First Impressions:

   I can sum this up with: "UH OH!". Water is the last thing I wanted to see, and it ended up being the first thing I saw when I opened the packaging. There was orange liquid pooled in the bottom of the plastic bag the case was wrapped in.

Well, this looks right	Uhh.. what the?	I hope there isn't more
All over the place	Ok. No puddles *whew*	AH HA. the problem

   After setting up some towels, I removed the case from the packaging, and discovered it was actually a very minor problem. They had obviously tested the system prior to shipping it, and a small amount of liquid was stuck in the radiator tubes. One plug in the radiator fell out (they could have used a better plug for shipping) and some of the excess drained out.

   The leak found and myself relieved that nothing was really wrong, I set about checking everything out. When I checked the case out, I didn’t have to lift it. Which brings me to my second impression. Holy poop that’s heavy. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a steal case, so I’d forgotten how much of a difference it is. This is NOT the case you want to haul around to a local LAN party.

Aluminum front panel	Open	Protective cover
You better not sue!	Shiny	That's a back end alright.

   The quality of the finish looks excellent, the radiator cover can pull double duty as a mirror. The front aluminum panel has one of the nicest finishes I’ve seen in a long time.

   The carrying handles are very sturdy, and have no give to them, you don’t need to worry about breaking it when you pick it up (but those with back problems might have to worry about breaking themselves).

   On the side of the case with the radiator, the handles are only for lifting off the side panel. The manual specifically warns against lifting the whole case with them. Though that’s mostly because the panel wouldn’t hold up to the weight, not so much the handles.

   The Radiator is the largest I’ve seen on a stock water cooling case, in fact there are very few modders who have bigger. They had to put on this nice little sticker that says "Warranty void if removed". Right, how mean can they get, now I HAVE to remove it.

What's that in upper left?

*must*...*resist*...

-wasn't me!-

   Personally I plead "entrapment". There wasn't anything difficult to understand under that covering. But it does give a better look at the water tank.

At first, I noticed the lock for the front panels (the section behind the front door swings open to allow access to the optical drives) and thought it was a good idea. Two things changed my mind.

1. The lock on the review unit, does not lock the 2^nd panel (the panel that prevents access to optical drives) like it should. There is too much movement in the locking hook.

2. I lost the keys about a dozen times in a few days during testing. I don’t want to carry them around, and ‘hiding’ them isn’t a good idea for someone who’s forgetful like I am.