External Appearance

The case came to my door packaged in the factory Chenming cardboard box. When I first picked up the box, I thought it was empty! I would have expected the case to way atleast twice it's actual weight. The aluminum construction really makes this case as light as a feather. The case was protected from bangs and bumps by Styrofoam end blocks. The window came with a plastic cover on the inside and outside to prevent scratches.

Before removing the plastic window covering, I checked out the front of the case. I must say, Chenming cases always seem to have a beautiful design to them. This case has the drive bay door feature, and a front plug access port built into the lower grill. Flipping up the door in front reveals two USB ports and one Firewire port. A useful feature for people with digital still and video cameras...no more reaching behind the computer to plug in a cable.

The rear of the case is well thought out. The PSU compartment has holes for mounting the PSU right-side-up, or upside-down depending on PSU fan placement. The plug/port pannel is removable depending on your motherboard configuration, and there exhaust fan grill actually has a nice pattern! There is a blue plastic piece that covers the screw holes for the PCI slots, and this piece opens up to hold the motherboard screw mount and extra screws. A good idea so you don't have to rummage around for screws when you want to swap something out.

Opening Her Up

Inside the case reveals the true beauty of polished aluminum construction. The lower half of the case ha a plastic holder for a front 80mm intake fan, and a removable 3.5" drive tray that holds two external drives, and two internal drives. The wires for the buttons, LED's, USB ports, and Firewire port all run though a hole behind the removable drive tray. The upper part of the case has room for four 5.25" drives. One of the best features of this case is that the drive bay door covers everything when it's closed...that way even if your drive faces are beige, you won't have to look at them all the time!

The rear of the case is pretty standard: PCI slots, an exhaust fan grill, and a spot for the PSU. Not much to talk about, although I do like the fact that the fan grill is actually big enough to have good airflow. Some case these days have tiny pin-hole grills for exhaust fans, really restricting the airflow. I don't think exhaust airflow will be a problem with this design however.

Just a quick look at this nice feature. The 3.5" drive rack is removable, and here are a few pics of it taken out of the case. Removing the rack makes it 200% easier to install your 3.5" drives, and also makes it easier to install and mount the motherboard.