CS-A+380 Twin Engine

There is no doubt about it, this case commands a second take; another glance just to make sure you saw what you think you saw. The XClio CA-A+380 Twin Engine would not be the first case to use 250mm fans, but the implementation is certainly worth some attention.

Designed to resemble a jet engine, the front intake fan is housed in a round, tapered turbine-like mould that juts from the facade of the enclosure. Only marginally less impressive is the second 250mm extraction fan mounted to the side panel. Although these are the only fans included with the case, they move enough air to keep even the more crowded computers cool. Gamers will delight at the blue LED glow they emit, too.

Large fans move a lot of air, and can do so at a lower RPM, so they generally produce less noise; and clearly we like this feature. However, the inclusion of external fan speed controls is equally, if not more impressive. Even without overclocking, the hardware inside a case will inevitably heat up, just by putting it into use.

For instance, running a game will start pumping juice through the graphics card, sound card and hard drives, which will really start to get the sweat dripping. However, when you're sitting idle it's nice to be able to turn down the cooling, and the volume along with it. Cranking both fans up to full speed generates a fair amount of noise, but nothing gamers aren't willing to tolerate for cool hardware. Fortunately when the fans are set to low the sound level is also acceptably low.

The intake fan has a small dial on the side of the case to adjust the fan speed, while the extraction fan connects to a control panel mounted in an expansion slot on the back of the case. While we would have preferred to see some central control point that doesn't waste space for an expansion card, such as can be found on the Antec P190, the availability is still a bonus. A 120mm fan mount is also available on the back panel for additional cooling should you think you need it.

The power supply mounts at the top-rear of the case, using a mounting bracket to hold it in place. A total of four tool-free 3.5in internal hard drive brackets are supplied, five 5.25in optical drive brackets and one 3.5in external drive bracket (for floppy disk drives or media card readers) are also included.

A set of USB 2.0 ports and a FireWire port can be found under a dust cover at the top of the case, which is very handy. However, no front audio jacks are supplied, which can be a little limiting when you have speakers plugged in and need to connect some headphones.

The case is made from steel and internally it's quite sturdy, though the outer design shows some flexibility. Despite its size it's not overly heavy without components in it.