Joined on 12/10/03
Exceeded expectations. A joy to build in.
Pros: - Easy cable management. - Great HDD/SSD mounting locations. - Good access to front dust cover. - Optimized for water cooling. - No wires attached to front cover.
Cons: - No location for Optical Drive. (Get the Define R5 if this is a problem.) - Bottom dust cover pulls out from the back.
Overall Review: This case was a joy to build my system in. In the past I would only research components and just throw them in whatever case was cheapest and had clearance for the CPU heatsink and GPU. Decided to try water cooling, and after my last case ended up looking like Frankenstein after installing a AIO, I realized I should pay more attention to cases. Before I even began water cooling anything, this case made me realize just how much I had punished myself in the past with cheap junk cases. Getting the motherboard into place was a breeze. Mounting the SSD's was a breeze. The layout is well thought out, and there are many places to secure cables for good cable management. Without the water cooling equipment, the inside was so empty it made me think I was forgetting components. No drive cages in the way. No wires dangling everywhere. I almost regretted my love of stealth builds. I can't yet comment on how insanely easy it is to water cool in this case because I'm still waiting on some parts to arrive, but with the arrangement I have planned, it's going to be... a breeze. ;) In the mean time, I have the stock GPU cooler, and a Hyper 212 Evo. They both fit with room to spare.
Very Spaceous
Pros: Perfectly fits my extended GPU, barely clearing the removable HDD Bays. If your GPU is longer, take out the top 3 (removable) bays, and you're good to go. The feet keep it off the carpeted floor for under-case air intake. You can mount the PSU inverted, allowing you to either have it pull air from below (through the bottom vent), or from above (near the MB). Lots of air filters to stop large stuff (pet hair, dust bunnies). The 5.25in bays are screwless. 3.5in HDD's are screwless as well. (Not 2.5in though)
Cons: The space behind the MB (for cable management) is a little tight for typical PSU cables. The front USB2.0 connection only has one port, and the USB3.0 only has one port. Not a huge deal if you don't need many USB ports, but doesn't utilize the full capabilities of the USB expansion plug on the MB. The HDD LED connector positive and negative aren't labeled. If you don't have a way to test it, you have a 50% chance of getting it wrong. Don't close the case until you've tested it. (Or leave both LEDs unplugged, and enjoy the darkness) DOES NOT SUPPORT WATER COOLING. The MB mounting position near the top panel has just enough space to get a set of fans into it. Add a radiator, and it's too thick and bumps into the motherboard. The side panel only has that problem if you have a wide peripheral card (and I have a wide graphics card). On top of that, all of the twin fan locations are designed for a small gap between the fans. Radiators are designed for 0 gap between the fans, so the screw holes will only line up with half of a 2-fan radiator.
Overall Review: This case is a fair bit larger than my old case, and with the psu on the bottom some of the cords barely reached the points they were needed. The HDD cradles are stiff plastic, so vibration may be an issue. For 3.5in drives, the cradle clips into the screw holes on the side and have thin foam pads for cushioning. The 2.5in drives mount into the center of the cradle using the 4 screw holes on the bottom of the drive. I intended to eventually add water cooling when I had purchased this case, thinking that the vents were designed to fit radiators. Complete disappointment. Newegg needs a search option for "water cooling compatible" cases.
Great Value
Pros: Decent sound quality for the price. Far exceeds the sounds my cell phone was able to put out in both quality and volume. Water resistant.
Cons: The included charging cable and 3.5mm audio cable are very thin, and look like they'll break if you look at them too hard. No charging adapter included. Just the thin cables.
Overall Review: The box had no english on it (looked like pure chinese?), but there was an english section in the manual. I bought this for my workplace, where we hose the place down at the end of the shift. We place it where it won't be directly sprayed, but it hasn't had any problems despite minor splashing.
Quieter than expected
Pros: Enough power to handle my gaming rig. Fan speed based on load. Much quieter than my CPU and GPU. Modular Cords.
Cons: None
Overall Review: The Corsair Link software is pretty neat. Allows you to create your own fan speed profile. Also will create a log of temperatures for you. I imported it into excell and created a line graph with the info. Not really something everyone would do, but I wanted to see how quickly heat accumulated while gaming.
Dramatic Increase
Pros: Consistently hitting 60 fps on high settings
Cons: High Temp worries me, but it usually stays just below 80 while gaming.
Overall Review: Upgraded from a Radeon HD 5450 I was using to tide me over until I could afford a decent video card. Computer use to struggle to maintain 30 fps on lowest graphics settings. Maxed everything out and it hasn't given me any problems.
Not win8
Pros: Computer OS. (not a tablet/phone OS) Still supported by Microsoft. (no nag window about being unsupported) Not Vista. Not Win8. Seriously, if you're using a mouse and keyboard, use this instead of win8. If you're running a tablet, or have some sort of touch screen display... then 8 might be the better choice.
Cons: Slight differences from XP all over the place. I've been using XP for over a decade, so sometimes I have to search a little to get to the settings screen I'm looking for. Then once you get to them, sometimes it looks like the EXACT same settings program they had used in XP (like when choosing a screen saver.) which just seems out of place.
Overall Review: Old components were giving BSOD. Narrowed it down to CPU, MB, or RAM... so replaced all 3, along with HD and OS. (XP kept nagging me about it being unsupported.) No more BSOD, and even simple tasks like browsing the internet are insanely smooth now.
Speedy Shipping
Correct Item, Extra Quick. I received my order 2 days after placing it without paying for any special shipping. The box had a large gash on one of the edges, but luckily the product itself was unharmed. Would have been tragic, since the gash was near the edge of the case's faceplate. However, they required a signature upon delivery, so I was able to inspect it for damage before signing. If I could, I'd give them a bonus egg for asking for a signature. It's hard to inspect before you accept if they just drop it off and leave.