Specifications:

• Form Factor: Standard ATX Form Factor
• Power Supply: Requires an ATX Power supply but this model didn’t come with a default power supply.
• Case Entry: Both side panels slide to the rear with standard Phillips style screws.
• Motherboard: The motherboard tray is riveted in place and will not slide out. Supports ATX and Extended ATX type motherboards.
• Drive Bays: (4) open 5.25” drive bays. (2) open 3.5” drive bays. (4) hidden 3.5” drive bays (Total of 10 drive bays). The drive bay racks are also pop-riveted in place and will not come out.
• External Lights and Switches: Multi-colored light effect for the front bezel (Only for the lower part of front panel). On/Off switch for the front panel light (Next to the front USB ports). HDD LED, Power LED is on the big button.
• Case Fans: Includes (1) clear 8cm side panel fan (No lighting effect), (4) optional 8cm fans in the lower front of the case, 2 optional 8cm fans in rear of the case. A maximum of 7 cooling fans could be installed (6 optional).
• Dimensions: 17” (H) x 7-7/8” (W) x 19-1/4” (D)
• Maximum Motherboard Size: 12” x 10”
• Extra Features: Side panel features a plexi-glass cut out design with a mount for a clear 8cm fan in the center (No lighting effects included). (2) Built-in front USB version 2.0 port connectors on the bottom of the bezel.  Optional cutout ports for 1394 (Firewire), Microphone jack, and Headphone Jack.
• Case color is semi-gloss black and made of small gauge metal.

Outside Looking In:

At first glance this case looks very polished and professionally constructed.  I tend to notice the minute details of corner bend radii as well as the tolerances and allowances of the hemmed edges since I went to college for four unbearable years to do this stuff for a living.  A quick visual inspection ensures that there aren’t any protruding corners or jaggies to snag your favorite angora sweater on.  The design cut out on the side panel looks nice and smooth with no spurs sticking out from the cutting process.  The one thing that reaches out and grabs your attention from the very start is the front bezel and the clear crystal half tubes that run vertical on the outside edges.  The plastic panels feature a simulated aluminum background of the CDROM, floppy disk drive, and power button.  This gives the untrained eye the perception of polished aluminum encased behind glass, very nice!

Rear View:

The rear of the case features the standard cut outs for placement of the motherboard necessities like the PS2 ports, USB connections, parallel printer port, and serial devices.  There are 7 available slots at the bottom of the case for PCI and ISA adapter cards.  There are two spaces reserved for two 8cm fans located in the middle right of the back of the case.  Here is something that you don’t always see on standard cases: screw holes that have been counter-sunk to hide protruding screws.  This is definitely not something that I look for on the standard cases that I see, but it shows me that the designers have put a little time and thought into making this case look professional.  Overall construction of the case is solid.  All of the corners and edges are pop-riveted in place so there isn’t extra bolts to mess with here. 

Cooling the Case:

I removed the front plastic bezel and a quick visual inspection showed a lot of hot glue “tails” as I call them.  This is basically where you dob on a pile of hot glue to hold down the small wires and then drag the glue gun away and it leaves a long string of glue behind.  I won’t lie, there was way more hot glue used here than was definitely needed.  After I pulled off all of the “tails” it looked a lot better.  I know that this area isn’t usually seen by anyone else other than the owner but I am a neatness freak and it would drive me nuts if I were to leave it there.  I hooked up four 8cm fans to the front face of the case frame and placed the front bezel back on just to see what type of airflow it would manage with a tiny 4” X ½” space at the bottom of the bezel.  The fans that I used were powerful but quiet “8cm Global Win’s” and the sucking of air through that slot on the bottom of the bezel was very loud.  I pulled two of the fans out leaving only two and the noise was somewhat better but still annoying.  The two fan mounts on the back of the case are better suited for pulling air out of the case and the one mount on the side panel doesn’t do much to help cool off the inside so the fan mounts on the front of the case are necessary to keep air flowing across the hot components.   Unless you made a custom hole on the top of the case to help pull air inside, an adequate amount of airflow is somewhat dependant upon the fans in the front of the case.

Click the image for a larger view

Changing Colors:

On start up, the lights on the front of the bezel start out as blue and are supposed to alternate between three (3) different colors but I tried everything and the Chameleon would only alternate between the default blue and the blue/red combo.  After about 30 minutes of hitting all of the buttons on the faceplate as well as the on/off button on the USB panel I decided to do some investigating.  I removed the rubber enclosure that protected the small circuit board which connects the wires for the lights and that’s where I found the problem.  There was a wire that had broke away from the solder and that’s the reason it wasn’t alternating the colors correctly.  Well, my soldering iron is M.I.A. and so I was unable to fix it right away so I left it alone for the time being.  This is quite disappointing since I was pretty hyped to see the pretty rainbow of colors and got only the blue/red combo to work. 

Conclusion:

Overall, this was a very well built and sturdy case.  I was impressed with a few features although the lighting effect didn’t work on arrival and that is the bread and butter of this case so that sits first and foremost in my mind.  I like any case that has a professional look and feel not to mention making you look like a customizing guru without any special tools.  The modified side panel with the square design and fan mount in the middle does just that.  All in all, I would recommend this case to a friend that wants the custom cutout without having the tools or the skills to do the job himself.

PCExtreme Rating: