As usual we’ll start with the packaging, the case is packaged well with styrofoam and plastic around it for protection.

Then here’s the case, it’s mostly black with blue highlights around the drive bays.

On the front of the case you’ll see three regular 5.25” bays and one that can be used for a 3.5” device like a card reader. Below the bays you’ll find a meshed are, behind which is the front 200mm fan which has blue LEDs in it, and then the Thermaltake logo is there as well.

Moving to the top of the case you’ll find power and reset buttons along with eSATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and audio connectors. One of the great features of the Overseer case is the addition of the SATA dock that’s located on the top as well.

Here’s the view of the top of the case behind the control panel, it’s just mesh and there’s one 200mm fan installed towards the back with space for another one. This fan has blue LEDs in it as well. The top section has an interesting ‘fin’ look to it, I like it.

The right side of the Overseer is just plain black, but you’ll notice the panel sort of bulges out, this is to provide extra room so you can stuff all of your cables back behind the motherboard tray and out of the way and yet still get the side panel back on with ease.

On the left side of the case you’ll see a small window and space for another 200mm fan if you desire more cooling.

Moving around the back of the case you’ll find the normal stuff here, I/O port, PCI slots and then there’s holes for liquid cooling and a security lock for your peripherals like mouse and keyboard towards the top. The side panels are held on with thumbscrews so you can take them off and put them back on easily.

Under the power supply is a removable dust filter, it just slides in and out for ease of cleaning it.

Here’s the bottom of the case, it has nice tall rubberized non-slip feet to help promote airflow, and here you can see the removable filter. There’s also a space for another fan and the filter extends to that fan as well.

Here’s the front bezel removed, you can get a better look at the 200mm fan and the bays. The bezel just pops on and off with ease.

Moving on here’s the right side of the case, or the back of the motherboard tray with the side panel removed. Here you’ll find plenty of rubberized slots for routing your wires through and a nice large cut-out where the CPU would be located so you can quickly and easily swap CPU coolers if needed. You’ll also notice that the inside of the case is painted black to match the outside.

Then here’s the view with the let panel removed:

The 5.25” bays are tool-less, they use a spring lock latch system.

The hard drive cage is located beneath of course and can hold five drives. The drive trays can be used with 3.5” or 2.5” drives.

Here’s a couple of the racks, one upside down and one right-side up so you can see them better.

Here’s the bottom of the case, you can see the filter here and where the optional fan can be installed.

Then here’s the back section where the PCI slots are and you can see the 120mm fan installed for you, there’s no LEDs in this one.

Here’s the inside view of the top of the Overseer showing the 200m fan installed:

Of course you’ll find an assortment of wires for connections to your motherboard and USB 2.0 and UBS 3.0 headers, there’s also power connectors for the fans and the lighting effects on the front of the case which I’ll show you later in the review.

Finally there’s a small assortment of accessories for you including a CPU power extender and Molex to 3pin fan conenctors. In the bag is the assortment of screws along with several reusable cable ties.

Specifications:

Overseer RX-I 

Features:   
-Pulsating lighting effect.
-E-sports gaming style front bezel.
-USB 3.0 SuperSpeed via internal 20 pin connector.
-Top-mounted HDD Docking Station enables blazing fast file transfer and effortless hot-swap capability.
-Black coating makes stylish inside look.
-Bottom-placed PSU design for better and easier installation.
-Supports most advanced AMD & NVIDIA graphic cards up to 12.5"/32cm (e.g. —-AMD Radeon HD 6990 & nVidia Geforce GTX 590).

Specs:
Case Type: Full Tower
Material: SECC
Front Bezel Material: Combination of plastic and high air flow mesh

Color:      
Interior: Black
Exterior: Black

Side Panel: Solid with Transparent Window

Motherboard Support      
9.6” x 9.6” (Micro ATX)
12” x 9.6” (ATX)
12” x 13” (Extend ATX)

5.25" Drive Bay: 3
Ext. 3.5" Drive Bay: By using 5.25" to 3.5" Converter
Int. 3.5" Drive Bay: 5
Expansion Slots: 8

Front I/O Ports:      
USB 3.0 x 2 (via internal header)
USB 2.0 x 2
eSATA connector x 1
Mic & Speaker (support AC’97 & HD Audio)

Cooling System      
- Front (intake) :
  200 x 200 x 30 mm Blue LED (600~800 RPM, 12~14 dBA)
- Rear (exhaust) :
  120 x 120 x 25 mm TurboFan, 1000rpm, 16dBA
- Top(exhaust) :
  200 x 200 x 30 mm Blue LED fan x 1 (600~800rpm, 13~15dBA)
2 x  200 x 200 x 30 mm (optional)
- Bottom(intake) :
  120 x 120 x 25 mm x 1 (optional)
- Side(intake) :
  200 x 200 x 30 mm x 1 (optional)

Liquid Cooling Capable: Yes

Power Supply Supported: Standard ATX PSII Power Supply

Dimension (H*W*D): 535 x 220 x 580 mm / 21.1 x 8.7 x 22.8 inch
Net Weight: 10.3 kg / 22.7 lb
Security Lock: For Peripherals Only
Application: Suitable for gaming, enthusiast, DIY and modding

MSRP: $139.99
Price: $129.99 (from Amazon at time of review)

Next up would be installing my system in the case. The first thing I did was install the hard drives in the racks, this involves four screws through the frame through the silicone vibration dampeners into the hard drive.

