Chenbro XPIDER Gaming "Bomb" Case
 

The XPIDER is offered in two color schemes, silver on black and orange on black.  The design on the face that is done with silver colored ABS plastic is sharp but not overpowering (a hard thing to do for many designers.)  A definite eye catcher.  The area between the silver 'spines' is a thin wire grate that conceals a rather large filtered intake that we'll show you a closer look at shortly.  The four 5.25" drive bays are incorporated into the soft curves of the bezel design, giving the XPIDER a sleek sci-fi look.

  

Notice the power button and indicator lamps for power and hard drive activity that are worked into the subtle curves of the case bezel.  At the base of the XPIDER front we find a small door that conceals two USB ports as well as a mic and audio out port.  A spot is also precut to accommodate a Firewire port but no such port was included with the Chenbro XPIDER.

Update (9/13/2003): I missed this somehow but the Chenbro XPIDER does not have a reset button.

     

The left side panel has an unusual window design that I think separates the XPIDER from the standard hum-drum square windows we see everywhere.  In removing the side panel we saw that the window pane is one large square of acrylic attached on the inside of the panel with double sided tape.  Unfortunately, the tape wasn't doing a great job of holding the window flush against the side panel.  Actually it was doing a poor job.

  

Moving around to the back of the Chenbro XPIDER, we see what superficially seems like a pretty standard case.  On closer inspection, we noticed that the rear exhaust fan is set up to accept 80 or 92mm fans and even up to a 120mm fan with an included adapter.  This is a nice plus that adds some versatility many other cases don't have.

  

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