A Closer Look - Outside

Upon first inspection it becomes really apparent that this chassis is huge. It is basically the Xilence Interceptor with an added Mini ITX chassis on top. Due to the size, you will not be able to put this puppy below any table properly, so you will have to place it somewhere to the left or right of your work space.


The front of the chassis looks quite good and the plastic used is of worry-free quality. Many metal mesh elements have been embedded in the front, to give you an additional contrast. In the rear, things look much more traditional with two distinctive case layouts visible - the HPTX on the bottom and ITX on top. Xilence has chosen to go with a black and red contrast, which are the company's colors anyway.


The main side holds a large air vent, which also comes with an easily removable dust filter. A tiny window is also part of the case, which won't allow you to see much though. On the other side, you will find the same type of extrusion, giving you additional space to route cables behind the motherboard tray. The top ITX compartment has the Xilence name extruded on it, giving the company plenty of exposure for those wondering who is behind the case.


There is an additional Xilence logo in the front. Behind a door that swings open to the left are two 120 mm, red LED equipped fans that push air across the hard drive bays. Each of these bays - four 2.5" and six 3.5/2.5" ones - is completely hot swap. This is excellent, giving the user the utmost flexibility, while reducing cable clutter. On top of that, such a configuration is quite unusual for a case of any price class. Above that are the four 5.25" drive bays of the HPTX and two additional ones for the ITX areas. While not a necessity, it would have been nice to see at least a single 3.5" adapter included in the chassis.


Turning the case around, the PSU bay of the main chassis can be found on the very bottom. It comes with two sets of mounting holes, allowing you to choose which way to install the power supply. Above that are the ten motherboard expansion slots. Each of these is protected by an individual red metal mesh cover, giving the rear some contrast to the black. There are four large openings to the right of these for water cooling tubes. Above that is a single 140 mm fan pushing air out the back of the chassis. It is all black and lacks any LEDs. Three additional holes for tubing can be found here as well. In the very top, the ITX backplate shows, that you can use a traditional mini-ITX board with a single expansion slot and SFX power supply.


You will find two sets of I/O and buttons in the front of the top. The bottom row of one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and the usual pair of audio connectivity belongs to the bottom case, while the pair of USB 2.0 and audio plugs above that are intended for the ITX area. It would have been nice to see more USB 3.0 on both these panels, just to keep the chassis future proof. The entire top of the chassis is lined with separate panels, that may be lifted by a sliding mechanism. Doing so, will open these flaps, allowing for air to flow. The construction of the top panel, while adequate, does not feel as sturdy as the rest of the plastic parts of the chassis.