Next of course was the rest of the system. I found there’s plenty of room to move around, it’s a nice big case.

I got a lot of use from the wire management during the installation, it is really nice having this type of setup in a case.

On the back of the motherboard tray is a slot so you can route the CPU power connection through to the motherboard, it was a tight fit but it worked. The case is tall, so you need to have a long power cable though for this to work, or get some sort of extender. Thermaltake was kind enough to include a power extender for you though, so you won’t have to buy one!

Speaking of the power connector, I found here’s plenty of space at the top of the case to work. I easily got the connection for the power in and it was easy to get the motherboard screws in as well thanks to all of the extra room.

I used the built-in 3.5” bay for my card reader, this way I didn’t have to use a 5.25” to 3.5” adapter which is nice.

Here’s my four hard drives installed, once they’re in the rack they just slide into the cage and lock into place.

Here’s everything installed, you can see the ATI 4890 I have fits fine in the Overseer with a lot of room to spare and thanks to the built-in wire management the inside looks rather clean and neat.

The back of the motherboard tray is a different story though, it’s a mess and I don’t care as it’s not seen. The Overseer case offers a lot of room for wires behind the mobo tray so it doesn’t have to be neat back there and I had no problems getting the side panel back on.

The front and top 200mm fans have blue LEDs in them making for a nice appearance in the dark. the Fans are also very quiet, the case is sitting less than three feet from me and I really can’t hear anything.

On the control panel at the top of the case is what looks like a dragon that lights up blue as well, it blinks very slowly, it’s not really a blink, it’s more of a fade though.

The top fan light does illuminate the inside of the case slightly, you can see it though the window somewhat. In the dark it’s more noticeable though.

As I mentioned already, the fans are nice and quiet, you can barely hear them even up close and they do a very good job at keeping things cool.

A couple small things to note about dust though. The side panel has a space for another 200mm fan, and there’s a filter in place but after about a week that filter gets full of dust and doesn’t look to great. I was thinking of cutting a piece of Plexiglas in the shape of the hole and putting it in there so the dust issue would be eliminated and then you could see more into the case.

The next issue with dust is the side window, it collects dust as well, both on the outside and inside. I’m guessing it’s due to static that it’s doing this but it’s not very pretty. The dust on the outside can easily be wiped off but to clean the inside you’ll have to remove the side panel of course and that can be a pain. This isn’t an issue if you case is under your desk or out of site, but I have mine on my desk so I see it all of the time and I don’t care for it much.

Something else I noticed that I found rather odd is that the hard drives can be heard through the case but only at certain angles. If you’re positioned more towards the front of the case they can’t be heard, but if you’re off to the side then you can hear them accessing. It’s just weird  really.

Conclusion:
The Thermaltake Overseer RX-I is an awesome case, just plain awesome. It’s big and makes a bold statement, it’s the kind of case I’m happy to have sitting on my desk, one that’s well made and looks great, but it’s on the inside where it counts and the Overseer has plenty of room for all of your stuff to fit without any issues. This case could be for gamers, it sure looks like a gamer case, but it doesn’t have to be, it can work for anyone and fit in anywhere.

The Overseer is full of great features that I think everyone can appreciate, especially the built-in SATA dock right there on the top of the case for easy access.

There are a few very small issues with the case, but the good things very much outweigh the bad, so this is a case that I can easily recommend to you.

Pros:
+Lots of room inside
+Plenty of room for wires on back of mobo tray
+Plenty of wire routing options
+Quiet and cool
+Looks great
+Built-in SATA dock

Cons:
-Depending on the angle, hard drives can be audible
-Side fan filter collects a lot of dust
-Side window collects dust

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Full Tower PC Case is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

The box isn’t what I expected, but then again I don’t know what I expected. It’s a box with the case inside and it’s well packaged to protect it.

The Nighthawk case has a very unique look to it, one that I like honestly.

On the top of case is space for four 5.25” devices and above that you’ll find the front control panel which has power and reset buttons along with audio ports, USB 2.0 and a USB 3.0 connection.

Below the 5.25” bays you’ll find the card reader already installed for you. The reader has an extra USB 2.0 port as well.

On the bottom is a 120mm fan behind the mesh. The fan does have blue LEDs in it which you’ll see later.

