In this day and age, it seems everybody and their mother is making a custom case with lots of fans for cooling. While, there are surely a lot of good products out there, there are also a lot of products that are not so good. A lot of times, custom cases have the right idea behind them, but they are too expensive when you consider their features. Most of them come with 250 Watt power supplies, with an option to upgrade to 300 watts.

I don't know about you, but when I think of a custom "overclockers" computer case, I'm thinking lots of power. Overclockers are usually power users with all kinds of toys attached inside their box. Plenty of good power is a must, and a 250 watt power supply, especially considering the additional drain that the extra fans provide on the power supply, is just simply inadequate. Enter, Coolerguy's entry in the custom case market, the Cyclone 5000 Ultra. Does it have what it takes to compete with the big boys in this market? Let's take a closer look and find out.

The Specs

Medium ATX Tower
Four 5 1/4" drive bays
Five 3 1/2" drive bays
300 Watt CWT ATX Athlon approved power supply
Two 92mm fans
Three 80mm fans
229 CFM Total Effective Air Flow

First Impressions

Looking at the specs, it certainly seems like a worth contender. There are two 92mm intake fans on the side panel, three 80mm fans, on intake in the front, and two outake in the back and on top. At 229 CFM, this case moves some SERIOUS air. I don't believe there's any other desktop PC case in this price range that even comes close to those numbers. The standard 300 Watt power supply is very nice bonus.

 No upgrades here folks. As far as expansion is concerned there seems to be plenty of expansion in both 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" bays. Opening the case requires the use of a screwdriver to remove two screws so we can slide out the side panel. One word of caution here folks, ensure you remove the panel slowly and disconnect the fan wires that are attached on the side panel for the two intake 92mm fans.

Examining the inside of the case, we find that this case has rounded edges, so that the danger of cutting yourself while working inside the case is eliminated.

The Cyclone 5000 features a removable motherboard tray so installing a motherboard becomes a breeze. The room inside the case is plentiful and everything seems like it's positioned in such as a way as to not interfere with your motherboard. We installed our ABIT KA7 Athlon motherboard, with absolutely no issues whatsoever. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll just stop rumbling and show you some pics: