Once the motherboard tray was back in place, there is still ample room to mess with the hardware even without removing the tray. The drive cages don't overlap the motherboard so there is plenty of room to access everything without taking it all apart again. Exhaust is handled by two high output 80mm fans mounted at the back of the case, noise wise they weren't to bad, I could not hear them over the heatsink fan.

One of the things I was really glad to see for the I/O panel was plugs for the audio pin outs on most motherboards. Instead of providing jacks that you have to route out the back of the case and plug into your sound card the Stealth provides plugs to hook up to the motherboard, no plugs going out the back and taking up the speaker plug on your sound card.

However, the plugs for the I/O panel also lead me into my first real complaint about the Stealth, since the power and reset switch as well as activity indicator LEDs and the I/O panel are in the top center of the case, all of the wires for them hang down into the case as well. They ARE long enough to reroute somewhat, but this being a mid tower case there isn't a lot of places to hide them. This may or may not be a big deal since there is no side panel window on the Stealth, but tidy wiring makes it a lot easier to work with your hardware, not to mention having all of your wires tucked out of the way helps a bit with airflow.

Drive installation is pretty standard, well actually to standard if you ask me. The Stealth drive cages are the the "insert HDD from the back" type. I would really have like to seen the HDD cage so that drives are installed from the side. It makes swapping out hardware so much easier, and it doesn't take up any more or less room. I was kind of surprised that there was no support built in for optical drives, unless you install one at the bottom and work your way up so that the one below supports the one above. This was not a huge deal, and I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker by any means. Personally I like to install my optical drives at the top and work my way down, this just means you need an extra arm to hold the drive in place while you get the screws started.

Cooling Performance and Conclusion

Cooling performance wise the Stealth is an awesome case, the entire front panel acts as a fresh air intake and the 3 piece door allows plenty of air to pass through. The 2 rear 80mm fans do an excellent job of pulling air through the case and out the back. The option to ad a blowhole fan by removing the I/O panel is also a nice touch and adds to the customizability of the cooling system. For most motherboards the placement of the intake on the side panel should be in the right spot allowing the CPU fan to pull air directly from outside the case, rather than warm recirculated air from within.

I didn't have any additional fans to try so I tested the cooling with the side panel off and with the side panel on, this should give a pretty good idea of the Stealth's efficiency in cooling. Temps were taken using temp monitoring software so may not be 100% accurate but should do well enough to give an idea of cooling potential. Temps for CPU and motherboard were recorded using the ECSonic hardware monitor, and temps for the HIS X800XL were recorded using RivaTuner.

I would like to note here that these tests were conducted in a basement workshop, so ambient temps were considerably lower then normal. Ambient temp was approx. 15C (60F) during testing. With that in mind remember YMMV.

For a Prescott core 3.4GHz P4 33C is extremely low, those temps are comparable to what my daily use rig gets with water cooling (keep in mind the low ambient temps, I don't want to mislead anyone)

The reason for the results with the side panel off is I wanted to illustrate how efficiently the Stealth handles the air that is being moved through the case. As you can see all results but the VPU were a few degrees lower with the side panel on. This says something about how the Stealth draws air in the front, moves it across the hardware and forces it out the back.

Pros: All Aluminum, Classy looks, quality construction, Cooling, Removable motherboard tray, audio headers for motherboard, tooless access, plenty of room inside case to work with hardware without removing motherboard tray.

Cons: Wire management can be a little tough due to all of the wiring from the I/O panel and power/reset buttons coming from the top of the case. Orientation of HDD cage.

Bottom Line: All in all the Stealth is an awesome case, it looks awesome and is very well built. ABS did their homework and for the most part came up with a perfect case. The two cons I listed are minor and shouldn't be a major problem for most users. It's simple elegant design is a sight for sore eyes when so many cases these days look like robots, demons, cars etc. The Stealth goes to the top of my VERY short list of sexy, classy, elegant cases.