Raidmax Monster II Mid-Tower Case Review
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Raidmax has aimed to provide computer enthusiasts with product solutions that have flair, performance and quality for over 25 years. Now Raidmax has updated their computer case lineup with the Monster II, naturally the next version of their original Monster enclosure with a totally new look.
Thanks to plastic loops at the bottom, the new Monster II case stands higher off the desktop (or floor) for potentially more air flow volume into the power supply/hard drive mounting area. These loops are also found at the top where they double as hand grips to facilitate transport around the office, home or to LAN parties. The Power and Reset switches are built into the top front handle, followed by the Power and HDD activity LEDs, and the audio and USB ports at the rear.
While the Monster II maintains the two front mounted cooling fans, the number of external drive trays was reduced to two. The Monster II front panel has been redesigned without the panel latches, and is removed by pulling upward at the bottom to reveal the filter for easy cleaning. The two front fan mounts also have been updated to allow for 140mm fan mountings, with one 140mm blue LED fan included.
Moving to the interior of the Monster II case, we can see that the front HDD mount cage has been removed to allow for a 280mm liquid coolant radiator mount; the external dual mount cage is removable to make room for a 360mm radiator instead. The case comes with 140mm rear fan that can be removed to make room for a 120mm radiator. Users have the option to install two 120mm or 140mm fans at the case top for a very proficient cooling setup.
I have only touched a few of the options and features incorporated into the new Raidmax Monster II case, so expect to learn more as I go into more detail over the case. Currently only available in black, we can hope only Raidmax is eventually convinced to extend the Monster II color choices.
Packaging
We have all been hearing, reading and maybe even experiencing the terrible rain/snow storms that have been hitting North America recently. As luck would have it, the Raidmax package managed to arrived 30 minutes earlier than I hoped but I was even more surprised at the package itself. As shown in the photo on the left below it arrived completed covered in protective plastic that many manufacturers use to protect shipments, but I rarely see this on a single product. The extra side package protection under the plastic covering can be seen in the photo on the right below. So fortunately this package managed to survived the rigors of shipment during this stormy time.
We have all been hearing, reading and maybe even experiencing the terrible rain/snow storms that have been hitting North America recently. As luck would have it, the Raidmax package managed to arrived 30 minutes earlier than I hoped but I was even more surprised at the package itself. As shown in the photo on the left below it arrived completed covered in protective plastic that many manufacturers use to protect shipments, but I rarely see this on a single product. The extra side package protection under the plastic covering can be seen in the photo on the right below. So fortunately this package managed to survived the rigors of shipment during this stormy time.
The front cover of the Raidmax Monster II packaging is largely comprised of an image showing the front, top and window side of the case. The upper right corner has the Raidmax logo/name with website URL, and along the bottom is the case model name accented by a blue stripe.
The packaging's back cover is where we will find more information about the Monster II case. Along the bottom of this panel are 4 images, each showing installation for the drive bays, interior component length limitations, top accessible USB/audio ports, water cooling system installation areas with maximum allowable radiator size, etc.
The side panels are largely identical with the Raidmax logo across the top, followed by another oblique view of the Monster II case and model name occupying the upper half. Below that is a listing of case specifications and international certifications/package handling requirements depending on the side. The top cover has a simple Raidmax logo with the Monster II model name.
Contents
The Monster II case is stored inside the packaging with a plastic bag and two pieces of foam cushioning. After removing these we find the case has further scratch protection over the front panel and side window (covering both sides).
The box of accessories is found inside one of the drive cages accessed from the cable management side panel of the Monster II case. Inside this box we find a plastic bag with all of the mounting screws, and the user manual at the bottom. Inside the plastic bag we find: a motherboard standoff tensioning tool, 10 plastic tie wraps, and 4 additional plastic bags containing different sets of mounting screws.
The unfolded manual contains a exploded view of the case along with a listing of the major parts and plastic bag contents on one half. The remaining half has photos and explanations of the motherboard, power supply, drives and other components/connectors of the Monster II case.
