Blue X-Dreamer Mid Tower Case

Reviews: Cases

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
XPCases
Aug. 5, 2003

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First Impressions

The box that this case came in was nothing fancy. It has a large print of the case along with the case specs and features on the sides of the box. When I pulled the XPCases exclusive Blue X-Dreamer case from the box, my first impression was "Wow.' This case is a lot nicer looking in real life than the pictures on XPCases' site. The silver color is very sleek and the case has an overall modern feel to it. The removable blue acrylic front is a very nice touch, as are the screws that appear to hold it in place. I say "appear' because the screws are only for looks. To remove the acrylic face you have to use the clips that can be found behind the front panel, which you can reach from the inside of the case. With the front panel removed, you will see screws behind the front panel that hold the acrylic in place.

There are four (4) 5.25" bays and two (2) 3.5" bays. Of these six (6) total bays, there are three (3) stealthed drive bays. Two (2) of them are 5.25", and one (1) is 3.5". This means that you can have up to two stealthed CD drives, and one stealthed floppy disk drive. Other things to note on the front panel are the temperature display interface with power / reset buttons and power / HDD activity LEDs built-in, the holes drilled for airflow, and the included front I/O interface. The I/O interface has a nice silver plastic door that swings up to allow access to a Firewire port, two (2) USB ports, a headphone port, and a microphone port.

When I examined the front acrylic panel a little more closely, I noticed that there was a crack starting from the top left corner of the I/O interface. This happened during the machining of the acrylic. I contacted XPCases about the crack coming from the I/O interface and they apologized and assured me that this was only the second time anyone had ever reported this problem. They immediately sent me a replacement acrylic panel which I received just a week later. The new panel arrived in perfect condition. I am actually very happy that the first acrylic panel had a crack in it, because it gave me a chance to test XPCases customer service. After my experience with them, I can assure you that XPCases has top notch service and that they are not only very friendly, but very timely as well. Keep up the good work XPCases.

If you look at the side panels on this case, you will notice that they are both removable. They are held firmly in place thanks to a pair of thumbscrews that XPCases included with each side panel.

Moving on, you will also notice that there are two (2) fans pre-installed on this case. There is one 80mm blue LED fan installed on the window with a shiny fan grill, and another 80mm fan mounted in the blowhole, again with a shiny fan grill.

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Page 1 of 3

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Page 1: First Impressions
Page 2: Opening the Case & Inside the Case
Page 3: Quality Check & Conclusion

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8 User Comments

1 - Posted by Rich on August 5, 2003 - 8:56 am

Those stealthed CD drive covers look very similar to the ones on my Enermax case. Did you have any problems using the 3.5" floppy? I have found that some stealthed floppies can be hard to get out.

2 - Posted by fhetw on August 5, 2003 - 12:41 pm

thats a really nice case
i was considering it, but was kinda put off by the steel and huge window
however it still seems to be a great case and the price on xpcases is quite low compared to some competitors

3 - Posted by Kurtis on August 5, 2003 - 1:30 pm

the stealthed covers work well, except for the rigging part I mentioned

4 - Posted by Hippy on August 5, 2003 - 2:09 pm

Cool to get a new review :) but...

1) why dont you include a pic of what your reviewing at the top of the review? At first i wasn't sure i was on the right page and had to scroll down a page just to see the case. (minor quibble)

2) I also wonder if, had you installed a system into the case, the review might of contained more details. For all we know getting a mobo and gpu into it might be the biggest struggle since getting outa bed for work on a monday morning after an all-weekend bender!! (minor but worrying quibble)

3)
Hmmm for a tech review 'guessing' doesn't cut it. Maybe should have contacted XPCases and checked on this... but as stated on their site, (and this is something i should have checked on before posting...) XPCases ONLY deliver inside USA, Hawaii and Alaska SO is it even possible to get (this XPCases exclusive) an European version??? (big quibble)

Sorry :roll: but details, details and more details are what in my mind make a good, clean review. Doing a report on some hardware without testing its intended purpose to the fullest doesn't really help me understand if it'll be 'the one for me'.

Damn here i go being all 'testy', sorry guys!!! Will you forgive me??? Please nooooo!!!! Not the monkeys!!!! Arrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!

5 - Posted by Kurtis on August 5, 2003 - 2:17 pm

1) We do not put a picture at the top because if you read the title, you will clearly see that you are on the right page...

2) If you read some other reviews on this case. You will see that mine is every bit as detailed if not more. We do not stuff a system into every case we get because the fact is, all that stuff is standard. A motherboard will fit as will a graphics card and all that. If I don't make a comment about something not working, assume it does work, and if you think I may have missed something, just ask and I will check. In most cases, however, I look at every aspect of the case, whether I write something about it or not.

3) XPCases is not the only place that sells this case... This case is sold in lots of stores, some of which are probably in the UK. That is why there is a sticker that says F, instead of just letting you assume it is F. Although this case is XPCases exclusive, the only thing that is exclusive is the blue acrylic face, you can get an identical x-dreamer elsewhere that just doesn't have the same shade of blue acrylic face.

If you have any more questions, let me know and I will clear them up for you.

6 - Posted by Hippy on August 5, 2003 - 2:44 pm

:) thanks for the speedy reply.

I agree about the title thing, but the internet is so visual that i expect to 'see' what i am reading while i read about it... that make sense?

Ok i just did a little searching around for more info on this case, read another review and checked out other suppliers.

It seems (and on this i am being quite careful) that this version of the case is not 'ONLY@' XPCases - http://www.xoxide.com/blxled.html - and i base this off of the review that links right to this url. They also discribe the same plexi blue faceplate, case details etc...
Could you please confirm this for me Kurtis?

Sorry again if i am being an arse :(

7 - Posted by Kurtis on August 5, 2003 - 2:49 pm

when i say exclusive, i got that info from XPCases, i can not verify that the same exact color face is available elsewhere, however that is trivial. it is the same case essentially, and that is all that matters.

However, it looks to me that the xoxide case has a much darker shade of blue acrylic... maybe its just a bad pic, i dont know.

Are you interested in buying this case or something? Remember, the only difference is the color, so just find the color you like, its all built the same, just with a different front acrylic piece.

8 - Posted by BAZzZzZzMAN on October 5, 2004 - 4:04 am

Hi , I enjoyed reading the review about the blue x dreamer case and in fact went and bought one. However I am experiencing a problem and am hoping you can help me out, I need to know where on the motherboard one is supposed to plug in the various wires that come out of the rear of the front panel! And..what do the markings in fact mean? On each wire I mean. I would greatly appreciate any help you could offer a noob like me!! Many thanks!
Basil Simonenko

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