Introduction:

   Zalman Tech is a well known company in the PC cooling market. Zalman has many patented high quality designs that offer excellent cooling while still remaining extremely quiet. Zalman recently hooked up with "Fatal1ty", the world's best known gamer, to design a computer enclosure in which they felt was quite simply; the ultimate PC gaming case.

Zalman FC-ZE1 Fatal1ty Champion Series Chassis

   Zalman already has numerous other "Fatal1ty" branded cooling solutions, but a full blown chassis is by far their biggest endeavor. Can the worlds best gamer create the worlds best gaming case? Or will this next chapter in "Fatal1ty" branded products prove that you can't be the best at everything? At a selling price between $349-$369 right now, it should not only be the best case ever, it should make you breakfast too! Does it? Read on to find out!

Specifications:

Packaging:

Box

in a...

box.

   The Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1 chassis arrived in a huge box. My first thoughts were "damn, this thing must be bigger than I thought it was!". However it turns out it was double boxed in the exact same looking boxes, just a smaller one inside a larger one. What I mean there is both boxes were brown and completely Fatal1ty branded with logos and specs all over it. It may sound silly, but they spared no expense on the packaging. Then again, we are talking about a $350-ish chassis here. It was shipped like one.

Out of the Box:

   Once I finally got the FC-ZE1 out of it's double boxed coffin, I immediately noticed how heavy this aluminum chassis was. Not to mention it felt more like a big block. Cold, Hard and unfriendly. The next thing I noticed was the writing and logos. Now the logo's aren't half bad, but the writing, it's....everywhere! And most of it is pretty useless like it's talking to someone who's never opened their case before. If you're buying a case like this, you don't need to be told where the PSU goes, or how to secure it, or not to obstruct the cooling fans, or not to stare directly into the LED fans, etc. I think it really takes away from the look. The Fatal1ty logos alone would be enough. You either know who he is and what the names represents or you don't. And if you don't, you wouldn't give this case a second look anyway.