In-Win Maelstrom
- Details
- Category: PC Cases
- Published: Monday, 04 January 2010 00:00
A case is the most essential piece of hardware for any computer, and holds a lot of potential to affect its owner's experience: convenience, cooling, efficiency, and appearance to name a few. In the gaming industry, these aspects are all the more important. The market is currently flooded with makes and models, each trying to satisfy every area or specialize enough in one to to become unique. In-Win's Maelstrom case is one of the former's leading contenders, and they've sent us a sample to find out why.
A while back I took a look at a case from LanCool called the 
PC gaming is unarguably making a rise in the gaming industry. It can be daunting, even for a veteran, with the endless slew of products and options available on the marker. At times, it can be hard to keep up with what you need and what you don't, and there have been plenty out there willing to take advantage of that confusion. Luckily, there are companies out there who refuse to, who remain committed to giving the PC gamer exactly what they want and need. Antec is such a company, and they've sent us their most affordable gaming mid-tower yet, the Antec Two Hundred, to prove it.
If you look up the definiton of gladiator on Dictionary.com, you'll get three results, one of which is interestingly accurate for a gaming chassis: "a person ...armed with a sword or other weapon and compelled to fight to the death in a public arena against another person or a wild animal, for the entertainment of the spectators." Is a case not a gamer's sword, fighting against others for our entertainment? Cooler Master has sent their warrior, the Gladiator 600, for us to review, and see how it stacks up as the thrid, and most simplistic definition: prizefighter.![IMG_5549 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_5549-lr-lrsm.JPG "IMG_5549 [lr] [lrsm]")
Earlier this year Thermaltake introduced their Element series of cases with the Element S. The Element S is a stylish case with a distinctive look without lots of lights and other distractions. Today I will be taking a closer look at the Element T, an entry level gaming case Thermaltake released to complement the Element S. We will find out if its right for your next budget build.![IMG_5388 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_5388-lr-lrsm1.JPG "IMG_5388 [lr] [lrsm]")
While at CES this past year I had the chance to tour the Lian-Li booth and check out many unique and stylish cases. Along side of the Lian-Li, Lancool their side company had a collection of their cases being shown off also. Today I have the chance to check out their Dragon Lord K58 case. Being my first experience with Lancool and Lian-Li I am excited to see their quality first hand. Considering the hype from others, I doubt that I will be disappointed. ![IMG_5339 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_5339-lr-lrsm.JPG "IMG_5339 [lr] [lrsm]")
Early this year Cooler Master introduced a new product line focusing on gamers. Their Storm line was introduces with their Sniper chassis at CES and has been on the market for some time. For the past 6 months I have been running the Cooler Master Storm Sniper case on my personal computer. Cooler Master realized that we haven't reviewed this chassis and shipped one out to me. Today I am going to check out the sniper and talk about a few things that stand out to me after living with it for some time. Not to give anything away but I liked it, click to read more! 
Antec has been slowly refining their case lineup one at a time. We haven't really seen a lot of completely new designs from them this year, this has a lot to do with the state of the economy. With the P180 series of cases Antec has always had a strong focus on the noise performance of their cases. Of course as we have learned in the past, quite can sometimes mean hot. In order to fix some of those issues they have released the P183. We are going to take a look at the changes along with the overall usability of the P183 as a gaming and HTPC chassis.
Cooler Master introduced their line of gamer focused cases at the beginning of this year. I was lucky enough to win a computer that included their Storm Sniper case, I have been using it for a few months and have been very impressed with the small details. Today we have the pleasure of taking a closer look at Cooler Master Storm's newest chassis the Scout. The Scout is a mid tower with a focus on portability for gamers who need to transport their rig to LAN Partys and tournaments, in other words its right up our ally!
Cooler Master has made their name producing PC cases for gamers that provide good cooling along with innovative styling. This past August Cooler Master introduced a new case called the HAF 932, HAF being an acronym for High Air Flow. If all of their cases have top of the line cooling, what is it they considered high air flow? With 4 fans adding up to 830mm's of fan along with a ton of mesh the HAF defiantly lived up to its name. Of course with it being a full sized case there was a demand for a mid tower version. Today we have the unique opportunity to look at what Cooler Master designed to fill that gap before you can even buy it in stores. Today we take a look at the HAF 922 and find out if it will live in the shadow of its big brother, or make a name for itself also.
