Kingwin Mutant X Midtower Case

Manufacturer: Kingwin Inc.
Supplied by: Kingwin Inc.
Street Price: $60

By Dean Barker (9/04/2004)

Introduction

I’m reminded of the old SuperMicro 750 case that everyone was drooling over with its then Donald Trump price tag of $100 years ago.  “I’ll never spend $100 on a case” I and many others would say back then.  Since that time, cases are no longer the beige, few frill, 30 pound boxes of old.  Tool-less designs, aluminum chassis, windowed panels, preinstalled blow holes, LED… everything, front access ports and on and on.  With these features have come prices relative to the advancements.  Classy, feature laden cases have pretty much stabilized in the $100-$150 range.  You don’t need me to remind you that $150 today gets you a whole lot of case.  Still, there remains a market for more inexpensively priced cases to be used as LAN boxes, back up computers, mod projects, something for your mom etc.  With this in mind, Kingwin has entered their Mutant X case into the low end price fray.  Kingwin shows us that low price doesn’t mean low quality or few features.  Today, we have the new Kingwin Mutant X up on the block so let’s see how it measures up.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 507 x 200 x 411mm 

• Observed Weight: 9 kg

• Construction: Steel / ABS Plastic

• Drive Bays: (4) 5.25”, (2) exposed 3.5”, (5) hidden 3.5”

• Expansion slots: (7)

• M/B Type: Standard ATX, Baby ATX and Micro ATX (305 x 245mm)

• Power Supply: 420 watt ATX PSU

• Front Mounted Access Ports: USB 2.0 (x2), Firewire port, speaker and mic jack

• Cooling: 80mm case fans mounted front, rear and on left side panel (LED)

• Windowed

• Available Colors: Black/Blue, Silver/Gray

The Box

The Mutant X comes in two color schemes, Black/Blue and Silver/Gray.  Our review unit is of the Silver/Gray variety as you can see.  The molded plastic bezel that runs top to bottom is a definite eye catcher.  The gentle rounding edges all seem to pull your eyes to its center.  Here we see a large lengthwise oval made of colorless acrylic with a bubble pattern of sorts in it.  This acrylic oval lights up in operation but more on that later.  In the middle of the oval is a single silver button which is of course your power on.  Just below this is another small light which is your hard drive activity lamp that lights red when you access your drive.

     

This top section swings out to expose four 5.25” and two 3.5” bays.  To the left of these we find a silver button that is our reset. 

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