Enermax MaxFlow Full Tower Case

Reviews: Cases

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Nicholas Hart
Kurtis
Maxpoint
Feb. 17, 2005

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Inside the Case

Overview

A large transparent blue acrylic duct takes up a large chunk of the CS-718's interior which is of course appropriate since it is the whole reasoning behind the "MaxFlow' moniker. The hard drive cage sits sideways in the case and uses rails to keep the drives secured. A tool-less PCI slot bracket is screwed into the back of the case for card capturing duty. Rails are used throughout and you need only break out the screwdriver to tighten the motherboard into place.

Drive Bays

The drive cage uses thin metal rails and accommodates six sideways-mounted hard drives in the case with the connector facing the motherboard tray. This will have you running cables under the cage which keeps visible wire clutter to this area at a minimum. Four external 5.25" bays and two 3.5" bays are offered also using rails.

To insert any of the 5.25" drives into the case you will first have to twist out the bay shields behind the door. I don't know of anyone that particularly likes this setup as you are always left with some sharp edges to threaten your fingers. Enermax at least fitted them with a small redeeming quality as rather than being throwaways once removed, these have tabs with holes so that you can screw them back in place should you find yourself removing a drive.

Another thing worth mentioning about the hard drive cage is that on top of it are a couples standoffs with rubber boots on them. These allow the power supply to rest on them for added support and to help prevent vibration. Chalk this up as one of those features that seems so simple, yet so cool at the same time.

Wires

I hope you like cable management because there are plenty of wires to take care of when using this case. Between the front panel connectors, the temp display, the fans and control knob, you have your work cut out for you even before you add your power supply and drives. The air duct only complicates matters as you will have to run wires underneath it and try to keep it as clutter-free as possible to maximize airflow.

PCI Slots and I/O Shield

The PCI slots use removal slot covers so you don't have any extra sharp metal removing beyond the drive bays. A tool-free slot bracket is included and should easily accommodate any card. Unfortunately, the grip is a little lacking and my PCI cards all had some wiggle room. If you aren't the tool-less type, you can remove the bracket and use standard screws to secure your cards in place.

Cooling

Ahhh, cooling. This of course is what the Enermax "MaxFlow' CS-718 promises to deliver on. Yet, it only includes two 120mm fans with the option of a third intake fan to draw air in for those components left out of the wind tunnel. This generally isn't typical of a recipe for success in the cooling department, but then again, most cases don't have a gigantic piece of plastic running the length of the case to cover your CPU fan in dedicated airflow.

With the wind tunnel in place your CPU is constantly bathed in a fresh supply of air from outside the case but at the same time, none of the heat generated by the CPU is allowed to warm the rest of your components. In fact, without the optional 80mm fan in place, it is up to the power supply to provide airflow for the rest of the case. Which brings me to the next section!

Power Supply

I won't go into much detail on the power supply since this is a case review, but Enermax included a very nice 460W power supply with the CS-718. It is the EG465P-VE FMA "Whisper II' power supply with SATA and 6-pin PCIExpress Video power connectors in addition to a 24-pin motherboard power cable. There are two fans and a manual fan control dial to keep sound to a minimum; indeed even at medium settings, the fans are practically silent.

The 24-pin power connector has a unique solution for providing "legacy' 20-pin compatibility. The end four pins simply slide off the connector block and you can zip tie it out of the way to the bulk of the cable. The main power cable is fully sleeved while the four and six pin connectors are sleeved halfway.

The power supply doesn't actually screw into the case, rather you attach a metal bracket to the power supply and then secure the two onto the case. I believe this is to provide compatibility with server power supplies should your setup require such a beast.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions
Page 3: Inside the Case
Page 4: Quality Check
Page 5: Testing & Conclusion

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