The exterior of this case is obviously its best feature.
The front of the
case is complemented with touches of chrome and has
beveled lines running down the sides. One of the coolest
parts of the case is the 6" by 7" piece
of plastic that contains a coil design lit by a blue
LED. In the center of the coil lays the chrome power
and reset buttons.
The front lighting up is just plain
cool.
Since
it was the first case I've ever owned with a window,
I was very impressed. With the exception of a few
small buldges in the molding, the window was installed
very well. Those of you without windows will be amazed
how nice it is to be able to see all of your components
(and to show them off).
Here's a shot of the window with green
and blue cold cathodes inside.
By far
the thing I was most surprised to see with this case
were the included stealth bay covers. The 5 1/4"
covers are designed to flap down when your CD/DVD
rom ejects, allowing the tray to be used just like
normal. The thin detail strip that you see actually
allows light to come out, allowing you to see when
your drive is in use. Anyone who still uses a floppy
drive will be happy to know that Xoxide also included
a removeable floppy drive cover which fits into one
of the five external 5 1/4" bays.
This was something we never expected
to be included, too bad it won't work on all drives.
Since
every CD/DVD rom is different, there are some instances
where these covers will be an inconvenience. Those
of us with some more advanced features on the front
of the drives (Earphone port, volume controls, play/stop
butons) will be unable to use such luxuries. Also,
not every drive will work with these. From what I've
found, any drive that has a tall lip will not be allowed
to pass through. However, I've had no problems with
any of my drives that already use doors.
I know
what you're thinking, "Where are the front USBs?
How am I going to transfer my mp3s?!" Well, that
shouldn't be a problem. There are two USB ports that
are covered by a tiny door on the right hand side
of the case.
