Battle is always hard. Described by the packaging, the Lexa S makes it look all too easy with the motto “Ready for Battle.” With an incredible design, and a powerful interior, the Lexa S dominates the mid-size ATX power gaming cases for those who need enough space for a dual-GPU configuration, without all the clutter.

• Motherboards: ATX, Micro ATX;
• Drive Bays: 4 External 5.25″ Drive Bays, 7 Internal 3.5″ HDD Drive Bays;
• 7 Expansion Slots;
• Cooling Fan Options: Front: 1x120mm Fans (Included), Side: 1x120mm blue LED Fan (Included), Top: 2x140mm Fans (1 Included), Rear: 1x120mm Fan (Included)
• Chassis Dimensions (DxWxH): 528x196x480mm
• Chassis Material: Steel
• Chassis Weight: 7kg
• Removable filter at the bottom PSU
• Mounting holes for dual radiator at the top;

Other notable features:

• Immense Performance: 5 fan capability (Front fan, Top 140mm fan, Side 120mm LED fan, rear 120mm exhaust included), fans rated at 43CFM, 23dB(A);
• Fan control: Determine noise and airflow based on your needs, dual intakes and dual exhausts are controlled independently;
• Night light: A ambient light over the 5.25″ drives give visibility in dark rooms and at LAN parties;
• Black on Black: Smoked clear window and a black interior gives the best combination of black on black;
• Meshed front panel allows for more airflow;
• 5.25″ Stealth bay to keep a clean look;
• NZXT Solid State bracket allows for two SSD drives to be installed;
• Wire Routing: Motherboard punched holes allows for quick CPU bracket removable and optimal wire routing. Turned HDD also helps with providing a cleaner look;
• Pre-drilled water cooling holes on the back plate
• Front mounted USB, Audio, and E-SATA ports
• High end graphics card support, extra space is especially designed to fit longer 10.5″ cards’
• Mounting holes for dual radiator at the top;
• Removable filter at the bottom PSU

The vast interior features on the Lexa S alone make it an incredible feat of ingenuity for the Micro ATX v2.2 Form Factor. Multiple headers and front I/O headers are numerous for the four fans for 120mm or 140mm. In addition, three power connectors for the LEDs and fan, two USB headers, headphone and other headers, and eSATA cables provide the flexibility of keeping many peripherals on at once without the akwardness of little to no space.

The Lexa S in itself provides efficient cooling from the inception of all the fans and averages a transient temperature between 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. This is highly intense for a mid-size ATX, which easily range into the 45 degrees Celsius zone. The NZXT Lexa S is clearly the right choice for cooling efficiency.

The NZXT Lexa S outperforms in major areas for a beautiful price point that cannot be argued. While small problems exist with stand-off motherboards, the majority of the features far outrank one of the negatives. The NZXT Lexa S is simply marvelous.

Ever since the Nine Hundred Gaming Case, Antec has been looking for many more ways to increase the stability of the overall experience for gamers and hardware enthusiasts at the end of their computer’s life cycle. Hopeless and needy with their venture, gamers are setting out for a new PC upgrade with the latest line of GPU’s recently hitting the DIMM regions all the way to the mountains of the PCI-E slots. Successor to the Nine Hundred, The Twelve Hundred is Antec’s current best hardcore case for gamers looking to build a crazy setup with the wildest cooling system. Building off the Hundred heritage, the Twelve Hundred ushers features such as: enhanced case cooling through more performable air solutions with air filters, capacity for more fans, and extraordinary space, all of which resuscitate the raw case urge everywhere.

Features:

Specifications:

NZXT has always sought to make cases that provide maximum affordability for maximum functionality. With the dawn of their latest Tempest line, NZXT takes the first step in doing so despite a few deterrents that keep it from being anything more than great in its line of work.

In Win knows how to make cases. Any PC enthusiast knows their Ferrari 430. They have recently released their B2 Stealth bomber case, a new iteration to the series of cases.

Let’s take a look at the specs:

Features:

• Fighter Jet-Like Auto-Sensing Front Door
• W-Shaped Side Intakes Inspired by B2 Bomber
• Dual Fan VGA Turbo Cooling System
• Patented Shock-Free Railing System
• Vibration-Free Fan Holder
• Tool-Free Mechanical Design

Specifications:

• Case Size: Mid Tower
• Material: Plastic Panels, SECC Steel
• Drive Bays: External5.25″ x 4 3.5″ x 2 Internal 3.5″ x 5
• Mother Board: ATX / mATX
• Front Ports: e-SATA x 2,IEEE 1394 x 1, USB 2.0 x 2, HD/AC’97 Audio
• PSU TYPE: ATX 12V PS2 Size
• I/O Slots: PCI/AGP Slots × 7
• Thermal Solutions: Smart-3D UniDuct™, 12cm Ceramic Fans at Front & Rear Panels, VGA Turbo Cooling System with 8 cm Side Ceramic Fan x 2, Support Water-Cooling
• Dimension (HxWxD): 435 x 235 x 525 mm (17.1” x 9.3” x 20.7”)

The external paint of the B2 covers all the way up to the warning labels; it’s definitely a military case. Looking closer to the front there are LEDs on the right, the power button centered, and a touch sensitive button for the external bay door.

