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Chieftec Maxtrix ATX Case, Page 4 (Case Modification)
Review Date: June 21, 2003
Reviewed by: Dwayne Sessom
Sponsored by: Chieftec USA
For some time now, I have been wanting to implement one of those cool little electric plasma globes into a case, so I thought this would be the perfect case to try it on, since the purple color is a nice match to the purplish color of the glowing plasma. This mod also requires a larger case with plenty of room at the top, and the Chieftec Matrix fit the bill perfectly. I bought the globe on Ebay for about $35, and it is the 4 inch model. It runs on 12 volts DC which just happens to be what a PC power supply produces!
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I wanted to put both the plasma globe, as well as a UV reactive 120mm fan in the top of the case, so we first taped off the top of the case so the paint wouldn't chip while the 4" cuts were being made. I used 2" wide clear tape and covered the entire top so it could be easily removed after the cuts were made.
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Next, we made 2 small indentions at the center of what would be the two 4" holes. This is so the drill bit at the center of the hole saw will not wander across the top of the case, and stay where we want it. At first, I used a cordless drill and 4" hole saw to attempt to cut the holes. This is as far as we got with the cordless....
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It made a nice little round scratch, but that's about all. It was clear that more horsepower would be needed to do this job. So after a trip to Sears for a real drill, we were back in business. The holes were cut in about 1 minute for each hole. After the holes were cut, and the screw holes were drilled, we removed the tape and promptly fitted the 120mm fan to make sure it would fit. To my relief, it was a perfect fit!
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Next, the hole for the plasma ball was fitted with wire loom from my 1977 Trans Am to make for a tighter fit. I will replace the loom later, but at the time it's all I had to get the job done. But, I think it turned out looking decent enough.
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I next installed the globe itself. I cut the power cord that came from the 110 to 12v coverter, and spliced a 4 pin molex connector to it. To get the globe to set in the correct position, I placed a plastic cover from the 120mm fan box under the globes base which sat right on the 2 rails that run from the front to the rear of the Matrix case. The whole installation took about 15 minutes. Here is what I had at this point:
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A week or so later, I switched motherboards and CPUs. I now have a DFI LanParty Pro875 motherboard with a P4 3.0C processor. This was the finishing touch to my UV mod since the DFI LanParty board has UV reactive pieces on it, as well as orange UV reactive round IDE cables. So after all was said and done, this was the finished product!
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Conclusion:
The Chieftec Matrix case, in my opinion, is one of the best looking and functional cases on the market today. It is apparent that Chieftec is well aware of what the enthusiast crowd is after, and delivers an exceptional product! The only things that could improve this case would be to make it from aluminum instead of steel, incorporate a removable mobo tray, and ditch the phillips screws for thumb screws. Beyond that, this is a well thought out design and shows from it's popularity. The locking removable drive cages, screwless fan mounts, and locking front and side panels are all outstanding features that make a great looking case functionally superior to the competition. The modding potential this case has is almost limitless, as demonstrated. To check out Chieftec's entire selection of outstanding PC cases, see their website right here! If this case were made of aluminum, I would give it 5 X's, but since it is steel and quite heavy, I have to give it a solid 4 X's.
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