In Win D-Frame Mini-ITX Chassis Review
Peter Donnell / 5 years ago
Introduction
In Win are back once again with yet another flag-ship chassis to add to their collection. Their new In Win D-Frame Mini isn’t exactly a new model altogether, given that a couple of years ago they launched the full-size D-Frame. It is however a much smaller and user-friendly model, perfect for lugging with you to LAN events thanks to it’s smaller size, lower weight and built-in carry handle.
In Win are no stranger to crazy, ultra high-end and truly unique chassis. Over the last few years they’ve gone from manufacturing humble desktop chassis to creating some of the most desirable and original products on the market. Just take a look at the 904, 901, S-Frame, H-Frame, H-Frame Mini and Tou chassis’ which we’ve reviewed. Quality and originality come at a price and while the D-Frame mini is far from the most expensive chassis In Win produce, it’s still going to need a wallet stuffed with £250 for those looking to invest. So just how much chassis do you get for your hard-earned money? Let’s dive in a take a closer look at what the D-Frame Mini has to offer.
The chassis comes constructed from a series of aluminium tubing and aluminium metal plate. With the added benefit that its design gives it great strength and helps keep the chassis as light as possible. Don’t be too fooled though, this small chassis still packs a fair bit of weight courtesy of the two thick sheets of tempered glass that adorn the sides.
The glass side panels are lightly tinted, but still give you a great view of the chassis interior; which has been carefully designed to best show off the components of your system build.
From the front you can see there is a slightly recessed I/O panel, where you’ll find all the usual ports as well as the power and reset buttons. Behind that are the hard drive mounts, which are suspended from the motherboard backplate like a set of shelves.
Around the back we’ve got the PSU mount, which effectively hangs at the back of the chassis. Once very nice feature is that you can mount the PSU with the power cable at the bottom or the top, as there are two mounting plates on this chassis.
At the top of the chassis is a textured centre bar, this provides a great gripping point for picking up the chassis.
The base of the chassis is just as open as the rest of it. This is a good thing of course as there are two 120mm fan mounts in the base that are prefect for a 240mm radiator. The rubber clips that surround the chassis add some nice flair, but the ones on the base of the chassis also double as the feet.
