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The exterior of the Black Mamba will look familiar to our regular readers as we recently reviewed a nearly identical case to the one used for this system. This is the Azza Fusion 4000 chassis which seems to be identical to the Xilence Intercepter Pro.
We expect that Cyberpower were quite limited in the choice of cases available when building a system with this specification as there aren't many models on the market that have room for all the water cooling gear, let alone the separate media server.
Still, we don't think that this case is quite up to standard considering the £4000 price tag. It's not exactly pretty and the steel and plastic construction looks (and feels) cheap compared to high-end cases from the likes of Silverstone, Corsair and Lian Li.
As there are two separate systems inside the chassis, there are plenty of front panel connections along the front edge of the chassis. The bottom row is connected to the main system and features two USB3.0 ports, a single USB2.0 port and a pair of audio jacks.
Above this there are two USB2.0 ports and two audio jacks which are connected to the media server. Each row also features a power and reset button.
The ridiculous height of the system means that there is room for eight drive bays in total. It also means the system probably wont fit under your desk. Four of these drive bays are populated with two dual-bay water-cooling reservoirs and a further bay is reserved for the Blu-Ray Writer. Below the drive bays there are two LED blue intake fans arranged vertically.
In the roof of the system there are a series of vents which can be opened further using a switch on the front of the case to allow extra airflow.
As you'd expect connectivity is excellent. The main system features the following connections:
Motherboard
- 1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
- 1x Bluetooth module(s)
- 2x eSATA 6Gb/s
- 1x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
- 4x USB 3.0
- 8x USB 2.0 (one port can be switched to ROG Connect)
- 1x Optical S/PDIF out
- 5x Audio jack(s)
- 1x Clear CMOS button(s)
- 1x ROG Connect On/ Off switch(es)
- 1x RC Bluetooth switch(es)
Graphics
- 4x Dual Link DVI-I
- 2x HDMI 1.4a
- 2x Displayport
The home server at the top of the case features the following connections:
- 4x USB2.0
- 2x USB2.0
- 2x RJ-45
- 2x HDMI
- 1x Mini Displayport
- 5x 3.5mm audio
- 1x S/PDIF Optical
- 2x Wifi Antennas
It's worth noting that Cyberpower include a KVM switch with the Black Mamba which lets you control both systems with the same keyboard, mouse and monitor.
I am impressed to be honest, as I know how difficult this build is. If they had opted for a larger SSD and the 3960X I would be more impressed.
3930k in a 4k system? id want the extra cache im afraid, even if its not really noticed. so its a good system in some areas (build) and surprisingly novice in others (components).
I like the case, but id swap out for bequiet fans, would solve the problem, at a little extra cost.
as a talking point its interesting, but the build has a lot of flaws. I think the review needed to be more negative, although most of the problem areas were mentioned.
my main gripe? it has two systems. cool concept.
but.
its a big but.
why would you use a media center in this system with a blasting of fan noise in the room? do the fans all turn off when the media center is on? if so, thats cool, if not. useless.
I have maybe missed this, how do you turn either system on? are there two power buttons? can both be turned on together?
Not for me, ive heard this case and its almost the same as buying a helicopter and putting it in the garden.
Im splitting hairs, but why dont Cyberpower replace the fans in the case with quality stealth units? there are quite a few so i doubt air flow would be an issue, especially with the huge physical dimensions.
I like the case, its a talking point due to the size and two systems is a great idea, but I have an issue with cyberpower. my friend in london bought a system and it was troubled from day one. perhaps he got a bad system, but the motherboard failed in a week and it took some time to get it back.
I still believe its best buying your own system.
For this money I would get
3960X with corsair H100
32GB of 2400mhz ram
asus rampage IV extreme
corsair 1200i PSU
silverstone case (same as henry said in conclusion).
256GB SSD boot – vertex 4 or patriot wildfire
2x2TB HDD for storage
ASUS GTX680 (one is enough) and maybe add another later.
I worked this out at close to 3k, not 4k.