Inter-Tech C-701 Panorama Review

Introduction

Some cases are useful, some are cheap, others have good airflow, and some might even look good. And then there Inter-Tech who doesn't want to be held back by a single aspect, so they try to squeeze everything into a single chassis.

Meet the Inter-Tech C-701 Panorama, a case that is supposed to perform really well while looking really good and not burn up all of your hard-earned money.

Being marketed as a usual "Mid-Tower" case, the C-701 Panorama almost falls into the Show-Case category because of its special design. Yet it is still able to keep all the standardized sizes and compatibility.

Let's take a  closer look at the C-701 Panorama and see if looking great comes at a cost!

What's in the Box?

Just like we're used to, the C-701 comes in a big brownish carton box. Inside, we will find the Case itself, wrapped in some plastic foil and held in place with the usual styrofoam blocks.

However, once the case is outside, you will immediately see the two Tempered Glass side panels that are responsible for the case's incredible design.

Both Glass panels are held in place by 4 Thumbscrews, positioned at each edge of the glass.

Inside the case, we will find an additional bag of goodies containing the usual Mothoard/PSU Screws, Spacers, and so on.

Specs

Even though the specs might get a bit confusing due to the Watercooling support that we will talk about in a minute, we summarized the Spec sheet down below:

Compatibility

In terms of compatibility, there is (almost) nothing missing inside this showcase-like consumer product.

For Motherboards and PSU's, the case keeps the absolute standard with (up to) ATX size,

In Terms of GPUs, the C-701 allows for up to 370mm long GPUS, meaning that even these enormous RTX 3000 cards will fit right in.  

But here is where the positive run ends.

Due to the Layout of the C-701, the PSU had to be moved into a separate compartment behind the motherboard.

In order to not make the Case enormous, the depth of the Motherboard compartment had to suffer. Therefore there is only space for an Up to 130mm high CPU cooler. Not at all what we like to see in a case meant for really expensive and hot hardware.

But the amount of Fan/Radiator spots make it very clear that this case is actually meant for watercoolers.

With 9x 120mm Fan spots at the Top/Center/Bottom, there is more than enough space to cool down the PC.

But here begins the complicated part.

Due to the Central Fan/Radiator Spot sharing a tiny amount of space with the Top/Bottom spot, it is not possible to install 3x 360mm Radiators.

The maximum configuration that is possible is 1x 360mm Radiator at the Top, 1x 360mm Radiator in the Bottom, and 1x 240mm Radiator in the center.

Using smaller-sized Watercoolers, every configuration would be possible.

Additionally, you have the possibility to install 4x 80mm fans. Two of them In front of the Motherboard, and 2 behind. 

Though, keep in mind that these are also meant for the SSDs, forcing you to choose.

The left-over SSD/HDD spots are located behind the Motherboard.

There you will find a detachable Frame that can hold 2x 3.5" Drives on the inside and 2x 2.5" on the outside.

IO

Unfortunately, the IO is one of the least exciting aspects of the C-701 Panorama.

With only 2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0, we wonder why the USB 2.0 has not been yet replaced with a single USB-C.

Although we understand that keeping a case such a budget-friendly price range has to come with its downsides, this is one change that we would see highly positive if there is ever to be a v2.

Cable Management

When it comes to Cable Management, the case comes with a special type of treat.

Unlike most cases, the C-701 Panorama does not depend on sophisticated Cable management routes and hiding brackets. Due to the tremendous amount of space in the PSU compartment, it is an ease to hide all of the cables where ever you please.

To not create a mess, Inter-Tech made sure to provide a handful of Zip-Ties holders.

Of course, the Inter-Tech C-701 Panorama does also come with the usual Cable-cutouts around the mainboard.

Cooling

As mentioned before, there are 9x 120mm Fan spots available inside the C-701, while allowing for the usage of up to 2x 360mm and 1x 240mm Radiators.

Comparing this amount to most other cases this size, and especially price range makes it quite clear that the C-701 has an immense cooling potential.

Each of the before-mentioned Fan spots comes with its own magnetically attached dust filter. Even the ones at the bottom of the case.

Additionally, Inter-tech also made sure to cover the PSU with its own magnetical dust filter which is located on the inside of the Back-Panel.

All in all, the Inter-Tech C-701 offers a huge amount of cooling potential if used properly. But in our opinion, this propper usage does require a Water cooling system. With only 130mm CPU height, and this huge amount of Radiator spots, it became very clear that this case is meant for AIOs.

