A Gift on the Doorstep

Between the times I was reviewing the Athlon64 setup and when I put the Pentium4 Prescott system in the case, I got a package on my doorstep. Low and behold Santa came early and left a plethora of "Bling Bling", as the box was filled with cold cathode florescent lights (CCFL), Laser Light-LED, LED Case Handle, LightBus, and LED Fans.





I was able to apply some of the Bling Bling to the case during the transition to the P4 setup and I must say the Sunbeam lights are of very high quality. I was impressed with ease of setup and function of these units. I had partially installed the light bus, but ran short on time to include in this review. Please refer to pictures below for the case in full peacock mode.

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Conclusion :

Well as the day draws to a close, I sit here contemplating the finer points against the negatives experienced with this case. In the end, I must say I come to two separate conclusions with the Sunbeam Samurai.

If you are running an Athlon64, Pentium4 Northwood CPU, or don't plan on overclocking your Prescott Pentium 4 this case offers off-the-shelf distinctive looks combined with good utility. Temperatures for system and CPU may not be as good as some higher end offerings, but you are compromising function for form slightly in this respect and I feel this case is worth a look if you are in the above category of CPU/System owners.

However, if you plan to crank up your Prescott P4 towards levels over 3.6GHz+, I would caution you that this might present a problem in cooling the system/internal case and ultimately the CPU. At least this was my experience with this case, but I've been wrong before, just ask my wife. She seems to have every time memorized and categorized for easy access. If only my computer was as powerful as her memory recall when remembering all my faults, yet I digress.

I would say that with a bit of modding to this case, the system temps could be remedied. The ventilation holes at the back of the case for the 2-80mm fans measure only about 2mm each. While there are many holes, the resistance of "pushing" the air through these small openings is just too much to overcome for standard, read not vacuum cleaner type fans. I would drill out these holes to 4-5mm opening and I think airflow would really pickup and probably allow case temps to fall within reason for the Prescott and CPU clocks to approach levels I saw in other enclosures. My word of advice for Sunbeam is to research doing this in production so some buyer doesn't pierce some body part with the family Black & Decker cordless drill and spam over the Internet about their experience.

Yet as the case is delivered, it offers what it promises: Distinctive looks at a good value. In a Sea of many, the Samurai stands above the crowd. The only shortcoming I can really speak of is the ventilation, which I have discussed. If you choose to work-around this, I could recommend the case and I think quality of the case is inline with similarly priced competition.

My plans for the case are to modify the rear ventilation holes, install the nice LED handles Sunbeam sent out, and have a Killer LAN box where I can go about and put the smack down on some unfortunate souls. I will go back to Athlon64 for this case for two reasons. Number one is the gaming performance of the Athlon64 is heads and shoulders above the Prescott P4's that I own, and second due to heat dissipation qualities.

I would like to thank Sunbeamtech for sending out the Samurai Case for review purposes and compliment them in their efforts to stand apart from the crowd and deliver products, which the computer enthusiasts can appreciate.

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