Case Master V828 "FireBird" Server Case Review

Cases & PSU/Cases by jmke @ 2004-03-11

Case Master is a new company ready to make a name for themselves in the enthousiast market. Can the FireBird server case help them on their way? Let?s find out.

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Installation

Before we load the inside with tons of hardware I’d like to point out the extra possibilities for increasing the airflow; we already seen 3 blowholes, including the one from the PSU. Add to these 2 in-takes from the side panel and you have yourself a well ventilated case.

But removing the HDD drive cage reveals 2 more in-takes equipped with dust filters, it doesn’t get any better than this!

Madshrimps (c)


In the front you can place either an 80 or 120mm fan

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At the side there is room for an 80mm

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So I placed an extra 120mm in the front and added an 80mm to both sides, in combination with a Rheobus you have silence AND extreme air cooling performance at your fingertips.

The motherboard was placed inside the case faster then you are able to say Nabucodonosor 10 times!
When hooking up the power/reset/hdd wires from the case to the motherboard I was surprised to find those for the speaker missing. Surely there must be a speaker in this case? The most basic of case features? Opening up the compartment that also holds the drive rails I discovered a quite unique speaker buried inside:

Madshrimps (c)



What about those hard drives and Cdroms? All those use a very nifty rail system; I never had a hard drive placed into a case as fast as this:

  • snap 2 plastic gliders in the holes at each side of the drive, and than slide the drive into the rack

    Madshrimps (c)


    2 minutes later I had 5 HDD’s installed:

    Madshrimps (c)


    And they are stuck in there, no trembling, they won’t fall out, I could lift up the whole case just by holding on to one of the HDD’s,

    Madshrimps (c)


    The Cdrom drive rails were equally genius:

    Madshrimps (c)

    Madshrimps (c)

    Madshrimps (c)


    You can further secure the optical drives in their place with screws, but I found it was unnecessary; they were stuck in there as snugly as those hard drives.

    PCI and AGP cards are held into their place with the help of a particularly effective system:

    Madshrimps (c)


    Just push the plastic lever down over the PCI/AGP card once it is installed, couldn’t be easier

    Madshrimps (c)


    With everything installed it looks something like this

    Madshrimps (c)Madshrimps (c)
    click to zoom in


    Yes, the rounded cables were left in the closet for now :)

  • Very easy installation
  • Great airflow
  • No sharp edges
  • Dust filters

    “Didn’t you encounter problems with this case then?”

    Well, a few minor ones, read on ->
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