BlueSmoke - Review : Enermax CSX305ILS

		Date	: Nov 19th, 2002
		Genre	: Cases
		Developer	: Enermax
		Author	: Tom Smith

I remember when I first came in to the reviewing scene, case mods were things that only the extremists were doing. A blow hole here, a window there, etc. Well over the years, believe it or not, the case manufacturers have watched and listened to what we as reviewers, and you as consumers were saying as far and wants and needs go. Now you have cases that come pre-modded with windows, blow holes and the like, although not as many or extreme as some of the cases that our readers have made.

With that said today we are looking at the CSX305ILS Case from Enermax.

At first glance the case looks like it aluminum, but it is not. For the most part is is .7 MM steel. On the front of the case, there is a light blue acrylic front cover over a thin aluminum layer. I feel that this gives the case a very elegant look to it.

This case also follows inline with easy accessibility, it has ports up front for USB, Firewire, and audio.

The side panel comes pre-modded with a window and a fan. The window is in the shape of the Enermax logo. The case fan is a translucent blue fan. I would have liked to see one of the 4 led fans here, but this one does the job it was intended to.

Cracking open the case, the first thing that you notice is the neon light supplied with the case and this is bolted to the bottom of the case.

This case is actually pretty roomy. It should fit pretty much any motherboard you can throw in there.

There is also plenty of room for expansion. Two 3.5 external bays and four 5.25 bays will keep most users happy.

There are also four hidden 3.5 bays. Plenty of space for hard drives and also plenty of cooling available too.

When you take a look at the front of the case you will notice that there is no power LED is is because the power button itself serves as the LED. Has a sweet blue glow to it.

Moving to the back side of the case you can see a few things. First the standard stuff as far as the back plane goes.

As we move down to the bottom of the case you will notice a small red button. This controls the neon inside. This button will switch the neon from always on to sound sensitive mode. There is nothing like playing AA : O with the lights out and having a flash of light every time a shot goes off.

Enermax has a sweet case. A search on Pricewatch netted the price of around 70.00 USD, not too bad for an already pre-modded with a window, blow holes, and neon. The case has enough room for 5 case fans. Running a hot AMD system in this case with 5 low speed 80 MM fans yielded a case temp of 28 ˚C with an ambient room temperature of 23 ˚C, and it was still quiet. I believe any one looking for a nice case should take a look at this case. For safety Enermax has taken the time to make sure that there are no sharp edges. This case is pretty light and can be lugged around to LAN parties with relative ease. The only complaint that I have, and it's not even a complaint more than a request, is to have the blue LED fans included with the case to keep the aluminum & blue color scheme going. This case comes Very Highly Recommended.

With all the ok stuff covered, I know you are asking "What does it look like with the lights out?" Well to answer your question here you go.