Raidmax Cobra Z

[testman78]

Introduction

One of the newest additions to the Raidmax case line-up is the Cobra Z. Simply called either the Cobra Z Blue Edition or Cobra Z Red Edition, It comes in blue or red.I have the pleasure of reviewing the blue version today.Designed with gamers' tastes in mind, this wide-bodied ATX and micro-ATX supporting chassis features LED lights,tool-less installations, and an effective thermal design.The new iteration of the Cobra certainly is focused on the budget builder.



It's got the "gamer" look that so many companies try (often too hard) to achieve.





Packaging & Contents


Raidmax packs the Cobra Z into a cardboard package with black print on it.You will find an image of the chassis on the front.



The back of the box gets us to the details,quickly showing off all the features inside and out.



Both sides have a lot of extra information in form of specifications.



Two thick and solid Styrofoam spacers hold the Cobra Z in place and protect it from damage during shipping,while a clear plastic bag is used to keep scratches and fingerprints away.




Inside you get a user manual,velcro ties for the wires and some zipe ties as well!



Raidmax also includes various black screws to assemble the system. Each type has neatly been put into individual plastic bags.



The box of extras also contains many 2.5/3.5″ tool-less HDD sleds.




A Closer Look - Outside

The Raidmax Cobra Z is a plastic/steel case measuring 52.5(L)mm x 24.0(W)mm x 46(H)mm By contemporary standards it's a little short and quite narrow.



The Cobra Z is a cool-looking chassis, with its edgy and elaborate design.



Raidmax included a Colored Hexagonal Side Panel See-Through Window in the main side panel.It hides all hard drives nicely, but allows you to take a look at everything else.



The other side panel is not completely solid and does feature some design elements.



A look on the aggressive front design.Here are a lot of plastic elements.



We can see the three external 5.25 "drive bays for installation of optical drives.Each individual cover can easily be removed.



There is also plenty of metal mesh present in the front.Taking a closer look at the front,the bottom half holds a metal mesh grill.



The I/O of the Cobra Z can be found in the front panel of the chassis.It consists of one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 plugs,power and reset buttons and the traditional pair of audio I/O.



Most of the top panel is taken up by an air vent which,while adding to the overall look of the case.You can install here a compact 120 or 240 mm fans directly on the case chassis.



Let me skip right to the rear of the chassis.



The bottom holds the PSU bay.It comes with two sets of mounting holes, giving you the flexibility of installing the power supply with the fan facing up or down.



Above that are the seven motherboard expansion slots with their individual black slot covers.



Air vent.



You will find two holes for water-cooling tubes.



There is also a 120 mm fan to push air out the back of the chassis at the very top.



The side panels were surprisingly snug against the chassis so the handles at the back were warranted.



Tipping the chassis over, you will find two dust filter's(one on the PSU bay and one in the middle).



Those plastic filter's can not be pulled out from under the chassis, so have to put the chassis on its side to do so.The bottom features 4 silicone feet.




A Closer Look - Inside

As was obvious before, the entire insides correspond to the colors of the exterior.



A large opening in the motherboard tray should allow for easy access to the CPU cooler's underside.



There is around 20 mm of space behind the motherboard tray, which can be used to route cables.You will need to invest a bit of thought and time into the process to avoid not being able to close the case up afterward.



All the leads inside the Raidmax Cobra Z are black.



Various holes along the board's edges will come in handy when it comes time to keep things clean within the case,though they don't have any grommets on them.



In the lower front part rotates a blue-light 120 mm fan that comes with a stylish mesh inlay.



The optical drives can be installed without tools in Cobra Z with quick-locking.



At first look, one can see two hard-drive cages.A total of up to seven mass storage can be installed in the Cobra Z.The upper HDD cage is modular,so it can be removed if necessary, either to optimize the air supply or for extra-long VGA cards to install up to 415 mm in length.The modular HDD cage accommodates four 3.5 "drives.



The lower cage can be equipped with three 2.5 "or 3.5" hard drives.



The PSU bay in the bottom of the rear is lined with anti-vibration silicon pads on the floor also act as vibration barriers.



Taking a quick peek at the floor of the Cobra Z, there is a 120mm/140mm fan-placement possibility which is pretty nice.




Installation and Finished looks

Installing the motherboard bears no surprises.All the leads are routed behind the motherboard tray.



Installing the drives were easy with the tool-less rails.



The hard drives are here simply "clicked" and then pushed together with the slide in the HDD cage.



The hard drives connect from the back side making routing the wires a bit easier and helping to keep them hidden and out of the way.



The Raidmax Cobra Z case supports power supplies up to 265mm long.



Lengthy, high-end video cards up to 415mm in length(without HDD rack) are supported.



Installing the main components was simple.With everything in place, the interior of the Raidmax Cobra Z makes a very tidy impression.




Test System and Methology

Test System:

Processor: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme
Motherboard: Asus P9X79
Cpu cooler:Corsair H100
Memory: 16GB G.Skill Ares
Graphics Card:2 X GTX 560 Ti Hawk
Power Supply: Seasonic G-Series 650W
Chassis:Raidmax Cobra Z
Monitor: Dell U2311
Boot Drive: Intel SSD 510
Storage Drive: WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD



Software:

CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime95 v27.1
Furmark 1.11.0

I am testing the Raidmax Cobra Z performance as follows:

Room temperature is kept at 22C throughout my tests.
The CPU Fan is set to 100% to eliminate inconsistencies as a result of PWM control.
Idle temperatures are obtained after booting the PC and idling on the desktop for 30 minutes.
CPU load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95′s Small FTTs test for 15 minutes.
GPU load temperatures are obtained after running Furmark's Burn-In Test for 15 minutes.
To measure noise levels i disable the CPU fans and GPU fan.


Temperature

These temperatures are very impressive, showcasing the cooling performance of this case.




Noise level

We can see that even with the fans at full speed the case remains pretty quiet. Those looking to build a very quiet system should invest in some ultra quiet fans, though, as the included ones aren’t exactly silent.




Conclusion

The Raidmax Cobra Z is fairly attractive and is certainly better looking than most cases at this price point.My main gripe with the Cobra Z is this one.There isn’t enough room for a dual radiator to fit up top.The build quality is quite good when factoring in the cost.The Cobra Z will easily withstand multiple rebuilds and rough handling.In terms of aesthetic design, the Cobra Z is quite unique indeed.I imagine that most will either love it or hate it,as it is unlikely to appeal to those users who prefer a more understated design. It is quite impressive that Raidmax have managed to include two fans with this case considering the price.The airflow they generate should be ample for most users,and i achieved decent temperatures in my tests.Although i doubt many users will be building high-end overclocked systems in this case,it is good to know that the ‘out of the box’ airflow is actually quite good and there is space for 3 more fans if you want to enhance air flow.Despite the lack of grommets included in the stock configuration the cable management is certainly commendable.



The Raidmax Cobra Z is built for those people looking for the cheapest possible case, and there are very few branded alternatives which manage to achieve a similarly impressive price point.At a price of 48 Euro's, the Raidmax Cobra Z offers great value for money.While there are a few other cases on the market that offer something similar, they are generally around 10 Euro's more expensive.This may not sound like a lot of money but it actually makes them 20% more expensive.So for those users who are on particularly tight budgets,this case is ideal.