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Written by [t0rc]
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Following the industrial theme, the Sidewinder comes with a PSU, 3 blue
LED fans, a nice paint job, and it's all for around $55 USD. With the
unique front airflow design and plenty of room for fans, cooling isn't
that big of an issue. For the price, if you put a little modding into
this case, you'll have a superb enclosure for your rig that didn't
deplete your funds.
Upon arrival, the Sidewinder was easy to distinguish due to the well
decorated box sporting Sidewinder and XG imagery. Inside, everything
was well packaged, sucessfully protecting the contents from any harm
during transport.
Unpacking was simple, with the expected internal padding being a bag of
packaging styrofoam peanuts. No assembly is required when the case
arrives, you've just got to add in your hardware and a few more fans if
you prefer (it does come with three).
You can see the internal packaging through the half-window. The paint
job is pretty decent, no real flair but it's a good single color
painting. The vertical text on the side is a nice addition, as is the
chrome hemisphere on the front door with an XG logo cut into it. The XG
is illuminated with a red LED.
The whole front panel defines the theme of the case as being
industrial; a common theme amongst modders and modern case
manufacturers. The smooth head and polished screws you'll see used
throughout the case are plentiful on the front panel, The same chrome
appeal is used on the Power and Reset buttons. where I feel that a
stealthier form of mounting would be more appropriate. The front bezel
allows increased airflow to directly impact installed harddrives.
Unfortunately, if you look at the next picture, you'll notice that the
increased airflow is slightly restricted after coming through the vents
by a metal grill. If the grill was all that seperated your fingers from
the fan, it'd be understandable but since the vents pretty much take
care of the seperation of fingers and blades therefore the grill seems
unecessary. Of course it's nothing a dremel and cutting disc can't take
care of.
The drives are stealthed away by a magnetic door. You can easily open
it with your hand, but if you're transporting the case the door won't
come open without a strong jostle. The Sidewinder sports four external
5.25" bays, along with 2 external and 4 internal 3.5" drive bays. Each
of the external bays has it's own cover which is easily removed. The
bays are even slightly recessed to ensure that their faceplate won't
interefere with the door closing. A very nice front panel indeed.
The window side panel has two transparent LED (blue) fans mounted on
it, along with a little over half-window. The fans each have an
external grilled instead of a built-in surface one, which allows
increased airflow to directly benefit your AGP/PCI hardware. The
half-window looks a little awkward, whereas a full window would look
great, Perhaps the half-window is to conceal a wire mess inside the
bottom of the case, but that'd be nothing some good sleeving couldn't
cure. The plexi used is slightly blue tinted which isn't that
noticeable unless you turn the panel over.
The inside of the case is the common metal finish, and the wires for
the USB 2.0, FireWire, microphone, and headphone ports along with
power/reset, XG logo, and activity lights are all visible in the
picture below. You also get a look at the PSU that comes with the
Sidewinder, a 400w SATA ready power supply. The power supply is very
quiet (just like the rest of the case fans), has some sleeving, but
remains cool as it uses large, thick aluminum heatsinks in sync with
the fans for heat disappation. You can also see the motherboard tray,
which to my surprise, is stationary. A sliding/removable motherboard
tray increases accessibility, making it easier to change hardware or
clean; the Sidewinder would really benefit from that addition. There's
also a bag of screws for mounting hardware, including motherboard
standoff's.
The back panel of the case has 7 PCI expansion slots, an I/O plate with
pop-out covers, and room for 2 80mm fans. These fan holes have their
own grilles, but I would opt to cut those out and then use less
restrictive grilles.
The motherboard side of the case also has the Sidewinder text painted
on it. It has a handle groove to help with the removal of the panel.
The side panels come off very easily, you need only to remove 2 screws
per panel and then slide it out. This side of the case also has a
Firewire port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a mic port, and a headphone port on the
side of the front panel. I'm glad to see all of the compatibility and
options with those ports, but their placement is questionable. While
they are at the front edge, they're easy to reach; but since they are
placed on the non-window side, you're likely to push that side against
a wall or side of a desk thus making getting to them a challenge. The
ports would be easier to reach on the front panel, perhaps parallel
with the power/reset buttons.
When plugged in, the case is well lit, both inside and out. With three
LED fans included (1 front, 2 side), the need for additional lighting
internally isn't very high. If you needed more lighting, I'd invest in
2 more 80mm silent Blue LED fans, mount them in the back, and you'd
gain both increased cooling and illumination.
The XG Sidewinder has it's pro's and cons, just like any other
enclosure. It's got a nice paint job, comes with a 400w power supply,
has a nice drive door, comes with three blue fans, and the whole
combination is topped off with a small $55 pricetag. The downfalls are
few but the lack of a removable motherboard tray hurts this case
significantly, as it would to any other case. The Sidewinder earns a
high Silver Award stacking up with a 87% rating. If the Sidewinder
utilized a removable motherboard tray it would've easily earned gold.
No matter, the Sidewinder is a great case for the money. If you need a
case but don't want to spend a lot of cash, this one's for you. Not too
shabby, XGBox.
Thanks to XGBox.com for sponsoring this review.
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