Enermax StarryKnight SK30: Not only impressive looks

Conclusion

Enermax’s latest case strikes a fairly good balance between visual and functional features. The more intense ARGB LED lighting is complemented by as many as four fans. Combined with a decently perforated front panel, the airflow is “taken care of”. On the other hand, there are a few things to complain about in this price range. What is attractive and what is not about the StarryKnight SK30 midi-tower?

Conclusion

Three 140mm and one 120mm fans were able to keep up in tests with cases such as the Irid 505 F or Regnum 400 ARGB. The temperatures of the hottest components, the CPU and graphics card, were almost identical. With the alternative of mounting the bottom 140 mm fan directly under the ceiling, you can bring the temperatures down a notch. The graphics card temperatures also need to be monitored when doing this so that they don’t rise unreasonably high.

The design of the case is its biggest weakness. The front panel is airy but without effective protection against dust, as there is only a filter with larger holes. The case does have three USB connectors, but they are all type A. One of them is even of the slow USB 2.0 standard. There was also a very inaccurate “joint” between the case body and the front panel on the tested case. There is a pronounced dip at the top, which doesn’t look exactly inviting. Especially when you look at it from just the right angle.

But I must praise the holes for cables, whose size is rather above standard. Thanks to this, threading and plugging in the cables was simple and easy. Under larger graphics cards, you have a bracket on the tray. Two 120 mm fans can blow on the graphics cards from underneath, and this option is not very common in cases.

Thanks to the large space inside, you can fit even the largest components such as an E-ATX motherboard into the case. During installation, there were no difficulties that would make fitting hardware into the case uncomfortable. That is, except for one, which is the dual-connector fan power cables. The Molex always had to be hidden somewhere behind the back of the tray, while the 3-pin connector almost didn’t reach into the motherboard header.

The cooling performance of the case is enough to comfortably play games and, of course, do some heavy work on a build in it. But for about a hundred euros, pretty lights aren’t everything. It also has its shortcomings, for which StarryKnight SK 30 deserves the “Approved” award.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

• Contents
• Exterior
• Interior
• Test methodology
• CPU and GPU cooling tests
• Motherboard cooling tests
• SSD cooling tests and under-ceiling temperature
• Conclusion