these cards upon the removal of its 3.5-inch HDD cage as well as its external facing 3.5-inch drive bay. This would leave only two options for the installation of any 3.5-inch drives; the bottom hard drive bay (fits two drives) and the use of 5.25-inch drive bays with the use of adapters (only one is provided with the case though). Due to its removable drive bays, the Ostrog can offer users more leeway in terms of graphics card configurations than either the Antec One Hundred and the BitFenix Outlaw. This is one of the more versatile budget casings we've come across and it pulls it off while maintaining a more compact form.
The numerous cooling options are impressive but we are slightly disappointed that the case only provides one rear fan out-of-the-box, as well as the space constraints faced with regards to its bottom cooling option (near the installed PSU). Despite that, the Ostrog did come up on top in overall case cooling options, beating the rest of the comparative casings we've highlighted.
However, it's not all rosy as we found a few factors that gives way away its budget nature and we certainly hope they can be improved upon. First and foremost, while the Ostrog has removable drive bay options, we found the hard drive bay to be flimsy once the external facing 3.5-inch drive bay was removed. This could have been easily overcome with an additional screw mount on the opposite side of the casing. Next up, we dislike the fact the case requires the user to bash out the expansion slot covers which are not re-usable in nature. By now, you would have expected such designs would have long been banished. It doesn't stop there and we found yet another archaic design used to fix casing's front panel to the chassis. This requires a lot of force to pinch and punch the tabs from within the casing to pop out the casing's front cover - something we've not encountered in many years. So for casing maintenance purposes and accessing the front optional fan mount, you can't run away from this old process.
Overall, the Enermax Ostrog is a casing that will meet the requirements of most basic rig-builders, even those who want to overclock their rigs or pair it with a liquid-cooling system. For hardcore gamers who opt for more than a single graphics card, they will face some space constraints, especially those who are looking to install more than two drives into the 3.5-inch drive bays. Despite its plain looks, the S$89 Ostrog is a reasonable entry-level mid-tower ATX chassis that meets the demands of consumers looking to build simple systems with high-quality hardware. In our opinion, it could be priced lower for better value, but fortunately, we've already seen it retailing for less.
For those looking forward to better ease of use and more space to accommodate more components without workarounds, budget casings shouldn't be in your scope and you would do better selecting the mid-range models priced around the S$150 bracket.
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