MaximumPC 2005 05

Reviews

Asus Vento 3600 Gaming Case

Looks aren’t everything

T

he Vento 3600’s lusty red paint and bulging scoops are sexy

enough to instill fantasies of taking it home and making mini-ATXs

with it. Peel away that luscious exterior, however, and you’ll dis-

cover a clunky, no-frills, steel enclosure. It’s like scoring a date with a

model who could only pose for Dog Fancy.

The exterior fairings that look so glossy and mouth-watering in

pictures are, in reality, totally hooptie and serve no real purpose.

The review unit we received (which arrived in a retail box)

sported two different shades of red paint, as though the front

of the unit cured differently than the rest of it. The flip-up door

covering the internal 5.25-inch drive bays—Asus calls it the

Magic Mask—is good only for laughs. When activated, it flips

up and slams against a set of flimsy plastic restraints—and then

has to be slammed shut, repeatedly.

Twist the handle on the side to open the Vento, and you’re greeted

with a generic, steel cage, which is what you’d expect to see inside a

$40 case; the Vento, however, sells for $150. The cramped interior sup-

ports both ATX and micro-ATX motherboards, and the 5.25-inch bays and

the PCI slots both offer a tool-less fastening mechanism; regular screws

are required when installing a hard drive into one of the three internal

3.25-inch bays. There’s an 80mm intake fan inside the left-hand air scoop

that inexplicably points to the right-side air scoop: It’s not only inef-

fective at drawing fresh air into the case, but it’s too far away from the

drive cage to cool anything.

To its credit, the Vento includes a useful 12cm exhaust fan, an

air duct over the CPU area, and front-mounted USB ports. And apart

from the unintentional two-

tone paint job, it does look

kinda cool. For about five

minutes. But the capper is

that you’ll find the same inte-

rior features on cases that

cost less than a third of what

Asus expects for the Vento.

—JOSH NOREM

Shiny, and looks cool.

MENTOS

VENTOS

Steel construction, lacks features and cooling, and

feels cheap (the front door broke on the first try).

$150, http://www.asus.com

MA XIMUMPCVERDICT 4

Thermaltake Armor VA8000SWA

This lightweight case is heavy on features

T

he Thermaltake Armor is one of the most modular and customizable

enclosures we’ve laid retinas on. It’s like an aluminum sandbox inside

of which you can build a wide variety of PC configurations. But one

of its most attractive features is the way it can accommodate either air or

water cooling.

The case has no fewer than 10 tool-less 5.25-inch drive bays in front,

one of which is occupied by a module harboring the power button and

indicator lights. But you can easily move this module to any other open

bay. A removable three-slot hard-drive cage with a built-in 12cm fan and

a blue LED can also be placed anywhere in the front bezel. Not enough

drive bays for you? There’s a second three-drive cage, with its own 9cm

exhaust fan, near the top of the case. This one lies next to the vertically

mounted power supply.

Now you’re probably thinking, “There’s a drive cage and a PSU

mounted in the top of the case? How wide is this thing?” At 220mm (8.66

inches), it’s a little wider than average, but that’s because it’s designed

to accommodate water-cooling kits like the one’s reviewed in this issue

(page 48). These kits require space for the coolant reservoir, a big-ass

radiator, and a pump. The Armor includes extra space all around for these

items—it even sports pre-drilled holes in its rear bezel, so you can route

water-cooling tubing.

The Armor’s all-aluminum construction renders it incredibly light, even

when it’s packed full of hardware—one editor went so far as to compare

it to an empty beer can. But we think the aluminum is just a bit too thin in

some areas. For example, wiggling an installed AGP card flexes the entire

rear panel of the case. Not good.

Aside from the Armor’s “thin is in” physique, we couldn’t find a single

other feature to criticize.

This case has every feature

we desire, and some we’ll

start looking for in other case

designs, including its built-in

tool holder and the fact that

it’s BTX-ready with a simple

upgrade kit.

—JOSH NOREM

We like

this case

so much,

we’ve been

referring

to it as the

Amour.

The Vento

has the body

of a Ferrari

Enzo, but

the bone

structure of a

Geo Metro.

Tons of cool features, tool-less, ready for water

cooling.

FULL BEER CAN

EMPTY BEER CAN

Too-thin aluminum exterior makes it a bit wobbly.

$190 ($25 for BTX kit), http://www.thermaltake.com

MA XIMUMPCVERDICT 9

 MA XIMUMPC MAY 2005