Naturally we get a lot of requests from manufacturers and retailers to review their items but not everything makes it into our pages. Some requests we can see that the item in question is obvious crap, and we don't want to look at rubbish any more than you want to read about it. Of course there is also the other end of the spectrum. A manufacturer contacts us and we are left wondering why we've not heard of these people before as (on paper at least) their product sounds rather good.
contacted us to ask if we'd like to review their new . After checking out a few photo's and specifications we asked them to send it, as without a doubt the case fell into the latter. Let's take a closer look.
Specifications
Dimension(Chassis) |
200(W) x 430(H) x 435(D) |
Dimension(Total) |
200(W) x 437(H) x 473(D) |
Drive Bays |
5.25" x 4ea ,3.5" x 6ea (Hidden : 5) |
|
* Full Heat Sink aluminium HDD Bays : 4ea
|
M/B Form Factor |
ATX, Micro-ATX |
PSU Form Factor |
ATX |
Weight |
7.5Kg |
Colours |
Black, Silver |
Expansion Slots |
7 Slots |
Front Fan |
140mm (Removable Dust Filter) |
Rear Fan |
120mm
|
Port |
USB 2.0 x 2ea / MIC / SPK |
Side Panel CAG 1.1 |
120mm Air Duct(Removable Dust Filter) + VGA Cooling Hole |
Navigation Display LCD |
6-level Fan Speed Controlling (2 channel), the storage of Fan speed , temperature display, visual Indication of FAN/HDD operation, system running time display |
The box for the R110 “The One” is of the standard 'RESY' brown cardboard, printed with specifications and imagery of the case. Inside, the case was protected by polystyrene inserts which held the case suspended between them and also covered in a transparent plastic bag to prevent scratches.
Once the case was removed from the box and packaging we were able to get a good look at it. The overall exterior appearance is quite stylish and smooth; No flamboyant designs or outrageous appendages here. The front of the case is constructed of black plastic which matches perfectly with the steel and aluminium construction of the rest of the case which is also black. The top front sports the four 5.25” drive bays, the top two of which have built in Optical Drive bay covers. As the bay covers are built in you won't be able to change their position from the top two bays to say the bottom two bays, but only you as an end user can say if that would be a true issue.
Just below the four 5.25” bays is a single 3.5” bay for floppy drive use. While floppy drive use is declining, many other devices are built to fit in a 3.5” bay; some card readers for one.
Just below the 3.5” inch bay, the black front is broken up by a mirrored panel sporting four buttons. This panel is a built in fan controller with provision for two fans to be controlled. It can also display the fans current speed, system up time, temperature, HDD activity and also has a little mascot of a dog catching a frisbee.
Below this is the enclosed air intake sporting the recessed silver power button. Air can be drawn in from above and below, as well as from the bottom of the front panel itself. The power button is stylishly recessed and is ringed by a blue LED light which is quite fetching.
Now your probably thinking that this case doesn't have a reset button; but it does. Moving to the right side of the front, parallel to the power button you find a circular silver button for reset. The opposite side has twin USB ports as well as Mic and Headphone jacks. At the very bottom of the front we find a silver 3R System's logo sitting slightly proud in silver.
The top of the case is uneventful, as is the right hand side panel. The left panel however has two grills, one above the other relating to the CPU area and Graphics Card area respectively.
The rear of the case shows us the chassis for the first time; steel and painted a solid black. Note also that both side panels are held on with thumbscrews.
Removing the side panels let's us get a look inside the case for the first time but before we do, I want to show you the other side of the left hand side panel. This is the panel which had the two air grills on it and from the other side we can see that the lowest grill is just that; a grill. The top grill however has an adjustable (and filtered) air duct. These can be both good and bad as unfortunately the location of a CPU is not a standard these days with manufacturers of motherboards placing them as they see fit. Still, the duct is adjustable and removable so if you really can't get it into the right position it can always be removed altogether.
As we have noted before, the chassis is all black, which while a simple change from bare steel makes quite the difference; it gives it more of a complete or finished look. We find a brown cardboard box taped into the 5.25” bays which contains the extra items you will need such as screws and zip ties for cable management.
The bays themselves are nothing fancy, your everyday “screw in the optical drive” bay. The exception to this is the 3.5” bay which uses the included green extensions for mounting devices.
Below is the area for mounting your 3.5” hard drives and this is quite a unique part. The setup is basically twin heatsinks; two either side which serve as the mounts for the four hard drives. Thermal pads on the insides of the panels ensure good contact with the hard drives themselves. To mount a drive, you simply remove the four screws which hold the left hand side heatsink in place. Then, laying the case flat you put the hard drives in place using the nipples instead of screws. Replace the left hand side heatsink and you are good to go.
While the Hard drive Heatsink panel is off we can also see the intake fan; a 120mm fan, and like the CPU duct it's filtered.
The PSU Area is pretty much standard. A lip on the same area as the motherboard tray helps hold the PSU in place. The Motherboard tray itself is clearly labled for different formats which is a nice if simple addition. The rear exhaust fan is a 120mm fan much like the front intake, although the rear is not filtered, but it's nice to see that 3R System have included both 120mm fans; more than one manufacturer still only supplies one fan. The rear fan grill is pressed out of the chassis, and also has provision for mounting an 80mm fan.
The PCI slots are held in with the traditional screws and blanking plates setup. One thing I like is that 3R System have used simple silver blanking plates rather than matching to the black case. By design? Who knows, but it's highly unlikely that your PCI cards will have black rear plates, so the silver blanking plates will help to keep with the matching theme.
The plastic front of the case can easily be removed which allows for cleaning and maintenance, and for us to get a good look.
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