A Closer Look:::...

After the initial "My God that's red!" reaction has died down, you start to notice that it's not quite red at all. By that I mean it's not red in the way a Ferrari is red, or in the way a poppy is red. Although it's difficult to see from the photos it's actually a very slightly off-red. A kind of "spent too long in direct sunlight" shade of very vaguely washed-out pink-red.

And if you don't like the shade well that's just tough look because just about every forward facing square inch of the front panel is that shade.

Perhaps what spoils the effect a little in my eyes is that the plastic used has a slightly cheap look to it. Credit where it's due, the stuff is fire retardent, but its neither glossy enough to be a mirror-like finish nor dull enough to be a matt finish. It's a kind of fairly glossy off-red slab of plastic that just doesn't look quite right to me, though I'm grasping to understand quite why it doesn't work other than there being a lot of it. If that seems harsh you really need to see this case in the flesh to understand my comments. It's only very, very slightly out, but it's not the kind of flash-bang red I feel it should be. There again, maybe it's just me :/

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting it's ugly because it's not, in fact it's quite attractive in a way, it just doesn't have that magic ingredient, what ever that might be.

Front

What ever the front lacks though, the back makes up for. I seem to have spent a lifetime asking why more manufacturers don't make use of the superior performance and lower noise levels that 120mm fans offer, and lo and behold, this case features not one but two of them! Or more accurately one supplied and space for one more, but more on that later.

The large, open vent design of the grill should offer excellent airflow. The vent is actually reinforced with two additional layers of steel making look unusually thick at this point though I'm not entirely sure what this achieves.

For my money, any case manufacturer who takes the sensible step of using these bigger fans gets a pat on the back from me no matter what their cases look like....within reason of course.

Rear

Perhaps one of the things I don't quite like about the front panel is that it looks so much like an afterthought. Neither the colour nor the design styling are carried over on to the side panels or the top making it look like a standard case with a fancy bit slapped on the front.

Side

Under the front fascia is a separate molding which forms the side and lower vent detail, in this case silver. Both the front panel and the sub-panel can be mixed and matched so, for example, you could have a silver front panel with black vents and so on. I like the idea, and may have like a silver front panel with black vents, who knows?

Angled View

A feature I really do like is the placing of your front panel connectors facing upwards at the top of the case. I'd be a bit concerned that dust and grime would accumulate in there over time and would possible have preferred to se then behind a tiny door but this is infinitely better having them at the bottom of the front fascia as so often happens. With most people storing tower cases on the floor under their desk, this has never quite made sense.

Front Connectors

Alongside the mic and earphone jacks, the two USB2.0 ports and the IEEE1394 Firewire port sits the power and reset button. You mean I don't have to lean over to see where my power button is any more? Well I'll drink to that!

Front Connectors Up Close

And as if to prove this isn't just some el-cheapo case with a fancy bit stuck on the front (no, that's not quite how I worded it), there's a rather clunky, slightly industrial but very welcome quick release latch on the side panel. And it can be locked with the supplied keys too!

Side Panel Latch

Latch Operation

If you work on negative pressure case ventilation you'll be pleased to see strategically placed side panel vent holes right alongside where your graphics card resides.

Finishing off my tour of the outside, it was good to see rubber feet used. These isolate noise much better than the plastic feet often used these days and help stop any slippery-slideyness (technical term) on desks and other shiny surfaces.

Rubber Feet

Introduction

External Features