Final Words & Conclusion

The Verdict

Veni, vidi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered. This can be the only right catch phrase when it comes to the introduction of Ikonik. What a spectacular entrance these guys have made.

There is so much to like about the product. Let's start off with the chassis design. Taste is a difficult thing, therefore explaining taste and style in a review is always also difficult, somewhat personal and thus subjective. We feel that the design of the chassis is just stunning. It's stylish, not at all screams or shouts, it brings a certain professional flavor into the market. Face it, this is a chassis you would be proud to show your friends.

When it comes to the actual usability and chassis design, there's little to complain about. Most of the chassis is made out of aluminum. It's an excellent heat conductor, very light weight and as far as a chassis goes .. the best material to work with. The top plate however is made out of plastic, a bit of a shame but well .. we can certainly live with it. The inside of the chassis is spacious. There's plenty of room to work with and very importantly, everything is thought through well. Simple things like the removable motherboard tray, the ease of use in installing storage devices, tool less design for the bigger part. Small rubber strips to prevent the PSU and HDDs from resonating and then the wiring job. Everything has been done with great detail.

When it comes to the liquid cooling, we can only conclude that the design works pretty well. It's not high up there in the enthusiast region though, but surely it will produce decent results. The integration of the complete water-cooling loop is stylish as well. It's clean, clear and not at all messy.

The SIM integration is something I like very much. Controlling the fan RPM with pre-defined settings per segment of the chassis. It's just a simple yet very effective method. The software can use a little more work though, as I would like to define user based profiles. Simple stuff, if the temperature reaches 40 Degrees at the HDDs I wan to fan rotation on that segment to go up to 60%, something along these lines. The software as it is, works well though, simple but well.

Is everything perfect then? Ehm no. The choice of using no less than 13 fans is just shocking. Of course, with such a large amount of fans, one can expect a fair bit of noise, and the Ra X10 Liquid certainly isn't going to win any awards for being a silent chassis. Even in silent mode, it will produce an audible noise level. And that's the choice you will need to make. Though I would rate the chassis design extremely good, the noise levels did catch me off guard a little. It can be solved easily, user based RPM profiles or just disabling some of the fans, as really we do not need a storm inside the PC anyway. It's not that Ikonik used noisy fans, it's just that 13 fans combined accumulate alot of air pressure.

I am however extremely anal when it comes to noise, that's a fact as well. On that note, the flow meter at the top of the chassis floats in the liquid coolant and makes contact with the little plastic window, that makes a soft rattling noise too, and I found it somewhat bothersome. And sure, these are intricate tiny details, but here's the thing: the Ikonik Ra -X10 Liquid will set you down 499 USD, and that is a grim amount of money. As such you may expect the very best quality. But that's really all I can think of.

Currently the Ra X10 is available in three versions, the tested LIQUID model sells at 499 USD, the SIM model (identical without liquid cooling) sells at 379,- USD and the more basic and silent with less fans, PURE model costs 370 USD. Again, remember .. think in the lines of Lian-Li pricing, these are all based on an aluminum chassis.

Stunning design, good liquid cooling, great ease of use and definitely something worthy of showing. With the Ra -X10 Liquid chassis Ikonik is making a spectacular entry into the market, and if they keep improving and working on their marketing, I guarantee it's going to be a well established brand in 2009 of which you'll hear a lot about.

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