DeepCool CH690 Digital Case Review

The new CH690 Digital from DeepCool is a large ATX case with glass on the front and side. Unexpectedly the CH690 Digital also has glass at the rear and is supplied without any case fans, which shows an emphasis on looks and styling rather than airflow. That might suggest the CH690 Digital is a sealed hotbox, but in practice it performs better than we expected.

Main features

• Panoramic Design
  The CH690 DIGITAL features a sleek semi-glass panel showcasing your build. The rear supports DIY upgrades with a mesh panel and fan bracket to enhance airflow.
• The support you need
• Supports up to 420mm radiators, 182mm air coolers, 450mm GPUs, and 180mm PSUs, offering exceptional flexibility for high-performance builds.
• Real-time Monitoring
  A built-in digital display provides real-time system data, with switchable modes for CPU, GPU, and PSU, ensuring optimal performance at a glance.
• Quality of Life Design
  Features magnetic dust filters, an adjustable GPU holder, 36.5mm of rear cable management space, and user-friendly I/O ports, making the case simple and practical to use.

Specification:

• Motherboard support: ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX with Rear Connector support.
• Power supply support: ATX.
• Expansion slots: 8.
• Included fans: None.
• Fan mounts: 3x 120mm/140mm roof, 3x 120/140mm side, 1x 120mm/140mm rear, 3x 120mm/140mm PSU shroud.
• Radiator mounts: 360mm/420mm roof, 240mm/280mm side, 360mm PSU shroud.
• 5.25-inch optical drive bays: None.
• Internal drive bays: 1x 3.5-inch, 2x 2.5-inch.
• Front I/O ports: 2x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Type-C, audio.
• Dimensions: 516mm H x 481mm D x 240mm W.

Testing

To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, Radeon RX 6950XT and an SSD. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the DeepCool CH690 Digital‘s cooling capabilities.

Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i Elite Capellix
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Pro Ice
• Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000
• Graphics card: Sapphire Radeon RX 6950XT Nitro+ Pure 16GB
• Power supply: Seasonic Focus GX-1000 Gold
• SSD: Crucial T700 M.2 NVMe
• OS: Windows 11

Cooling Performance

Cooling Performance Overview

These results are some of the strangest we have seen as it doesn't much matter how many fans you install in the DeepCool CH690 Digital, but instead the main factor is how fast you run the fans. It is clear to us that the mesh pattern used by DeepCool is quite restrictive and the fans have to work hard to overcome that obstacle.

Closing Thoughts

The DeepCool CH690 Digital is one of a great many PC cases on the market that give you plenty of space to showcase your PC components with a good amount of tempered glass to allow you to make the most of the inevitable show of RGB lighting. The difference with the CH690 is that the glass is on the front and side – as expected – and also on the back, which is unusual. If you want to install a fan in the rear of this case you have to do a bit of panel swapping, as we show in our video.

Once we had built our test PC and installed an AIO cooler in the roof along with seven 120mm fans we found the lighting show to be very pleasant and we also enjoyed the digital display in the side of the case that reports data from the CPU and graphics card. The weird thing is that cooling is more dependant on fan speed than it is on the number of fans you install. This means you can either have a quiet but warm PC or a really loud PC that cools effectively, exactly as you will see in our video.

You can buy the DeepCool CH690 Digital for £99.99 inc VAT HERE.

Pros:

• Loads of options for cooling, up to 420mm in the roof.
• Digital display is included.
• The CH690 is so large it cools fairly well without any case fans.

Cons:

• There are very few cable grommets and cable management is basic.
• The square pattern holes in the steel panels seem rather restrictive.
• User guide is tiny.
• No fans are included.

KitGuru says: The DeepCool CH690 Digital has plenty of ‘show’ and not so much ‘go’.

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