Trinity X-21

Possessing the loudest grunt of a PC used to inspire use of the 'phear factor' phrases. The respect has now worn thin due to said roaring monsoon boxes at LAN parties. Quiet cases are now so much more elite. With a name sounding like the Matrix version of a Chick Terminator, it is actually a type of silent mid-tower case with sound absorptive and anti-vibrative rubber material attached throughout the innards. Noise silencing cases are sweet, but the thought that you'll end up with a super-heater from all the padding and less air movement more than detracts from the advantages.

Possessing the loudest grunt of a PC used to inspire use of the 'phear factor' phrases. The respect has now worn thin due to said roaring monsoon boxes at LAN parties. Quiet cases are now so much more elite. With a name sounding like the Matrix version of a Chick Terminator, it is actually a type of silent mid-tower case with sound absorptive and anti-vibrative rubber material attached throughout the innards. Noise silencing cases are sweet, but the thought that you'll end up with a super-heater from all the padding and less air movement more than detracts from the advantages.

The majority of the Atomic lab rats agree that overall, this case looks quite the part. On the front it has a magnetic door in which a temperature readout resides and displays the heat levels of wherever you place the attached thermal probe. Behind this hides four external 51/4in and two 31/2in bays. Inside there are a further four internal 31/2in HDD bays and interestingly, an additional 51/4in bay at the bottom.

With all the space and sound deadening bits, this black-coloured wonder is begging for some serious bench testing, Atomic style. We loaded it with ten fans including a 120mm behemoth, four screaming CPU fans, two case fans, an old noisy chipset fan and the PSU.

We flicked the switch, and a Sydney-wide power outage later, we were testing the decibel levels. The ambient noise in the room before juicing up was ~53dB. Inside with the spinning fans, the decibels were a screeching ~76dB -- but when we closed the case, the noise level directly next to the side dropped a rather significant 17%, down to ~63dB. Of course, all the noise was gushing out the back but to be annoying you'd need to be in its crossfire. Payback, my friend, is a bitch. . .

With all this greatness we found one possible problem with the air intake; nowhere near enough air is being sucked into the case. With no holes on the front air is slowly drawn from the small opening under the front of the case.

For an otherwise beautiful case, the Trinity X-21 is a very good buy for $175. If it weren't for the lack of a larger blowhole, this would be the perfect case. Sadly, if you're a cooling aficionado, you better be prepared to take to your brand new case with a Dremel.