On the top of the case is more mesh and you can put two more 120mm cooling fans there for added cooling performance.

Part of the left side of the case is mesh as well, but there’s a 200mm cooling fan here to keep things cool. The mesh part on the side sticks out a bit, just an observation….

The right side of the case is just plain black. On both sides of the case you’ll see the MSI logo and on the side panels are handles to make removal easy. The case is metal and it feels study and just look good overall.

Moving to the back you’ll see the side panel are held on with thumbscrews and you’ll immediately notice the blue accents of the fan and PCI slot covers. There’s also spots to enable you to run tubing for liquid cooling, and the case is the bottom mounted PSU style.

Here’s the front of the case without the bezel on. You can get a better look at the fan and you can see the 5.25” mesh bay covers have filters on them.

On the bottom of the case you’ll notice tall feet and venting for another 120mm fan and for the power supply.

Here’s the view with the right side panel removed or the back of the motherboard tray. There is a large cutout where the CPU is so you can easily swap coolers.

The hard drives and 5.25” devices are tool-less, on both sides you’ll find plastic lock to hold them in place.

Here’s the left side panel off so you can see the fan from the back side, yes it’s blue. I’m not too sure about the whole black and blue color scheme, but I’ve seen worse.

Then now we can get a look at the inside of the case. It’s all black inside of the case to match the outside.

Here’s the view of the back. The 120mm fan has both Molex and 3pin connections for power.

The bottom of the case has four rubber stands where the PSU goes to help keep it just a bit quieter.

Here’s views of the 5.25” bays and the hard drive cage:

Inside there are connections for audio, motherboard headers, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

In the accessory bag you’ll see the familiar installation kit with screws and standoffs, user manual, plastic straps for wire management and an MSI dog tag.

Specifications:

Interceptor Series Nighthawk ATX Mid Tower

Utilizing reinforced steel armor plating that protects your vital gear, the Nighthawk also comes fully equipped to ensure your system effortlessly survives even the most rigorous gaming and overclocking sessions.

Advanced Thermal Airflow Design
The Nighthawk includes three high performance fans for top quality cooling, maximized ventilation, and silent operation.

-120mm Rear Ball-Bearing Fan
-120mm Front Blue LED Ball-Bearing Fan
-200mm Side Fan (Can also be replaced with two 120mm fans)
-Three additional 120mm fan openings are available for flexibility and customization.
-Easy to access back panel for performance cooler installations/replacement.
-Bottom-placed PSU greatly improves thermal efficiency and for easiest installation.
-Cable management clips for cleaner installs and additional airflow improvements.
-Elevated stands to prevent airflow blockage on carpet flooring.

Tool-less Drive Bays
Lock n’ load your drives and peripherals conveniently with the tool-less wing clip design.Turn the lock counterclockwise to unlock and remove the wing, insert your device and place into the proper openings, then lock the device in by placing the wing back in and turning it clock-wise.

Gamers can be assured their high-end graphics card will fit, with support for cards up to 310mm. (ex. Radeon 6990 = 305mm, nVIDIA GTX590 = 280mm)

Water Cooling Ready Includes pre-cut rubber holes for advanced hydration systems.

Built-in Card Reader Included free with your MSI case is a 12-in-1 card reader with an additional USB 2.0 port. (Uses USB 2.0 motherboard header)
Supports:
-MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo
-CF I/CF II/MD
-SD/MMC/RC MMC
-Extreme Digital
-TF/Micro SD
-M2

Front Panel USB 3.0 Port
SuperSpeed USB 3.0’s 5 GB/s offers 10 times the bandwidth compared to traditional USB 2.0 ports. Simply connect the USB 3.0 connector directly to the port on your motherboard and gain blazing fast file transfer speeds from the front of the case.

Angled Top Panel I/O
Easy to access Power and Reset buttons; Headphone, Mic, USB 2.0 (x2), USB 3.0 (x1) ports.

Mid-Tower – ATX/Micro-ATX Compatibility

Series Interceptor
Name Nighthawk
Model IN-9390
UPC 4712523621650
Case Type ATX Mid Tower
Material Steel
Color Black
Front Bezel Material Mesh
Motherboard Compatibility ATX/ Micro ATX
3.5” Drive Bay Internal 6
5.25” Drive Bay 4
Expansion Slot 7

USB 2.0 3
USB 3.0 1
HD Audio Yes
97 Audio Yes
Card Reader 1
Power Supply Mounted Bottom
Liquid Cooling Ready Yes

Cooling System
Pre-installed Fans
1 x 120MM Front Blue LED Fan
1 x 200MM Side Fan
1 x 120MM Rear Ball Bearing Fan
Optional Fans
2 x 120MM Top Fans
3 x 120MM Side Fans
1 x 120MM Bottom Fan

Advanced Thermal Air Flow Design Yes
Multi-GPU Supported (up to 310mm) Yes
Tool-less Design Yes
Cable Management System Capable Yes

Dimension (Chassis)180(W) x 428(L) x 410(H)MM
Dimension (Case)180(W) x 475(L) x 448(H)MM

MSRP $79.99
Warranty 3 Years

more review text

The next step of course is to install a system in it and I went about it.

