SilentiumPC Armis AR3 Review – A Simple Price/Performance Hit with 5.25″ Support?!

SilentiumPC is a manufacturer of PC hardware founded in 2007 in Warsaw, Poland. When developing its products, the company places the main focus on products that are as inexpensive as possible but nevertheless well equipped with solid workmanship. The main focus is on housings and cooling products such as CPU coolers, fans and AiO water coolers.

About two months ago we already had the SilentiumPC Armis AR5 in our test laboratory. That had come off quite well for the estimated price. Today we test the little brother. It is named Armis AR3 and has a very high visual similarity to its big brother. For lovers of an extravagant look, there are also two other versions with tempered glass and RGB fans. For the simpler Armis AR3 without Tempered Glass that we tested, SilentiumPC gives a UVP of 41,90 €. Whether a purchase of the SilentiumPC Armis AR3 is recommended, we will find out for you in this review.

Technical Details

Model:	Armis AR3
Housing type:	Midi Tower
Dimensions:	203 mm (W) x 452 mm (H) x 433 mm (D)
Weight:	approx. 4.42 kg
Material:	Steel, plastic
Color:	Black
Front connections:	2x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1x speaker, 1x microphone, fan control
Drive bays:	2x 3,5″ (internal) 4x 2,5″ (internal)
Extension slots:	7 (horizontal)
Form factors:	ATX, mATX, mini-ITX
Ventilation:	Front: 2x 140 / 3x 120 mm Lid: 2x 140 / 2x 140 mm Rear: 1x 120 mm
Radiators:	Front: 1x 240 mm Rear: 1x 120 mm
Max. CPU cooler height:	159 mm
Max. Graphics card length:	375 mm
Max. Power supply length:	210 mm
Cable management space:	14 mm
Price:	MSRP: 41,90€
Special features:	Dust filter, cable management, fan control

Scope of Delivery

The SilentiumPC Armis AR3 comes well and safely packed in a brown box with black lettering and is wrapped in polystyrene. The supplied accessories were stored in a transparent bag and fixed inside the housing with a cable tie. This bag contains all important screws, five black cable ties, a mainboard speaker, three PCI replacement steel panels and a short illustrated installation guide. The scope of delivery also includes two pre-installed 120 mm fans, a 3-stage fan controller for up to ten fans and the pre-installed spacers for the mainboard.

Exterior Impression

Like the Armis AR5, the AR3 definitely belongs to the very simple and inconspicuous cases. The front section is completely closed and made of plastic. In addition, it has been given a structure that looks a little like brushed aluminium. A 5.25″ aperture is also visible for an external DVD drive or fan controller. In the upper area SilentiumPC has installed the I/O panel. It has two connectors for USB 3.0, one each for headphones and microphone and three switches for power, reset and I/O lighting. Finally, the I/O panel was equipped with a 3-step controller for fan control.

If you pull off the front with a strong jerk, you should be careful afterwards, as the I/O panel is attached to the front element. Behind the front panel you can see the pre-installed case fan and another available mounting space. To ensure that all fans in the front get enough fresh air, ventilation openings were fitted to the side of the front panel and equipped with removable filter frames. These filters are very fine and should keep the dust away well.

The lid section is dominated by a large fan opening. This offers space for two 120 or two 140 mm fans. SilentiumPC has pre-installed a magnetic dust filter to protect the interior from dust and to make the lid appear simpler.

The simple appearance continues with the side parts. Both panels are completely made of steel and equipped with knurled screws. Unfortunately, both elements are quite wobbly, very light and clatter a little even when screwed on. This means that the manufacturer has made significant material savings here.

The back and underside of the Armis AR3 do not hide any special features. The Midi-Tower stands on rubberized and solid plastic feet, the power supply unit is mounted at the bottom and protected with a mesh filter against coarse dust. Above it are the seven PCI slots and the second pre-installed case fan. Unfortunately, you have to break out all PCI slot apertures. After all, SilentiumPC comes with three replacement panels.

The general workmanship is just fine considering the price. Especially with the side parts one notices that material was saved and also the lacquering shows slight uncleanliness. After all, there are no sharp edges.

Internal Impression

In the interior SilentiumPC also follows the current trend and designs it very openly or divides the interior into two areas with the help of a power supply cover. The pre-installed case fan in the front can freely transport air into the interior and thus supply the graphics card and CPU with fresh air. In order to keep the interior tidy even after assembly, the manufacturer has also provided the mainboard tray with various cable management openings.

