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This is an overall shot of the Nimiz TJ-03. Its measurements are quite bulky-- 20"(W) x 8"(H)x 23"(D). Make sure you have enough room at your computing area to fit this beast. However, it doesn't measure quite as big as Lian Li's PC-70, the case that has been without competition in the high-end full tower ATX market for several years.
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Let's get a close-up on the protruded center of the front panel-- note the awesome detail in SilverStone's machining. Very cool!
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The top door opens to expose 6 5.25" bays! That's certainly enough for even the most hungry PC freaks. However, one very important note-- it lacks an external 3.5" bay for use of a floppy drive! I'm disappointed that there wasn't room for a floppy drive in this case. SilverStone does sell an additional 3.5" converter on their website, however, I feel that if I've spent $300 on a case, it should include something like this.
For some of you, this won't be a worry, as many of you are no longer installing floppy drives. However, a user like me still installs them in every PC (well, my HTPC doesn't really need one..), so I find it useful to have a case that can support it.
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We open the bottom door of this case to see the 120mm fan filter (for keeping out those pesky dust bunnies) as well as the ports for USB, audio, and FireWire. (These are externally accessible, as shown below). I like how the 120mm fan filter is easily accessible-- I used to have an Antec SX1040BII, and the dust filter was so hard to access, that I gave up using it. This one is a piece of cake to clean out every once in a while, and should promote users to keep their filters clean often.
A problem I noticed with these doors are that the door magnets are very, very weak! This may be an advantage if you want your CDROM to push open the door once it ejects, but they really don't hold very well. A small modification, perhaps stronger magnets, should get it where you want it.
Here's the door at the very bottom that covers up the front ports. I've included a GIF animation above that shows it opening and closing. As you can see, this door folds down, and doesn't retract inside the case like we saw on the Aspire X-Infinity. This may cause it to break off if you nudge it with your foot. However, I don't consider this a huge problem...
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Here's a close-up on the Power and Reset buttons, as well as the two LEDs. Other reviews of this case noted the "sticking" buttons, but to be honest, I did not notice any such sticking on my review sample. Perhaps SilverStone has been reading opinions and has fixed this minor problem on their TJ-03. So, no complaints here!
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Here's the ventilation grills for the 120mm fan. It may have been for aesthetic purposes, but I'm not sure why the big front bottom door doesn't have some mesh or holes in it to provide better intake ventilation. You could mod this in, though-- great mod idea, not to mention it'd look undeniably cool if you do it right.
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Moving up to the top of this case, we see the one 80mm exhaust top blowhole. Note the new rectangular ventilation holes-- this is a first. I'm not sure how it affects airflow, but it's got to be better than most stamped grill designs I've seen. Not to mention that the grill is actually integrated into the case metal, so it doesn't protrude and end up looking ugly. It's all uniform and professional looking...just as it should.
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The side of this case is bare! No window in this case, folks, but if you want a windowed panel, they are available at SundialMicro. If arranged nicely, this case plus a window will look awesome! However, the no-window look is actually going back in style, as it gives a cleaner look, isn't as common anymore, and doesn't require you to tidy your case wiring constantly and have color-coordinating components. I have no window in my Lian Li PC-70 and I've gotten so many compliments on my case-- heck, even my mom has complimented it! I see a coming trend in the next year to go back to the "cleaner look", and this SilverStone case is at the forefront of this trend.
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