One interesting thing to note about the installation process is that you don’t have screws inside of the case to secure your PCI/PCIE cards. There’s a bracket on the outside of the case that you remove them put back on once your cards are in place.

I did use one of the clips to hold the wires in place at the bottom of the case.

Here’s everything installed in the Nighthawk, and it’s a bit cramped but I got it all to fit.

There’s really nowhere to run the wires so I pretty much hard to cram a lot in the bottom of the case.

Here’s the view from behind the motherboard:

I only use one optical drive a blu-ray reader and DVD burner. I normally also have a card reader installed but the Nighthawk came with one so I don’t need mine.

Here’s the front fan lit up:

There’s a ring around the power button that lights up blue also when the system is turned on.

The fans seems to do a decent job of keeping things cool. I should note that the fans are a bit loud for my tastes, but I prefer a very quiet system so I have a low tolerance to loud fans. Keep in mind though, what I think is loud might be fine to someone else.

The side fan seems to suck in a lot of dust, it seems every other day I’m wiping it clean because dust has accumulated on the side in a circular pattern. It is winter though so, the furnace is on keeping up dust around the house.

The Nighthawk feels a bit cramped to me, but there is plenty of room for everything to fit. I just like a bit more room to run wires and such around and through the case.

Conclusion:
The MSI Nighthawk case is a decent looking one, there’s no doubt about that, it’s stylish and just really looks good. The case does have some good qualities like the built-card reader and the fact that it’s mostly tool-less making installation a tad bit easier. The cooling system seems to work well at keeping everything cool inside of the case. You can use the included fans and leave it at that or replace them or the case does have spaces so you can add more fans for even more efficient cooling. There is plenty of room for several hard drives for lots of storage and there’s still room for even the largest of video cards. I really like the addition of the card reader, it is very helpful as I use it often.

The noise level of the fans is a personal preference, I think they’re a bit too loud but that’s me. I like my case to be very quiet as it sits on my desk no more than three feet from me. If it was under the desk then I would guess the sound level would be bearable then. It just depends on how close you are to it really and where you’ll have your case set up, and of course your tolerance to noise from case fans.

The side fan sucks a lot of dust in, in a day or two you’ll be wiping a dust ring from the side. It’s winter so the furnace kicks up a lot of dust in our houses so that’s one of those things that you just have to deal with I guess. It would be nice if there was some kind of filter on the side fan that you could remove and clean but there isn’t so any dust not on the outside fan cover is obviously going to the inside and getting on your components.

To me the case feels a bit cramped as there’s really nowhere to run cables as the motherboard tray isn’t cut-out to allow cables to pass through or even hide behind the tray. Everything kind of has to be jammed in the bottom of the case or wherever else you can.

The cons aren’t that bad really, just small gripes on my part. Overall the case isn’t bad, it’s small and well made so it can be portable if need be. The price is about right, it’s low, more of a budget minded case I guess.

Pros:
+Very well made
+Keeps things cool
+Great design and good looks
+Tool-less
+Built-in card reader

Cons:
-Feels a bit cramped
-Fans are loud
-Really nowhere to run cables
-Sucks a lot of dust in

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of MSI Interceptor Series Nighthawk ATX Mid Tower Case is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

As usual we’ll start with the packaging. The box looks nice and the case is packed well with styrofoam, cardboard and a plastic bag.

You can get the case is a few colors but I got the black with orange accents. The entire front bezel is plastic as one might expect, the rest of the case though is metal.

The front has a door that sits almost flush wit the case, just a very slight indentation for your fingers to grab and open the door. Sadly the door only opens to the right and can’t be switched. For me this doesn’t work as my PC is on my left. There are four 5.25” bays and on 2.5” bay.

Beneath the bays is the buttons for power and reset and then the UBS 3.0 ports and the audio jacks.

Below the bays you’ll find a, interesting vent design behind which is a 120mm intake fan for cooling.

Here it is with the bezel off:

The left side of the case does have a window and a 120mm fan pre-installed. You can get this case with or without the side window.

The right side is just plain black.

Moving around to the back you’ll find the usual ports and slots. The PCI slots covers are blue as is the rear exhaust fan. There’s also holes for water cooling and the side panels are held on with thumbscrews for easy access.

One interesting feature is there there are fold down handles for the side panels, they make getting them off a bit easier. They are just plastic though so I am a bit suspicious if they’ll last, especially if you’re someone who’s often in and out of their case.

