IN-WIN Maelstrom Full Tower Case Review

Maelstrom – Build & Observations

The bottom mount PSU location is great for keeping things cool, and as you can see my PSU is rather lengthy so I utilized the extra rubber mounts and it fit nicely.

So for the build out I had a few surprises. First, the drive bays cannot be accessed while the plastic front bezel is attached which is not unusual. What is somewhat unusual is the drive bay covers actually pop out towards the outside, not in, like most. Once off, the drive slides in and clicks into place nicely and the FDD drive can utilize the special adapter as shown.

Because the drive covers pop outward, there are notches in the bezel to act as stoppers for the covers. This presents a problem for devices that occupy two bays, as I found out. They end up hitting the device when you try to re-install the bezel.

So, breaking out the trusty Dremel tool, I proceeded to grind these down flush so they did not interfere with assembly. I had forgotten how bad plastic smells when heated.

Once these notches were no more, the bezel went back on beautifully with hardly any sign of modding apparent and probably less if you are a little better at modding than I am.

You can see that the hole in the motherboard tray is a little off in relation to where my heat sink attaches. Obviously, every board will vary some but I would like to see this hole expanded to better accommodate a variety of boards. A few more cut outs on the front side of the motherboard tray would help a lot with cable management. Also, a removable motherboard tray would be a nice enhancement as well. If youve never built with one, it makes things a lot easier.

As you can see, even with the bulky Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler, there’s plenty of overhead room for thicker fans or a radiator.

Even with the oversized PSU and graphics card, there’s ample of room for airflow, reservoirs, lighting or other components.

Let’s wrap things up…