reviews Tes Ted. Reviewed. veRdic Tized
90 MAXIMUMPC october 2006
I
f those high-end Silverstone and Lian-
Li cases are country clubs for the rich
and famous, these cases are the bowl-
ing alleys for the rest of us party animals.
Most folks can’t afford to drop $250 on an
enclosure, even if it will last a good three
or four years. Here are a couple cases that
are quiet and good looking, but that won’t
burn a hole in your pocket.
—Todd HaselTonTuniq 2
The Tuniq 2 comes with a bunch of acces-
sories: a CPU air duct, a plastic VGA fan
insert, and three fans. In our tests, every-
thing but the fans proved worthless.
Tuniq says the Grand Air Duct is for
“excellent cooling and performance,” and
that the VGA fan is meant to “successfully
solve the VGA-card overheating problem.”
While the concepts seem interesting and
original, neither of these features worked
with our slightly larger than average
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon water-cool-
ing kit. Tuniq suggested we remove the
Grand Air Duct so we could at least use
the VGA fan, but that wasn’t possibleeither. Tuniq also touts
the case’s “unique
upside-down chassis
layout;” but we were
annoyed that we had to
turn the case upside-
down just to screw in
the hard drives.
Working inside
the Tuniq is like work-
ing inside every other
budget enclosure: no
drive rails and no moth-
erboard tray. The vid-
eocard installation was
a snap with the Tuniq’s
screw-less expansion
card setup.
The Tuniq 2 is
attractive and comes
with three fans, but if
you want more than the
basics, look elsewhere.ulTra aluminus
The Aluminus is one of the lightest cases
we’ve ever lifted—honestly, it’s like hold-
ing an empty beer can.
The case is large and spacious, so
parts installation is easy. We just screwed
our motherboard to the tray and then
secured the tray to our case with thumb
screws. Hard drive and optical drive
installation was also a breeze, thanks to
the included drive rails. The power supply,
however, could have been easier; we had
to unscrew a crossbar just to get it in.
The Ultra has room for two 12cm
intake/exhaust fans, but we’re baffled
as to why the fans themselves are not
included. Many case makers add the
parts, especially at this price. The casehas an attractive glossed-metal exterior—
until you see the front, that is. The case’s
face has a door with a bunch of gills cov-
ering the drive bays, which looks too retro
for our tastes; a solid front would have
made the case much more attractive.
Like the Tuniq 2, the Aluminus comes
with an air vent over the expansion
slots as well as a CPU air duct, which
also didn’t work with our aftermarket
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon. But even with-
out these accoutrements, the case’s spa-
cious interior promotes airflow and it stays
quiet—even with our own fans installed.
The Aluminus is light as a butterfly, but
its useless accessories and lack of fans,
stings like a bee.Case Cage Fight
Two cases go mano a mano
don’t buy an aftermarket cooler if you want to use the
Tuniq 2’s accessories.$150, ultraproducts.comultra aluminussplinTer
Light; quiet; easy
installation.sHredder^8
No fans included; air duct is
This ultra aluminus case is so light we useless for aftermarket coolers.
could have thrown it a mile, but our
doctors wouldn’t let us.$75, http://www.tuniq.comtuniq 2grand masTer
Three fans included; easy
installation; quiet.band masTer^6
Advertised accessories didn’t
work with our setup; heavy.