PC Components

Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM test – A lot of wind with limitations

Inter-Tech Elektronik Handels GmbH is a company based in Germany and was founded in 1996. Since then, the main focus has been on the Europe-wide distribution of OEM and retail hardware for PC systems. Originally, the portfolio mainly included PC cases and power supplies. However, this has since been expanded to include numerous divisions (fans, peripherals, hard drive enclosures, etc.). In the summer of 2022, Inter-Tech added a new case to its portfolio, in addition to numerous new peripherals. The new midi tower goes by the name of Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM and is in our test today.

Inter-Tech advertises the IT-3503 AIRSTREAM primarily with the two pre-installed 200 mm fans in the front, which also have ARGB lighting. In addition, there is a compact yet spacious interior with a power divider tunnel, pre-installed dust filters and an I/O panel that is unusually well-equipped for this price range. With a purchase price of € 74.99 *, Inter-Tech sends the IT-3503 AIRSTREAM into the race at a fighting price. You’ll find out in the next chapters whether other points have been cut back in return.

Technical details

Model: Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM
Case Type: ATX
Dimensions: 210 mm (W) x 485 mm (H) x 415 mm (D)
Weight: 6.22 kg
Material: Steel, plastic, tempered glass
Color: Black
Front connectors 1x USB-C 3.1, 1x USB-A 3.0, 2x USB-A 2.0, 1x headphone, 1x microphone
Drive bays: 1x 3.5″
1x 3,5″/ 2,5″
2x 2.5″
Expansion slots: 7x horizontal, 2x vertical
Form Factors: ATX, mATX, ITX
Ventilation: Front: 2x 200 / 3x 120 / 3x 140 mm
Rear: 1x 120 mm
Lid: 2x 120 / 2x 140 mm
Power supply cover: 2x 120 mm
Radiators: Front: 1x 240 / 280 / 360 mm
Rear: 1x 120 mm
Lid: 1x 240 / 280 mm
Max. CPU cooler height: 165 mm
Max. Graphics card length: 330 mm (front fan outside), 310 mm (front fan inside)
Max. Mesh part length: 300 mm (without HDD cage), 180 mm (with HDD cage)
Cable management space: 25-28 mm
Price: € 74.99 *
Features: Dust filter, cable management, 2x pre-installed 200mm ARGB fans including control board, Tempered Glass, USB-C 3.1

Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM review: the scope of delivery

Inter-Tech has found the first potential savings directly in the packaging of the IT-3503 AIRSTREAM. The cardboard box is kept plain brown and was printed with a schematic drawing of the case. Technical data or the listing of features (with the exception of the two pre-installed 200 mm fans) cannot be found on the box. Inside the box, the IT-3503 is wrapped in thin styrofoam and a plastic film. One of these styrofoam elements was already defective when we unpacked it and wouldn’t have been able to take another fall.

The included accessories are in a plastic bag, secured inside with a cable tie. Present are all the screws needed to install the components, some cable ties, and a motherboard speaker. Furthermore, the accessories include an installation guide, two pre-installed dust filters for the PSU and lid, respectively, and two pre-installed fans with a frame width of 200 millimeters.

Exterior impression

Where tempered glass was the trend on the front panel a few years ago, many manufacturers went back to mesh in the front area. This is also the case with the IT-3503. The front panel consists of a quite stable plastic frame and a large grid made of a fine mesh, which is also supposed to serve as a dust filter. It is also not flat, but slightly angled towards the front. If you pull off the front panel, you get a view of two pre-installed 200 mm fans, which were screwed between the body and the mesh. Alternatively, the IT-3503 AIRSTREAM offers space for three 120mm or three 140mm fans at the front.

However, if you take a closer look at the design of the body, you can directly see that the body was not actually intended for mounting such large fans. About two-fifths of the fan area per fan rests on solid steel and thus has no cooling effect, as the air doesn’t end up in the interior at all. More perforation of the steel should have been used here. This is a great pity considering that these fans are the element the manufacturer advertises with the most. In addition, the front panel is designed in such a way that it only looks particularly good with the 200 mm fans.

The design of the lid section also turns out airy. Thus, the lid is dominated by a large fan grille, to which optionally two 120 or two 140 mm fans or corresponding radiators can be attached. The rail system allows for flexible positioning. Inter-Tech has also equipped the top with a magnetic mesh filter for dust protection. We also find the I/O panel in the lid. It has a total of four USB ports (1x USB-C 3.1, 1x USB-A 3.0, 2x USB-A 2.0), two jacks for headphones and microphone as well as two buttons for power and reset/LED. Furthermore, two LEDs for power (blue) and HDD activity (red) can be seen.

