Enermax Double-Shot Case Review

Reviews: Cases

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
Maxpoint
Sep. 3, 2003

Intro

We've looked at a few cases from Enermax before, and so far they have all been decent at the very least. The cases we are looking at today are actually similar to the Enermax CS-528 case, with the exception of the front panel and some other things. The reason we have decided to review two cases in one article is that they are identical aside from the front panels. As we have seen already, Enermax knows how to build a quality case with lots of features; hopefully they have kept the same standards of quality with these cases. These cases utilize some unique bay covers that make installing new 5.25" a little less of a hassle. More about this feature and all the others later...

Note: To make this a little easier I will refer to the cases as 'Black' and 'Blue.'

First Impressions

Black Case (CS-5018SNFS-BBS)

The first thing I noticed about this case is that it looks DAMN cool. I have always been a huge fan of black + silver, so I love how this case looks. The paint job on this case is phenomenal. In fact, I wish the paint on my car was this nice, but that's another story. The large, chrome colored, buttons with acrylic around them are a nice touch. Some other things to note are the sliding bay covers (both 5.25" and 3.5") and the front I/O interface, which is hidden by a door labeled "USB." Unlike the blue case, this one does not have a window, but it does have a side-panel intake fan, and it also has a blowhole up top. Enermax was also kind enough to include two fans with this case, one on the side panel, and one mounted up top for the blowhole. Another thing to note is that Enermax included a PSU with this case, as they usually do. It is also important that you know this case is made of steel, so it may seem a little heavy if you are used to aluminum cases.

Blue Case (CS-56881LBFS-D3)

Once again, on the blue case, the paint job is excellent. On this case, Enermax decided to use the sliding bay doors only for the 5.25" bays. You will also notice that unlike the black case, the blue one does not have a door to hide the front I/O interface. This case has chrome accents around the front panel and on the sliding bay doors, and like the silver case, it also has chrome colored buttons. This case also comes with a window that has a fan mounted in the middle, just like the CS-528 (X-point) case. Something that struck me as odd is that rather than using a silver fan grill for the side panel fan to match the chrome accents on this case, Enermax slapped on a gold fan grill. This looks out of place, but you can get a silver fan grill for cheap if that is an issue for you. This case only comes with one fan, pre-mounted in the side panel. I'm not sure why Enermax didn't include one for the blowhole, it would have been nice. Through the window, you can see a very large light mounted on the bottom of the case next to the side panel. In the rear of the case you can also see a small red button that has been mounted in one of the PCI slots, we will see what that does later. Once again this case comes with a PSU included. Like the black case, this one is made of steel.

Taking a Closer Look

Okay, so I mentioned the sliding bay doors earlier, and now you are probably dying to find out what I was talking about. Basically, they slide vertically to get out of the way when you need to install a new CD drive or fan controller. Although these could be used to stealth your drives, I wouldn't really recommend doing that. The reason is that you would have to mount your drives further back than you would normally, plus the fact that these doors don't move very smoothly up and down. If you try to slide the doors up and down repeatedly, they will get stuck. You will have to wiggle the doors to un-stick them. If you do this often, it could be quite annoying, and that is why I do not suggest stealthing with these doors. The nice thing about the doors is that with normal cases, you would have to remove the bay covers via clips, or sometimes screws. These doors can easily be slid down, out of the way, and then slid back up to cover the empty bays.

There are, however, a few downsides to these sliding doors. The first is that you must install drives starting from the top down. The second is that the bottom 5.25" bay is left unusable because that is where all the 5.25" doors slide down to. Enermax probably would have made all four 5.25" bays usable if there were no 3.5" bays, which the doors would block if they extended past the bottom 5.25" bay. This reasoning follows through with the 3.5" sliding doors (black case only) because the doors slide all the way down, and leave both 3.5" bays usable.

As you already know, both cases have an I/O interface in the front. The black case, however, is the only one with a door to hide it. Each I/O interface has two USB connections, as well as a microphone and headphone jack. If you don't know already, the pink jack is for the microphone, and the green is for your headphones (this is standard).

