External Design
We've seen many manufacturers that will try to put more time and effort into designing a good looking case while paying less attention to the internal features and functionality. We have seen this happen and we have usually seen these products do worse than those that are decent looking with great features.
Click to enlarge.
The front of the case is made up of a custom molded bezel, which gives it a look that says gaming all over it. The Xpider II does have a spider theme, but it has been implemented in a clean and meaningful way. The bezel is also unique, since most of the cases that we look at are usually based on another design.
The drive bay covers are painted in one of the 4 available colors to match the rest of the case. The top two 5-1/4" drive bay covers are optical drive bezels, which take away that awful mismatch of color when using a beige colored drive. The bottom two 5-1/4" drive bay covers are the bare type that can be easily removed.
Click to enlarge.
At mid-height are the 3-1/2" drive bays with simple black bay covers to make them blend into that area. To the right of the bays are the power and HDD LED's, and the large square power button to the right of those. Directly below those is the reset button, which is a narrow vertical shape that is difficult to press if you are one with large fingers. It does, however, conform to the shape of the power and HDD LEDs directly above it.
Click to enlarge.
At the bottom of the Xpider II is a flip-down door, which hides the audio, USB, and FireWire ports. The door itself is painted with a web design to match the bottom 1/4 of the case bezel. It also has holes that allow the front mounted fan to pull air into the case.
Click to enlarge.
Above that area is a black mesh metal grill, which is the main intake for this front mounted fan. It has an interchangeable shield shaped aluminum piece that shows off the Chenbro name. The replacement shield is made of a clear plastic and can be swapped out by removing the air filter on the backside of the case's bezel.
The bezel can only be removed by pulling the release clips on the inside of the case next to the drive bays.
Click to enlarge.
The only other removable panel on the Xpider II is the left side panel for access to the case's internal components. Instead of thumbscrews being used to secure the panel to the Xpider II, Chenbro has implemented a mechanism that locks the panel in place easily.
The panel itself has a diamond-shaped window and is accented by red paint to continue the cases overall look.
Click to enlarge.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
33 Comments
View All Comments
Staples - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Very ugly design. It certainly will not be my next case.kmmatney - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Can't say that I've ever found a removable motherboard tray very useful. Just gives more parts to rattle and weakens the structure. You certainly don't need it to swap out components.shuttleboi - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Do Anandtech reviewers have a problem with aesthetics or something? Why do they keep reviewing these really butt-ugly cases? How about something (e.g. from Lian-Li or Coolermaster) that isn't completely repulsive?Budman - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
" We test it with all the same PSU so that the noise comparisons are all the same.Kristopher "
that may be good for mobo/cpu tests but you're reviewing a CASE,you just cant pick & chose the parts you like.
The case should be reviewed as is just like anybody who's going to go buy it,not everybody's going to have a spare psu handy.
And just like the other guy said it's a freaking Fortron 350 watter great psu.
very bad ideal to swap out the psu,when you buy it will it come with that other psu? NO . so if you're going to review do it as it will come from the store.
Sonic587 - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
"Installation of all components took no more than 15 minutes and since the Chenbro threw in a 350W power supply, a few minutes were shaved off that total installation time. We did swap out that power supply with our own test bed unit, the OCZ 520W PowerStream, for our benchmarks."Excuse me if I missed something, and ignore this if I did, but they just "threw in" a 350W power supply? That's a Fortron FSP350-60PN. A very high quality PSU that could handle almost any system out there today. I think there should be some credit to Chenbro for choosing a quality component that is so often ignored.
That said, I agree it is 110% fugly.
BUBKA - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
I heard it was optimized to play spiderman 2 and benches 3% fasterKristopherKubicki - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
We test it with all the same PSU so that the noise comparisons are all the same.Kristopher
Degrador - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Yep, I'm with #1. Fugly.Monkeydonutstick - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Super StupidBudman - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Why in the hell would you go to all the trouble of reviewing a case but then swap out the PSU???You should have tested it with the PSU it came with.