This case was my fifth- or sixth-place option after a decision to use a rather large sum of My Best Buy reward certificates to buy a new case. Up at the head of the line was the NZXT Phantom 240, which went out of stock the day my certificates arrived, and stayed that way for an unnerving length of time.
I selected THAT case because it had a streamlined, high-tech design, accommodated a large number of fans in a large number of form factors including my water cooling loop, had a see-through side window both for the purposes of permitting quick inspection and for sating my need for vanity, as well as removable filters over all intakes.
After deliberation I decided to go with this case instead. It was about twice what I originally wanted to spend, but for the difference, I got the following:
-Original features desired
-MASSIVE cable management bay behind motherboard
-Durable matte black finish (I would have gone with white in a heartbeat, but it was not available) which seems very easy to clean and resistant to scratches
-One of the best designed and constructed quick-change drive bay designs I've ever seen
-A removable drive stack which provides either for the installation of five extra HDDs when installed, or permits straight airflow from the front high-side fan (not provided, though the low fan can be moved up very easily if you prefer) when removed
-Removable insuilation/silencing plates which can be installed on the top, should I decide in the future to switch to a fully water-cooled system with a larger central radiator, thus negating the need for a CPU radiator
-A built-in rheostat to control fan voltage to up to three system fans, which I have found extremely useful during recording sessions in quieting down the computer
What I don't like so much, is how wide the case is, though that's a simple part of the design. It has to be this wide to permit both cable management, sound deadening materials and airflow over the side of the full-sized graphics card.
When I talk about quiet, I mean quiet. With the exact same fans as in my MSI Nighthawk case, and in the same positions, I can no longer hear the case running at full idle power while wearing my headphones with nothing playing.
I've reduced core temperature by over 10 degrees celsius, as well as reducing my GPU core temperature at idle by 6 degrees and processor core temperature by another thirteen, though that could be the result of installing the water cooler instead of the stock Intel LGA1155 air cooler.
Overall, I'm very glad I ended up purchasing this case instead of the other options, both with regard to functionality, performance and aesthetic.
Build-
Gigabyte Black Edition Z97 full-ATX motherboard
EVGA GTX970 SSC
Intel i7-4790K
Corsair H100i
16gb Corsair 1866 RAM
Intel 535 series SSD, 240gB
2x 2GB Western Digital HDD
4x Thermaltake Riing 120mm
2x Fractal 140mm low-noise