If you look at the back of the cases, you will see that they come with four thumbscrews (two per side panel). To remove the side panels, simply unscrew the thumbscrews with, you guessed it, your thumb (and forefinger if you have one to spare)! Once you have removed the side panels, you can poke at the insides.

Inside the Cases

In case you didn't catch it when I said it earlier, both of these cases are identical on the inside except for the light and window (blue case only). I will cover the extras after I talk about all of the things that both cases have in common.

The first thing I noticed when I looked inside the cases is that they don't really have any features inside. There are no removable cages, fan clips, drive rails, or removable motherboard tray. The next thing I noticed was the large speaker on the bottom of the case. This isn't a big deal, but I would prefer to have the speaker somewhere out of sight, and as a general rule of thumb, smaller is better.

As I mentioned there are no removable cages or drive rails, but this doesn't mean that it is difficult to install drives. To install drives you will need to remove both panels, and then you will easily be able to access all the bays. There are three usable 5.25" bays (one unusable because of the sliding doors), two external 3.5" bays, and four hidden 3.5" bays.

Both cases have room to mount a 120mm fan in the front of the case. However, for some reason, on the black case the front panel doesn't have any holes for airflow. If you were to put a 120mm fan in the black case, it would just disrupt airflow, and wouldn't pull in any cool, fresh air. Each case also has a fan mounted in the side panel. On the blue case this fan is located more towards the center of the panel, which doesn't directly blow on anything. On the black case, the fan is placed so that it will blow directly onto your video card. The different placement of the fans is just due to the fact that Enermax wanted to make the fan fit in with the window's X design. I think that Enermax should have created a new style of window for this case rather than re-using this old design, which they used on the CS-528 case. On the rear of both cases, there is room to mount two 80mm fans under the power supply. Next to the PCI slots (under the two 80mm fan mounts) there are holes which allow for a little extra ventilation.

These cases both have normal PCI slots. The only thing semi-special about them is that the PCI slot fillers are tool-less, so you won't have to unscrew them before installing new cards. Right above the PCI slots, you will notice that Enermax included an I/O shield.

Above the I/O shield you might notice there is a PSU. What I found strange is that the PSU doesn't have the Enermax logo on it as usual, instead it says PowerUp. I'm not sure why Enermax decided not to use their own PSU in these cases, possibly to save costs since these cases are for people on a tighter budget.

As usual with cases, there is a box with goodies inside it. Also, right next to the box was the AC adapter chord for the PSU. My birthday is coming up, so I was sort of hoping for some cash in the box... but alas, Enermax screwed me (pun intended "Ahahahahaha... ahhhah... ehheh... heh... ehhhh....."). That's right, they gave me a box full of screws. There were also four rubber case feet, motherboard standoffs, a couple of zip ties, and some security screws. "Security screws?" you might ask. Yes, security screws. These are basically special screws that cannot be removed with an ordinary screwdriver. Instead, you must use the included security screwdriver. There are four security screws (to replace thumbscrews) and two security screwdrivers included with each case.

Blue Case Only

In the blue case there is a large sound-activated neon light. There is also a red push-button switch mounted in a PCI slot that is connected to the neon light via a 3-pin connector. As it turns out, the red switch on the back of the case is used to switch between "always on" and "sound-activated" modes. Although the neon light may be a bit large, the sound-activated mode is very cool. I played with the light for a while and found that I liked it best when it was turned about 50% sensitivity (there is a volume sensitivity knob on the window-side of the neon light base). This sensitivity resulted in it being lit only while my subwoofer was active. Your personal preference may not be the same as mine, so you will need to play around with the different modes and settings to see what you like best.

As I mentioned earlier in the review, the blue case has a window, unlike the black one. In the center of the X design on the window there is a fan. What I didn't mention earlier is that this is not an ordinary fan. The theme of this case is truly blue, as can be seen with the blue LED fan. Sadly, as I noted earlier, Enermax didn't include a second fan for the blowhole.

Quality Check

The first thing I did to check quality was my usual push and twist test. As expected, the cases were nice and sturdy. I could hear the steel trying to twist, but the chassis was strong enough to resist. You won't break these cases on accident. Next up was the slice-a-finger test. Luckily for me, the case passed the test with all folded edges. Pretty much every case nowadays has folded edges to protect the user, but there are still a few companies that forget this important step. Enermax is not one of these companies; they know what they are doing. As I mentioned earlier, the paint job on both of these cases is outstanding. In fact I'm tempted to bust out the Turtle Wax. Lately there have been more and more cases coming out with nice paintjobs like this, and that is a good thing!