Specifications:
Form Factor Colors Dimensions (L x W x H) Motherboard Support External Drive Bays Internal Drive Bays Expansion Slots I/O Ports Front Cooling Fan(s) Top Cooling Fan(s) Rear Cooling Fan(s) Weight Warranty | ATX Black 480mm x 210mm x 526mm ATX / Micro-ATX / Mini-ITX 2 x 5.25� 2 x 2.5� or 3.5� HD 2 x 2.5� HD 1 x 3.5� HD 7 2 x USB 3.0, Headphone & Microphone Port 2 x 120mm or 140mm (one 140mm fan included) 2 x 120mm or 140mm (optional) 1 x 120mm or 140mm (one 140mm fan included) Approximately 8 kg 1 year |
Information courtesy of Raidmax http://www.raidmax.com/monster_II.html
Once the Monster II case is removed from the packaging, we can also remove the additional front panel plastic sheet protection as shown on the left in the first photo below. The clean look of the ribbed design on the front panel almost makes the two external drive bays front access covers disappear. This seemingly 2D effect in the front panel is comes from the two layers of "ribs" that are offset to allow for air flow into the front of the case. The slightly offset view, as seen in the second image of the first photo, shows a little bit of white bleed through from the white background to highlight the air flow design.
To remove the front panel of the Monster II case, pull at the bottom of the panel to reveal the filter cover over the front fan mounting. Then to remove the front filter, pull out on the finger grip as shown by the red arrow in the left side of the second photo below. That will unlatch the two pins annotated with the two orange arrows, and allow you to pull up on the filter itself to slip it out of the two tabs annotated by two yellow arrows. On the right of the second photo, you can spot the very clear openings for excellent air flow and the attachment points for a second fan above the installed 140mm blue LED fan.
To remove the top panel, first remove the front panel and push on the rear of the top panel; it will slide forward and detach from the top as shown in the second photo. Once the top panel is gone, you will find the top air filter held by magnets and this too removes easily to reveal the mounting grill for top flow fans.
The control switches, LEDs and I/O ports are accessed through a cutout in the front handle of the Monster II case. Starting at the top of the next photo (this corresponds to the front edge of the case) we have: the ON/OFF switch, reset switch, Power ON (blue) LED, HDD Activity (red) LED, headphone/speaker audio jacks and two USB 3.0 ports.
The next photo shows the rear of the Monster II case, and the orange arrow points to the power supply filter grip that you can pull and remove for easy cleaning. Above that we find the normal power supply mounting position that is common in most modern design cases. Moving further up we see the seven PCI expansion slot covers and the thumb screw, noted with the red arrow, that locks down the sliding cover to protect the PCI card mounting tabs. Finally at the top we have the motherboard I/O panel mounting slot and a Raidmax 140 mm fan. Note there are no external access liquid radiator tube access ports, as the interior of the case will have ample mounting positions for liquid cooler setups.
The following photo shows the bottom of the Monster II case, with four rubber cushioning feet on the bottom of the plastic standoffs to keep the case from sliding around on any slick surfaces. The power supply air vent is covered with a small filter that is also partially hidden by the rear plastic standoff, but the 1.25" spacing still provides ample air flow potential.
The windowed side panel, with a smoked color plastic insert, is a simple design with a clean look that should be suitable in an office or home. Remove the two thumb screws and slide backward to remove the panel.
With the windows panel removed from the Monster II case as shown in the photo below, we get a better look at what can only be defined as a fairly sparse interior with exceptional air flow potential. The external drive cage only holds two devices and without a front HDD cage, the only item other item mounted on the front is the 140mm LED fan. At the bottom is a cover for the power supply and the two internal drive trays just behind the front fan, with the fan pushing half of its air flow into the covered area to help cool any drive(s) mounted internally. This case does not have any cable management ports, but it uses a front back plate that is offset from the motherboard plate to allow for cable placement with minimal cable intrusion into the component side of the case interior.
