Chenbro Xpider II

Expansion

When it comes to gaming, chassis expandability is a feature that the case should definitely have. Chenbro has designed the Xpider II to allow four 5-1/4" drives and a total of seven 3-1/2" drives to be installed at one time. Though the case may become cluttered when packed with that much hardware, there is that potential to fill the Xpider II.

The second area where expansion is most important is the add-on card area. Chenbro employed locking devices to secure add-on cards in place. We have seen better devices on many other cases. Thermaltake's Xaser III Skull had an interesting sliding clip that held add-on cards in place.

Click to enlarge.

We had some trouble with our 9700 Pro card and the mechanism. Since the 9700 had a daughter card for the DVI output, it got in the way of the piece, which would wrap around the add-on card mount, keeping it from being locked. Thumbscrews would have sufficed for this application, since Chenbro did not really utilize a tool-less design throughout the Xpider II.