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There's no denying it, the Blackstorm is one of the ugliest cases we've ever reviewed. There may be some people out there who appreciate the design but we doubt they're the majority. The main part of the case is constructed exclusively from SECC steel while the front panel is made from plastic with steel mesh for the drive bays. Raidmax have chosen to highlight the rather unusual shape of this case with a metallic blue band which runs all the way round the front panel.
We find the front panel connectors on the top of the case at the front. From left to right we find a USB 2.0 port, two 3.5mm audio jacks, an eSATA port and a further USB2.0 port. The power and reset buttons are located on either side of the front panel connections.
We can't help but wonder why there is no USB 3.0 port to speak of, after all this case does cost £70 and we've seen USB 3.0 functionality on cases below £50 in the past.
There is a reasonable number of fan mounting points in this case but some are in rather unusual places like the 80mm fan vent cut into the right hand side panel. There are also mounting points for a 120mm or 180mm fan in the left side panel but there is no roof exhaust for reasons we shall get into later on.
Raidmax only populate the fan vents in the front of the case, with a 120mm LED blue fan, and the rear of the case, with a standard 120mm fan.
Moving round to the back of the case, we can see that Raidmax have decided to place the power supply mounting points at the top of the case. This is why there is no roof exhaust fan in the case. Moving down there are seven expansion slots which feature blue mesh covers.