The external drive cage is seen in the left photo below. Note that the cables from the upper mounted control center of the Monster II case that will have to be carefully positioned to prevent any rub damage when the upper tray is used. If you do not plan on installing any external drives you can remove this cage, but if you are not installing a front mounted radiator you can also just leave it in place for any future system changes/setup.
Shown in the photo below to the right is the gray 11-bladed Raidmax 140mm fan installed at the rear. It doesn't have any LEDs like the front fan, and uses a 3-pin motherboard header connector or a 4-pin Molex connector in case your motherboard does not have enough fan headers. This view also shows the fan mounting grill at the case top for any upward air flow.
With the cable management panel removed in the next photo, we find a simple motherboard back plate with a lot of plastic tie wrap tie down points (three are noted by the yellow arrows) to prevent cable movement during use or transport. The four cables from the case control panel are of sufficient length for attachment to the motherboard without undue tension.
The two SSD mounting trays shown in the left photo below are held in place with thumb screws, and you can also see the offset of the two plates for placement of cables as noted above. The photo on the right meanwhile shows the two HDD trays that are also held in place with thumb screws, as well as the power supply mount position that is cushioned by four rubbers bumpers as noted by the yellow arrows. All of those extra power leads from non-modular power supplies are hidden as well as the SATA cables.
Installation of the motherboard I/O shield proved a little difficult as the opening was a tight fit, so I had to use a flat tip screwdriver along the edges to press the shield into place. The DVD drive installation also required removal of the entire front panel and the external drive cover, accomplished by pressing outward on the plastic panel while pressing inward on the side locking tabs. Although these two items required extra effort, in my opinion that also means very precise engineering was used for the shield cutout and high strength plastic used in the Monster II.
The first photo below shows the motherboard and DVD drive installed without any cables attached except for the rear fan power lead connected to a motherboard fan header. Without any front mounted HDD cage, it was easy to reach into the case interior to place my motherboard in position over the pre-installed standoffs and then inserting and tightening the motherboard mounting screws. The DVD drive simply slides into the bottom tray (to keep from possibly binding the top control panel cables) and is locked into position. Note the four yellow arrows pointing to openings above and below the motherboard, then the red arrow pointing to the front back panel cable management openings.
The second photo shows the video card in place after it is installed by loosening the thumb screw for the PCI cover plate on the rear of the case, then removing the plate as well removing the screws on two of the PCI slot covers (second and third cover from the top) to make card installation easier. Then of course we install the video card with the two screws, place the cover plate back into position, and re-tighten the thumb screw.
The next photo shows the two hard drives installed in their trays. The SSD drive tray has mounting holes for bottom (as shown) or side attachment. The HDD drive tray has rubber cushions for vibration protection, with large headed screws to provide better support surface and four additional holes to mount SSD drives if desired. The arrows stamped into one end of both trays indicate the proper direction of drive placement into a tray for attaching the SATA and power leads.
Moving to the cable management side of the Monster II case, I installed a power supply then slide the two drives from above in their respective mounting points and locked them in place as shown in the next photo with the power supply and control panel cables ready to attach. Since one drive tray supports both 3.5" and 2.5" drives, this case supports a number of drive configurations for its three bays: for example, you can have up to four 2.5" drives and one 3.5" drive, or two 2.5" drives and three 3.5" drives.
The next photo shows the cables installed with one wire tie to hold some cables in place. The component interior in the right photo shows a very clean cable setup. The third photo is a close-up of the motherboard SATA mounts; note how the SATA cables easily fit behind the front back panel cable port. It was extremely easy to install these SATA cables from the case back, making it an equally simple operation to change SATA cables in the future with motherboards having this style of motherboard SATA connectors.
