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External
Features:::...
Swinging
open the lockable door reveals the external bay blanking
panels. Each features two scoop-like recesses so you
can take a hold and pull them off, and while I wasn't
wild about the look at first it's actually much less
questionable with a couple of drives installed.
The
power and reset switches have the usual positive feel
to them. The recessed reset switch is a bit difficult
to press without the aid of some kind of probe, which
I suppose is the whole idea, but I was able to get
it to trigger with a finger if I pressed hard enough.
The
LED's were certainly up to date with a high intensity
amber LED for hard drive activity and a high intensity
blue LED for power confirmation. Both LED are visible
even with the door closed but they are less bright
this way.
At
the bottom of the case is an "up-and-over"
style door which hides two USB, one FireWire and a
pair of audio ports.
For
my money this is the wrong location for them as it
means a lot of bending if you're forever plugging
in digital cameras, Flash drives and the like. Obviously
it's less of a problem if you stand the case on your
desk but most people don't.
Much
like people, the feet often get neglected when it
comes to a case. The BX-3 features feet designed to
swing out for increased stability where space allows.
There's no form of buffering for when the case stands
on a hard surface so this when generally increase
noise transmission. Personally I's have preferred
a set of soft rubber feet but I can see the value
of this type too.
What
I was trying to demonstrate in the photo below was
the nature of the paint finish. This isn't, and wan
t meant to be, a high gloss finish. The paint does
have a metallic sheen to it but the finish is matt.
This may not be to everyone's tastes but I quite like
it, and it does make for less finger prints and smears.
The
entire front panel is removable, well, kind of. One
of the six retaining lugs proved a real SOB to get
to, with my fat fingers at least. Once removed it's
possible to get to the removable air filter, a throwback
to when Chieftec had their hard drive cage the traditional
way around, but which serves a less efficient roll
now the dive cage has been rotated inside to run from
side to side rather than front to back.
The
only way to force the filter into doing anything remotely
useful using the current internal configuration is
by setting up a negative pressure intake arrangement,
or in other words having all the actual fans exhausting
air to the outside and drawing air in through the
passive intakes, one of which is the filtered intake.
Using even one of the fans to bring air in through
its unfiltered apertures immediately defeats the point
of having a filter fitted.
As
you can no doubt see, the front fascia is plastic
but is a surprisingly good colour and texture match
for the rest of the case.
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