8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Best Gaming Case
Date of Review: Mar 24, 2009
The Bottom Line: Good expansion and airflow make for a great gaming or server case. Choose good internal fans and get a quiet system too.
Great gaming case. I use it w/ my Asus P5Q-E mobo, Q6600 quad-core CPU, Scythe Orochi CPU cooler, Corsair 450VX PSU, 2 videocards, 3 DVD burners, and 6 HDDs. Works great.
Fans. 200mm fan is fantastic: quiet and pulls 80/110/130 cfm, depending on setting. I removed the 3 other 120mm fans because they were redundant. I use Scythe Orochi CPU cooler in passive mode and rely on 200mm fan to cool CPU. Works great and it's quiet too.
Airflow. Airflow is great. My HDDs are barely above room temp. Mobo runs cool and exhaust air for CPU cooler exits quickly.
Price. Fair price - about $120. Does not include PSU.
Shortcomings.
Case should've been made a bit deeper in order to allow easier connection of hdd cables. Power cables for fans are on short side. Case can't handle mini-ITX mobos: only has 7 slots, not 8.
Noise. Great airflow for hdds mean more noise exposure from internal parts, esp, PSU and CPU cooler. Choose internal components carefully.
Top of case can't hold anything useful except pens and misc screws.
120mm fans have blue LED, but 200mm fan has no LED :-(
Side-mounted 120mm fan is optional and not necessary except for uber-expensive video cards.
Noise work-around: Use boxes (with cut holds) over 200mm and and over front of computer. Effect is similar to a car muffler. Lowers noise by 2-3dB. My system is 40dB -- same as background noise.