Packing up your entire rig to take it to a lan party is a pain in the butt. So much so in fact that at our lan parties we normally see 3 or 4 laptops show up. Of course with laptops you don't have the ability to run the same level of components in most cases. Because of this there has been a demand for small form factor systems that are powerful but easy to transport. The smaller cases also are ideal for HTPC use. In my case I have been looking for the perfect HTPC case for our living room without any luck. I decided to talk to Thermaltake about their LanBox series of cases to see if it would fit the bill.
If you were to compare the PC case market to motorcycles In Win would be similar to Orange County Choppers. Each case they make is designed around a central theme. In the past we have seen cases designed after the B2 Bomber and race cars. Today I will be looking at the X-Fighter, I'm sure you can guess what the theme of this case is all about. I'm going to run the case through its paces to see if it would be a good fit for today's high end gaming PC's. 
Not every PC build needs to be a full size case with 15 fans. Sometimes you are just looking for a simple case that will keep your rig cool enough and most importantly keep the noise to a minimum. At CES this past January we had a chance to take a look at Cooler Master's upcoming silent rig the Sileo 500. The Sileo 500 is finally released and we have the chance to take a closer look at the case. The timing was perfect with the upcoming rebuild of my wifes computer, and considering the focus on keeping everything quite I hope it will balance out some of the noise my computer makes ;).
For the past two years, Antec's Nine Hundred has dominated the field at lan parties and in the hearts of gamers. The high airflow and slick looks made the case very popular. Two years later there are numerous competitors who have brought out products to tap into that same market. Recently, Antec brought out the Twelve Hundred with a similar design to the Nine Hundred but with some much-needed changes. They have decided to add some of those changes to the Nine Hundred along with a few new ideas. The new product is called the Nine Hundred Two, today we are going to take a closer look. 
Before Coolermaster released the original Stacker case back in 2004 (has it really been 5 years?) they had a line of cases called the ATCS (Advanced Thermal Cooling Solution). ATCS cases where all aluminum cases that at the time was a major change from the steel cases made by many of the other manufactures. With pc case styling going to the bigger is better look, the ATCS's went away in favor of cases like the Stacker. Recently they went back to their old designs and came up with the idea of bringing the ATCS back, but with updated features to compete with modern cases and a serious focus on making the case simple to use. They called the new case the ATCS 840; the 840 caught my attention as soon as I saw pictures giving me reason to contact Coolermaster about working with them on reviews. Because of that, I now have a chance to check it out, so let's get to it. 
Not every case needs to be some large gaming case. Sometimes you need something small and simple. In Win sent out their new Matrix case for me to check out with this in mind. As far as I know it's nothing like the movie, but we will find out for sure. 
A few of you may have noticed that when I reviewed the Coolermaster Cosmos S a few weeks ago I didn't use our normal test rig for the testing. I liked the case enough that I decided to move my personal rig over too it. I did have a few complaints about the case and I hope to post a few small updates on here as I work on making the case fit my style. My biggest complaint was the lack of a side window. Coolermaster was kind enough to send a new side panel with a window out to get me started on the updates to this case.' 
With the computer becoming almost a requirement people are spending more and more time in their office and less time in their living room. My household is a great example of this, between work on websites, reviews, and games I find myself on my computer most of the day. We have a 52-inch 1080p TV along with countless console games and I almost never end up in the living room. For the past two years I have not had cable or satellite, instead I have found my shows online. Apparently, I am not the only one who does this; HTPC's (Home Theater PC) have recently started to become popular. With the ability to get online or watch downloaded movies and shows, it is no surprise really. HTPC's are basically standard pc's in a special case, Antec produces a few different designs. We are going to look at their Fusion Remote Max today. We will find out if it has what it takes to survive in the living room. 