First Impressions
The system came housed in an all black Cooler Master Stacker RC-832 aluminum case. There are four USB 2.0 ports on the front of the case allowing for easy plug and play for mice, keyboards, gamepads, and joysticks or whatever else you might need to plug in on the fly like cameras and MP3 Players. There are also ports for a headset as well as a 1394 Firewire connection for video devices and hard drives. The power and reset buttons are easy to reach and are illuminated, making it great for taking it to a LAN party or in the darkness of your own room.
The ports up front keeps vital connections within reach.
The case is built around functionality as well as esthetics, while the stacker is known for all of the air cooling it provides. As you will see from the inside images, this thing is loaded with fans. There is a drawback to more air cooling. There is a compounding effect to the sound level as more noise-producing devices increase. While we did not take an accurate sound-pressure measurement, you definitely know when the system is on.
