Components & Storage
Software & Services
iStarUSA S-915 Black Tower Compact Stylish mini-ITX Tower
$284.19
iStarUSA S-915 Black Aluminum / Steel Tower Compact Stylish mini-ITX Tower 5 External 5.25″ Drive Bays
| Brand |
iStarUSA |
|---|---|
| Model |
S-915 |
| Chassis Type |
Tower |
| Color |
Black |
| Case Material |
Aluminum ,Steel |
| Motherboard Compatibility |
Mini ITX |
| External 5.25 Drive Bays |
5 |
| Internal 2.5 Drive Bays |
1 |
| Expansion Slots |
2 |
| Front Ports |
USB 2.0 |
| 80mm Fans |
1 |
| Features |
Sleek Front Panel with Power On Button5x5.25" Bays Available for Mobile Drive CageAluminum Front Panel with USB 2.0Front Door Keylock Design to Secure Data insideHeavy Duty SECC ConstructionCompatible with Standard PS2 Power SupplySupport Standard I/O SlotSupport mini-ITX MotherboardPower and HDD LED IndicatorsOne 80mm Cooling FanInternal 2.5" Bay for OS HDD. |
| Dimensions H x W x D |
7.23" x 9.29" x 16.46" |
| First Listed on Newegg |
August 09 ,2013 |
6 reviews for iStarUSA S-915 Black Tower Compact Stylish mini-ITX Tower
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Ronna W. –
Pros: I bought this as a NAS case. I typically use ReadyNAS and I decided I wanted more performance and control so I bought this case. iStarUSA has been a good company for me in this regard as I have a lot of internal drive bays from them to go with this. I am using this with a supermicro X9SPV-LN4F-3QE that also uses ECC ram. It is not a cheap board but with this case it is an extremely solid ZFS Freenas machine. Use this case in conjunction with iStar internal raid cages. Cons: It is a MiniITX case, I had wanted the other model they have on their site, the S-919 which has more bays and is MicroATX but it is not available for sale yet. Overall Review: You get what you pay for.
David H. –
Pros: Dismantles into individual pieces. You can take each piece apart to modify as you wish. It makes it much easier to work on. Some other brands are riveted together & are harder to modify.I put 3/4″ rubber feet on the bottom. On the top, I put two handles to make it easier to lift the finished computer. The case has (7) 5.25 external slots. I put full sized BluRay & DVD burners. Also used 5.25 to 3.5 adapters to mount card readers,dual hot swap 2.5 drive bay, & USB + Audio bay. Everything fits in very well as it is large, 7.23″W x 12.68″H x 18.82″D. It is very well made. Cons: It is pushing the “Small Form Factor” size.
It would be worth the price if it came with a 600W PSU; but
it doesn’t. Overall Review: It is hard to find an ITX case with (7) 5.25″ External bays.
Sidharth C. –
Pros: Very modular since almost every piece can taken off/replaced. 7 5.25″ bays adds to the usefulness. The m-ITX standoffs are premounted. Very sturdy and heavy. Only takes up 1700 cubic inches which means you can get 11 HDDs + motherboard in just 1 cubic foot. Cons: Airflow in this case isn’t very good. There is only 1 120mm fan spot. I think this case should have at least one more 120mm fan mount on top for an exhaust. Even with high CFM fans on the ICY Dock drive cages the drives are still near 40 C.
The screws that are mounted on the bays are very difficult to get out. I don’t even know why they put them on there. It took me like an hour to do that.
The hole mounts don’t seem align very good for the drive cages I used (Icy Dock & AMS).
The documentation is sparse to non existent. Even if you download their PDF it gives no directions at all about where the connectors go especially their cleaved USB 2.0 connector. I couldn’t get it to work at all. The reset “button” can only work if you use a pen or something since it isn’t a button at all. The only positive is that the connectors have different colors on them.
I think this product is meant for industrial use or for integrators. Overall Review: Overall very modular. Lots of ancillary problem (see Cons section). I used this as an external RAID enclosure for 11 HDDs (it could be used for 10 HDDs & 6/8 SSDs as well). The Intel 24-port SAS expander I used along with all the SAS cables was a very tight fit so airflow was a problem.
I think in retrospect I probably should have bought a Lian Li case which probably has better airflow, however this is a good case but for my purpose it didn’t entirely meet my needs.
Jason M. –
Pros: Well made! Efficient use of internal space! Small footprint. Cons: A bit tight inside with ATX sized power supply. Overall Review: I first bought a 550 watt Seasonic ATX power supply for this case. It fit but really made the space tight behind the drive cages and left a minimum amount of air space over the motherboard. I opted to change out the full sized power supply for a SFX sized Corsair SF 450 (made by Seasonic according to the UL registration number) and a ATX to SFX adapter plate. It made all the difference in the world in both available space and system temperatures.
I would really love it if Newegg would carry the 12 bay model of this case (S-9112). I contacted iStarUSA to buy one but they said a minimum order of 50 is required. So please Newegg, order some!
Patka –
Overall Review: Nobody at iStarUSA paid attention to details when they designed this case. For starters, the fit and finish inside the case is not great, plenty of sharp edges everywhere. Its also easy to scratch the paint.
Then, a USB 2.0 port in 2023! With weird wiring to boot (and no documentation). Anyway, I replaced it with a panel-mounted USB 3.0 port from StarTech, fits perfectly.
Then the power LED with a 3-pin connector. Youll have to jury-rig something to connect it to the two pins on the mobo.
But the biggest issue by far is cooling. Theres only one fan, an 80mm exhaust. Maybe its enough if you use a puny mobo with a 10W CPU, but its not good enough for modern CPUs. Its a shame because theres plenty enough room for two 80mm exhaust fans side by side. Incidentally, the included fan is 80×15, but a Noctua 80×25 fits fine. I decided to go with a 65W AMD CPU and reduced it to 35W in the BIOS to avoid overheating and its still overhearing under moderate load.
There are no intake fans (except for the PSU). In my case, I populated the 5 front drive bays with SilverStone enclosures for 2.5 drives and those have some rudimentary ventilation and two fans. But if the front drive bays do not have ventilation, then you simply dont have an air intake anywhere. Stupid. Theres no reasons why you could not have one or two 80mm fans at the bottom of the case, except that iStatUSA didnt drill ventilation holes for it. It wouldnt have killed them, and it would have given people the option of mounting additional fans if needed. Simply stated, a single 80mm fan cant cut it and cooling is the Achilles heel of this case.
Incidentally, the PSU air intake has a ridiculously restrictive air filter. And on the subject of the PSU, definitely go with an SFX model because space is quite limited. I used a SilverStone ATX to SFX adapter bracket because it has ventilation holes (like I said, air intake is a big problem with this case and every little bit helps).
And finally, the motherboard tray does not have a cutout to access an SSD that might be mounted on the back of the mobo (not uncommon for the ITX format).
If you need a small ITX case with five external 5.25″ drive bays, this is the only one in existence that I know of, which is why I bought it. But I really wish iStarUSA had paid a bit more attention to details, especially cooling.