Inside

    The inside of this chassis sports a lot of room and can handle many types of motherboards, from mini to full size. Also included are 3 - 120mm fans, tool free brackets for up to 3 HDD's, and plenty of mounting screws. I'm going to start at the front and work my way back. At the front there is a 120mm fan mounted at the bottom just in front of the HDD cage. This setup should keep just about anyone's drive cool.

    For your HDD's you get 3 sets of tool free sliders. They clip on to your HDD's with a friction fit and stay in place so they wont fall off when you try to slide your drives into place. Just above the HDD cage you have the mounting area for your 3.5" and 5.25" drives. These also include a screw-less kit to lock your drives in to place quickly. This setup is rather nice; once you slide your 3.5" or 5.25" device into place, you move the slider forward and 2 pins pop out and into the screw holes on the  3.5" or 5.25" device. Then you slide the clip down to lock in place and it will not move on you. Definitely more solid then some of the other tool-less designs out there.

    In the middle of the case there is what is called the Core Fan Support Bracket. This bracket is mounted in the middle of the case and can handle up to 2 - 120mm fans for increased airflow; 1 - 120mm fan was included. This could be ideal for people who are running an SLI setup. At the rear you have a 120mm exhaust port with a 120mm fan included and mounted. The GPU/PCI  card installation is also done with a tool-less setup, just push in the tap swing, open the clip, install your card, and then snap it closed. At the top you have plenty of room for the PSU of your choice. Each of the included fans have both a power adapter that allows them to be mounted to a PSU or to your motherboard and 3-wire leads.

Open chassis	Front fan	Core fan
Rear fan	Tool-free setup	Locking pins
Tool-free GPU/PCI	HDD Rails	Closed
Included Items	Mobo Index	Mobo Installed

Testing

    I did some minor testing with this chassis - not as much as I would like to do. Using Asus Probe and keeping the center core fan unplugged, I got a motherboard reading of 38c which is a normal reading for my system setup. In a matter of just a few minutes after I plugged in the core fan, the motherboard temperature dropped and hovered around 34-35c. Now those results are with the 3 included fans. If the end user mounts additional fans I'm sure you could knock off a few more degrees.

   In the future, I would like to do a smoke test on this chassis just to see how the air flows. I may also cut out a window or ask for a window panel from Sunbeam.

• Temps without core-fan:   38c

• Temps with core-fan:        34-35c

Conclusion

    Sunbeam did a good job on their new chassis, from the clean looking front bezel to the Core-Fan mounting system. The overall look of the case is attractive and the performance and functionality are excellent. The main sticking point with me is the plastic hinges. I know plastic has come along way in the past few years, but I can just see someone opening the bezel too fast and snapping a hinge. With the bezel door opening past 90 degrees this may or may not happen.

   This chassis is built solid and its not lightweight. With the Core fans and side panel openings, anyone wanting to keep an SLI setup cool shouldn't have an issue. Even without SLI in my system the case temperatures dropped. Either way its a win-win situation.

Pros:

• Slick tool free setup for the 3.5" and 5.25" drives

• Clean looking front bezel

• Core fan bracket design

• Tons of options for mounting fans  

• USB ports on the front side of chassis
  
   

Cons:

• Plastic hinges for the bezel door

• No dust filter (a lot of fans equal a mini vacuum)