Enermax CS-718 Server Case

Offered in black and silver, the CS-718 is guaranteed to get your attention in either color scheme.  The smart and shapely design has the external drive bay covers and the majority of its front bezel perforated with numerous holes.  These holes allow a nice air exchange while giving off a snappy eye catching look.

Moving up top, we find our power and reset buttons situated on either side of a LCD display that we'll get to shortly.  Just below these are four USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire, speaker and mic jack.  I personally prefer the front access ports being mounted high for ease in access.  The lower portion of the front bezel has a fan speed control knob measuring a full 80mm centered smack dab above the raised lettering of the Enermax logo.

Again, this is no LAN box.  No windows here.  The side panels keep with the new tool free movement and are secured by plastic clips.  With two clips per panel, sliding them inwards unlocks the panel while sliding them out secures things from prying hands.

A peak in

Popping the right side cover off, we get a look inside.  Yes, you read correctly, I said the right side panel.  With the Enermax CS-718 having the mainboard mounted in an inverted fashion, this means you get in via the opposite side panel as normal.  Peaking inside, we see the painfully simple yet very smart Wind Tunnel Design.  The Wind Tunnel connects two 120mm case fans on opposite sides of the case in such a way that the CPU cooler's exhaust is whisked directly out of the case's rear with minimal contact with the rest of the ambient air inside the case.  Just above the rear 120mm fan are seven tool free card clips.  Doing away with screws to mount add on cards in place, Enermax is moving toward making things as simple as possible with a simple hinged clip.

Immediately below the power supply we find the hard drive rack.  The rack looks like a simple metal drive rack that just happens to be placed below the PSU.  This is most certainly not the case.  The drive rack accepts up to six drives and if you look closely, you will notice the large holes on the bottom and top of the rack.  These holes are designed to work in conjunction with the PSU.  The power supply's bottom mounted 80mm cooling fan draws air from inside the case up through and around any drives in the rack.  This warm air, by design the warm air off the drives, is then pulled through the PSU and out the rear 80mm PSU fan.  Again, another major design effort with simplicity at its base is employed to expel hot air out of the CS-718 however possible.  By the way, did we mention the tool free drive rails for the HDDs?  Tool free as in tool free mounting of them to the HDD as well as tool free mounting into the rack.  Very nice.

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