In Win Maelstrom Review
Initial Impressions
Published: 30th March 2010 | Source: http://www.caseking.de | Price: £86.99 |
Initial Impressions
The front of the case is dominated by what looks like 2 metallic green handles, but don't be fooled. These are just cosmetic. Try and use these to lift the case and youll just hear a thud as the front panel pulls off and your rig breaks a couple of bones in your foot!
All five of the optical drive bays and the 120mm fan grill have removable dust filters. On the roof you'll find the power and reset buttons, 4x USBs, a Firewire and 2x eSATA ports. While we are talking numbers we should mention the 5x hard drive bays inside. There is a large 220mm fan in the side panel with a handy switch to enable/disable the blue LEDs. The fan can be removed and has the option to fit up to 6x 120mm fans all with anti-vibration rubber grommets.
Taking the side panels off is as simple as removing 2 thumb screws. The doors latch on the front edge of the case giving it the feel of a door on hinges. This makes them much easier to fit than doors with the fine latches that you have to locate when sliding the side on. The backs of the doors are prefitted with a sound insulating foam to help keeps those annoying noises at bay.
The internals are powdercoated black adding to its sleek look. Sadly there are no motherboard tray cut outs for wiring but there is a cut out to aid fitting a CPU heatsink.
The case comes with 1x front 120mm fan, 1x rear exhaust 120mm fan, 1x roof 120mm fan and another optional should you need it. Im always losing the spares for my cases, you go to fit a hard drive but you cant find the rails and it ends up loose in your case! With the Maelstrom however there is a handy storage box that fits in an optical bay so you never have the excuse of losing them again!
At the back of the case you will find the 4 grommeted hose ports for if you wish to use external watercooling and they are situated in a fairly large section of wide mesh to aid ventilation. Even though there are only 3x 120mm fans in the case, thermally it performs very well. Our stock speed q6600 never went above 52c and the 2 graphics topped out at a very respectable 73c. All in all the Maelstrom performs very well. As well as both of the more expensive HAFs.
Lets head over the page to wrap this up.
Most Recent Comments
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Originally Posted by name='killablade'
I really don't like the looks of this thing
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hopefully they will do a nice flat front with no goofy handles etc.
me i dont mind them too much.
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Originally Posted by name='ppuff'
I saw this case not too long ago and forgot the name. All I could remember was it had green handles on the front. Thanks for the reminder and the review.
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