External Impressions
When you first look at the CS-Monolize there are two things you will most likely noticed right away. First, the dual 250mm fans on the side, then the highly reflective front door. As we will see later there is a reason for the shiny front door. Inside the door there are LED lights for the power and hard drive activity lights as well as an A+ logo.
Looking behind the door is all the drive bays and power buttons. I would have preferred not to have to open the door to turn on the system, but it¡¯s not a deal breaker for me by any means.
Looking closer at the buttons we can see there are three. From top to bottom we have the power button, reset button, and one marked with an A+. This last button is a very nice option. This allows the user to turn on and off the A+ logo on the front door.
Looking at the left side of the case we can see the massive dual blue LED 250mm fans. I¡¯d like to point out that these are the only fans in this case. They also can push a max of 150 CFM each, for a total of max flow of 300 CFM. The downside to these fans is the 32.1 dBA rating; on high you will hear every bit of that. With the fans turned down to low they are still moving quite a bit of air and are quiet.
The fans are controlled independently by a set of controls on the front of the side panel. You have on/off switches, speed control knob, and a bright blue LED light that shows that the fans are on.
Looking at the back of the case you can see that the rear can accept 80, 92, and 120 mm fans. The PSU mounting plate can also be turned. There is a vent that is directly above the PSU area, so if you have a PSU with a bottom mount 120mm fan you can mount it such that the fan faces the top vent.
Moving around to the right side we can see side vents where most cases are solid. With both side panel fans on high you can feel the air coming through these vents. Enough so that it will push a sheet of paper away from the vent.
Looking closer to the lower front we can see the front I/O ports. This is some thing that I would have rather seen on the top of the case, or at least higher. With the case on the floor the I/O panel is to low.
Last but not least, the bottom of the case. Here we have something that I haven¡¯t seen on an enthusiast case in a good long time. Sever style feat. They are hard plastic and can lock in at 45* and 90*. If you have anything other than carpet on your floor the case may slide around more than you want it to.
