MaximumPC 2005 10

reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

8 MA XIMUMPC OCTOBER 2005

T

hese days, if a case doesn’t have GPS,

anti-matter shielding, and a built-in back

massager, it can seem downright boring.

And if it happens to be top of the line, you’re

going to pay out the wazoo. Fortunately,

these two mid-towers give you a taste of the

good life at an affordable price.

—CLAUDE MCIVER

RAIDMAX X1

Raidmax has succeeded in making the X1

stand out from the average beige box. This

all-steel specimen sports a high-quality paint

job, and the front door boasts a large alumi-

num bezel that doubles as a handle. The bezel

adds a touch of class, but, sadly, the lackluster

plastic grooves that cover the other half of the

door are a disappointment.

A red LED display on the door details hard

drive activity and a temperature readout (in

Fahrenheit only) of whatever component the

internal probe is attached to. The display will

also show whether a fan is connected, which

is nice to know and all, but duh.

What’s even more gratuitous is

that the display will say “power”

when it, well, has power.

The X1’s precut side panel

includes an acrylic window with

triangular accents and an 8cm

blue LED fan. Raidmax throws

in a 450-watt power supply,

which has both an intake fan

and an exhaust fan. A 12cm

exhaust fan completes the

case’s cooling system, provid-

ing good performance at low

decibels. There’s also a 12cm

fan mount in the front of the

case, but a fan isn’t included.

Removable motherboard trays are a god-

send, so we’re happy to find one here. The X1

is stocked with five 5.25-inch and two 3.5-inch

external bays, as well as three 3.5-inch hard

drive bays. “Tool-less” means different things

for different cases, and on the X1 it means

nifty drive latches on the drive bays. Each

latch contains a pin that inserts into one of

the drive’s screw holes. So installing your new

Raptor or even a floppy drive is a cinch. We

ran into a bit of trouble lining up the pin with

the hole, but once you get it in there, the drive

is totally secure. The fasteners, which slide

into place to secure PCI cards, are equally

useful. The X1 gets extra credit for rotating

the hard drive cage 90 degrees, which makes

drive swapping easy and allows you to route

unsightly cables behind it.

As far as budget boxes go, the X1 is

impressive. While it didn’t make us swoon, it

certainly didn’t make us curse either.

THERMALROCK ECLIPSE

Thermalrock’s slogan is “Innovation

Everywhere,” but there’s not a whole lot of

that in the company’s first case, dubbed

the Eclipse.

One example of this so-called “innova-

tion” is the external CD storage compart-

ment. Every Eclipse case includes a blank

CD-R that’s either red or purple (depending

on the case color), which can be inserted into

a holder on the front bezel. So you have a

red or purple circle on the front of your case!

Now that’s innovation in the sense that we’ve

never seen it before, but there’s a reason for

that—it’s useless. Similarly, a blue LED lights

up the front door, which looks cool but offers

no tangible benefits.

What is actually cool, though, is the bevy

of useful features inside the case. A front door,

which sports a stylish split-panel aesthetic,

opens to reveal the case’s bezel, which itself

opens up to give you access to the drive bays

and case frame. Inside, are a removable five-

drive hard drive cage, a removable two-drive

3.5-inch bay, and four 5.25-inch bays. The

interior is entirely tool-less, using thumbscrews

for hard drives and easy-to-install plastic rails

for optical drives. PCI cards are secured via

plastic clips that snap into place quickly and

easily. Cooling is handled by two 12cm fans—

one intake (which also cools hard drives) and

one exhaust.

In addition to its lockable front-door panel,

the lightweight, all-aluminum case’s side-panel

can also be locked—in the event the national

terror alert reaches orange or above. And if

someone does manage to get the side panel

off, it comes rigged with an alarm. PC terror-

ists beware!

While the Eclipse has some decent fea-

tures, it’s really no more than an average

case—it’s not offensive in any way, but there

are certainly better options.

Mid-Tower Mash-Up

Two midrange gaming cases go belly to belly

Yes, that’s a red CD-R in the Eclipse’s front bezel. Sadly,

it’s just a holder and not a CD player.

The X1’s door-mounted 8cm fan ensures

a fresh supply of O2 to the CPU.

$75, http://www.raidmax.com

RAIDMAX X1

STAND OUT

Easy tool-less design, and

an included power supply.

HIDE OUT 8

Only two SATA power

adapters.

$130, http://www.thermalrock.com

THERMALROCK ECLIPSE

INNOVATION

Side- and front-panel locks,

and a security alarm.



No mobo tray, no PSU, and

a silly CD storage system.

CONSTERNATION