The Monster II will look good on any desktop whether for work or play after all the panels are installed and the rig is up and running. The only thing I find odd is the missing Raidmax name or emblem on the front, I wouldn't have been shy to include it with such a great design.
Testing will be conducted with an AMD FX 8320 CPU on the ASUS M5A99FX motherboard, and set to run at a CPU Turbo mode speed of 4.0 GHz. Each case will be tested by turning on the system, waiting one hour for the temperatures to stabilize. Once stabilized, the temperature readings will be recorded using CPUID HWMonitor for the Idle readings, then running Prime95 and Unique Heaven for another hour to stress the system for the Load readings.
I will also keep track of the room temperature using an AcuRite 613 Indoor Monitor and correct for any readings that deviate from a 24�C ambient temperature.
(NOTE: Readings depend on equipment and environment, so your test results may vary from the following.)
Computer components:
- Processor: AMD FX 8320 Black Edition
- Motherboard: ASUS M5A99FX
- Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws 16 GB (2x8) DDR3 1600
- Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
- Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti Gaming 2GB
- Optical Drive: Lite On LH 20A1S
- Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 600W
- OS: Windows 7 Pro w\SP1
Comparison case(s):
- Thermaltake Suppressor F51 Mid-Tower
- Corsair Carbide 330R Titanium Edition Mid-Tower
- be quiet! Silent Base 800 Mid-Tower
- Raidmax Viper GX II Mid-Tower
- Raidmax Narwhal Mid-Tower
The Raidmax Monster II case is now the new leader for my CPU and GPU idle temperature readings from an ever expanding list of computer case reviews, but the chipset idle results still stayed within the my old "three degree range". My new range improves the CPU and GPU idle readings by one degree on the low end, for a four degree range with the as shipped fan setup on the Monster II case. These new ranges made me curious about the default placement of the front fan at the lower position of the case front. After moving the fan to the upper position, I ran several more test scenarios, observing that the chipset readings improved by three degrees for idle temperature readings. The CPU and GPU idle readings meanwhile maintained their previous one degree improvement. Based on these results, I would definitely keep the front fan in the upper position, but more likely also add a second fan to hopefully improve air flow and possibly gain even better temperature readings.
While the Monster II case load temperature readings for both the chipset and GPU fell within the previous ranges I have established over a two year period of case testing, the CPU load temperature reading proved to be the highest of any case tested to date; one degree above the previous CPU load range. As mentioned earlier, I performed additional tests after moving the pre-installed front fan to the upper front panel panel which also served to improve the chipset load readings by two degrees. That would give a new range for the chipset readings if this fan position was the shipped setup, however this did not affect the CPU or GPU load readings. I have established good readings with my current heatsink/fan cooler combination, but I would suspect a dual fan or dual tower cooler would provide better load range readings.
Conclusion
Arriving at my door with a complete plastic outer wrapping for wet weather and sturdy box edge transport protection, I would soon find a case with an interesting design. That design starts with symmetrical top handles and bottom standoffs for easy transport, while also presenting an appealing 2D slotted front panel appearance on your desktop. The slotted front panel design hid the air flow slots but allowed the one included blue LED 140mm fan to shine through. With room for another 120/140mm front fan or a liquid coolant radiator up to 280mm (or 360mm with removal of the upper external drive cage), the Monster II support enough cooling options to keep your rig working efficiently for maximum performance.
The Monster II has a spacious interior with room to mount mini- / micro- / ATX size motherboards and support for video cards up to a 400mm length. With a cover over the power supply and hard drive cage, cable clutter is hidden which makes the view through the window panel clean and neat, inviting users to add an interior lighting scheme to show off their computer system.
With front, top and bottom filters, the Raidmax Monster II looks to remain dust-free longer to reduce down time from clearing dust and clogged cooler fins. Add in the pricing as low as $69.99 and shipping at only $5.99 at select e-tailers, and all of these features help make the Monster II case a reasonable consideration when it comes time to update your current computer setup or start that new work or gaming system.
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