| Raidmax Samurai ATX Gaming Case - Page 2 of 2 |
Features (continued):
The front intake fan is a 120mm model with blue LEDs, and it is held in place with 4 standard fan screws. The fan is located right in front of the hard drive cage to supply cool air to the case and keep the hard drives nice and cool.
The rear exhaust fan is also a clear plastic 120mm fan with no LEDs, and it is held in place with a bracket, rather than using screws.
Both fans have a small temperature sensor in the power lead to control fan speed according to case temperatures. Both fans seem so quiet I can hardly hear them over the system CPU fan, so I have not noticed them changing speed at all.
The power supply is a Raidmax 420 watt unit that is P4 ready. Besides the P4 connectors and the ATX mother board connector, there are two power chains each with three standard molex 12v connectors and a floppy drive connector. The power supply does have two fans on it but the intake fan on it is on the front and externally mounted on the power supply instead of on the bottom like most two fan supplies. As seen in the below right image, I went ahead and tied back the P4 connections and covered the mother board lead and power leads with some split loom in the interest of neatness.
 
Performance:
Let me start by listing the specifications of the system going into this case.
Epox 8RDA+ motherboard
2500+Barton core processor @ 2250MHZ
Alpha 8045 with 5200rpm Delta 80x80x38
Power Color 9600 Pro with 256 megs
1gig HyperX PC2700 2x512
40gig Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm
10gig Maxtor ATA100 7200rpm
16X Lite On DVD
8X NEC DVD Burner
Pinnacle PCTV Tuner Card
USB 2.0 Control Card
Other than the problem of lining up the mounting holes on the hard drives, installation was a breeze. All edges of the case are nicely rounded so you wont be cutting any fingers during installation. The case was roomy and easy to work in.
As you can see by the picture above, temperatures for this case are pretty good for a stock case. Ambient room temperature was 72F, and the system had been under a full load for two days non stop. This system had been in an Antec SX830 case that had five 80mm case fans and sounded like a small hovercraft. Temperatures in the Samurai are about 2C lower and are whisper quiet compared to the Antec case.
The only thing of concern is the low 5+ volt reading. The low 5+volt reading along with only two power chains might lead some to want to replace the stock power supply with an aftermarket unit. These concerns were mentioned to Raidmax, and the outcome may prove to be very positive. Raidmax is now mulling over the possibility of selling this case without a power supply, which would lower the cost to the end user, and let them put that money towards the power supply of their choice.
Conclusion:
Once again Raidmax has come through with a great product at a reasonable price, although it is over twice as expensive as the Cobra we recently reviewed. The Samurai ATX Gaming Case can be found online for around $135, at places such as Newegg and Chief Value. I will be keeping my eye out for this case's price to drop if/when it is offered without a power supply!
The case is a real eye catcher in part thanks to the quality paint job, but also because of its unique looks. In addition to red, the Samurai case is available in four other Show Car Quality finishes: silver, blue, black, and yellow. The Samurai provides very good cooling and does so without sounding like a hurricane is coming your way.
Final Rating (4.5 out of 5 stars):  
Pros:
Eye grabbing appearance
Superb paint job
Above average cooling
Quiet operation
Tool-less mounting of drives and expansion cards
Cons:
Hard drives some what difficult to mount
Not enough leads on power supply
Weak 5+volt rail
Special thanks to Raidmax for supplying the Samurai ATX Gaming Case to BigBruin.Com for review!
Please drop by the BigBruin.Com forum and feel free to discuss this review.
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