Intro

Sometimes a product comes out that is so different that it is questionable whether or not it is beneficial to your computing experience or is just for show. Enermax has developed a new computer case called the CS-718 MaxFlow that is so different from what you see in standard computer cases that it must be seen to be believed. When I received the press release on the CS-718 MaxFlow, I immediately saw what they were attempting to accomplish with their new design, but I decided to hold judgment on whether it was beneficial or not until I got my hands on one. There are those guys who learn by seeing, there are those that learn by reading, but me? I've just got to pee on the electric fence for myself. After handling and playing with this case for a few days, I'm convinced that the design enhancements to the CS-718 MaxFlow are not just for looks, they actually improve on the standard ATX design and I hope other manufacturers will use these changes in their future ATX cases.

Package

The Enermax case arrived in a stylish box that was properly abused during the shipping process. There was one particular side that I was concerned with, and when I pulled the case from the box, one of the styrofoam protective caps was broken due to compression. Luckily, damage to the case itself was minimal, as I'll show later. The case was wrapped in the usual plastic bag to help protect against water damage. Some of items included are a manual, a set of keys for the front door, a power cable, a stack of tool-less drive rails, some extra PCI slot covers, and the bag-o-screws. There is also a blue plastic adapter for people with Extended ATX motherboards, but again, I'll talk about that later.

Exterior

The entire front of the case is meshed, including the drive bay covers. There is a very prominent knob located in the lower portion, this knob performs duty as a rheostat to control the voltage for up to 4 case fans inside. No worries about turning the wrong fan up or down here. On the top front are 4 USB ports, a 1394 port, a mic in and sound out port. Also on top is a LED display that is capable of giving fan RPM and temperatures from two different sources. The power and reset buttons are also located on the top front so they are easily within reach. The case is tall, quite a bit bigger than the usual mid-tower case we are used to seeing. It stands 22 inches high, is 7.9 inches wide, is 18.9 inches deep, plenty large. The front face is made out of aluminum, but the rest is straight .8mm SECC. This is one bad boy you don't want to tote around to your LAN parties without your Radio Flyer. I really like the meshed look on front, and believe it has to be some benefit to the cooling properties of the case. There are four 5.25 external drive bays, and two 3.5 external drive bays. The two 3.5 external bays seems to me to be one too many, most enthusiasts just keep a floppy drive around for BIOS flashes and only hook it up when needed.

There is nothing special about the left and right side, just straight metal. No windows here, although it would be almost impossible to resist cutting into such a large, blank canvas. You can see the lock for the front door and for once, it is pretty damn sturdy. If someone wanted in bad enough they could still tear the front off the case, but not without having to fight with the lock at least a little bit. It will damn sure be able to keep the curtain climbers out.

Here's the back side of the case. Go to the kitchen and get yourself a cookie if you recognized what is different right away. That's right, the ports are all upside down and backwards! As I was doing this review I can't tell you how many times while working inside I started reached towards the back of the case thinking it was the front and vice-versa. The right side of this case is the business end instead of the usual left side. What they have done is flipped the motherboard upside down and mounted it on the other side of the case a' la BTX. Why did they do this? There is a definitive reason, and that reason is better cooling. The whole case is designed to maximize airflow efficiency. The 120MM fan grill at the bottom is very well done; it is large and uses a large square mesh design that minimizes restriction. There are 7 PCI slots and a standard I/O plate... well, it's standard, just upside down.

The PSU that comes with the case is the very well known EG465P-VE FMA "Whisper II" power supply. This model has been around while, but has been updated a bit to comply with today's motherboards. On the back of the PSU is a voltage adjuster for the 80mm exhaust fan that is concurrently monitored internally for overheating. What that means is that if you turn the fan way down to the lowest voltage setting, and then started a frag fest on Counter Strike that really heated up the inside, a thermal monitor in the PSU will automatically compensate for your low voltage setting and kick the fan up a few notches. Because of the internal design of the case, the PSU uses a mounting plate and is installed from the back. If you look towards the left side of the left picture, you will see a clear plastic piece kind of hanging off to the side. That is one of the clips that are used to hold the side of the case on. Pressing the top one down and the bottom one up releases the door panel. That clip was the lone casualty due to the rough shipping the case experienced, so I removed the clips entirely. The doors held tightly without them, and you can still install screws with the clips removed.

A gentle tug on the front door reveals the external drive bay break-away EMI shields. But, when you break them away don't throw them away. They are also drilled out so you can add them back in with a couple of screws later on. A nice touch. The mesh grills are also held in place with screws so you don't have to worry about breaking the usual plastic bay cover clips. Down below we see the same non-restrictive fan grill for the front 120mm, and an additional 80mm intake grill for an intake fan that you can add yourself if you wish. I see that the front mesh will act as a filter and will need to get blown out now and then, but you'll see that the internal design minimizes the need for an intake filter. The entire front face can be removed by taking out the screws holding it in place, but there is a mess of wires hooked up to the ports and LCD on top so I wouldn't do that unless absolutely necessary. One thing that I appreciate on the front door is that it uses a small magnet to keep it closed instead of plastic clips. It's easy to pull open and swings shut with just a slight push.