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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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I will be installing the following into this case:
ThermalTake 360W PSU
EPoX 8K3A+ Motherboard
Athlon XP2000+ CPU
ThermoEngine HSF
(1) Stick 256Meg TwinMOS PC2700 with ThermalTake heat spreaders
Creative DVD ROM Drive
Creative CDRW Drive
(1) Maxtor 40 Gig HD
XFX GeForce4 Ti4400
Hercules GameTheater XP Sound Card
HardCano5
Normally I would mount the intake and exhaust
fans now, but I am going for a quieter PC, so I am choosing
to omit intake fans, and go from there, adding them later if
the temps are too high. I did, however, check the mounts and
they are well aligned and the grilles here don't restrict the
airflow much at all so reducing the sound of turbulent air passing
through. Still, the two fans up front are going to be too noisy
for this instance.
I suggest mounting your CPU and HSF before you even think about
installing your motherboard, as the X-Bee does not have a removable
motherboard tray; a feature that I have grown to love from my
Enermax case. Of course, most folks build their machines once
and leave it at that, only upgrading AGP and PCI cards. We reviewers,
on the other hand, are constantly swapping out motherboards,
CPU's, coolers, RAM and many other components that are much
easier to change with a removable motherboard tray. Aside from
that, the plastic standoffs were easy to mount, and I think
I feel more secure having a non-conductive material between
my MoBo and the metal case. As far as mounting the MoBo went,
the holes were aligned perfectly with the tray.
Unfortunately, the motherboard sits about a
eight of an inch in from the rear panel, so the PS2, USB and
other ports and rear connectors are recessed, making solid connections
difficult at times. This is certainly a point that needs to
be addressed.
The PSU mounted beautifully, with all of the
holes well placed and perfectly aligned.
The tool-less drive bays are a fantastic feature.
The orange locks hold the drives very securely in place and
make switching drives around a breeze. Just slide the tab back,
insert drive, slide tab forward… that's it. In such a well
priced case, these are a very nice touch.
With all of the drives mounted, it's time to wire
it up. Windowed cases deserve clean wiring jobs as they are
a showcase for what you have inside. There is a nice space above
the top drive for your extra wires from the PSU, so after you
decide how to use the least amount of strands, stash the rest
up there and they will be invisible. Also, the 'X' shaped window
offers a nice place to discretely wire the fan to the side door
by taping the wires down behind the trim.
The wiring for the switches and lights is clearly
labeled, so mating it to your motherboard is very straight forward.
However, the Front USB port wiring isn't as clear; rather than
a single plug, each wire is independent, so I had to pull out
my motherboard manual and figure out what went where. Although
inconvenient, this really only added 10 minutes to the whole
project. I only fear that a real novice will easily get frustrated
with this approach.
Once the basics were installed and wired, it
was time to pop in the graphics and sound cards.
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