Driverheaven: Chenbro Xpider II

The front of the case is no less eyecatching with substantial attention to detail on the panelling, working to the "spider" theme.The lower middle panel has a button press facility for the usual array of front port connectivity.

It is worth mentioning that this flap is quite substantially made and I didnt feel it was going to break off in my hand, quite a refreshing change from the shoddy workmanship we all know and hate.

Inside the case, I am immediately impressed by the inclusion of a 120mm fan in the rear exhaust position. My views on noisy multiple 80mm fans are quite well known on the Driverheaven forums, lets all hope more manufacturers decide to go down this route and start using high quality 120mm fans for case cooling. Its a logical step for high CFM with decent noise levels. For those interested the details on the 120 mm rear exhaust fan is:
120mm Translucent Blue Lighted With 4 bulbs - UV Reactive
Bearings: Dual Rifle Ball Bearing
Airflow: 70.21 CFM @ Zero Static Pressure
Rotation Speed: 2000 RPM +/- 5%
Acoustical Noise: 35.95 dBA
Expected Life: 50,000+ Hrs

Inside the case we are presented with ten slide rails, these attach to the side of the optical drives for ease of use when inserting and removing. While this is becoming more commonplace it is great to see Chenbro taking advantage of this feature in their Xpider II. 3.5 and 5.25" sizes are catered for.

Chenbro have also adopted the use of a Hard drive cage which is attached to the main subframe chassis with a heavy duty screw fitting.

When the screw is removed a simple tug outwards allows the cage to be removed from the casing along with any hard drives you may have bolted into its housing.

Once the cage is removed, we can see another Translucent Blue 92mm fan in the same style as the larger 120mm rear exhaust fan we detailed above. This is the perfect position for a front mounted intake fan as not only is the cold air circulating forward to aft across the motherboard then expelled but its also cooling your hot running hard drives. the 92mm fan is capable of pushing over 40cfm @ a noise level of just under 35db, while this is not quite in the league of the highest end 92mm YS-TECH FD1225 fan (50 cfm @ 31.9db), it is still superior to an "average" fan supplied with most cases. This position can also house an 80mm fan.

Description: 92mm Translucent Blue Lighted
With 4 bulbs - UV Reactive
Bearings: Dual Rifle Ball Bearing
Airflow: 41.90 CFM @ Zero Static Pressure
Rotation Speed: 2600 RPM +/- 5%
Acoustical Noise: 34.62dBA
Expected Life: 50,000+ Hrs

The Aurora 350 watt power supply has a 120mm fan with variable control and under testing with a P4 3.4ghz, X800XT and several optical/hard drives it performed admirably well. This PSU is certainly not bargain basement and is capable of delivering a decent rail even with a high powered system. It is capable of over 405watt output when pushed at peak.

Granted I would feel personally that a decent percentage of the enthusiast base buying this case would already have a higher powered PSU but you can rest assured that in an emergency you would have a decent back up supply.

Time for a quick build quality perusal, checking for any dangerous sharp edges brings good overall results, its certainly not perfect nor quite in the league of a Lian Li, but generally quite safe and no "unfinished" or particularly sharp corners were apparent.

Now that we have seen inside the case, lets have a look under the front fascia to see if Chenbro have paid any attention to detail.

Its apparent by this stage, the design of this case has spent quite substantial time with the research team involved. Removal of the front fascia is no harder than unlatching two release levers (seen above). giving access to the raw underbelly of the chassis.

Looking at the underside of the now removed front fascia we can see Chenbro have attached a dust filter which is a particularly important and often missed aspect of an air intake system. Anyone who thinks this is a frivilous addition should take a look at a filter after several months of computer usage. All the grime and dirt stuck in the filter is residue that never made it into your case. Chenbro scores high for little touches like this.

Next: Conclusion