In Win knows how to blend function with style, and pulls it off with elegance and grace. The rescue arrow points to the manual release toggle and allows users to gain access to the external drive bays when there is no power to the case. So, if a grenade is thrown at you, just empty out the side and plug in the USB jack to send a satellite missile to your enemy. Around the layout is impressive. At the top next to where the power supply is, there are two grommets that are for a water cooling setup. This will make for a cleaner installation as many external kits have to go through the PCI slots. Or save us the pain in the ass from getting out own hole cutter.

Now that we have the sides figured out, the bottom is the best part. Oh, it feels so good. Oh yeah. Ehrm. On the bottom of the case we have the feet. The feet are different than most cases and consist of a hard plastic outer ring with soft foam like inner ring. This side of the case was given clear structure, and really pulls through on my slippery oak desk.

The inside space is great for any ATX board, or those huge Galaxy power supplies. There’s definitely no room for small stuff here. Aside from that, the I/O brackets are evenly space and brace the main frame of the case perfectly, which makes alignment even easier.

The B2 case ushers an era of cases which combines the flexibility of technology to the vision of the future. Seamlessly integrating space with many features to the front and the back, the B2 Stealth bomber case makes its presence known, and in a very efficient way. Want to gear up and just parachute out of an airplane? Forget it. Get this case instead.

Antec has given us the P190 to fill our hunger for power. It’s big, sleek,and built well enough to be around for years. Let’s look at the specs and features of the new P190.

• Dual chambers structure. The power supplies reside in a separate chamber to isolate heat from the system and lower system noise
• Dual-layer sound-deadening panels for Quiet Computing
• Flexible snake light (installed), lights your way while working inside the case
• Cable organizer behind motherboard tray minimizes cable clutter
• Fits up to ExtendedATX (12″ x 13″) motherboards to fit your dual processor board, or any other board you could possibly have
• Rubber grommeted ports on the rear for liquid-cooling tubes allow you to easily mount external liquid-cooling hardware
• Neo-Link 1200 Watt dual power supply system:
  • One 650 Watt Neo Power is responsible for powering the motherboard and add-in cards, while another 550 Watt, handles your drives and other peripherals
• Advanced cooling system – Even larger fans than previous designs, move more air and turn slower for even quieter operation
  • 2 top 140mm TriCool fan (standard)
  • 1 rear 120mm TriCool Fan (standard)
  • 1 lower chamber 120mm TriCool Fan (standard)
  • 1 side 200mm Big Boy fan with air filter (standard)
• External fan control on the rear panel (for the 2 top fans and 1 rear fan in the upper chamber)
• Front-mounted ports provide convenient connections
  • 2 x USB 2.0
  • 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire®, i.Link®)
  • Audio In/Out (AC’97 & HDA)
• Dimensions: (H x D x W)
  • 20.28 x 23.35x 8.07 (in)
  • 51.5 x 59.3 x 20.5 (cm)
• Net weight: 43.2lbs / 19.6kg
• Gross weight: 51.1lbs / 23.2kg

Now out of the box, people will first lay their eyes on the P190 and can not help but think the thing is humongous. The P190 is 6 to 7 inches longer then most standard mid towers, is also out weighs its predecessor the P180 by 20 pounds. Now you’re asking yourself ‘why is it so heavy?’ Well, it’s due to the all steel construction, Neo Link dual power supply setup, and the sound damping material on the case doors. The doors to this case weigh more then my current mATX Centurion 541.

The front door is held closed by two small magnets top and bottom; they also hold the door open. I was pleased to see that the door would swing 270 degrees. So, the likelihood of the door being snapped off is few to none. With the door open you can see all the drive bays and the front vent access doors. The front vent doors are nice because they allow access to the vent screens with out having to remove the whole front cover. In this image we can also see the power button, reset button, front USB, E1394, and audio ports. Would have liked to seen these a little higher up on the case, if not on the top for ease of access; because with the size and weight of the P190, people can’t see this setting on the top of many desks. To each side of the front door of the P190 is vented top to bottom. This will allow air to flow into the case with the front closed and locked. The case comes with 4 side/top fans; one 200mm in the door, two 140mm in the top, and a 120mm in the back and there is also a mount to add another 120mm fan to the front of the case. At the top of the case is the fan controller that controls the top and rear fans. Each has a high/med/low setting. At the low setting the 120mm fan is moving 39cfm @ 25dBA, on high its moving 79cfm @ 30dBA. The two 140mm fans on top are moving 47cfm @ 19.8dBA on low, and 94.6cfm @ 31.8dBA.

The Antec P190 is a great case fthat won’t be hauled around much. Weighing in at nearly 60 pounds it makes you think twice about moving far distances. Heavy-duty caster wheels could be a nice addition to help with moving it around. Aside from the weight the case is great. The case has plenty of fans to keep those critical hardware parts cool, but at the same time keep the noise level of the system low. The case also is designed with water cooling in mind, so if you get urge to jump to water cooling it is possible with the Antec P190.

Installing parts into the P190 was very easy and pleasant, and the experience was straight forward and rewarding.