The Viper case has nice large feet that will keep the case very stable. For most people this might not be an issue but I’ve got three small children and things get knocked down all of the time.

Your power supply will get mounted in the bottom of the case and there’s a removable filter there for it.

Taking the right panel off I was happy to see the large cut-out area for easily changing CPU coolers. There’s also rubberized slots for passing your wires through without damaging them and a large space on the bottom for wires.

Here’s the left side panel off so you can get a better look a the fan, notice there is no fan grill here so you might want to be careful with wiring.

Here’s what the case looks like with the panel off, the bays are tool-less and the clips are blue in color. I’m not sure about the whole, black, blue and orange color scheme. I would think that if the accents are orange then so would other parts of the case. Oh well, I didn’t design it.

Here’s the view from inside of the PCI slots and the rear fan. The fan uses a regular Molex connection for power.

Then here’s the bottom view where the PSU would be:

Here’s a few views of the hard drive and 5.25” bays for you:

The clips for the bays are just plastic and they’re only for one side.

Hanging around inside you’ll find the standard connection for audio and the motherboard headers along with a USB 3.0 header connection as well.

There’s a box of accessories, in which you won’t find much really. There’s a bag of screws for installation and a little speaker, but there’s also some zip ties and wire management clips.

Specifications:

VIPER

Features:
-OPTIONAL SIDE WINDOW MOUNTED 120MM BLUE LED FAN KEEPS YOUR SYSTEM COOL AND LOOKS GREAT!
-AGGRESSIVE FRONT PANEL DESIGN
-UPGRADE TO HI-SPEED USB3.0
-WATER COOLING SUPPORT
-TOOL-FREE INSTALLATION
-SLIDE OUT SIDE PANEL HANDLE
-EXPANSION SLOTS MESH DESIGN HELPS VENTILATION WELL
-CABLE PROTECTION
-CABLE MANAGEMENT
-BOTTOM MOUNTED PSU
-BOTTOM PSU FAN FILTER

BASIC SPECIFICATION:
EXTERNAL DRIVE BAYS: 4 X 5.25", 1 X 3.5"
INTERNAL DRIVE BAYS: 4 X 3.5" H.D.
SYSTEM BOARD: 10” X 12” MAX SIZE ATX FORM FACTOR / MICRO ATX

EXPANSION SLOTS:
-STANDARD ATX 7 SLOTS
-I/O PORTS: 1 X USB3.0 + 1 X USB2.0 / 2 x AUDIO

DIMENSIONS: 521(L) X 185(W) X 445(H)mm

COOLING SYSTEM
FRONT: 1 X 120mm blue LED fan
SIDE: 1 x 120mm blue LED fan (optional)
BACK: 1 x 120mm Black frame with Black leaves fan
TOP: None

Price: $68.25 (from Amazon at time of review)

I got my motherboard in with no issues at all, it fit just fine.

The video cards seem to fit as well.

Once I got the hard drives in though I found that I couldn’t put my fourth hard drive in because of the larger video card, or more specifically the power connections on the card. Here’s a picture showing where the HDD would be, but it won’t fit because of the connections on the card and then those that would be on the hard drive itself.

Here’s a couple shots of the completed installation. I also found that I couldn’t run the CPU power cable behind the motherboard because there was no room for it to fit through. I just had to run it across the top of the case. The Viper case seems a bit small really and slightly cramped I think, but that’s just my opinion though. Depending on your setup it might not be as cramped. During installation I found the fan power cords to be a bit short, it worked but it would be nice if they were longer.

Here’s the back of the motherboard tray with my wires run back there. I really only have a few thick wires back there and it’s very hard to get the side panel on, it was buckling outwards, so there’s not much room to have a lot of wires back there. To get the side panel back on I had to almost lay on the case to hold the top and bottom of the panel in the track to slide it into place.

Here’s the front with my card reader and BD/DVD drive installed. I could have used the existing 2.5” slot for my card reader but I already had it in the adapter from my previous build so I opted for just using a 5.25” bay for the reader.

Here’s what it looks like in the dark. There’s a green LED to indicate power and then a red LED on the right that blinks with hard drive activity.

Then here’s the side fan in the dark, it lights up a rather bright blue. One thing to note is a very annoying buzzing is coming from the side fan. I tried to tap on it and move things around and the bussing wouldn’t stop. I found that if I put my hand in front of the fan, without actually touching the case, the buzzing would stop. Apparently there’s something with the fins that is causing the buzzing noise as the air flows over them. I’m not sure if it’s just with this case or not though.

Then finally here’s the front view in the dark. The front fan has blue LEDs in it that shine through the slot that make for a nice looking presentation.

Conclusion:
The Raidmax Viper isn’t a bad case overall, it looks great and it seems well made. It is lightweight and the tool-less installation does make things go along quickly and easily. I do like the addition of the handles on the side panels, it makes taking them off very easy. The extra large feet make the case very stable so it can’t be knocked over accidentally.

