Coolerguys.com - WindTunnel II LAN Gamer Case

The True Test: Put my system in it -

Now overall this case has impressed me. If you are a gamer who doesn't have the time, tools,or parents wont let him bust out the cutting torch in his bedroom, then I think its a good match. But I guess the real test is, can it work for someone NOT gaming all the time but just LAN's now and then but does some serious work other times. Also wanted to see if it could fit a big system in this lil case.   So, my MAIN box,  The machine I do everything on, all ProCooling has been made on this hardware, and has run faithfully for 2 years, is going to be moved into the new case. ( this was the original Project: Double Header 1 machine.) I had to feel comfortable with the Windtunnel 2 case or I wouldn't have touched my main box for this.

I've had that Enlight 7237 Case for over 2 years. Its been a faithful and solid case, I cant think of anything I disliked besides the drive rails.  But the time for change is here, and the Wind Tunnel II will help a lot with my heat issues I have in the old case. 

In almost in Length and height the Coolerguys case is smaller, but in width they were the same.  Now lets see the challenge.

I ran my SCSI Header right under the front panel IO header. One word on that IO header.  Its Nicely rounded.  I have seen many of these deals what use a ribbon cable that were, messy to say the least.  This is nice and clean.

A Necessary evil in case building is of course those 5.25" razor blades that put in the front of cases.

Well this is the one good side effect of using this thin steel, its pretty simple to get these front tabs off.

The First casualty of the case being a hair smaller. You CANT use the bottom 2 5.25" bays for CDroms if you have a board that's the FULL ATX size or EATX.  This covers MOST Socket A, Dual Slot or Socket boards, and most any board that's "big".    It overlaps by 1cm..  what a freak'n bummer.

The Second problem comes with the Fans on the side.  They don't get along with a Voodoo5 5500 well at all. In fact its not possible to use the filters on the front AND the V5 at the same time.

So, simple. Take the filters off.  Actually after a while I put the filters on the outside, and the grills on the inside, this works very well as it still filters the air and the grills inside keep the wires from getting in the fan.