Chenbro Xpider II

Buying a desktop chassis nowadays has certain similarities in choosing a car; style; color; size; functionality. While the look is important; often it is a matter of personal preference, thermal management has become the key element among enthusiasts. A stylish case might get you to reach for your wallet, a functional case with good thermal management; ease of installation; allowance for expansion will make your computing experience a pleasant one.

Ask purchasing managers responsible for over million of dollars purchasing power what they look for from vendors/suppliers. Likely, you would hear some interesting answers with funny terms, such as; ISO certification; Company Mission Statement; Research and Development Resource; Business Philosophy; Vision; to name a few. Manufacturers take pride to producing quality products and continuous improvements are the ones that remain focused and successful. As a consumer, following the same approach/rules that purchasing manager’s exercise may well pick a product with high quality; functional design; effective performance and good product support.

I found the necessary ingredients from Chenbro. Chenbro produces from two factories separated by China Sea; Tao Yuan County, Taiwan and Dong Guan, China. I visited Dong Guan in the late 80’s while attending the Canton annual trade fair held every April. With over 20 years experience in producing computer chassis; and partners with Intel, Asus and Tyan, we are looking at one of the heavy weight of computer chassis manufacturers.

Let’s proceed to one of the new products Chenbro introduced recently; the CHENBRO XPIDER II (Standard) – Spider Theme is your liking, Chenbro has your attention.



With 4 colors to choose from

Packaging and features




Package arrived intact with no damage at all




The top pic shows handle for carrying out of a retail store; with UPC code at the bottom; meaning Chenbro is geared for the Mass Market. The Standard model does not include Power Supply and front intake fan; but the rear 120 mm exhaust is included.

Features & Benefits

Thermally Advantaged Design Optional 92mm front and 120 MM rear cooling fans Passes thermal testing for Intel Prescott Integrated vent holes in slot covers Excellent EMI Performance Optional EMI liner for slot covers Optional EMI liner on Chassis edges Easy Installation and Maintenance Rear fan holder supports up to 120 mm fan Easy front bezel removal Screwless side rails for 5.25" and 3.5" bay devices Optional screwless holder for add-on PCI/AGP card installation Excellent Styling Unique front bezel design Innovative see-through side panel window

Safety Designed for Assembly Folded & rounded edges throughout entire chassis Protective membrane protects side panel from scratches during installation Configuration Flexibility Screw or rail mounting for external 5.25"/3.5" drive bays Optional 4-bay hard drive cage Maximum Security Kensington lock support Optional intrusion switch and key lock Secure side latch cover Full FPIO Support Full front-mounted USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 and Audio ports with flip-up protective cover

Built using Chenbro's advanced thermal management design, the Xpider II allows hassle-free overclocking in even the most extreme thermal conditions.
Xpider II offers gamers/enthusiasts the features they have come to expect from Chenbro. As we say, the Xpider II is designed by Gamers for Gamers. Only the Xpider II offers the proven performance options that gamers want!

Motherboard Form Factor	ATX
CPU Supported	Intel Celeron, Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon 64/FX
Dimensions (DxWxH)	465 x 198 x 425 mm
	18.3" x 7.8" x 16.7"
Power Supply (Optional)	Form Factor: PS2 (ATX 12V)
	Watts: 300W or 350W
Front Switches	Power ON/OFF & Reset
Indicator Lights	Power ON & Hard Drive Activity
Slot Openings	7
Cooling Fan configuration (Optional)	Front : 80 mm or 92 mm
	Rear: 80 mm, 92 mm or 120 mm
Front Panel I/O	USB 2.0 x 2
	Audio x 2
	IEEE 1394 x 1
Security Lock	Keylock & Intrusion Switch
Kensington Lock	Supported ( Not Included)
Construction Material	SECC
Manufacturing Process	Hard Tooled
Plastic Material Type	ABS-HB
Net Weight	8.2 Kg
Gross Weight	9.4 Kg
Container Reference	20' 40' 40'H
Single Packing	364 750 842
Bulk Packing	400 880 1100
Front Bezel Color Options	Red, Green, White, Blue

The “small values”

The “small values” this case presents, when adding them up might tell us what we will end up with.


Standard 120 mm rear exhaust fan with 3-pin connector; easy snap on mounting; 4 LED Lights



There are two front panel (bezel) release buttons (in blue) / Front intake is ready for either 80 or 92mm fan


Sufficient air intake grilled (fine wire mesh) from front panel



Screw-less - Bolt action “positive feel” PCI locking design



Audio; USB and 1394 front connection circuit


Front panel access.


Front Intake Air Filter


Wire management and Screw-less rail mounting at a glance, The railings have identification markings molded on the plastic facing to facilitate HDD, CD and FD installations

The “small values” continued


Rear 120 mm and Front intake – unrestricted for a change


The Kensington lock is located next to the PSU.

I took a plant tour at Kensington factory outside Chicago a few years ago, and I’m glad to see this name brand product finds its way to Chenbro. There are two keys provided, which are tied onto the rear exhaust grill; make sure you don’t forget them before firing it up. Notice the small blue pull down tap next to the rear exhaust, which activates the long bolt that locks the side panel without the use of any screws.