The case does have some small issues that I think can be forgiven especially considering the price of the case, it’s selling for under $70 most places I’ve looked. Still though you need to be aware that you might not be able to use all of the hard drive slots if you have large video cards.

Pros:
+Interesting styling
+Installation is easy
+Wire management accessories included
+Rubberized holes to pass wires through
+Pop out handles for easy removal of side panels
+Large feet make the case very stable
+Inexpensive
+Sturdy

Cons:
-All hard drive bays not accessible with large video cards
-Annoying buzz from side fan
-Fan power cords are rather short
-Not much room on back of motherboard tray

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Raidmax Viper PC Case is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Gamers are on the fringe of one of the biggest years of game releases. Activision is releasing Modern Warfare 3, EA is revealing their flagship title Battlefield 3, and Microsoft has announced a remake of the original Halo. Evil Controllers plans to jump into the hype and excitement by improving upon their own product line up of high quality, fully custom controllers.

The addition this fall will be with controllers themed specifically for particular titles. Evil Controllers believes that with these upgraded Microsoft Xbox 360 Controllers, their fans will become fully immersed into their favorite universe.

To start, Evil Controllers will unveil their Red Skulls controller themed to match the aesthetic look and feel of Gears of War 3. Similar to the Gears of War 3 controller designed by Microsoft and Epic games, this controller is designed to celebrate the release of Gears of War 3 itself.
In addition to featuring Evil’s Evil Imaging exterior, the controller will feature custom controller parts to accentuate its unique look and style. The Red Skullz controller will find a happy home alongside fans of the series for one reason other than its visual upgrades. The Red Skullz controller will feature Evil Controllers’ patently developed Evil D-Pad that removes the frustration originally felt on an axis or disc based D-Pad.

While Microsoft and Epic’s Gears of War 3 controller will feature Microsoft’s new twist D-Pad, the Evil D-Pad will make a larger more significant difference. Evil Controllers’ Evil D-Pad separates the directional inputs into 4 separate buttons, the common mistakes that occur while using a standard controller will be dissolved immediately because the Evil D-Pad has removed the bridge that connects all the directional buttons together.

Evil Controllers has starting selling their controller for Gears of War 3 in anticipation for the game’s release. The controller is currently on sale for a limited time at its introductory price of $79.99. A Do It Yourself Kit is also available for only $39.99 that includes the Gears of War inspired controller shell, bullet buttons, and a torque tool for modifying your own Xbox 360 controller.

Check Evil Controllers’ website in the next few weeks to learn about Evil’s exclusive Gears of War 3 gameplay enhancements at http://www.evilcontrollers.com.

Evil Controllers Unveils Gears of War 3 Controller is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

The H2 comes packaged well, it’s packed like most other cases with styrofoam and plastic.

You can get the H2 in black or white, I got black as you can see. The front of the case is a nice looking brushed metal that is covered in protective plastic when it arrives.

The sides of the H2 are just plain black. The paintjob is nicely done. The front door has two LED indicators built into it, on at the top for HDD activity and one for power. The case I got has an issue with the power LED, it doesn’t work, I plugged it in different ways and it just wouldn’t work for me. I tried to see if there was something I could fix quickly but I couldn’t find anything wrong, possibly a bad LED. The activity LED worked fine though. Another small issue I came across is the door, it opens to the left which is odd as most cases open to the right. I have my case sitting to my right, so opening the left makes me have to reach around the door to access the bays.

The top of the H2 has a few unique things going on. At first glance it looks like just two panels on the top, and the control panel. The case is metal so even empty it’s a bit heavy, but it feels solidly made.

The control panel has three USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.o ports along with audio, power and reset buttons. There’s also a three position fan speed sliding switch as well that controls the three included fans. You can add two more fans and it will control them as well.

Behind the USB ports is a removable panel that opens to reveal SATA power and data connections. You can use either 3.5” or 2.5” drives with it, and you can replace the cover with the drive in place so no one would ever know you’ve got a hard drive in there.

Farther back is a second panel, this one is magnetic and it covers the optional 140mm fan vent.

The front panel opens to reveal three drive bays and two 120mm fans pre-installed.

The fan clip in place, they pop right out easily to reveal the hard drive rack. You actually install the hard drives from the front of the case. There’s also no wires for the fans, there are metal contacts on the fan housing and inside of the case that complete the circuit when closed to provide power to the fans.

Moving around the back of the case the first thing you’ll probably notice is a blue wires sticking out of the top left corner, that’s for the single USB 3.0 port on the top panel. On the end it has a regular USB 3.0 connector and you just plug that into a USB 3.0 port. It’s an interesting idea, but I found the cable is just a little short, I had to really stretch and pull to get it to work with my system as I use a PCIE x4 style card for USB 3.0 which is located farther down the case.

