Maxtop CSX-7788KEB-Win - Installation

Maxtop CSX-7788KEB-Win Case Review

INSTALLATION:

One thing that I always look for when buying a case, and in my opinion is a must, is a removable motherboard tray. Now, not all cases in this price range will have one, so when I cracked opened this case and found that the motherboard tray was removable I was excited. Not sure how many of you peeps out there have ever tried to squeeze a larger than normal sized board in a mid-tower case before, but I am here to tell ya, you better assemble everything outside the case first, or you will have a heck of a time installing it once it's in the case. When I say install everything, I mainly mean the CPU, Heat sink & Fan, and your memory. Here is a few pics of the removable motherboard tray that comes with this case. Not you typical tray, as most slide out the back, on this one once you remove the screw from the back, you slide the tray slightly forward and the tray tips back and out of the case. Installing the motherboard was no problem what so ever, there is plenty of room for most all sized motherboards out there. The one you see below installed is an Aopen AK79-D nForce2 board, and there is plenty of room all around this board. I was quite surprised at just how much room there was. Most of us know that with some mid-tower cases you have to worry about your CDRom drive hitting or blocking part of the top of your motherboard, well there should be no such problem here. You will see this later in the review when she is all bolted together and ready for a test drive.

I don't think you really can tell by these shots, but there is at least 3 inches of room between the edge of the motherboard and the drive bays, this should be plenty of clearance for any DVD/CD/CDRW drives. The only peeps that might have to worry any are the ones using some massive-0-heatsink that sticks up above the top of the motherboard and motherboard trey as you can see in shot 2. Here is a few shots of just how much room there is.

That pretty much shows off all the GooSH™ about the interns of this case, but there is a few outer things that also makes this case stand out. Now, this is not one of my favorite things about this case, but my wife and kids thought this was the coolest thing they have ever seen. This looks a little GIRLY to me, and I don't think I would ever hook it up, but some of you peeps who like to stand out in a crowd such as at a Lan Party in a dark environment may want to sport these FAKE water pipes. These are clear acrylic tubes that run up the front of the case with AIR BUBBLES made into them. And when the light passes through, it looks like you have water running through them. Each tube has LED's at the top and bottom of each one and they change color, about every 3-4 seconds. They change from Blue, Green, Red and Yellow. Ok, enough of me talking about it, here is some pics to show off what I am rambling about.

Here is the 3 to 4 pin adapter that runs the LED's on the front Bubble Tubes....

Maxtop was also nice enough to send a few extra goodies with this case to help show all the mods that you can do, while using this case. Just so you know, these are extra's and DO NOT come with the case when ordered from NewEgg or any other online retailer. But, they were included to give you a few ideas on some of the mods you could add to the case to make it stand out. Here is a brief look at the extra goodies.

The main two extra's is the Crystal Clear LED Fan, and the Sound Activated 3-Colored Cold Cathode tubes. The, box is full of your motherboard knockoffs and screw accessories. Also if you will look there are some very good illustrated instructions on How-To install the Cold Cathode. The switch on the cold cathode has 3 settings, On, Off, and Sound Activated. The ON position, the Cathodes are always on, OFF, well that should be self explanatory, and Sound Activated, well the lights flash when sound/noise is heard through the microphone on the front of the switch.

Now since Maxtop sent us all the Extra Goodies, I guess I should put them to good use right!. Let's head over to the third and final page, bust out the dremel, then wrap this thing up...

Next: Conclusion >>
 

More Computer Cases Articles
More By Gene