Design

The most important aspect of the C-701 Panorama has to be its design.

Using two separate Tempered Glass side panels allows the user to fully admire the beautiful Build (or mess) that he has created.

Though we are highly recommending the usage of RGB fans, as they can significantly improve how the finished machine looks. As a small bonus, the Case offers a Full-on view on the Central Fans, something that is quite rare.

That being said, we also highly advise you to (at least) fill the Central Fan spots. As the IO of the Case is located directly behind these Fan Spots, this is also the place where the cables are coming out. Not filling these spots would result in seeing these cables permanently, which does not look good at all.

When used correctly (by using 9x RGB Fans) the Inter-Tech C-701 looks stunning. The huge amount of RGB paired with a full-on view of the Motherboard, GPU and everything else makes the case really stand out!

Installation

For this case, we used the following components:

• ASRock B550 Pro4
• AMD Ryzen 3700x
• EVGA 2080Super
• 2x GSkill Trient Z
• Be Quiet Pure Power
• NZXT Kraken X53 RGB

The installation process was one of the easiest we've had so far.

After removing both Tempered Glass panels, there was a huge amount of space inside the case, making it a very enjoyable experience.

There was no squeezing whatsoever, every component was directly accessible and we were able to install our system in personal record time.

But this is not only due to the immense space inside the case. The fact that there is so much space next to the PSU made it extremely easy to cable manage the finished system. Though we have to admit that due to us being able to just "jam" the cables in there, we were able to save a lot of time and effort. 

Inter-Tech offers an optional "Vertical GPU Kit" which allowed the GPU to be installed - who would have guessed - vertically.

In order to install it, you need to remove each PCI Bracket and place the Kit inside by aligning the kit's standoffs with the cutouts where the PCI brackets were.

After screwing in the 4 Screws (2 in the Front Compartment, 2 in the Back compartment) the Kit is ready to be used as intended.

Performance

Usually, this segment is reserved for our standardized benchmarks.

But unfortunately, the C-701 is more a Show-Case than a standardized m/ATX case. Due to the fan spots being located completely differently than most other cases, we decided to abstain from our standardized benchmarks.

Nevertheless, we wanted to test the case.

Therefore we installed our Ryzen 3700x paired with our EVGA 2080s. For the CPU cooling, we decided to go with an NZXT Kraken X53 RGB.

Then we filled every left-over fan Spot with one of our Arctic P12 PWM PST and started to grill the CPU with heavy load and GPU with Furmark on 1080p/8x Anti-Aliasing.

After letting the system heat up, the CPU stayed at 67°C while the GPU was able to stay at 65°C.

Even though we are unable to compare these results directly to another case, they are quite good for long-term usage.

That being said, we have nothing negative to say about the case's Cooling performance. 

Conclusion

In general, we were quite surprised by the case.

The case can be bought for 65-85€, making it a really affordable deal for such a spec sheet.

Yet the Build quality does not in any way resemble a budget case.

The used metal is quite thick, creating a quality feeling if you press on different parts.

In addition to that, the Cooling compatibility is also quite impressive (though a big complicated).

But there are also a few things that we would like to see improved if there is ever to be a v2.

The feet are extremely wobbly. They could be a bit bigger and (a lot) stronger.

The Top Fan spots only support 120mm Fans, while the actual punching in the metal plate would allow for 140mm Fans. We would love to see support for 140mm Fans in the Top.

We would love to see the Watercooling situation improved. Even if we are quite shocked about the amount of radiator we were able to fit in this case,  we would have loved to be able to install 3x 360mm Radiators. This could be accomplished by making the case a cm higher and wider. Making it also easier to understand how many radiators can fit inside the case.

And as the last spot, we would like to point out that the IO is pretty outdated. The USB 2.0 Ports should definitely be replaced by a USB Type-C port.

Although those are quite a few "could improve" points, we still want to point out that the case is extremely affordable. With a maximum of 85€ right now (69€ on release), it is one of the cheapest show-case-like cases, yet it still offers support for a number of high-end reserved features.

As we noted in the past, it is crucial to never compare a budget case to a high-end case with a tripled price tag. And if you compare the Inter-Tech C-701 with other cases in its price range, it wins in almost any category.

Therefore, we can only recommend the Inter-Tech C-701 Panorama for everybody that wants to build a beautiful rig inside an affordable, yet good-performing case.