It’s been a while since I’ve taken a
look at any PC cases here I think… but I’ve got three of them
coming up for review now. The first being what I have today from
Xclio, the Godspeed One Advanced. This case features speed controller
side and top mounted fans, and enough room for a decent system to fit
in it. Overall it’s not a bad case, but there are some minor issues
that I came across that need to be mentioned, so read on to learn
more….
Product
Name: Godspeed
One Advanced
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Sponsor: Xclio
Tech
Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
New special cooling system with
twin blue illuminated 180mm fans on side panel and twin 4cm blue LED
fans on the top panel provides you an
extreme cooling solution. All
fans are adjustable.
There are also four external
5.25″, two 3.5″ external and five 3.5″ internal bays.
And they’re all tool-less, it’s easy for your installation. The
tool-less
function extends to the
expansion slots and it has a device which can lock up, through this
way, it makes your installation and card changing easier
and faster. If you are looking
for a sturdy chassis with an excellent cooling system and economic
price, there’s no doubt that Godspeed One
Advanced is your best choice
and it’s even beyond your expectation.
FEATURE:
Unique & Simple Design
Solid & Versatile Case
Chassis (0.5mm SECC)
Smart Top Control Panel
Blue LED Illumination
Excellent Cooling Solution
Tool-Less Clips For Easy
Installation
Support E-SATA
Top Panel Twin 8cm Fans
(1800~3000rpm)
Side Panel Twin 18cm Fan
(500~1500rpm)
Brand: XClio
Model: Godspeed One Advanced
Spec:
Type: Mid Tower
Color: Fully BLACK Finish
Case Material: Chassis: 0.5 mm
SECC ; Frontpanel: ABS Plastic + Meshed Grill
Motherboard Compatibility: Flex
ATX, Micro ATX, Standard ATX
Expansion:
External 5.25″ Drive Bays:
4
External 3.5″ Drive Bays:
1
Internal 3.5″ Drive Bays:
5
Expansion Slots: 7
Top Ports: USB2.0 * 2PCS +
Audio (AC97 + HD Audio) + E-SATA
Cooling System:
Case Chassis – Top 8cm * 2PCS
(Fan RPM VR Controller)
Case Chassis – Front: 12cm *
1PC or 9cm * 1PC or 8cm * 1PC (Optional)
Case Chassis – Side: 18cm * 2PC
(Fan RPM VR Controller + ON/OFF Switch)
Case Chassis – Rear: 12cm * 1PC
or 8cm * 1PC (Optional)
Dimensions: 480 x 210 x 440MM
(DxWxH)
{mospagebreak title=Outside}
A
Better Look at Things -Outside:
The Godspeed One Advanced is
packaged very well, inside we have the case protected with styrofoam,
wrapped in plastic and protective plastic on parts of the case as
well.
The case is primarily black and
metal. It features four 5.25” bays and one 3.5” bay on the
outside. The left side features two speed controlled large 180mm fans
to keep things cool.
On the top is a plastic part hat
sort of sticks up like a hump, under this is two 80mm cooling fans.
This top parts is also where you’ll find the power and reset buttons,
along with eSATA and USB ports, Audio ports and a fan controller knob
for the top fans.
The right side of the case is
basically plain black except for ventilation holes on the bottom left
corner, these are placed where the hard drive rack is to help add
some more airflow to them.
Ont eh back you find the basic
stuff, space for power supply, I/O port, space for a 120mm fan and
the PCI slots. There is one thing different though here,
pre-installed is the controls for the side fans, you can turn them on
or off, you can turn just the LEDs on or off, and you can adjust
their speeds as well.
Looking at the bottom of the case
we find no feet, but don’t worry they’re in the accessory bag inside
of the case.
Popping the front bezel off gives
us a better look at the case and the 5.25” bays along with the 3.5”
bay and the place for the 120mm fan that is optional.
{mospagebreak title=Inside}
A
Better Look at Things -Inside:
Taking the right side panel off
allows us to get a look at the back of the side fans and we can see
how it connects to the PCI slot controller.
We’ve got fairly common stuff
inside of the case, a bunch of wires that lead to the front panel are
hanging around there.
Looking at the back panel we can
see the fan controller and the spaces for PSU, 120mm fan and the I/O
plate.
Here’s the top two 80mm fans,
they’re situated to pull or blow air out of the case, this works well
because we know that heat rises.
All of the drives bays are
tool-less and use clips on both sides, these clips just turn to
unlock and have two pins sticking out of them that go into your
devices corresponding to the screw holes in them.
There’s not much included with the
Godspeed One Advanced, the feet, mounting screws, stand offs, lock,
one zip-tie and an EM ring along with the user manual.
Here’s the view from the right
side with the panel off:
{mospagebreak title=Installation}
Installation:
So normally when I install a PC in
a case I start with the motherboard, why I’m not sure, but I think
it’s because I start with getting the motherboard standoffs in place
and ready to go, so the next natural step is to install the board
itself. Normally I’ll also leave the CPU cooler installed as well,
especially with many of them requiring they be fastened from the back
of the motherboard.
I
followed the same procedure with the Xclio Godspeed One Advanced case
but soon ran into a problem of getting the power supply installed.
The fan on the top are close to the PSU slot, I thought maybe taking
the CPU cooler off would help things but it didn’t, my PSU, an NZXT
800watt,
still wouldn’t fit, it was just a bit too long. I thought the NZXT
PSU was the normal size, but apparently it’s a little bit longer. So
after realizing that I grabbed my Cooler Master 700Watt PSU, when I
compared them I found the NZXT was a little bit longer, and that less
than an inch was enough to make it not fit in the case. Switching to
the Cooler Master PSU solved the size problem and it installed
without much problem, still though the PSU should be installed first
as there’s no way it would be installed with the CPU cooler still on
the motherboard.
Even then I found that the wires
from the PSU come very close to the top mounted fans, I had to pull
them down to make sure they weren’t hitting the fans, and then secure
them in place so they didn’t spring back up to hit them. This little
problem could have been easily solved had Xclio just put some fan
grills on the fans…
There’s
a lot of room in the case, except for the area near the power supply,
though depending on the size of your video cards and how many hard
drives you have you might run into a problem with the video card
hitting the HDDs. The ECS
GTS 250 I’m using is a bit shorter than other cards, but still it would have
been a very tight fit had I mounted the hard drive across from it.
Powering it on the lights on the
side are very bright, but they can be turned off by the switch on
th4e back if you wish. They are also speed controlled as well, which
is a good thing because they can be loud when on full speed.
On the top there’s also an LED
ring around the power and reset buttons that lights blue when turned
on.
Other than what was mentioned I
didn’t run into any real problems with the installation in the case.
The top mounted fans can be loud
as well, but fortunately here you can also adjust the speed via the
dials on the top front of the case.
Summary
and Comments:
The Godspeed One Advanced from
Xclio is not a bad case overall, as long as you think before you
start the installation process, and make sure your power supply will
fit in the space provided.
The case provides a lot of airflow
even though there are no front or rear fans included, you can of
course add them if you wish, but as is it does seem to keep the
system cool.
DragonSteelMods gives the Godspeed
One Advanced a 4 out of 5 score.
Pros:
+Nicely made
+Lots of room
+Looks good
+Easy installation
Cons:
-Must use small PSU
-PSU installation can be difficult
and time consuming
-No fan grills on top fans
I
would like to thank Xclio for the chance to review the Godspeed
One Advanced and for their continued support of DSM.
review# 597