In the previous issue of Kyushu Fengshen's "Stormy Seascape Room," we introduced a gaming platform built on the foundation of Kyushu Fengshen's new Ice Storm 360 water cooler, the CH780 case, and the PX1200G power supply trio. Today, we present a new ITX case – the CH160, along with the brand-new Assassin 4S cooler, and the DQ750M-V3L WH power supply, offering an ensemble of pure white ITX customization.
Jonsbo A4 V3 ITX Case
In recent years, there has been a growing trend among gamers and DIY enthusiasts favoring compact PC cases. Many users have reached out to us via various channels, expressing their desire for recommendations on ITX products that are "affordable, easy to install, and perform well." Today, the three products we've selected perfectly meet these criteria. Furthermore, they all come in a sleek white color scheme, adding a touch of personality to their compact designs.
Jonsbo A4 V3 ITX Case
The Kyushu Fengshen DQ750M-V3L WH is a power supply unit certified with 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating, featuring a fully modular design. With an official warranty period of up to 7 years, it spans nearly two typical DIY cycles for most users. Its internal architecture utilizes LLC and DC to DC conversion, ensuring a more stable output and higher power delivery capability.
This installation only requires these few cables.
The power supply features a modular design, with original high-quality braided cables of 18AWG thickness. They are both soft and lightweight, making cable management effortless. The standard cable set includes: 20+4 main power cable x1 (60cm), CPU 8-pin power cable x1 (70cm), CPU 4+4 power cable x1 (80cm), PCI-E 6+2 power cable x3 (75cm), SATA power cable x2 (45+15+15+15cm), and 4-pin power cable x1 (45+15+15+15cm).
The DQ750M-V3L measures 15x14x8.6cm (standard ATX power supply), making it ideal for today's PC building setups. This power supply also features all-Japanese capacitors, which excel in enduring higher temperatures and offering superior electrical performance.
The DQ750M-V3L boasts significantly higher conversion efficiency compared to generic and bronze-rated products at a 50% workload. Official tests reveal its outstanding performance, with a conversion efficiency of ≥92.6% under AC230V—already meeting the platinum certification standard.
The fan of the DQ750M-V3L is a 120mm FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan, known for smoother rotation and lower noise levels. Additionally, this power supply features multiple protection circuits including undervoltage protection, overvoltage protection, and overtemperature protection.
The power interface is divided into two rows, with clear markings and a foolproof design. By the way, the original wiring interface is also white, deserving praise.
Nine Suns CH160 WH ITX Chassis
The highlight of this experience is the Jonsbo Fengshen CH160. It's an ITX case with dimensions as shown in the image above. Admittedly, the CH160 is slightly larger in volume compared to traditional mini cases, but this brings greater space, better hardware compatibility, improved cooling capacity, and easier assembly.
In the official specifications, the CH160 can support up to a maximum 14cm ATX power supply, so the DQ750M-V3L prepared for it today is just right. However, whether this power supply will "clash" with the graphics card remains to be seen after installation.
Due to its generous horizontal dimensions, the CH160 can accommodate radiators of up to 172mm in height, providing users with ample choices. Additionally, with support for triple-slot graphics cards (up to 305mm in length), the range of GPU options available is also expanded.
The CH160 features a large number of sizable square openings on the front and top. The left side sports a glass panel, while approximately one-third of the right side is meshed, providing a solid foundation for overall ventilation. Dust filters are present on the top, bottom, and front. The left, top, and right side panels are secured with screws.
2.5-inch SSD / 3.5-inch HDD / 120mm Fan Mount Bracket
The CH160 comes with a top handle as standard, which can be kept or removed as needed. This design provides convenience for students or gamers who require mobility.
The front I/O ports of the CH160 are located at the bottom left of the chassis, providing convenience for users and also covering the bottom cable routing. The chassis offers 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (10Gbps), 2x USB-A 3.2, and 1 headphone/microphone 2-in-1 jack.
The Kyushu Fengshen Assassin 4S WH heatsink.
The Asasin series of air-cooled radiators from Kyushu Fengshen has been in development for 12 years. The all-new Asasin 4S can be considered the culmination of the brand's efforts in the air cooling field. As a dual-tower fan, this product boasts numerous innovative designs.
The Assassin 4S is equipped with seven dual-direction constant heat balance heat pipes, ensuring efficient heat dissipation whether installed horizontally or vertically. The heatsink fins on both sides of the dual towers feature different styles of folded fins, adding a touch of modern architectural aesthetics. These finely crafted fins significantly increase the surface area for heat dissipation.
Top magnetic suction cover for convenient disassembly and installation of the fan.
The Assassin 4S supports AMD AM4/5 and Intel LGA 1155 to 1700 platforms, with corresponding accessories and sockets provided.
The Asassin 4S continues the dual-mode switch, with an average operating noise of only 22.6 dB in quiet mode and just 29.3 dB (on average) in performance mode.
The unit houses a 140mm FDB fan with three phases and six poles. Metal clasps on both sides of the fan allow it to be easily removed from the main body with a simple press.
The DM9 included with the heatsink is a high-performance organic silicon thermal grease, featuring ultra-low thermal resistance, easy application, and higher thermal conductivity.
Installation Guide for Hardware Systems
Before assembling, let's take a look at the finely crafted Asassin 4S's slightly raised, intricately sculpted pure copper base, polished to a mirror-like finish.
Next up is the "Memory Clearance" design for the radiator. We employ a pair of RGB light strips, with specific height requirements. However, the Assassin 4S's front flat and rear curved design allows for greater space clearance for the memory.