On the top is a 120mm fan pre-installed, then there’s liquid cooling holes and the PCI slot covers and of course a place for the power supply to be mounted.

The bottom of the H2 is one big air filter. You’ll also find rubber pads on the bottom.

The filter just slides out of the case from the back.

Specifications:

NZXT H2
Silent Midtower Chassis

NOISE – chaotic wavelengths that distract, distort, impede, confuse, and endanger the gamer during a life and death situation. If you are a professional gamer, avoid it at all cost. Intelligently constructed to give you peace of mind, NZXT’s H2 Classic Series Silent Midtower Chassis minimizes extraneous hums, clicks, whirls of your system to enhance your concentration, accuracy, and deadliness
   
Features:
-Touch powered fans with fan filter for easy maintenance and fan swapping 0
-30W 3-step fan control for airflow settings at 40%, 70%, and 100% of maximum fan speed
-Top hot swap capable SATA HDD Dock (requires an AHCI capable motherboard and hot swappable HDD) and USB 3.0 port for the most up to date function
-8 Front facing HDDs for optimal airflow
-Noise dampening foam and a top magnetic fan cover for minimal PC noise
-Ample 25mm space behind motherboard for cable management

Specs:
MODEL: H2
CASE TYPE: Mid Tower Steel
FRONT PANEL MATERIAL: Plastic/Steel
DIMENSIONS (W x H x D): 215 x 466 X 520 mm
VGA Clearance Maximum: 310 w/o HDD, 270mm with HDD
CPU Heatsink Support: 170mm

COOLING SYSTEM:
-FRONT, 2 X 120mm @ 1200rpm ( included )
-REAR, 1 X 120mm @ 1200rpm (included)
-TOP, 1 X 140mm
-BOTTOM, 1 x 120mm

DRIVE BAYS:    
-3 EXTERNAL 5.25" DRIVE BAYS
-8 INTERNAL 3.5"/2.5" Slots

Screwless Rail Design
MATERIAL(S): Steel with painted interior
EXPANSION SLOTS: 7
WEIGHT: 8.9 kg
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT: ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT

The NZXT H2 is made for silence and as such you’ll find both side panels have noise dampening material on them. The front door of the case has the same, just realized I didn’t take a picture of it.

The back side of the motherboard has plenty of room for routing wires. Thee are many holes to route wires through as well, and spots to use zip ties to secure the wires. One two of the holes you’ll see rubber protectors, but they’re not that great as they just fall out when you put wires though them and they’re can be annoying to try and put back in.

Moving around the other side you case see what the case looks like inside of course. The case is small so there’s not much room though, but NZXT claims large video cards can fit just fine.

There’s room for eight hard drives in the H2 case. You’ll notice many thumbscrews running up the side of the HDD cage and the optical bays, these are optional fro securing the drives in place. It’s a handy way to store the screws I think.

Inside was also a small white box that has all of the accessories in it.

NZXT included a neat little tool to help you install the motherboard standoffs, one fits over the standoffs while the other has a screw end on it.

The first thing you’ll probably want to do is remove an HDD rack or two and install the hard drives. The racks are plastic and have rubber vibration dampeners built in. Regular 3.5” hard drives fit in the rack but for 2.5” drives and SSDs you’ll need to use the supplied screws to secure them to the rack. I did find it a bit difficult to attach get my 3.5” drives in the racks, it’s very tight and the pins kept popping out, but I got them in eventually.

So I spent the next 45 minutes or so installing my system in it. The video cards are both ATI, one is a 48900 and the other is a 4870, so they’re rather large.  The CPU Cooler is a Noctua NH-u12P so it’s not exactly small either, and then I’ve got four hard drives in the as well. I removed the unused HDD racks. It’s a bit more cramped in there that I expected, and I learned that I should have run the wires before installing the video cards.

I did a quick job of tidying the wires up, but nothing spectacular.

Here’s the back side view without any cleaning done, the case side fits on fine even with all of these wires just hanging about.

Once I got everything installed I turned it on and everything was quiet. The fans on low or medium speed are silent, I could hear my video cards and not the NZXT fans. Turning the fans to high makes them a bit louder, just more of a hum than anything but audible for sure. The three fans seem to do a decent job of keeping things cool but there’s always room for improvement, I‘m most certainly going to add a top and bottom fan for more cooling efficiency.

One the things I really like about this case is the hard drive dock on the top, it makes it very easy to swap hard drives if need be. This way when you need to access another drive or just need some more storage you just plug it into the top and you’re set. You can leave it that way or just slide the cover back in place and no one will even know it’s there.

Conclusion:
The NZXT H2 is the case you want if you  appreciate the value of silence. It’s designed well and solidly made. The built-in hard drive dock is very handy that’s for sure, you can easily and quickly access files on another hard drive. The H2 is virtually silent and it can be used for gaming or even just as a workstation where silence is needed.

