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ColorCases
'X-Bee' ATX PC Case
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Author : Shawn
Sparks Date : 7th October 2002
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Part One… First impressions:
ColorCases prides themselves on their double-box
shipping method, however, while there was only one carton involved
in packaging my review sample, there was enough Styrofoam and
bubble wrap to avoid serious injury. The case arrived intact,
with no obvious dents or scratches.
Once fully unwrapped, the case begs to be assembled.
It is a fully tool less case, with thumbscrews included, as
well as tool less locking drive bays. Included with the case
are motherboard standoffs, and enough screws to mount all of
your components.
The X-Bee has four (4) 5 ¼ drive bays,
one (1) exposed, and two (2) hidden 3 ½" Drive bays
(including the hanging drive mount there on the bottom). This
is enough space for your average PC, but raid-aholics with more
than 2 HD's will need to find either a different case, or some
alternative mounting methods. Also noteworthy are the two USB
ports on the front of the case, hidden with a little door…pretty
cool.
The side window is well made, with a clean 80mm
hole for a fan, and reinforced mounts for the screws that hold
it in place. However, the plexi used is fairly brittle and I
think it will scratch easily; I should be careful.
With two mounts for 80mm fans up front, and one
more in the side door, I was very surprised to find ZERO exhaust
fan mounts on the rear of this case. Every logical approach
to heat management points to removing as much hot air from your
case as possible. Granted, the rear of this case is very well
ventilated, and 3 intake fans will definitely cause enough positive
pressure inside the case to push hot air out through the abundance
of holes in the rear, a fan drawing hot air out would have been
much more reassuring.
Despite there being no clear way to mount a rear
exhaust fan that rotated square grill and the four rectangular
holes around it give the impression of having been punched out
to accomodate some kind of clip-in custom fan cage and fan assembly
even though there's a step there. Maybe this will be made available
as an optional extra at some stage but I feel if this is the
case then at least the fan cage should have been included. I
could be wrong on this but it seems like a lot of trouble to
go to otherwise.
However, the panel on the motherboard side is
also ventilated, allowing circulation for the backside of the
motherboard, which is a rarity in most 'cases'.
I guess it's time to get to work building a
computer, eh? …
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