Outside

When you take a look at the Stryker, there are two things that stand out right away. First, its bright white color and glossy finish, and a close second for those who have seen the Trooper is the side panel window. The Trooper came with a mesh side panel; the Stryker has a much more stylish window/mesh combo. The layout runs almost to the top of the motherboard and down to the power supply, so you will have to be careful on wire management to keep everything looking good. The mesh side panel stands out because the mesh is black on the white finish. Both the mesh and window are on the area of the side panel that protrudes slightly, not nearly as much as the older Storm Sniper though.

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One of the cases other prominent features is the large rubber coated handle on the top. Most of you know by now, I love cases with handles on top. This is partially due to me being lazy, and also because I enjoy going to a LAN party or two. Being able to carry your case in one hand makes a world of difference, especially if you have to open any doors on your way in. I built a LAN box specifically to make that trip easier, but some people would prefer to have a full sized case; this is the solution to that. The back half of the top is vented with black mesh. The rubber handle has a nice slotted rubber finish on the bottom that absorbs the weight of the case a little and makes carrying the Stryker packed full of equipment comfortable.

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The front of the top panel is where Cooler Master put the Front I/O panel. You have the standard headphone and microphone ports as well as two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports. There are two LED indicators for power and hard drive activity as well just above the headphone port. The cases reset button is a little hidden, it is on the right side and blends in with its white color. Then directly in the center there is a large power button that lights up with the Cooler Master Storm logo when you power up. Below that you have a single button that turns the lighting on and off and two buttons that turn the fan speed up and down.

Below the front I/O panel we also have the X-Dock, a 2.5 inch hard drive hot swap. I love that the X-Dock isn’t to in your face but is right up top where it would be easiest to reach.

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The black and white theme isn’t more obvious than when you look at the front of the Stryker. There is black mesh from top to bottom with just the white framing it on the top, bottom, and sides. Each of those mesh drive bays is removable just by squeezing the sides in slightly and popping them out. All the way down at the bottom there is a solid panel with the CM storm logo on it, this panel is also removable with a pull out drawer behind it. We will talk a little more about that one in the inside section.

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The right side of the Stryker is very similar to the left side. There is the same raised area and black mesh, but without the window.

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The gloss white finish on the back of the Stryker is interesting and rarely seen. Even with a lot of the white cases, the interior and back panels are flat black. Here the theme continues around the back including the all-white fan peeking through above the rear I/O panel hole. Up top you have access to a fan filter for the top panel and then just below it three grommeted holes. Two are large water cooling holes for anyone who might need to mount their radiator on the outside of the case and the third hole is smaller and close to the rear I/O panel for those who don’t have a motherboard that supports internal USB 3.0. While we are looking at the rear of the case, I should mention that the side panels aren’t attached in any special way. They went with standard black thumbscrews, no door handles or special latches.

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There are a whopping 9 PCI slots as well as the 10th slot mounted up above the others with the peripheral lock that Cooler Master normally includes on their Storm line of cases. Each PCI slot cover is extremely vented for the highest airflow; they are also all black so they stand out against the white finish of the case, much like the side panel mesh.

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The bottom of the case has two removable fan filters, one on the front and one on the back. One slides out from the back and the other the front to be washed. This should keep the dust inside of the Stryker to a minimum. For feel the Stryker has four larger aluminum feet with rubber bases, they have a good look and most importantly, the larger rubber area should keep the case firmly in place.

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #28627 14 Dec 2012 21:01
We were very impressed with the Storm Stryker, check out our review!

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