Date: March 1, 2005 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Rob Williams
Logisys has really been building up their line of modding products with great stuff. With each new case they release, it always seems to improve on their previous ones, in both accessibility, as well as style. The Janus case is certainly no exception.. this case is great. What's so great about it, and how does it compare to other cases out there?
I was looking forward to reviewing the Janus, because I was impressed with it's cool style. When receiving it, and seeing it in front of me though, I became even more impressed with it. Some things just look better in front of you, rather than in a picture, and this is one of those things.
The case comes with four open 5.25" bays, which is plenty unless you have multiple CD/DVD-ROMs or other peripherals. If you are still a user of the old school Floppy drive, there is room for two of those as well. For those who have a RAID setup, there is sufficient room for 4 HDDs. Even with four HDD's installed, you will still have sufficient breathing room. If you have HDD cooling devices, I can not guarantee that they will fit smooth, as I didn't have one to test with. However, if you do use HDD cooling, you should be able to tell from the photos if they will fit or not.
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The case comes equipped with two front USB 2.0 jacks. They are located at the very bottom of the case, and works great if you are using it for a Gamepad, Digital Camera or similar device. They have also taken care of your Firewire needs.. there's one of those there as well. To finish it off, there are also Audio Input and Output jacks. If you have a Mic or Headphones and your speakers don't have the sufficient jacks, then you will love this. If you don't intend to use any of the front jacks, you can simply keep the door in the front closed, and you would never know they are there. But if you do use them, simply clicking in the door will allow you quick access to them.
A definite plus to the case, is that it comes with two pre-installed fans, both of which can be un-installed easily. There is a back mounted huge 120mm clear fan, that really helps give a great amount of cooling throughout the entire case. I've never had a case with such a large fan before, but it did seem to bring down cooling a few degrees Celsius. There is also an 80mm clear fan, with built-in blue LED's, that is mounted into the window side of the case. When your computer is turned on, the blue will emit through the emblem, giving a very cool effect.
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I didn't have one problem installing any of the hardware in the case, everything slid in seamlessly. However, getting some of your cards back out may be a problem. The back panels where you install all of your cards, are guarded by two little notches, that are there to hold the back end together, at least that area. I had a very difficult time getting my video card back out, due to the notch getting in the way. I had the same problem a little lower down with my sound card. Since the notch is located right where your cards are, you must push your cards in odd angles in order to get it back out. It wasn't a huge problem, but if I was a little more forceful with the cards, I am sure I could have done some damage to them. Other than that, everything else about the installation and removal afterwards was great.
Now to test this baby out. The case was tested out using an AMD 2600+ XP, MSI KT4V-L Mobo, 2 * 512MB DDR400, 3 WD 200GB HDD's, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb, Lite-on DVD-RW, Lite-on CD-RW and a 400W basic power supply. Since the review case did not come with a power supply, I used the one I had handy instead. Note though, if you do purchase the case, you get a generic 480W PSU.
AMD CPU's, especially mine seem to be overly hot regardless of how much I try to cool them, so I am not greatly impressed, or surprised at the results I found. At idle state, the CPU hovered around 118ºF (48ºC), and the case kept a steady 104ºF (40ºC). This is a little cooler than the plain jane case it was in prior, which was around 125ºF (52ºC). At peak time, the CPU maxed out at 132ºF (56ºC) and the case at 107.6ºF (42ºC). I will note that I did not have a special CPU cooler, but the Heatsink and Fan were the stock ones that came with the CPU. The cooling was not amazing, but it's nowhere near dangerous either. I was expecting a rather decent improvement because of the 120mm fan mounted in the back, but it didn't seem to do that much. Overall, the temperatures were better than when the components were in the plain Jane case, so any improvement is welcomed.
As you can see with the above picture, I am not the neatest when it comes to installing everything. Ignoring that, the installation and fit of everything is perfect. The metal guards that are kept in the slots for your cards, can be removed and put back. So if you install a card, then later remove it, you can easily put the guard back in place. This is appreciated, as it is stopping dust from getting in that way. It also helps the back of the computer look cleaner.
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As noted earlier, the case comes with an blue LED fan inside the mesh window. That's not the only LED light in this case however. You can see in the front of the case, there is another blue LED in behind the mesh, which looks awesome at night time. It's a great shade of blue, and shining through the black mesh is very cool. Also, if you open up your bay door, the LED will shine up on them, so that you can see what you are doing in the dark. This is also a very cool addition.
Overall, I really love this case. It has the design and style that's suitable for gamers, and will definitely add life to your computer room. The case is well designed, and installation was great, except for the minor problem of having a hard time of un-installing your cards. The pre-installed blue LEDs and the fans add to the great look of the case. Also, since the case comes with a 480W PSU as well, it really does make this case worth the money at a base price of $89.99US.
If you are looking for a new case to really that has great style and features, I recommend you check out this case. Thanks to Grace and Logisys for sending us the case for review!
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