Raidmax Blackstorm Mid-Tower Case Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Raidmax Blackstorm: Exterior4. Raidmax BlackSotrm: Interior and Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

We recently received a case from a company called Raidmax who have apparently been around since 1988, in some shape or form.  They have quite a large range of products which includes cases, power supplies and a CPU cooler.

Today we are going to look at the Raidmax Blackstorm Mid-Tower case which is designed to make it as easy as possible for system installation.  It has some very interesting features which we haven't seen before on a mid tower case such as the motherboard tray integrated into a fold-down side panel.  We will be looking at this in more detail and seeing if it's any good and if it's worth the hefty £75 price tag.

Specification

• Internal Drive Bays: 5x 3.5″ HDD
• Expansion Slots: Standard ATX 7 Slots
• Dimensions (LxWxH): 520 x 205 x 470
• Front Fan: 1x 120mm blue LED fan
• Side Panel Fan (right): 1x 80mm (not included)
• Side Panel Fan (left): 1x 120mm or 1x 180mm (not included)
• Rear Fan: 1x 120mm fan
• Top Fan: None

Raidmax supply the Blackstorm in an attractively designed box which is black in colour with a large picture of the case on both sides.  The cardboard used for the box feels quite good quality, too.  Inside the box, the case is wrapped in a plastic bag and suspended between two slabs of polystyrene for protection.

We mentioned in the introduction that Raidmax had implemented some interesting features that we haven't seen before on a case like this.  Well one of these is in the included bundle.

Rather than supply all the required items in a plastic bag or cardboard box, Raidmax have devised a nifty little plastic cartridge which slots into the case under the drive bays which contains all the items you need for installation.  This means that you can store the items in the case when it's being used, meaning you're less likely to lose them.  In the bundle we find a series of drive adapters and all the screws required for installation.

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.

Accessing the interior of the Blackstorm is actually quite a simple process as Raidmax has opted for pull latches to secure each side panel rather than any kind of screw.  This means the panels just pop off when you pull the latches.

The interior of the Blackstorm is painted entirely in black but there are some blue highlights here and there, such as the expansion slot covers and tool-less drive bay clips.

One of the most interesting features of this case is the motherboard tray which is actually attached directly to the right hand side panel.  This means when you pull the latch to release the right side panel it folds down, giving you easy access to the motherboard tray.

We decided to install theASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX motherboard into the case.  This was a reasonably simple process but Raidmax don't pre-install the motherboard stand-offs so screwing them all down takes a little time.

They also don't include a tool to make sure they're tight like most manufacturers which means you could encounter trouble when you come to remove the motherboard from the case.  You must bear in mind that there is no cut out in the motherboard tray for installing a CPU cooler so this must be done before installing the motherboard.

We left our Cooler Master Hyper 612S cooler attached to the motherboard, which was already there from a previous review.

We decided we would be best off installing the power supply next so we tried to fold up the motherboard tray.  But it turns out that there wasn't enough clearance to fold the motherboard tray up as the CPU cooler was too tall.

This meant that we had to completely remove the motherboard and replace the cooler with a lower profile model before we could fold the tray up.  Next we tried the Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU cooler which is about as low profile as you'll get for a decent air cooler.  While this wouldn't fit with the fan attached, removing the fan allowed just enough room for us to fold up the side panel without issue.

This means that you're very restricted on your choice of CPU cooler if you're going to use this system.

Eventually, we were actually able to install the NZXT Hale90 750W power supply into the case using the screws provided.  But, as the motherboard tray is part of the side panel, there is no space between the side panel and motherboard tray to route cables.  This means that everything has to be done in front of the motherboard.

Installing a hard drive into the system was a refreshingly simple process.  All we were required to do was place a rail on each side of our Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB drive and slide it into place.  For those who prefer drive bays facing the other way, the hard drive rack can  be spun around.  But, there is no support for 2.5″ drives at all so those planning to use an SSD won't be too happy.

Finally we installed an AMD Radeon HD 6670 graphics card into the system as the usual AMD Radeon HD 6950 wouldn't fit. This was a simple process but it would have been nice if Raidmax had seen fit to include thumbscrews for the expansion card slots rather than regular screws.

Even with the problems we encountered, our build only took about an hour to complete.  The reason it was shorter than we expected is because we didn't have to allow time for any cable routing as it's virtually impossible anyway, hence the rather untidy build you see before you.

To test the Raidmax Blackstorm we will be using the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU in conjunction with an ASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX motherboard. To cool the CPU we will be using a Noctua C12P SE14.

Test System

Chassis: Raidmax Blackstorm
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Professional 990FX
Cooler: Noctua C12P SE14
Memory: 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Power Supply: NZXT Hale 90 750W
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 6670

Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Everest Ultimate Edition
Prime 95
Furmark

For our temperature tests, we used Prime95 and Furmark to load the system for 15 minutes and then recorded our results.  We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording the results.  The ambient temperature was maintained at 18c for the duration of the tests.

The temperatures we recorded were slightly higher than what we would expect considering the components in our test system.

For our noise level tests we replaced the AMD Radeon HD 6950 graphics card with a passively cooled HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence.  We also turned off the CPU fan momentarily so we could be sure that the noise generated was only from the case fans.

Despite not recording a very high reading in the noise level test, the front fan in the Blackstorm seems to make a very irritating clicking noise which is extremely distracting.

Overall, we are left with negative impressions of the Raidmax Blackstorm. We like the use of side panel latches rather than screws as it lets the user access the internal components easily.  The case also offers average cooling performance, but many cases at this price point will perform better.

There are far to many problems with this case for our liking, however.  Firstly, the case looks terribly dated, rather ugly and the materials don't justify the £70 price tag.  We also don't like the top mounted PSU which means there is no roof exhaust. There is also no support for 2.5″ drives or USB 3.0 on the front panel, both of which we would expect as standard on a case of this price.

We also found that the fan at the front makes a very unusual clicking noise that is extremely annoying, so this would need to be replaced.  We cannot be sure whether this is just a defect on our particular sample, though.

Despite the fold down motherboard tray being an interesting feature, it complicates the rest of the installation procedure as it means there is no room for cable routing and there is no cut out in the motherboard tray for installing a CPU cooler backplate.  Also, it makes it impossible to install the vast majority of aftermarket CPU coolers as they just won't fit in.

While we weren't able to find the Raidmax Blackstorm for sale in the UK, we were able to find it for sale at CaseKing.de for about 85 euros. This means the Blackstorm will cost around £75 in the UK which is much too expensive for a case with this many issues.

At a price of around £30-£35 we might be able to recommend it, but it has a poor internal design, it looks terrible and offers very poor value for money. Avoid.

Pros:

• Side panel latches

Cons:

• No 2.5″ drive support.
• No USB3.0 support.
• Most Aftermarket CPU coolers won't fit.
• No CPU Cooler Backplate.
• No Cable routing support.
• Top Mounted PSU.
• No thumbscrews for expansion devices.
• Weird aesthetic design.
• low quality fan.

KitGuru says:  There are many superior cases out there at this price point, buy one of them instead!

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