Ahanix Black Knight X195
by Purav Sanghani on March 29, 2004 9:52 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Construction
The X195 is made entirely of steel, with exception to the front bezel, which is plastic. The use of this strong metal produces a well-built chassis that can withstand the rigors of everyday operations. The drive bay mounts are strong enough to hold the heaviest components and, most importantly, can keep securely mounted hard drives from vibrating, which can cause damage to the platters.
Click to enlarge.
One shortcoming of steel is sharp edges. The Ahanix dBox that we reviewed in January of 2003 had sharp edges in some areas of the chassis. Ahanix has folded over most of the exposed edges on the X195, but some sharp edges still remain. It is wise to proceed with caution when installing hardware in any steel case.
Another downside to using steel is its weight. Though many users don't usually mobilize their systems often, it can be a pain to lift, especially with components installed. The X195 weighs about 20lbs empty. With components like a few hard drives, a few optical drives, a large CPU heat sink and the heaviest of all components, the PSU, the entire machine may weigh in at about 30lbs.
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my sons father - Wednesday, February 9, 2005 - link
I bought this case because of it's sleek style and interesting features. However, as far as cooling goes, I give it only 1 star. I discovered that my cpu ran much cooler with the side panel off, so I cut a hole and put a 120mm fan into the side panel which turned this case into a "super cool" one! I even emailed Ahanix about it so they might correct this problem in the future.alois - Saturday, April 3, 2004 - link
original or copy????The same cas eis produced by a korean firm 3RSYSTEM
http://3rsystem.co.kr/spain/productos/cajas/r101.h...
zeroGrav - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - link
Can you review the Antec Sonata and/or Overture cases? They provide a good point of reference as quiet cases.Locutus4657 - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Thanks for the great review, deffonetly gave me something to think about for my next computer. I'm still leaning twards the Kingwin 424, but this case deffonetly has it's appeal. Keep up the great work guys!Ardan - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Nice reviews of the cases. I agree with Spacecomber and hope to see the component pictures in the next one :).It is nice to see these case reviews! Even though I love my SLK3700AMB case, I love reading reviews of new ones:)
KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Spacecomber: I shall give purav his proper lashings. We will have the component pictures in the next review.Kristopher
klah - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Did you have the fans connected to the case's fan controller? If you did, what setting did you have the fans at during the temperature testing?One thing you did not mention is that the fan controller uses extremely low voltage at the lower settings, all the way down to 3V, and even provides 12v for a few seconds to get the fan started.
Spacecomber - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
This is kind of a variation on my similar complaint about the recent Lian Li 6070 review. It would be nice to see a picture of the case with motherboard, power supply, heatsink, and drives installed to get a better feel for the actual size of the case, the amount of clearance between components, and the likely ease of working inside it.Otherwise, keep the case reviews coming. It's hard to tell the differences between various cases based only on an online vendors pictures, especially when it comes to actual quality of construction and material.