Starting at the front of the chassis, we can see its finished in a really smooth looking black coating, which is soft to the touch and gives everything a very expensive tactile feel, a coating like this also helps keep finger prints to a minimum, great for when you’ve been picking it up and turning it every which way while installing components, or in my case also taking photographs. From the top down you can see there are 4 x 5.25″ drive bays, the top one is used for the slim drive adaptor, while the bottom three can be used for any standard DVD, CD, Bluray drives or similar sized devices such as fan controllers. On the bottom half of the chassis we also have a nice size air intake, with the Xigmatek “X” embossed near the bottom.
Around the back of the chassis we can see at the top two cut outs that allow for easy removal of the top panel, allowing you to take advantage of the fan mounting points in the top of the case, while at the rear you can see there is a pre-installed 120mm fan, space for 7 expansion cards, two circular cut-outs for routing cables or water-cooling solutions, although these are quite small, so I imagine their main purpose would be for something like USB powered internal case lighting and other similar devices.
Down the side of the chassis we can see a whole number of things going on, the most prominent being the side panel window which has been cut to the shape of an “X”, keeping with the Xigmatek theme, which also gives you a great view of the internal components of your system, although it is very reflective, hence the high angle of the picture. We can also see that the bezel from the front panel continues over the top of the case and all the way around the top panel, meaning all the lines on the chassis look consistent, it’s simply a bit of style, but it makes a big impact on the look of the case that just doesn’t come across in a photograph.
Around the back of the chassis, we have a simple flat panel, while there is some cable management in this case there ins’t any recess to the side panel to provide extra room for excess cables.
Taking a closer look at the front panel, we can see better the top ventilation panel, great for installing extra fans to put heat away from your components, the SATA HDD dock for quick and convenient file transfers, a single USB 3.0 port, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone sockets, as well as the standard reset and power buttons.
