The hardware manufacturer Streacom was founded in the Netherlands in 2010 and has since focused on the development of high-quality small form factor and passively cooled cases made of aluminum. Besides the very successful Streacom DA2, the manufacturer also has a completely different type of case in its repertoire. In the course of the “Open Benchtable Project”, Streacom has designed two open benchmark tables together with its partners. About a year ago, the BC1 and BC1 Mini respectively received a new revision with the V2. In this review, we take a look at the Streacom BC1 V2 today.
Like the old revision, the BC1 V2 is supposed to convince especially with a clever design and a transportable setup. This allows the fast and flexible setup or conversion of components or entire PC systems. In addition, the benchtable can now also be set up vertically. The Streacom BC1 V2 supports mainboards and power supplies in ATX format, is made of solid aluminum and comes in the color variants silver, black and titanium available. Price-wise, the BC1 V2 starts at € 170.28 *.
Technical details
| Model: | Streacom BC1 V2 silver |
| Case type: | ATX |
| Dimensions: | 360 mm (W) x 8 / 100 mm (H, disassembled / assembled) x 250 mm (D) |
| Weight: | 1.75 kg |
| Material: | Aluminum (base plate), steel (screws, spacers) |
| Color: | Silver |
| I/O panel: | 2x 12-mm cutouts for switches |
| Drive bays: | 2x 3.5″/ 2.5″ |
| Expansion slots: | 4x horizontal |
| Shape factors: | E-ATX, XL-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX, Mini-ATX |
| Height motherboard standoff: | 25 mm |
| Ventilation: | left side: 2x 120/ 140 mm right side: 3x 120/ 2x 140 mm |
| Radiators: | left side: 1x 240/ 280 mm right side: 1x 240/ 280/ 360 mm |
| Max. CPU cooler height: | unlimited |
| Max. Graphics card length: | unlimited |
| Max. Net part length: | 320 mm (horizontal setup), 190 mm (vertical setup) |
| Maximum power supply weight: | 10 kg |
| Maximum radiator weight per bracket | 7 kg |
| Total allowable weight of all components | 25 kg |
| Price: | € 170.28 * |
| Features: | Stand with rubberized feet, can be set up vertically |
Streacom BC1 V2 review: the scope of delivery
The Streacom BC1 V2 comes in a flat cardboard box made of high-quality cardboard. The cardboard is brown and has not been printed. The manufacturer and name of the tablet are printed on a separate brown strip, which is glued to the packaging and also serves as a seal. If you cut the seal, you can open the box to reveal the BC1 V2, which is protected by additional elements of foam. Since the packaging has magnets, it can be closed again without any problems. Further accessories are not available and Streacom has also waived a printed assembly manual to protect the environment. However, this can be viewed digitally.
Optical impression and build
Like its predecessor, the Streacom BC1 V2 is very flat when disassembled and is perfect for transportation. The base plate is made entirely of aluminum and weighs less than two kilograms with all accessories. The workmanship of all components is very high quality and sharp edges are not found. The fact that the Benchtable was built to be as transportable as possible can also be seen in the fact that the base plate is equipped with a recessed grip.
However, as already mentioned, the design of the BC1 V2 is designed for high functionality. Even when disassembled, all components necessary for assembly are located on the body of the Benchtable. Thus, no screw gets lost and everything has a fixed place. Furthermore, all screw types have an individual structure to distinguish them. Although Streacom doesn’t include an assembly manual, almost every assembly step should be self-explanatory if you’ve ever had to deal with hardware or a normal case. However, if all else fails, there are also assembly instructions on the manufacturer’s homepage.
A new feature of the Streacom BC1 V2 is the possibility to orient the benchtab vertically. For this, only the two feet have to be positioned differently. The base plate can be oriented in two different directions (GPU up, GPU down) using the corresponding mounting points. The rubber coating of the feet is also new in the BC1 V2. This is now more durable due to the elongated shape and prevents the table from slipping very well. Finally, Streacom has drilled two recesses with a diameter of 12 millimeters into the base plate. These openings serve as preparation for optional power and reset buttons.
As mentioned earlier, the feel and finish of the BC1 V2 is excellent. There are no sharp edges and the baseplate and mounting hardware are of high quality. All components could be screwed in effortlessly, even without tools.
Streacom BC1 V2 review: test system setup
Now we come to the setup of the test system with the Streacom BC1 V2 test. For hardware, we use 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 LC-Power Cosmo Cool LC-CC-120-RGB 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.
A benchtable is of course always meant to be able to quickly change or test components. Since there are no side panels, glass windows or anything else, the installation of all components was logically completed quickly. In addition, all PC components including hard drives can be installed completely without tools. The eight motherboard spacers with quick-release fasteners are particularly practical. The ninth spacer has a standard thread to be able to secure the mainboard additionally in case of transport.
As befits a test system, there are also almost no size restrictions for hardware components. There are no restrictions for CPU coolers and graphics cards. However, the ATX power supply may not be longer than 320 millimeters when the benchtable is horizontal and not longer than 190 mm when it is vertical. Furthermore, its weight must not exceed the mark of ten kilograms.
In terms of water cooling or corresponding hardware, the BC1 V2 has special mounting brackets that allow mounting a 360-mm radiator on the right and a 280-mm radiator on the left side. These must not exceed a weight of seven kilograms each.
Lastly, we come to the temperatures that were reached in the Streacom BC1 V2 test. During the stress test, Prime95 and FurMark were run for 15 minutes at a room temperature of 20 °C.
Scenario |
Temperature |
| CPU: 50% PWM (950rpm) GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm) Open-air benchtable (no additional fans) |
CPU: 65.1 °C GPU: 58.2 °C |
Since the temperatures of all components when using a Benchtable depend only on the thermal paste used and the ambient temperature, it should come as little surprise that the temperature values are lower than most other cases. However, since a Benchtable is not usually used as a daily “case”, no additional testing was done at this point.
Streacom BC1 V2 review: conclusion
Streamcom has managed to make an already very good product even better with the BC1 V2. Improved were especially the way of mounting the Benchtable and the implementation of vertical orientation is also a great new feature. What has remained is the excellent workmanship and the generally very well thought-out concept of the BC1.
We couldn’t really find any negative features, considering that the BC1 V2 isn’t a normal case. The only exceptions here were that the length of the power supply is limited in vertical orientation and that the BC1 V2 doesn’t have an I/O panel.
A benchtable is of course more of a niche product, which won’t be used by many PC users. The mainboard box is also sufficient for a short test setup. However, if you regularly test different PC components and want to have a system to quickly connect hard drives or similar, then a Benchtable is exactly the right thing. Due to its “niche” nature, the manufacturer naturally had to calculate a somewhat higher purchase price for the BC1 V2, since its sales, compared to a normal midi tower, will most likely be lower. Thus, the BC1 V2 is not exactly cheap with € 170.28 *.
However, if you’re looking for a premium and ultra-portable benchtable, you can’t go past the Streamcom BC1 V2 or BC1 Mini V2.
Streacom BC1 V2
Workmanship
Structure
Features
Cooling
Value for money
95/100
The Streamcom BC1 V2 is a compact and ultra-portable benchtable with a high-quality finish that completely eliminates the need for tools. In addition, it allows a vertical orientation of the base plate in the V2 version.
No replies yet
Neue Antworten laden...
Gehört zum Inventar
Beteilige dich an der Diskussion in der Basic Tutorials Community →