Introduction

The case modding movement began with a few inventive individuals who decided to alter their plain beige box for functional and cosmetic reasons. When I first got into this fantastic hobby (about 2 years ago) there were a handful of enthusiast websites, and about 5 online modding supply vendors. In the intervening two years, the hobby has exploded in popularity! There are now many modding websites, and literally hundreds of online supply stores battling for your hard earned green!

An interesting development has paralleled the growth of the modding scene. It is now actually difficult to find a plain beige box! Wander to your local PC store, you will find black cases, silver cases, colored cases, windowed cases, plexi cases, etc. I believe this change in popular case design reflects, at least in part, the creativity and ingenuity of the modding community. The downside is that the old "blank slate" beige tower is a scarcity, and the pre-mod invasion is in full swing!

Today I will be examining a new offering from Colorcase.com. The Blu III is a sleek black beauty that glows bright with everyone's favorite mod color .......BLOO! Lets see how this looker stands up to closer scrutiny.

First Impressions

The case arrived via Fedex, in a typical computer box. Although the box had some dings, it was not particularly badly beaten. On opening the box, everything appeared to be in order. The case was well padded, and wrapped in a plastic bag.

The good news ends here. You know what they say, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression ...."Well, it is most definitely true! My Blu III sample arrived with a sizeable dent in the door! Color me unimpressed. It was very frustrating, as the case appeared to be well packaged. I am not sure whether Fedex or ColorCase should bear the brunt of the criticism, but either way the case arrived damaged.

You can see that the case was apparently struck from behind and the door buckled. This buckling prevented full closure of the side panel, and caused a visible defect at the top rear. The damage was bad enough that I would probably have sent the case back for replacement, had it not been a review sample. Instead, I used some hand tools and achieved a passable fix in about 10 minutes. Not perfect by any means, but not glaringly obvious.

• Two stealth CD bay covers installed
• Front panel LCD read-out includes temperature, power, time, fan and HDD activity.
• Sleek front panel design
• Supports all Flex, Micro, Full ATX motherboards
• Intel P4 and AMD XP/MP Compatible
• Tool-Less Side Panels with Thumb Screws
• Front fans: 2 x 80mm
• Rear fans: 2 x 80mm
• 5.25" Drive bays: 4
• 3.25" Drive bays: 6 (one external)
• Rear expansion slots: 7
• Width: 8"
• Height: 17"
• Depth: 18.5"

I feel I need to clarify a couple points in the list above. Most importantly, the case has space for four 80mm case fans. It comes with none. Secondly, my side panels were firmly held in place by Phillip's head case screws, not thumb screws. Other than these two inconsistencies, the case is exactly as described.