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Despite the low price point of this case, Cubitek have found money in the budget to paint the interior of the case black. This isn't vital as the side panels aren't windowed but it is a nice feature nonetheless. Unfortunately, the side panels are secured by normal screws rather than thumbscrews, this is disappointing.
We decided to install our Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H Micro ATX motherboard into the case first as there isn't a lot of room to work with inside. There is a sizable cutout in the motherboard tray so there is no need for you to install the CPU cooler before the motherboard.
Next we install the Corsair HX850W power supply into the bottom of the case. Although there is a vent in the bottom for the power supply intake fan, we would recommend installing it with the intake pointing upwards so it acts as a second system exhaust.
As we would expect with a case at this price point, there is almost no provision for cable routing at all. There isn't enough room for most cables behind the motherboard tray and there are no routing holes, therefore getting a very tidy system is difficult. We are forced to route the cable through the main compartment of the case as neatly as possible to prevent airflow restriction.
There is room for five 3.5″ drives and a single 2.5″ drive on the right hand side of the case. Two of the 3.5″ bays and the 2.5″ bay can be removed to provide room for long graphics cards. We installed a single Kingston SSDNow V+100 128 GB drive into the system for our tests. We also installed a Samsung Blu-Ray drive into one of the 5.25″ bays. All of the 5.25″ bays and the bottom three 3.5″ bays have tool-less clips for securing drives but the remaining two 3.5″ bays and the 2.5″ bay require screws for installation.
Finally we installed our AMD Radeon 6950 graphics card into the test system. To cut costs, Cubitek have designed to use non-replaceable add in card covers which need to be twisted off to make way for the graphics card. This means that if you decide to change your setup in the future, you may end up with a gaping hole in the back of your computer.
Clearly im weird because I actually like the appearance. Many cases at this price are VERY boring.
That is one weird looking design. its certainly eye catching, but im not sold on it.
I was looking at another of their cases with a cool tatto in the window. This doesnt appeal to me. its too cluttered looking. I am glad Zardon didn’t review it however, he seems to like weird looking things, like that Antec Dark Fleet 85.
For the price many of the issues can be overlooked. THe front panel is one of the ugliest looking things ive seen in recent years.
It looks like our bin in the kitchen ! seriously !
dearie me. that is one ugly son of a bitch
Ah come on, its not that bad, at least they are trying to do something different
Some parts of it I like, such as the top panel. insides are ok, and compromises will happen due to price point with routing etc.
That front section, man, im not sure what to think about that. its like someone went nuts with the CAD program.
No one can get a good case at this price. no one else can do it. silverstone thermaltake, all crap at this price point. its just not possible. people who buy this wont care how it looks, it will go under a desk and house a low end system. just the way it is.
Kudos to them for trying to make it stand out. it certainly does.
@ Jon: Well … even the cheapy users like their system “stylisher” than this. So for us folks who prefer raw power (eg. i5-2400, 16 GB RAM, Asus Mobo, 24/7-certified HDD + SSD) over good looks, this is the ideal bargain 😉
So far, this case has been one of the better ones I had during the last 20 years (aside of the regrettably quite thin steel), esp. thanks to the fact that it actually is one of the quietest systems I ever had (even compared to my T61). Other cases that I thought of using were eg. the Chieftec DF-02B-B or its big brother, the Chieftect CH-09B-B. But both weren’t available when I went on the intarwebs for ordering my system components, so the Cubitek “Tank” case was the winner 😉
@ Mr. Henry Butt:
The post says on page 3: “Unfortunately, the side panels are secured by normal screws rather than thumbscrews (…)” – this is wrong. Either you got the “developer / PR kit”, or Cubitek listened to your complaints; whatever the case, my case clearly has panels which are secured by (black tinted) THUMBSCREWS.
cu, w0lf.