If you lower your eyes a little, the power supply cover immediately catches your eye. This should hide the power supply and all cables. In contrast to many other cases, this cover of the Armis AR3 has a slightly different design. The manufacturer has designed this aperture in a modular way. The upper section consists of a slightly transparent plastic plate and is attached to the second element with two knurled screws. The second or lower element is made of steel and connected to the body by two normal screws.

If both elements are removed, the view of the mounting position for the power supply unit and the HDD cage becomes clear. In order to avoid vibration transmission, two foam rubber strips were glued to the floor on which the power supply unit can rest. To the right is the HDD cage for two 3.5″ hard disks. If you need even more storage space, then three more SSDs can be attached to the mainboard tray or to the lid of the hard disk cage.

There are hardly any surprises on the back of the mainboard tray. Only the pre-installed fan control is to be emphasized and in this price category rather atypical. This supports up to ten 3-pin fans and can be controlled via the controller on the I/O panel. The power supply of the board is provided by a modern SATA connector.

System Construction in SilentiumPC Armis AR3

Now we come to system installation. As hardware we use a AMD Ryzen 5 1400 on a MSI B350 PC Mate with 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT grey DDR4-2666. For the image output is a GTX 1060 6GB by Gigabte AORUS responsible. The power supply is done by the non-modular Berlin Pro RGB 650W with RGB fan. In order to enhance the cabling optically a little bit, single sleeved cable extensions from Phanteks.

The installation of the hardware in the SilentiumPC Armis AR3 is a bit different than usual. To install the power supply unit and the hard disks, the two elements of the power supply cover must first be removed. Only when the power supply and if necessary the HDDs have been installed can at least the steel element be refitted. Here, however, the first problem occurred directly. With the installed components it was relatively tricky to bring the lower panel back into position so that it could be screwed tight again.

Somewhat unfavorable was also the fact that not all spacers were pre-installed. Due to the painted holes and a missing screwdriver attachment, three spacers had to be screwed in with pliers. This always involves a certain risk of scratching the mainboard tray.

The rest of the installation went without any further complications. The space on the front is spacious and gives plenty of room to work. The Armis AR3 has room for CPU coolers up to 159 mm high and supports graphics cards up to 375 mm long. These space conditions are sufficient for many current components. However, the space on the reverse side is the limit. With 14 mm there is only limited space here for laying the cables. Especially the used cable extensions have made the final mounting of the side part a little more difficult. But if you put a little effort into it, you can also realize a decent system in this midi tower.

Now we come to the supported drives and media. The Armis AR3 supports a total of one 5.25″ drive, two 3.5″ HDDs and three 2.5″ SSDs. The 3.5″ hard disks fit into the hard disk cage and are held in place by four elongated screws and four rubber decouplers. The decoupling works well. An SSD can also be attached to the cover of the cage. The two additional 2.5″ data carriers are screwed directly to the mainboard tray.

The pre-installed fans are of the Sigma Pro type, have a frame width of 120 mm and rotate at a maximum speed of 1200 rpm. Even at the highest level of fan control, fans are quite inconspicuous and do not produce any secondary equipment. But the generated airflow also keeps within limits.

Finally, we come to the temperature measurements. For this purpose, Prime95 and Furmark were run for 15 minutes at a room temperature of 23 °C and the CPUID HWMonitor was then used to determine the temperature of the processor and graphics card. The test was carried out once at the lowest level and once at the highest level of the fan control.

Even though Furmark and Prime95 represent a worst case scenario, the results unfortunately show that the cooling potential of the Armis AR3 is quite limited. The components still have some room for improvement, but definitely don’t belong in the high-end range. If you buy stronger hardware, you might want to look for a different case or retrofit additional fans.

Conclusion of the SilentiumPC Armis AR3 Review

So what can we say about the SilentiumPC Armis AR3? Despite its compact dimensions, this midi tower supports a lot of hardware and even a 5.25″ drive. Also the two pre-installed fans and the fan control speak for the smaller brother of the Armis AR5.

Unfortunately, during the review some points came up that are not so great. For example, the Armis AR3 has a power supply cover, but this consists of two elements with different materials and is relatively unwieldy when reinstalled. Overall, the low price is also noticeable in the workmanship and material quality. So there are a few unclean paint spots and the side parts or the body look a bit rickety.

If one compares the AR3 with the AR5 and includes the UVP specified by the manufacturer, the overall result is unfortunately somewhat disappointing. For a small surcharge, the Armis AR5 offers a noticeably better workmanship, more space and a fan controller that can also be connected to the mainboard via a PWM cable.