Black Case Only

Something I would like to note is the airflow in the black case. Although there is room for a 120mm fan to be mounted in the front of the case, there is nowhere for the air to come in from. For some reason, Enermax seems to have forgotten to put holes to allow air to flow through the front panel. With that said, there is still the side-panel fan and the blowhole fan which are already mounted. The front airflow problem could be fixed if you are an experienced modder, but I personally wouldn't dare cut into this beautiful case.

Conclusion

Black

Overall, the black case is a great one. Although it lacks many of the features that one looks for in a case, such as drive rails, removable cages, or fan clips, it looks outstanding. This case isn't for someone who is looking for a feature-full case. This case is ideal for people who don't upgrade often or don't mind going through a little more trouble to upgrade. One thing is for sure, this case will turn heads.

Blue

Overall, the blue case is a great one. Like the black case, this one lacks many features one might expect in a case. The addition of a side window and a sound-activated neon light make this case a great choice for anyone that wants to have a modded look without the hassle of modding. Also like the black case, this case is ideal for people who don't upgrade often or don't mind going through a little more trouble to upgrade. The beautiful paintjob on this case as well as the blue LED and sound-activated neon definitely would make any geek a proud owner.

Given the prices of these cases, if I had to choose one I would pick the black one (CS-5018SNFS-BBS). I personally like how it looks better, and it costs ~ $30.00 USD less.

Black Case (CS-5018SNFS-BBS)	Blue Case (CS-56881LBFS-D3)
Pros Looks great Automotive paintjob Innovative sliding bay covers Two included fans Thumbscrews Cons One front panel screw hole broken Poor intake airflow One unusable 5.25" bay Large speaker	Pros Looks great Automotive paintjob Innovative sliding bay covers Window Blue LED fan Sound-activated neon light Thumbscrews Cons Only one fan included One unusable 5.25" bay Large speaker

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12 User Comments

1 - Posted by BP487 on September 3, 2003 - 5:23 pm

Nice animations guys! Good Job 8). One thing I forgot to say about my XPoint case from Enermax: some of the holes for the screws didn't align properly with my hardware, especially on my CD Drive and Hard Drive. Most of the time they were only off by a litt bit, enough that if I applie enough pressure I could get the screw in, albeit crooked. However, on my CD Drive, I failed to get any screws in the one side. Did you guys experience the same problem?

2 - Posted by Brian on September 3, 2003 - 5:25 pm

We both messed around with the case, and I never had any problems.

3 - Posted by BP487 on September 3, 2003 - 5:25 pm

Where is the edit/delete button :?:

4 - Posted by Kurtis on September 3, 2003 - 5:27 pm

would you like me to delete your posts? lol, i wouldnt worry about it :P

5 - Posted by BP487 on September 3, 2003 - 5:29 pm

Now I can't have my post count being dropped :!: lol thanks.

6 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on September 3, 2003 - 8:52 pm

Yay! You got the animation to work properly! Someone help you or did you just suddenly figure it out?

7 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on September 3, 2003 - 9:19 pm

hey the animation looks really cool. nice addition.

8 - Posted by Kurtis on September 3, 2003 - 10:33 pm

I figured it out. Wasn't that hard, just had to remember how to use flash. Its still got a couple bugs but I will make a new upgraded version of it soon :)

No other site has this, its cool to have a unique feature :)

9 - Posted by Brian on September 3, 2003 - 10:39 pm

Yet :-P

10 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on September 3, 2003 - 11:51 pm

But even so, you can yell at them and rant about how you had it first when they do. :)

11 - Posted by Kurtis on September 4, 2003 - 1:25 am

precisely :)

it wasn't really that hard to do, i am surprised we are the only hardware review site doing it

12 - Posted by Guest on December 29, 2004 - 12:03 pm

Hi, great review! I found it very helpful as I have a sound active neon light, and didn't know how to adjust it.

-Alisha

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