Installation and Operation (continued):
With all of the internal pieces in place, the case goes back together with ease. While attempting to use all four expansion slots may burden an already tight enclosure, they are there for you to give it a shot. I would just avoid the last slot (the one closest to the power supply), as the PSU's exhaust fan is the only fan included in the case, and it would be very close to that last card. It wouldn't blind it off, but it may restrict the airflow.
The images below show the fully assembled system from the front of the BK623. The optical drive fits nicely into the opening, which obviously lends itself more toward being used as a desktop case. While you can obviously use this as a tower or a desktop, the orientation of the optical drive while in tower mode may present a problem with drives that don't hold the media securely in the drive tray.
 
With basically the same components installed in this system as were installed in the In Win BT611, the thermal performance was compared in order to see just how well this tiny little case with just a PSU fan could perform. As mentioned earlier, the video card in the BK623 is a 128MB Radeon X800 GTO, while the card used in the BT611 is a 64MB Radeon X300 SE, due to height requirements. The X800 GTO should generate a bit more heat than the X300 SE, and we will see what the thermal monitoring tells us about the BK623's ability to handle it.
Testing consisted of loading the system to the Windows XP desktop and then letting it work on an application that may be somewhat typical for it. This is by no means a high end gaming rig, or processing power house, so the typical benchmark stress tests didn't seem appropriate. What did seem appropriate was to run a DVD based multimedia presentation I had recently received from my alma mater. This seemed more similar to a basic HTPC or desktop task, and would get the basic components of the system working / generating heat.
The chart below details the maximum sustained hard drive and CPU temperatures (as monitored by SpeedFan) with both systems operating in a 26 degree Celsius ambient temperature.
As you can see, the BK623 may only shave a few degrees off of either temperature, but consider some of the factors involved while it does so. There are no case fans - simply the processor fan and a silent PSU fan; while the BT611 has the same processor fan, its own PSU fan, and a 70mm case fan. There is far less noise - the BT611 may not be loud, but it now seems so after being put head-to-head with the BK623. The foot print is tiny - even though the CPU may be well cooled thanks to the PPCT, I was concerned about components like the hard drive getting hot since they are packed so tightly in that portion of the case. And finally, it has a higher end video card to contend with - the X800 GTO gets hotter than the X300 SE, and the BK623 still manages to stay cooler.
Overall I am very impressed with the noise output and cooling performance of the In Win BK623 Mt. Jade mATX Case. The system was cool and quiet, just what you need for an HTPC or a desktop installation. On top of that, the little power supply was able to keep things running smoothly with no power issues and without contributing any extra noise.
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