Ahanix Black Knight X195
by Purav Sanghani on March 29, 2004 9:52 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Design
The X195 (Black Knight) has some great features that make it a worthwhile addition to any system. The sliding door on the X195 is the first that we have seen in the industry. It can be folded away on the left side of the case to allow access to the drive bays, USB ports and the optional IrDA transmitter.
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To open the door, either slide it on its track to the left while in its closed position, or open the door and then push it back along its track.
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On the inside of the door at the height of the 3rd drive bay is a hollow area, which is useful if the need for a third party Rheobus (fan control, sound module, etc.) arises. This will allow the door to close properly. The door as well as the bezel behind it has magnets that secure them together when the door is closed.
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The USB ports and IrDA are placed conveniently at mid-height on the front bezel. This way, they can either be hidden away when not in use or exposed by folding the door to the left. The motherboard connectors for the USB ports can be quite confusing for a novice user, but Ahanix has included a detailed instruction guide to help ease frustration.
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LCD's for temperature displays have become the talk of the town as many case manufacturers are beginning to include them in their products by way of a rheobus or other drive bay solutions. Ahanix goes a step further with built-in LCD displays and fan controls. Directly below the door lies the 4-digit display, which shows as the standard red color. There are also clearly labeled lights for power, HDD, and also for fan speed levels and alarm levels. This entire system has its own circuit board mounted on the inside of the chassis. Another great feature is the auto shutdown system. If the sensors detect a component overheating, the system will shut down the computer automatically to avoid any disasters. This feature alone makes the X195 a great performer.
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Below the LCD panel are the control buttons for power, reset, fan speed, and sensor select. The sensor select button switches between the 3 different temperature sensors, which can be placed on any hardware. The buttons, though not labeled, match the case's style and provide for a unique design.
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my sons father - Wednesday, February 9, 2005 - link
I bought this case because of it's sleek style and interesting features. However, as far as cooling goes, I give it only 1 star. I discovered that my cpu ran much cooler with the side panel off, so I cut a hole and put a 120mm fan into the side panel which turned this case into a "super cool" one! I even emailed Ahanix about it so they might correct this problem in the future.alois - Saturday, April 3, 2004 - link
original or copy????The same cas eis produced by a korean firm 3RSYSTEM
http://3rsystem.co.kr/spain/productos/cajas/r101.h...
zeroGrav - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - link
Can you review the Antec Sonata and/or Overture cases? They provide a good point of reference as quiet cases.Locutus4657 - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Thanks for the great review, deffonetly gave me something to think about for my next computer. I'm still leaning twards the Kingwin 424, but this case deffonetly has it's appeal. Keep up the great work guys!Ardan - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Nice reviews of the cases. I agree with Spacecomber and hope to see the component pictures in the next one :).It is nice to see these case reviews! Even though I love my SLK3700AMB case, I love reading reviews of new ones:)
KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Spacecomber: I shall give purav his proper lashings. We will have the component pictures in the next review.Kristopher
klah - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Did you have the fans connected to the case's fan controller? If you did, what setting did you have the fans at during the temperature testing?One thing you did not mention is that the fan controller uses extremely low voltage at the lower settings, all the way down to 3V, and even provides 12v for a few seconds to get the fan started.
Spacecomber - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
This is kind of a variation on my similar complaint about the recent Lian Li 6070 review. It would be nice to see a picture of the case with motherboard, power supply, heatsink, and drives installed to get a better feel for the actual size of the case, the amount of clearance between components, and the likely ease of working inside it.Otherwise, keep the case reviews coming. It's hard to tell the differences between various cases based only on an online vendors pictures, especially when it comes to actual quality of construction and material.