External Design

Usually, we begin our look at the external design of the case at the front bezel, since that is usually what we notice first. With the GB2, however, we noticed two handles at the top of the case before anything else. The handles are placed at the front and back of the chassis and are reminiscent of those on Apple's G5 cases.




Click to enlarge.


While we're at the top of the chassis, we noticed a square shaped vent for a 92mm fan that can be mounted to exhaust air. We will talk more about that in the Cooling section.

Moving back to the front of the GB2, we see a well-designed bezel with clean, straight and rounded edges. At the top, we see on the right are the HDD activity LED, the reset button, and the large square-shaped power button, which has the Power LED integrated into it. The large size of the power button makes it easy to press while the reset button's small size keeps unwanted reboots from happening. The reset button is a bit too small, though, for even an averaged sized finger to press.




Click to enlarge.


Next, we see four 5-1/4" drive bay covers and two 3-1/2" drive bay covers. Each can be easily taken off by removing two screws for each cover.




Click to enlarge.


At the bottom of the chassis, we notice the auxiliary ports, which include a FireWire port, two USB ports, and the standard audio input/output ports. Each is labeled clearly with the standardized icons.




Click to enlarge.


Pulling on the front bezel from the left side, we were able to open the bezel door. By doing this, we can now remove the drive bay covers by undoing the screws on each side. From the picture, we see a clear plastic molding that holds the HDD LED, reset and power buttons in place along with the aluminum grill and auxiliary ports at the bottom of the bezel.




Click to enlarge.


Index External Design (cont'd)
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  • Filibuster - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    Looks like an overpriced Antec P160 ripoff.
  • arswihart - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    just get a PC-60 with door fan/window
  • karlreading - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    1st up: guys why are most of u stripping flesh of the reviewer. reviewers job well done IMHO.

    2nd up: Nice case. personally, in the past, i have looked at the gaming bomb as a cheapo, tacky orange piece of crap. this is stylish, VERY stylish. specially like the handels on the top of the case, almost gives it a apple G5 flava, and whilst i not a fan of the G5 ( or apple in general ) they do look sweet;)

    however, the price of the case does appear a tad bit expensive: 240 U$D, even with the very poor dollar, makes this case £134 UKP, now i got my coolermaster black widow for £80, and thats pushing my personal envelope for a case, budget wise. definatly a case for those who are truly hardware addicts, especially when the usd price put it at mpore that a decent 6600GT, and a lot of people would rather have a nice-ish video card then a swanky case. might hurt sales a bit. i reccon chenbro should launce a case that looks the same, but has cheaper internal features, to get it out at a price point where the majority can afford it, then, it would be a Class A case.
    karlos
  • Gholam - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    Frankly, I don't see the point of spending $240 on this, when HEC 6A series cases cost as little as $60, PSU included. Hell, a CM Stacker costs $170 and is worlds better than this thing.
  • kcma - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    OMFG!!! a case review that doesnt review a BUTT UGLY TACKY AS HELL case!!!
  • avijay - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    #1 I agree with your suggestion completely. Some facts and figures on the fans will be mighty helpful. Also Purav, I know this case didn't have a PSU with it, but in the future if cases have one, can you review those as well please, if not with the case review then on its own. Also, would it be possible to see a roundup of 400W+ PSUs anytime in the near future. I've looked through many a PSU. Liked some, and not so much others. Sometimes, its nice to be able to look at reviews as they tend to have a more information than the average review at say newegg or somewhere like that. Infact I'd say reviews for case fans and CPU HS/Fan will also be very welcome.
  • Poser - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    "So, the question on everyone's mind is, 'is the Gaming Bomb II worth the money?' In our honest opinion, the GB2 is one of the best cases that we have seen in Chenbro's product line."

    I'm not sure if that quote was a deliberate dodge, or just bad writing. Either way, it was pretty ugly to read.
  • Zepper - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    Avert your eyes - tortured language ahead:

    "Instead, we received a case that had the looks of something for which only an enthusiast would feel comfortable spending." ... and there's more.

    ---------------------
    . When you can get a similar Kingwin for under $100. ??? Sorry, looks aren't worth $150.!

    .bh.


  • mongoosesRawesome - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    Finally a case reviewed here that isn't butt ugly. Too bad its 240 bucks.

    Try reviewing cases someone would actually buy for a change.
  • Degrador - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link

    Hmm... I guess I was just expecting a little more out of the GB2. Makes me feel a bit better about the Stacker I bought though.

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