External Design

The visual design of a chassis can be simple yet elegant or extremely detailed and heavily modified from the factory. No matter what the case is, personal preference plays a large role in whether the case will be accepted by each individual user. Many prefer that we review cases based solely on how they look instead of looking inside to the guts of a product to see how they perform. We ourselves at AnandTech have our own opinions when it comes to the looks of certain products, but we try to go deeper into it to see what makes the case worth investing in or else, what changes can be made in future models.

MGE's XGbox line of gaming cases takes their reference designs and adds custom-molded bezels and custom-designed side windowed panels to give consumers various options from which to choose.

The Viper's front bezel is a custom-designed piece made of plastic that features a two-color combination of, in this test case, red and black. MGE carries on these colors throughout the chassis and we will seldom see a section of unpainted metal. At the top of the bezel, we noticed the sinister Viper logo, which is red on black at the center on the horizontal. The logo will light up when the system is powered.




Click to enlarge.


Towards the bottom of the bezel, we see a large rectangular LCD temperature display, which features a system up-time counter, an animated Viper logo, and a single temperature readout. The temperature lead can be attached to any component, but we prefer to attach it to the CPU, since it is the most critical component. We would have liked to see a full-featured temperature display, which could keep tabs on more than just a single component to get a better idea of how each piece of hardware is performing in the area of heat dissipation.
Right click hereto play video.

Below the LCD display is a grill that allows air to be pulled in. We hope to see an air filter to keep dust and debris from entering the chassis.



Click to enlarge.


Index Enternal Design (cont'd)
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  • k2bordr03 - Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - link

    i must say that your reasoning for discarding this case as it being ugly is based on personal preferences. if you dont like it soooo much why did you bother looking, bought this case and i love it. get compliments like crazy at lan parties and you dont have to like it, but someone else might. you guys are too critical, you probably all own kias.
  • Hunter Viking - Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - link

    I just got mine. I think the case looks cool. All the beige cases or even the new beige,,, black, been looking at them for years. I wanted something a little different then all the same ol same ol. And I am pushing 40 so take that:)
    Thanks Anandtech for reviewing something a little different. I can't stand having everything look plain all of the time. Case is stong enough for my SLI setup and quiet enough to be ignored when I am across the room. The lighting is not too bright without being obnoxious. I even added a UV light to brighten up the plastic.
    The only problem I have, other then the tooless case, is now I have to open the case and clean the dust bunnnies out more often.

    And the blue is more subdued then the red.
  • albinodragon - Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - link

    Personally I had just bought the blue version of the MGE Viper case and it hasn't arrived yet, but I am excited to upgrade my old PC using it!
  • Regs - Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - link

    I usually don't pay attention to cases such as these. However this one I couldnt help but to laugh at the design. Looks like a power ranger got shrink rapped around the casing.
  • unclebud - Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - link

    "Why is it most modder cases look like a 14 year old metal head design them?
    Diversity should not mean between a cobra and dragon. All these cases look like album covers from the 1980s."

    laughing really hard...
  • Gatak - Monday, December 20, 2004 - link

    Zak, these cases do sell. Lots of people like this kind of thing. No need to be rude. Better to write and say you would rather like something like the Hush cases to be reviewed. =)
  • Zak - Monday, December 20, 2004 - link

    Why do you people keep reviewing ugly, BUTT UGLY and useless cases??? This is a waste of time and not worth reading. Stick to reviewing the guts: mobos,cards, etc and leave this for someone else. You're obviosuly not getting it right.

    Zak
  • bigpow - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link

    This will match well with a Pontiac Aztec...
    Woohoo!
  • crimsonson - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link

    I have to agree,

    Why is it most modder cases look like a 14 year old metal head design them?

    Diversity should not mean betweena cobra and dragon. All these cases look like album covers from the 1980s.
  • Gatak - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link

    This is what I want! :) http://www.hushtechnologies.net/start.html

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