A closer look at the back side of the Kensington lock; the removal hard drive cage that houses up to 4 HDD’s uses a single thumb screw


Proceeding to the side panels – The left panel continues the theme and color with window; there is no side panel fan which most people like but me. The right panel is covered with a protective film preventing from scratch during installation adds another small V’s (values) to the thoughtful minds at Chenbro.

At this is time of the review, I have not yet found anything that I don’t like but two. The right panel is not removable and neither is the motherboard tray.

Let’s look at the improvement made to XPIDER II over the previous XPIDER we know:

It now has two external 3.5” bay rather than one

Addition of reset switch

Standard rear 120 mm exhaust instead of 80 mm or 92 mm determined by distributors and dealers

Side window is held together with 10 screws with larger windows than previous model

Improved access to front USB, Audio and 1394 port

The second stage of the review would be installing the Prescott system to this new “home”. The Prescott was housed in Aspire X-Dreamer II case with 2x80mm intakes, 2x80mm exhausts and 1x80mm top-blower with the side panel fan blocked off. Before I proceeded, I once again recorded some critical temperatures for comparison. With the Prescott high thermal output characteristic, I felt an intake fan should be appropriate. Since the Standard XPIDER II does not include the intake fan, the same 92mm front intake fan supplied with the "Plus" model was sent to me separately.

The System:

P4 2.8E Prescott Socket 478 @3.5GHz

Asus P4P800 Deluxe

JMC Phoenix 70 (cooler)

Western Digital 120 GB SATA

R9000 Pro 128mb

Fortron 350 W PSU

Leadtek TV2000 Expert

CD RW

DVD 12X

Siemens PC-3200 2x256

Windows XP SP1 with latest updates

All reported temps were taken at ~21.5 to 21.8 C room temp and with case panel closed

Before we proceed, I like to point out the manual that comes with every XPIDER II. I know some of us feel about manual. “I could put together a system “blind-folded”. Yes, I believe you. Trust me, this manual is written in a manner that you may well change your “perspective” of manual you’ve had read before. It is concise with illustrative that might put the “old IBM” manual to “shame”. So, if it is your first or second time in putting a system together, I encourage you to read the manual and a veteran may benefit from it too.


The finished good


The optional front 92mm blue LED fan (included in the “plus” model)


Here is some detail of the installation:

With the hard drive cage removed, the motherboard went in pretty smoothly. Next came the CD/optical drives. For whatever reason unknown to me, I installed the CD into the second bay first. It turned out I was having difficulty to slide in the second drive on top of it. Installing the drive from top down went in nicely.



CD Drive Railings used on both sides





The Fan Master came in not with a surprise; like the X-Dreamer II, there is no mounting provision. I installed it anyway without “bolting on” to anything so that I could adjust the fan speed for noise evaluation. I placed the XPIDER II on the same spot where the previous case was so that the temperature and noise comparison would not be distorted. However, there are screw holes for both the 5.25” and 3.5” bay providing mounting point for full caged or half caged mounting.

My 3.5” floppy is in beige which I did not install not to ruin the look. Railings are supplied for mounting.

The “new” system booted up with no delay whatsoever.

Temperature and sound tests

Here are the snap shots of temperatures from the old and new cases:

X-Dreamer


Xpider II


Digital sound meter was placed about 18 inches in front of the two cases; with intake, exhaust, CPU fans running at 12 volt in both systems.





The 120 MM exhaust is tuning about 1800 RPM at 12 Volt; and ~2,600 RPM for the 92 MM front intake. Tuning both down to 7 Volt feed, the sound level went down to about 49 dBA. Yet, both CPU and system temps remained unchanged. Bear in mind, the 70 mm fan on the Phoenix 70 is running at about 5,000 RPM, but it keeps the OC’ed Prescott under control. Again, don’t forget the X-Dreamer has 5 80mm fans (6 if I did not block out the side panel fan).


Conclusion:

The Xpider II is a feature rich chassis. It is priced at around $80 might seem a bit higher than some; yet when adding up all the “small values” Xpider II offers, the price becomes a bargain. While I mentioned previously the lack of removal motherboard tray, you may find this feature missing in some of the high-end chassis in the market place, with which the informed consumers look for. In the “noise” department, the 51.5 dBA is within 1 or 2 dBA from my Lian-Li PC-60 and PC-65 using Stock Intel HSF and default case fans supplied. The JMC Phoenix 70 does provide adequate air cooling to the OC’ed Prescott “Hot Potato”, it also generates more noise overcoming the noise level of the Chenbro intake and exhaust fans. I would like to see the intake fan be included, while I don’t mind not having the PSU as most gamers would prefer to have their own choice. As it stands, the XPIDER II is a very good case. If you are looking for a new case for your next gaming rig, look no further. Strongly recommended!!

PRO
High quality with good finish, and thoughtful design
Competitively priced
Rich in features
Good case ventilation with fewer fans

CON
Non-removal right side panel and mother board tray

I like to thank Mr. David Stellmack, Chenbro USA Gaming Division, for sending in the sample to make this review possible.



Questions/Comments? forum thread