Raidmax Blackstorm Mid-Tower Case Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Raidmax Blackstorm: Exterior4. Raidmax BlackSotrm: Interior and Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Accessing the interior of the Blackstorm is actually quite a simple process as Raidmax has opted for pull latches to secure each side panel rather than any kind of screw.  This means the panels just pop off when you pull the latches.

The interior of the Blackstorm is painted entirely in black but there are some blue highlights here and there, such as the expansion slot covers and tool-less drive bay clips.

One of the most interesting features of this case is the motherboard tray which is actually attached directly to the right hand side panel.  This means when you pull the latch to release the right side panel it folds down, giving you easy access to the motherboard tray.

We decided to install theASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX motherboard into the case.  This was a reasonably simple process but Raidmax don't pre-install the motherboard stand-offs so screwing them all down takes a little time.

They also don't include a tool to make sure they're tight like most manufacturers which means you could encounter trouble when you come to remove the motherboard from the case.  You must bear in mind that there is no cut out in the motherboard tray for installing a CPU cooler so this must be done before installing the motherboard.

We left our Cooler Master Hyper 612S cooler attached to the motherboard, which was already there from a previous review.

We decided we would be best off installing the power supply next so we tried to fold up the motherboard tray.  But it turns out that there wasn't enough clearance to fold the motherboard tray up as the CPU cooler was too tall.

This meant that we had to completely remove the motherboard and replace the cooler with a lower profile model before we could fold the tray up.  Next we tried the Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU cooler which is about as low profile as you'll get for a decent air cooler.  While this wouldn't fit with the fan attached, removing the fan allowed just enough room for us to fold up the side panel without issue.

This means that you're very restricted on your choice of CPU cooler if you're going to use this system.

Eventually, we were actually able to install the NZXT Hale90 750W power supply into the case using the screws provided.  But, as the motherboard tray is part of the side panel, there is no space between the side panel and motherboard tray to route cables.  This means that everything has to be done in front of the motherboard.

Installing a hard drive into the system was a refreshingly simple process.  All we were required to do was place a rail on each side of our Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB drive and slide it into place.  For those who prefer drive bays facing the other way, the hard drive rack can  be spun around.  But, there is no support for 2.5″ drives at all so those planning to use an SSD won't be too happy.

Finally we installed an AMD Radeon HD 6670 graphics card into the system as the usual AMD Radeon HD 6950 wouldn't fit. This was a simple process but it would have been nice if Raidmax had seen fit to include thumbscrews for the expansion card slots rather than regular screws.

Even with the problems we encountered, our build only took about an hour to complete.  The reason it was shorter than we expected is because we didn't have to allow time for any cable routing as it's virtually impossible anyway, hence the rather untidy build you see before you.

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