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Internal Features Continued:::...

Three flat thermal sensors are supplied with the case. If these look a little bulky it's because they're bent back on themselves than covered in a semi-hard plastic tube to protect them during shipping. Each sensoe is labelled with its suggested function, as is the circuit board where the other end plugs in.

Temperature Sensors

The bank of dip switches aren't for any documented purose but I might have a play with them at some point to see what they do. Above the PCB is the back of that side panel locking knob we saw earlier..

Fan Connections

The screwless theme continues with the expansion cards. A small lever type assembly is used to hold the cards in place rather than resort to the metal brackets we've seen used before for expansion card retention. The advantage these have is that individual cards can be locked or released while the other method releases them all at once.

In practise this method worked really well although cards that are a little out of shape need a little "adjustment" to get the lever to sit over the end of the bracket. Once done though it's infinitely easier to add and remove a card than having to find a screwdriver.

Screwless Card Retainers

And as if to prove that Casetek share my dislike of screws, even the motherboard stand-offs have gone partially screwless.

Motherboard Lock Key

The case was supplied with eight screwless motherboard standoffs and associated locking keys.

Stand-Off

The idea is you push your motherboards over the end of the standoff then insert the key which splays the end and locks it in place. much like is used on a lot of graphics card coolers.

Locked

Traditional brass standoffs and screws are also supplied in the bag, along with a nice sturdy I/O plate that's certain not to be suitable for you motherboard simply because it's better than most of the ones that you find in your motherboard box. Also supplied are a pair of keys.

The 3DVelocity 'Dual Conclusions Concept' Explained: After discussing this concept with users as well as companies and vendors we work with, 3DVelocity have decided that where necessary we shall aim to introduce our 'Dual Conclusions Concept' to sum up our thoughts and impressions on the hardware we review. As the needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts have increased, it has become more difficult to factor in all the aspects that such a user would find important, while also being fair to products that may lack these high end "bonus" capabilities but which still represent a very good buy for the more traditional and more prevalent mainstream user. The two categories we've used are:

The Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely to put price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast, in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently and reliably within their advertised parameters.

The Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all the things that the mainstream user cares about but is more likely to accept a weakness in one or more of these things in exchange for some measure of performance or functionality beyond its design brief. For example, a high priced motherboard may be tolerated in exchange for unusually high levels of overclocking ability or alternatively an unusually large heat sink with a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered acceptable if it offers significantly superior cooling in return.

The Mainstream User ~

The bottom line is that I personally don't like the physical appearance of this case, but this aspect of the review is pretty subjective and unless I can be 100% certain that everyone else will share my dislike then it would be wrong of me to lower its score as a result.

Looks aside, what we have is an extremely flexible and innovative case that's built like a tank and weighs almost as much! The quality is first class though so at least you're assured it should serve you well for some considerable time.

Don't be discouraged from buying because there's no power supply included though. It may add to the drain on your budget but very often you'll find the power supplies that comes with most less expensive cases really isn't worth having anyway and may actually cause stability lapses and other problems.

The iQ-Eye 1020-2A is a high quality case that does a lot right if but unless you particularly want or need the advantages of a seven channel fan controller, the thermal readout, the screwless design features and the unique LCD "eye", you can get a similar quality case in aluminium for about the same money.

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The Enthusiast ~

How much did you pay for the last fan controller you bought? £20? £30? When you consider this case comes with a controller capable of handling seven separate channels it starts to look like extrememly good value for money. Throw in three channel thermal monitoring and a large LCD readout and it's looking better all the time.

The iQ-eye isn't perfect. Thermally, despite being in line with Intel's specs, there's a lot could be done to improve things including opening up most of the vents a little. There's no option for a redundant power supply and hard drive space is woeful. To me it seems it would have been wiser to drop to four external 5.25" bays and add a couple of 3.5" internal bays instead.

The effort that has been made to speed system assembly by ditching the screws is commendable, and anyone who regularly swops and changes components will love the screwless side panels, drive rails, standoffs and expansion card retainers.

Security is good, as case security goes, though the weight means you're less likely to have the case with you away from home which makes this less of a selling point. I'd certainly like to see an aluminium version with a slightly (aesthetically) redesigned front door from a personal standpoint.

Overall, Casetek have avoided making the same mistakes made so often by other manufacturers, and there are enough quality design touches to make this a great choice. If you can live with the few small niggles and don't need a case that will need to be moved around a lot, this is a unique conversation starter that's clearly been given a lot of thought and which doesn't sacrifice quality to make room for gimmicks.

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This case can be boght through the guys at Planet Micro amongst other places.