Expansion
When it comes to gaming, chassis expandability is a feature that the case should definitely have. Chenbro has designed the Xpider II to allow four 5-1/4" drives and a total of seven 3-1/2" drives to be installed at one time. Though the case may become cluttered when packed with that much hardware, there is that potential to fill the Xpider II.The second area where expansion is most important is the add-on card area. Chenbro employed locking devices to secure add-on cards in place. We have seen better devices on many other cases. Thermaltake's Xaser III Skull had an interesting sliding clip that held add-on cards in place.
Click to enlarge.
We had some trouble with our 9700 Pro card and the mechanism. Since the 9700 had a daughter card for the DVI output, it got in the way of the piece, which would wrap around the add-on card mount, keeping it from being locked. Thumbscrews would have sufficed for this application, since Chenbro did not really utilize a tool-less design throughout the Xpider II.
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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.