A mish-mash of good and “bat” features

Just when we think we’ve seen it all, along comes the XBat case from newcomer CoolMax. The XBat sports the menacing profile of the Dark Knight—Batman himself—but behind the bezel, the XBat is nothing more than a mild-mannered ATX mid-tower.

No aesthetic detail was too small: The masked avenger’s blue eyes light up when you turn on your PC, and each side is decorated with a bat wing and Batman logo—one of which doubles as a side fan grill. We know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but office opinion was unanimously negative on this one, although bat aficionados may dig it.

Beneath the plastic mask lies a hefty steel enclosure that weighs in, when empty, at a superhero-crushing 25 pounds. The top of the case sports two handy USB 2.0 ports and audio jacks as well as power and reset buttons. The case’s drive setup is a bit odd: Below the four hard-mounted, tool-less 5.25-inch drive bays are two removable 3.5-inch drive cages—with three 3.5-inch slots each. (There are two external and four internal 3.5-inch bays.) Both drive cages pop out with the push of a latch, but you have to use old-fashioned screws to mount drives inside them. PCI cards are secured with a wonky plastic retention mechanism that’s a pain in the ass to use. Each slot has a small black latch that you pull out when you want to insert the card and then push back in to secure it. The catch is that it only pulls out about a half-inch or so, and partially blocks the slot. We’d prefer a traditional design to this mechanism.

Although cooling options are plentiful, our test unit shipped with a single 80mm side fan, which is woefully inadequate. Three other fan bays lie fallow, including an 80mm bay in front of the HD cage and two 80mm exhaust bays in the rear that can alternately accommodate a single 120mm fan.

The XBat shows signs of promise, but it’s ultimately held back by its lack of cooling, substantial weight, and annoying PCI card retention mechanism. When you add these issues together with the over-the-top bat fuselage, you’re left with a less-than-impressive product.
—Mark Behnken

CATS: Mostly tool-less features, and plenty of cooling options.

BATS: Heavy; PCI card retention device is a PITA; cooling is insufficient.

Month Reviewed: July 2005
Verdict: 6
URL: www.coolmaxusa.com

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