Exterior Design
Unwrapping the case we find the MSI Survival Pack and the case. The case is black and black mesh from the outside, with the side window giving is a peek at the blue interior.
We will spend more time looking at the I/O panel in a moment, but on the front of the case you can see the MSI logo, three external drives, and the I/O panel.
The side of the case we see a larger side window than the Ravager had. I am a sucker for side windows, but prefer the clear windows as opposed to the smoky version we see here. I figure I invest a lot on the inside, I like to see it clearly. However that is purely a preference thing. Turning the case to the back we can see the USB3.0 pass-through cable and the water-support holes. The USB3.0 pass-through puzzles me. Why not include an internal header cable like the Ravager? I really hate the pass-through cables and it seems a bit of a throwback. It does do the trick to getting USB3.0 support to the front of the case. The far side of the case is plain black.
The top and I/O panel have some interesting features that make this case stand out. First the top mesh is removable and you can add up to two additional 120mm fans. Near the front we can see two integrated fan speed controls. The I/O ports also have rubber covers to keep dust and grime out of the ports. I am pretty confident these will get lost if those ports are regularly used, so personally I would have skipped this feature. I am happy to see a built-in SD Card Reader along with the usual headphone, mic, and two USB2.0 ports, and one USB3.0 ports.
The bottom of the case includes a couple of fan opening filter covers that are removable. There is one for the power supply and one for an unlisted optional 120mm bottom fan.
Now we will crack open the case and take a look at the inside.