Crystal Sea: Hardwarecooking silver medal

The Crystal Sea in five figures

HC Silver medal from Hardwarecooking: Silver
pre-installed ARGB fans, controller included: 7
of graphics card at most: 400 mm
of radiator on top: 360 mm
price recorded by Hardwarecooking: ≈ 140 €

Glass against glass

A 41.5 cm mid-tower, all glass and straight lines.

The Crystal Sea belongs to the “fish tank” family of cases: tempered glass at the front and on the left side, joined to each other with no chassis pillar between them. Nothing breaks the view of the components.

Hardwarecooking compares it to the benchmark of the genre, whose spirit it shares, with one big difference: that one is sold without a fan, while the Crystal Sea ships with seven, along with their controller and a remote for the lighting. The reviewer puts their value at around a hundred euros if bought separately.

The Crystal Sea in three-quarter view: two glass panels joined without a corner post, seven fans lit in blue

The build, as seen by Hardwarecooking

A demanding build: Core i9-13900K, RTX 4070, 360 mm watercooling, ATX motherboard.

The power supply slides into place
It sits at the bottom of the rear compartment, on its bracket. The 2.5-inch SSDs screw onto the vertical plate, on anti-vibration rubbers.
The motherboard needs three standoffs
For an ATX board, the right-hand row isn't fitted at the factory: three standoffs are supplied, to be screwed in yourself.
The 360 mm takes the top
The radiator mounts up top, as an exhaust. The only thing to watch: keep the EPS cables away from the blades.
Cables, the final test
The routing gaps are narrow: an assembled 8-pin EPS won't fit, you have to split it into two 4-pin connectors.

One hour of Aida64, case closed

on average for the i9-13900K, 94 °C peak: 72 °C
at most for the RTX 4070 Founders Edition: 65.5 °C
peak for the NVMe SSD: 49 °C
at most for the power stage: 60 °C

Why silver, and not gold

Temperatures stay within norms with an i9-13900K, a processor known to be hard to cool. What holds Hardwarecooking back is the details:

no USB Type-C port on the front panel;
a single dust filter, magnetic, on the top;
radiators limited to the top (360 mm) and the rear (120 mm);
standoffs to fit and tight cable routing.

But the design appeals, and the value for money, fans included, takes the medal.

Two sentences from Hardwarecooking

Overall, we still appreciate that the brand supplies so many pre-installed fans.
Cyril KleinHardwarecooking, 3 June 2023
For a recent case, that is a painful omission.
Cyril KleinHardwarecooking, on USB Type-C

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