The case isn’t without it’s minor flaws though, working in it can be a bit cramped. Personally I don’t like the fact that the door opens to the left, I;m sure others out there are like me in that respect as well.

Pros:
+Solidly built
+Fairly easy installation
+Built-in hard drive dock
+Nice and quiet

Cons:
-Can be a bit cramped
-Rubber protectors don’t stay in place
-Door opens to the left
-USB 3.0 cable is a bit short

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

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Review of NZXT H2 Silent Midtower Chassis is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

When you’re building a custom system for yourself or someone else you’ll need to buy a case, and  if you look around you’ve got plenty of choices in all shapes colors and sizes. What sets one case apart from the others? Which case is the right one for you? What will the system inside be used for? These are just a few of the questions you’ll want to ask yourself when deciding on what PC case to purchase.

Today for review I’ve got a PC Case from our friends at AeroCool, it’s called the AeroRacer Pro and it’s certainly a case that sets itself apart from all of the others out there today. The AeroRacer features a large power button labeled ‘Engine Start’, and while that’s a cool little feature, what really makes this case stand out is the fan used to cool the case. The fan for the AeroRacer is a whopping 40cm in size, it takes up most all of the left side panel, and it’s fairly silent as well. It claims to be the biggest side panel fan in the world and I believe it, at least I haven’t seen anything quite like it out there yet.

So continue on to learn more about he AeroRacer Pro..

First up is the unboxing video, it’s rather long so sit back relax and enjoy the show:

Specifications:

AeroCool AeroRacer Pro PC Case

Features:
- Car style "Engine Start" power switch
- Leather painting surface finishes
- 2x USB / Mic & Headphone
- Biggest side panel fan in the world !!!
- Complete tool free design
- HUGE 40cm fan pumps out more than 250CFM of airflow 
- Metal mesh ventilation design for good airflow with dust filter 

Specifications:
Case Type : Middle Tower
Material : SECC 0.6mm
Motherboards : ATX & Micro ATX
Chassis Dimensions : 410(H) x 190(W) x 450(D)
Drive Bays :
4 x 5.25" (External)?1 x 3.5" (External)
4 x HDD (Hidden)
Expansion Slots : 7 Slots
Max length space available for PCI slots: 295 mm (without HDD installation)
I / O Ports : 2 x USB2.0 / Earphone / Mic

Cooling:
Fan: 400mm    
Speed (RPM): 400 RPM
Air Flow (CFM): 250 CFM (MAX)
Noise (dBA): 12 dB (A)
Bearing : 2 Ball w/ Auto Re-Start

User can choose to install 80mm, 92mm or 120mm fan at rear of chassis

Installing a system in the AeroRacer is easy as there’s quite a bit of room inside, I had no problems getting my parts in there. There’s plenty of room for everything, and the tool-less drive bays are easy to use and seem to hold the drives in place securely. The tool-less PCI slots work, but I’ve never been fond of them especially with larger video cards, I just don’t trust them to hold a heavy video card securely.

No standoffs are used to install the motherboard, there are bumps in the tray that you sit the motherboard onto and fasten the screws to, so this does help speed up installation a bit as you don’t have to play with the stand-offs.

For just how large the side fan is I was surprised that the low level of noise coming from it. You can barely hear it from two feet away and farther not at all, it’s just a low hum when you’re close  to it. One thing though about the fan is that there’s no dust filter with it, so considering how much dust a little 120mm fan can pull into your system, this thing will be pulling in massive amounts of it, it needs to have a filter.

I don’t like the fact that there are no exhaust or intake fans on the case, but with such a large fan moving a large volume of air you might not need it. I checked the temperatures of my system before and after moving into the AeroCool  AeroRacer Pro, and they were virtually the same, with the AeroCool being about one degree cooler on average, so apparently the 40cm fan does a good job. I’m sure if we added more fans to the case we’d get even better performance overall.

I also found the USB ports on the side a bit too close together, if you’ve got two wide connections, like fat USB drives, you’re not going to be able to connect both at the same time.

Conclusion:
The AeroCool AeroRacer Pro could be a great case for overclockers looking for good airflow, this thing will give you a huge amount of it.

The AeroRacer is well made, and there’s a lot of room in it as well for most any system.

The lack of intake and exhaust fans is something that doesn’t matter too much when considering the performance without them.

This case comes in at a little over $100, which I think is a bit much really, the only real feature is the 40cm fan, other than that the case offers not much else to deserve such a high price tag. You can easily get a comparable case for about half price, just without the 40cm fan on the side.

Pros:
Quiet Fan
Easy installation
Well made
Cools well
Lots of room

Cons:
No other fans included
No dust filter
Expensive
Plastic PCI slot locks
Motherboard tray not removable

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

AeroCool AeroRacer Pro PC Case is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog