Wednesday, January 11th 2023
HYTE Y40 Up Close: Truly a Next-Gen Case for Next-Gen Hardware
At first glance, the HYTE Y40 may seem like a short and stout Micro-ATX tower, but up close, it's actually an ATX mid-tower that just so happens to look stout, and ready for the latest generation of CPU cooling solutions and 4-odd slot graphics cards. The Y40 retains HYTE's essential design language of making sure the front-left panel seems like a contiguous glasshouse. The case is horizontally partitioned, with the bottom compartment having the PSU- and drive bays, while the upper compartment has a spacious motherboard tray. This is where things get very interesting.
The HYTE Y40 is unconventional in that all the 7 expansion slots of its motherboard tray are half-height (low-profile), while there are four full-height vertical slots, which is where you're supposed to install your graphics card. HYTE includes a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 riser with the case. All other expansion cards need to be half-height. Most aftermarket non-graphics add-on cards these days, such as WLAN cards, 10 GbE cards, USB/Thunderbolt cards, or even some sound cards, are half-height and include low-profile brackets anyway. The case is much longer than the motherboard tray itself, which opens up room for a 280 mm radiator mount along the plane of the motherboard tray. The Y40 offers clearance for graphics cards up to 4 slots thick, up to 94 mm tall, and up to 42.2 cm in length (the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 should fit). There's also room for CPU coolers up to 18.3 cm in height.
Cooling options include three 120 mm vents along the top panel, which can hold on to a 360 mm radiator, two 140 mm vents along the motherboard tray that can hold up to a 280 mm radiator, and one 120 mm vent each along the rear- and bottom panels. Front-panel connectivity includes two USB 3.2 type-A, one USB 3.2 type-C, and a 4-pole 3.5 mm headset jack. The case measures 439 mm x 240 mm x 472 mm (DxWxH). HYTE is pricing the Y40 at USD $150.
The HYTE Y40 is unconventional in that all the 7 expansion slots of its motherboard tray are half-height (low-profile), while there are four full-height vertical slots, which is where you're supposed to install your graphics card. HYTE includes a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 riser with the case. All other expansion cards need to be half-height. Most aftermarket non-graphics add-on cards these days, such as WLAN cards, 10 GbE cards, USB/Thunderbolt cards, or even some sound cards, are half-height and include low-profile brackets anyway. The case is much longer than the motherboard tray itself, which opens up room for a 280 mm radiator mount along the plane of the motherboard tray. The Y40 offers clearance for graphics cards up to 4 slots thick, up to 94 mm tall, and up to 42.2 cm in length (the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 should fit). There's also room for CPU coolers up to 18.3 cm in height.
11 Comments on HYTE Y40 Up Close: Truly a Next-Gen Case for Next-Gen Hardware
@EddyAlphacool does alphacool still make those 83mm monsters?
One xtra panel a year, gives them 2 more years of 'innovative products' in the PC case market. I can't wait!
Oh no, wait, top and bottom can be glass too, right... 4 years. Perforated glass incoming... plus a few reddit threads full of broken cases under broken glass desks with some pieces of Iphone in between plus a whole lot of Gen Z tears and numerous TPU topics lamenting and also heralding these fantastic new designs, which is enough commercial push to go back to a old school plexi instead of TG, because it doesn't break, like its 1999, in 2029. Don't worry though, you WILL pay 200 bucks for these cases regardless of them being plastic by then.
I know; you're laughing rn. See you in 2029... :toast:
I was laughing my ass off when they "rediscovered" mesh instead of tempered glass front panel... It was less funny when I realized they charge MORE for mesh panel than glass one :) So, no doubt that "new and fancy" unbreakable acrylic will be even more expensive than current fishtanks...
Seriously, I am getting old - I just want good old Chieftec black box with plenty of space and no tacky lighting...
"My CPU/ GPU is thermal throttling and the temps in my case keep rising, but what really matters is my case looks dope! Aesthetics FTW!" :D
Agree with aesthetics over function, but the thermal design works, so why not?
in a normal setup, if I place cards in the lower PCIe slots beneath my GPU (the ones that aren't obscured by the huge heatsinks GPUs have today), then the add-in card will be directly in front of the GPU's fans and would limit some of its airflow.
The advantage you described about the Y40 is what I'm interested in: I could get mostly-unobstructed air to the GPU and still be able to use (half-height) cards in my PCIe slots