Following the current trend, the left side panel of the IT-3503 is made of tempered and slightly tinted glass. To make it easier to attach to the body, the glass was glued to a steel frame, which is connected to the case frame via two thumbscrews at the rear end. In addition, a thin layer of foam rubber was glued to the inside of the frame. This serves the purpose of minimizing vibrations. The right side panel is made of steel and offers just acceptable stability. Again, it is attached via two thumbscrews and furthermore, the panel has a pull-out feature.

The rear side shows a, for a midi-tower, typical appearance. The power supply is placed at the bottom and screwed from the outside. Above it, we find seven PCI slot bezels and a mounting spot for a 120mm fan. Unfortunately, the slot bezels are not reusable and have to be broken out. Above the optional rear fan, there is also about two centimeters of space to the lid. This extra space is usually particularly useful when installing a lid radiator.

There are no big surprises at the bottom of the IT-3503. Four large and sturdy plastic feet raise the tower sufficiently high off the floor and, to protect the base, have each been covered with a thin strip of foam rubber at the factory. Otherwise, Inter-Tech has equipped the bottom of the tower with a large vent and a simple mesh filter. Screws can also be seen in the HDD cage area. This points to a modular HDD cage.

Interior impression

The interior of the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM presents a modern appearance. The manufacturer divides the interior into a large main chamber and a separate power supply chamber. The large main chamber offers space for ATX mainboards, long graphics cards and large CPU coolers. The mainboard tray has been designed flat and has various openings for cable management, some of which are rubberized. The two pre-installed case fans can transport fresh air into the interior unhindered due to the lack of HDD cages.

If you lower your gaze, the power supply unit cover should immediately catch your eye. This has numerous openings for cables, various ventilation holes as well as a cutout for a front radiator or for viewing the type plate of the power supply. Especially the hole for the power cable to the graphics card should make the finished system look much tidier. Furthermore, the cover has been equipped with mounting points for two 120 mm fans. Unfortunately, the corresponding screws are not included in the accessories.

A look inside the PSU chamber shows the mounting position for the PSU, which has four thin rubber elements that are supposed to serve for decoupling. In front of it, the manufacturer places a modular frame made of steel, where hard drives can be mounted. Depending on the length of the PSU, the HDD cage can be moved or completely removed.

The back of the motherboard tray primarily offers a lot of space for cables and numerous eyelets for cable ties. With up to 28 millimeters of space, routing the power supply cables should be very easy. Apart from that, the control board for the fans as well as further mounting options for hard disks can be found on the back.

For a midi tower with this design, the IT-3503 AIRSTREAM can accommodate a correspondingly large number of data media. Two 3.5″ or alternatively one 3.5″ as well as one 2.5″ data medium can be accommodated in the modular HDD cage. The entire cage is decoupled via four rubber rings and can be completely removed if necessary. Furthermore, a steel plate on the back of the motherboard tray offers mounting points for two additional 2.5″ SSDs or a 3.5″ HDD. However, if the latter is installed, a strong transmission of vibrations is to be expected, since the frame is not decoupled and the HDD is very close to the side panel.

Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM review: component installation

Now we come to the system installation for the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM test. For hardware, we’re using a AMD Ryzen 5 1400 on a MSI B350 PC Mate with 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT gray DDR4-2666. The Ryzen is cooled by an Alpenföhn Brocken 4* and is overclocked to 3.8 GHz (1.25 V). A GTX 1060 6GB from Gigabyte AORUS is responsible for the image output. The power supply is handled by the fully modular LC-Power LC550 V2.31 Platinum with an 80 Plus Platinum efficiency rating.

Due to the generous amount of space, installation and wiring of all components was quickly completed and very easy. However, we found the only partially pre-mounted spacers somewhat irritating. Only four of nine spacers were already screwed to the motherboard tray. Fortunately, Inter-Tech includes a screwdriver attachment with the accessories for screwing in the remaining spacers. The finished system looks very tidy and neat even with just a few cable ties.

Despite the rather compact dimensions, the hardware compatibility of the IT-3503 AITSREAM is definitely something to be proud of. There are 165 millimeters available for CPU coolers and 330 millimeters for graphics cards when the fans are mounted between the body and the front panel. Thus, you only have to accept certain restrictions with particularly large graphics cards. The power supply in the lower area should not be longer than 180 millimeters if the HDD cage is to remain installed. If it is not needed, the PSU can be 120 millimeters longer.
In terms of water cooling, a maximum of one 360 mm heat exchanger in the front and one 240 mm or, depending on the depth, 280 mm radiator in the lid fit into the IT-3503 at the same time. A radiator in the front naturally further limits the length of the graphics card.

