Overclocker Cafe

A Top Technology X-Blade Case

The top of the door is cut out to allow access to one of the 5.25" drive bays without having to open the door. A handy feature in my book.

The open door reveals not the normal four 5.25" drive bays, but five. They accomplished this without adding to the size of the case by removing one of the external 3.5" bays leaving you only one.

Continuing with the aggressive styling, the bottom of the front bezel sports two ventilation ports on either side of the case. Outlined in chrome trim, these ports give the impression of eyes with the power and reset buttons and LED's finishing off the rest of what would be the face.

Below this and centered, is a small door allowing for access to the front ports, which included (2) USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire and mic and headphones jack for your audio.

Removing the front bezel shows us all the neat stuff behind the scenes, the front access port wires, the power and reset connections, etc. However, it also shows the lack of air filters for those cool looking vents on the front of the case.

Flipping the case around, we take a quick peek at the rear panel and see to our pleasure the included PSU. Anytime a case comes with a PSU, that's good news as it saves money. Considering the street price of $80, an included power supply makes this case even more attractive than it already is.

Also included with the case is the large 120mm exhaust fan as you can see above. I've become a big fan (pun intended) of the larger intake and exhaust fans, mainly for the reduction in noise over the smaller fans. Still on the case rear we were disappointed when we realized that A-Top didn't utilize thumbscrews for the side panels.

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