The installation of the CH160 isn't as cumbersome as traditional ITX cases. After removing the screws and taking off the three side panels/glass, we start by installing the PC platform. With a 90-degree inversion, two fan brackets are visible on the top, which also enhances the stability of the top. These brackets allow for the installation of two 120mm fans.
The power supply adopts a front-mounted design. By changing the position of the power supply mounting plate, various specifications of power supplies such as SFX, SFX-L, and ATX can be accommodated. In fact, we also considered whether using an SFX power supply and positioning it lower could support a 240mm liquid cooling system.
The CH160 isn't very large, but its huge opening (three sides removable, side-mounted I/O module board removable) makes wiring and routing much easier for us. Many excess wires can also be hidden behind the I/O board.
We're almost done with the installation inside the case. Once the I/O shield is in place, it covers a significant portion of the cable routing. The RTX 3060 we chose is a dual-fan small graphics card, leaving a huge space at the back, allowing for the installation of an ATX power supply (with a maximum GPU length of 210mm); if opting for an SFX power supply, it can even accommodate some triple-slot, triple-fan graphics cards (such as the reference RTX 4090 at 304x137mm).
So, CH160 offers users or players great options, playability, scalability, and possibilities. And the braided cables of the power supply also make our wiring much easier.
Brief Test on Noise and Heat Dissipation
For this test, we're focusing on installation and a brief performance evaluation. For the platform, we've opted for a set comprising the Mingxuan B760M ITX Wi-Fi motherboard, an Intel 13th Gen Core i5-13600K processor, Kingbank DDR5-6400MT/s 16GBx2 RGB RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 combination.
Previously, we experienced the combination of the Kyushu Fengshen CH780+Ice Storm 360 in a sea-view room, leaving us with an excellent impression due to its powerful cooling and low noise. Now, how does the smaller and more compact CH160+Assassin 4S perform? As before, our testing environment remains a typical residential setting, with temperatures ranging around 18 to 20°C.
We conducted a CPU "stress test" using AIDA64. From the figure above, it's evident that the CPU's peak power consumption is around 160W, with a stable power consumption at the same level (encapsulated); at this point, the temperature is maintained between 74 and 76°C. Then, we introduced a GPU "stress test," with the GPU's peak power consumption around 170W, stabilizing around that figure. At this stage, the CPU temperature stabilizes between 84 and 88°C. The overall test lasted approximately 20 minutes, with all values remaining essentially constant, showing no fluctuations.
When assessing the cooling capability of the platform, we also conducted noise testing using a sound level meter. Firstly, in front of the monitor, at the position of the user, the noise level measured approximately 37.8 decibels. Under a "single roasting" scenario, the noise level ranged from 42 to 43 decibels. Subsequently, placing the sound level meter 10cm to the left of the chassis, during "single roasting," the noise level was 41.3 decibels, and during "double roasting," it reached 43.2 decibels. This outcome is quite surprising, considering it's just an ITX small form factor chassis. Both the temperature under double roasting and the noise level are within the ideal range. In essence, the heat is manageable, and the system operates quietly.
The monitor for this test is 24 inches.
The Kyushu Fengshen CH160 is compact and easy to place. Even on a 1-meter desk, it can coexist harmoniously with a 27-inch monitor. Plus, placing it on the desktop makes it more convenient to use the front I/O ports. For those who prefer "light pollution," you can opt for the small CPU cooler with built-in RGB lighting, featuring two 120CM RGB fans on the top. For users who prefer a more understated and stable style, today's configuration is a good example. Apart from the RGB lighting on the memory, the illuminated logo on the top of the Assassin 4S is the only embellishment.
Experience Summary of the "Kyushu ITX Trio"
The slogan "small yet powerful" perfectly encapsulates the essence of the Nine Realms Wind God "ITX Trio" this time around. While there are those in the tech community who might say, "You'll regret not going ITX, and you'll regret going ITX even more," I believe this sentiment doesn't quite fit today's scenario. Compared to mini-ITX cases, which often come with significant limitations on cooling and PSU compatibility, the Nine Realms Wind God CH160, though slightly larger in size, caters to a broader user base and offers a competitive price advantage.
CH160 supports both ITX and ATX power supplies, offering ample flexibility for radiator and graphics card selection, as well as additional hard drive slots for expansion. Despite its seemingly large size post-upgrade, the "Assassin" is remarkably easy to install and takes into account motherboard/memory compatibility. Within the ITX chassis, the Asassin 4S effectively suppresses high temperatures of flagship processors while maintaining minimal noise levels throughout our entire testing process, providing a disturbance-free environment.
"I may be small and unassuming, but I hold immense potential."
I really admire the CH160 ITX case. It doesn't compromise heavily on size for the sake of being ultra-compact; instead, it strikes a good balance between space, usability, ease of installation, and price. It allows users to easily fit ITX motherboards, large CPU coolers, ATX power supplies, and high-end graphics cards inside. The whole assembly process doesn't lead to situations like "10 minutes to assemble, 1 and a half days to manage cables."
If you opt for the JONSBO CR-160 case and aren't too concerned about exposed cables, pairing it with the same power supply we use, with its extremely soft stock braided cables (great for cable management), can achieve a pleasing internal space aesthetic. Today's overall package we're using ticks all the boxes: from load capacity, cooling capability, power supply, to DIY aesthetics... it's all there. JONSBO offers a variety of choices for the DIY market, reasonably priced and worthy of recommendation to a wider user base.