From the factory, the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM comes with two pre-installed 200mm fans, which also feature 12 ARGB LEDs in the fan hub area. The fan frame is made of a grayish-transparent plastic. The rotors, on the other hand, use a milky plastic as well as a black sticker on the fan hub. Unfortunately, the latter was not centered in both cases and therefore wobbles during operation. The maximum speed is around 700 revolutions per minute. The connection is made per fan with a 3-pin connector for power and a 3-pin 5V ARGB header for controlling the LEDs.

Lastly, we come to the temperatures that were reached in the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM. During the stress test, Prime95 and FurMark were run for 15 minutes at a room temperature of 20 °C. The table below lists the measurement results of all five test scenarios.

Scenario
Temperature
CPU: 50% PWM (900rpm)
GPU: 50% PWM (1650rpm)
Open-air benchtable (no additional fans)
CPU: 59.6 °C
GPU: 58.2 °C
CPU: 50% PWM (900 rpm)
GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm)
2x 200mm 7V (520 rpm)
CPU: 68.0 °C
GPU: 63.2 °C
CPU: 50% PWM (950 rpm)
GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm)
2x 200mm 12V (710 rpm)
CPU: 65.2 °C
GPU: 61.9 °C
CPU: 50% PWM (900 rpm)
GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm)
2x 200mm 7V (520 rpm) + 1x 120mm 50% PWM (1050 rpm)
CPU: 65.2 °C
GPU: 61.9 °C
CPU: 50% PWM (900 rpm)
GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm)
2x 200mm 12V (710rpm) + 1x 120mm 100% PWM (1800 rpm)
CPU: 62.1 °C
GPU: 59.6 °C

If you run our test system with only the two front fans, the temperatures are higher compared to the Benchtable, but critical values are definitely not reached. If you install another fan in the rear or run the front fans at a higher speed, the maximum temperatures improve significantly. Unfortunately, the noise also increases then. At 700 rpm, the front fans are clearly audible from the case and rather unsuitable for running a silent system.

Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM review: the lighting options

RGB lighting can be discovered on the Inter-Tech has the IT-3503 only on the front fans. From the factory, the fans are connected with their power (3-pin) as well as ARGB connector (3-pin 5V ARGB) to the control unit on the back of the motherboard tray. The lighting is then controlled by pressing the LED button in the I/O panel. In addition to the solid colors, there is also a Rainbow mode and an automatic color change. If that’s not enough, you also have the option of connecting the control board directly to the motherboard via a 5V 3-pin RGB cable and controlling it using the appropriate software. Unfortunately, it is not possible to control the fan speed via the board. After connecting the SATA power connector to the board, the fans rotate at full speed.
Finally, a few impressions of the activated lighting.

Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM review: conclusion

Let’s move on to the final conclusion of the review of the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM. The midi tower offers enough space for modern hardware or water cooling, a very good cooling potential as well as a basically well thought-out design. In addition, there is a very good equipment with, among others, two huge 200 mm ARGB fans in the front, partially rubberized cable management openings, an RGB control board as well as a modern USB-C 3.1 port in the I/O panel. With the right hardware, a sleek and appealing system can be built in the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM.

However, the much advertised 200 mm fans are also a point of criticism for this midi tower. The body is not designed for the operation of such large fans and thus reduces the effectiveness. Smaller fans do fit in the front, but they don’t look as visually appealing due to the specially designed front panel. In addition to this major flaw, there are other minor issues such as the lack of fan speed control via the PCB and a missing dust filter in the front. Furthermore, the material thickness could have been a bit thicker at one point or another and also non-reusable PCI slot covers don’t belong in this price range.

Overall, the Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM is a good and mostly well thought-out case, which basically doesn’t have to hide from the competition for the estimated purchase price of € 74.99 *. If you can live with the certain ineffectiveness of the advertised 200mm fans, you get an otherwise well-equipped midi tower with space and enough cooling potential for modern hardware.

Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM

Workmanship
Structure
Features
Cooling
Value for money

84/100

The Inter-Tech IT-3503 AIRSTREAM is a well-equipped midi tower with plenty of room for hardware and good cooling potential. However, the advertised 200 mm fans clearly lose effectiveness due to the design of the body.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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Die Inter-Tech Elektronik Handels GmbH ist eine in Deutschland ansässige Firma und wurde 1996 gegründet. Seitdem liegt der Hauptfokus auf dem europaweiten Vertrieb von OEM- und Retail-Hardware für PC-Systeme. Ursprünglich gehörten überwiegend PC-Gehäuse und Netzteile zum Portfolio. Dieses wurde aber mittlerweile um zahlreiche Sparten (Lüfter, Peripherie, Festplattengehäuse, etc.) erweitert. Im Sommer 2022 hat Inter-Tech neben … (Weiterlesen...)

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