I’d heard good about the AOpen HX08 and Addtronics full-tower cases. The Coolermaster ATCS series ATC-200 cases seemed to be the best solution as it’s rather light, looks good to boot and is made of aluminum. Its price wasn't even close to what I was willing to pay. In fact, anyone who pays $300 for a case really has too much money or a system that is too hot to begin with. The latest Q500’s were a much-improved design with an 80mm fan placed directly behind the CPU, a deeper length and revised panel removal. It’s a nice case, but there are better.

I then remembered the LiteOn FS020 that Bill from OutsideLoop was selling. I searched the web and found a few reviews of it. SystemLogic has a two-part review while TweakMax covers it here. It’s only drawbacks were its price and weight. The lack of a removable motherboard tray seemed more important then than it does now. It’s convenient but the case is so deep and wide that motherboard installation and removal is very easy. I had Bill send me one out and went about swapping parts as soon as it came. It just so happened that Granite had a similar "revelation" and decided to go with OutsideLoop, "According to Tyan, this is one of only a few cases available that meet that specification AND that they have validated for their Thunder-X. I liked the looks and initial specifications of the case, and had considered purchasing one for quite some time. Unfortunately, it hadn't been easy to track down a vendor for it, until Kyle at the HardOCP mentioned that Outside Loop was now selling them."

First off, this isn't a full tower. It’s barely over 21" so it’s more of a mid-full-tower than anything but it’s as wide or wider than most full towers at 9.25". This includes the InWin and Addtronics’ massive 7896a. That depth comes in handy with large and wide boards where your memory and drive connectors can interfere with the drives themselves. With a case this wide and the drives shifted to the left, there’s plenty of room to move and route cables in that space. It also makes room for one of the most impressive features of the case, 3 120mm fan points.

Cooling

Two of these points are directly behind the CPUs while the other is logically at the front of the case. This means it has the possibility of over 400CFM of airflow without cutting a single hole. This in itself makes it worth the extra price and heft. I had the single 120mm Nidec fan in the top-rear point and another Top Motor 120 in the front bottom (not pictured), as well as my 2CoolPC Plus. It was running cooler than the Q500 with 2 60’s, 1 80 and the 2CoolPC at a reasonable decibel level.

I know some people don’t mind the howl and roar of a dozen case fans, but you must admit it can be very distracting and even fatiguing to listen to that racket all the time. One of the advantages to a larger fan is that you can get as much or more airflow from it at much lower RPM and with less noise as a result.

Joe Awe from TeamAwe recently found a bunch of Panasonic Panaflo 120mm fans in California. These are the low rpm versions, with a cool addition, an aluminum shroud. This makes for a very attractive and effective fan. These particular ones, the FBH-12G12L, are rated at .2a, 1700RPM @ 32dba but push 68CFM of air. Very cool indeed. He has quite a lot of fans, so look him up and see if he's got something you want.

I haven't achieved any lower temperatures since installing three of these in the case, but it is much quieter compared to the Nidec/Top Motor combination I had before. Installation can be tricky, and I recommend installing the lower rear fan first. The front cage isn't wide enough to hold one of these so I had to bolt it directly to the case. Bear in mind that a bit of solder and a few pass-through connectors are required to use these fans, as they have only two bare wires and no connectors.

Power

The 300W LiteOn power supply that comes with the case has held up to both 800MHz processors, GeForce DDR, DVD-ROM, CD-R and 3 hard drives very well. Upon further consideration I think I should have opted for the Foltron 400W unit that was another $70 option. My only gripe with this PS is it’s lack of an on/off toggle like most have.

Layout

This was taken from the LiteOn site:

The large front lower panel houses two washable filters. These are a nice touch in dusty areas, as no one likes opening a case to a mouthful of dead skin and hair. The power and reset buttons are located almost dead center vertically but a bit left horizontally and have a nice feel. The two 3-½ and four 5-¼ bays are pushed to the left and have a slight lip on the right.

The left side panel is held on by two large thumbscrews while the top and right panels have conventional Phillips-head screws. The panels have several ridges for grip and a bent-out lip for easier removal. Once this is moved back several inches it comes straight off. Installation is equally simple. There’s a bar that runs front to back about 1/3 of the way up the length that merely adds to the stability. Removing a single screw on the back-outside and pushing down while applying pressure on the rear of the case removes it.

Inside you’ll find room for six 3-½ drives and four 5-¼. While the 5-¼ bays use plastic/metal drive rails they do work reasonably well, especially if one swaps large drives frequently. Two of the 3-½ bays mount in a bay directly below the power supply. This easily removable rack would usually get in the way but it’s placed just right for those who want great cooling for those hot drives, as it’s air is removed by the 120mm right behind it. The cage at the front of the case can hold four drives and is removable with a little work.

The front fan point also houses a speaker and wire keep. It’s rather large as a result and could easily be removed if you prefer mounting fans directly to the metal.

The front bezel takes a bit of getting used to in order to remove with any grace. There’s a single retaining screw 1/3 up the case on the front left. Five plastic pinch-pins are used to keep the bezel in place, but the clincher is the single push-tab on the inside 1/3 up the case. It should be the first thing you pop after removing the right panel. Once you have it, the whole right side comes off easily and the left side follows.

The drive cage is retained using three screws and pulls straight out. Thankfully the switches and LED’s are mounted to the case rather than the front bezel, so you can move it around without reattachment.

Granite's concerns about mounting and compatibility with Xeon boards goes one step further, "The next thing I was curious about was what was different about this case that allowed me to use a Xeon board. As the picture below illustrates, not much other than a lot of screw holes. I simply fit my board in there and discovered that my board needed the "C" holes for mounting."

"Another advantage I've never seen before is pictured below. Basically, when you remove the top of the case, there is a pair of nice handle-shaped holes which can be used to route cables, such as the ATX motherboard connector. In my case, the cable came out right near the power connector, and this really cleans up the interior of the case. I also routed my CD audio cable down through here as well. Personally, I like a neat interior, and this case lets that happen."

Overall

Probably the best case you can get for extreme cooling without talk of Dremel or hole-saw.

Dave Clements (Kampf) [With J.C. Lane (Granite)]

2CPU.com gives this case a 4/5 CPU's