Getting Inside:

It's straightforward to remove the thumb screws and then open the side panel with the handle/latch. There's no need to slide the panel back as it just swings out. Opening this case you'll find that all of the accessories have been nicely packaged into a plastic box fastened into the HDD bay. If you don't have a lot of HDDs, you can leave this box here and then you'll always have the case hardware close by when you are upgrading or tweaking something. It's a small but nice addition that makes working with the case that much easier.

Thumbscrews for easy access.

Side panel.

You get a complete package of accessories with this case: A full set of drive rails for all drives, two sets of keys for the door and side panel, screws/standoffs and a manual complete with colour photos to provide easy to understand direction. There are not a whole lot of screws included, but that's because the majority of the case is tool-less. Though a nicely detailed manual might seem like a minor addition, it's actually quite nice to have, especially for beginners.

Accessories in the box.

What's included.

Side internal overview.

Looking at the inside you can see the unmistakable sheen of aluminum and quality construction. Most of the interior is "safe" in that most edges are rolled, though there are one or two sharp areas to be aware of. There are a lot of cables for the various ports on the outside but thankfully they've been tied down. Some of these cable lengths could've been longer, as we'll see later. The motherboard area is fairly clean and free of obstructions.

Front 5.25" drive bays.

HDD bays.

Lower interior.

The front 5.25" drive bays use drive rails (as do all the drives) for mounting. Looking at the inside, you'll see that the drive shields are the tear-out kind; this obviously isn't optimal as no one likes having to tear out a sharp piece of metal. Since the top ports have wires/cables running down, a drive placed in the top 5.25" drive bay may be blocked by these wires, depending on how long the drive is.

The HDD cage is rotated 90 degrees from the rest of the drive bays. While this has the advantage of making HDD installation easy it unfortunately might restrict airflow from the front intake fan. (And leaving the plastic accessory box there will certainly restrict airflow!) With room for six HDDs, you should have ample room for all of your storage needs.

Rear interior.

Exhaust fans.

Top fan.

At the rear you can see both the tool-less card holders and the two 120mm exhaust fans. These fans provide a decent amount of air flow around the CPU area right where you need it. These fans can be connected to the built-in fan controller so that you can vary their speed. Though these fans have a translucent frame, they are not LED fans. Complementing these fans is the top blowhole fan position. Here you can install an optional 120mm fan, not included. However, a large fan here might also block access to the top drive bay.

Many cables!

I/O connectors.

Temp probes.

The X-Jupiter has a plethora of cables. Thankfully, all of them are labeled so that you don't get confused. Besides the standard, there are two USB connectors (for a total of four ports on the outside), Firewire and HD-Audio. The two temperature probes connect to the LCD for monitoring; they are clearly labeled as CPU and HDD and though you can put them anywhere, the labels on the LCD itself correspond to these two values.

Fan controller IN.

Fan controller OUT.

Rear fan rating.

The fan controller cables are also labeled; one is "cool air in" and the other "hot air out". These also correspond to the labels on the front fan controller knobs. The in and out lines of each fan controller are also labeled as well as the max rating. There's one last connector for the front door lights, labeled "Apevia LED". Though it features a pass-through connector, it only passes through the +5V and GND lines! Thus, the pass-through is quite useless. One thing to note about the connectors is that they may not be long enough to reach certain areas on the motherboard if they are routed through the holder as shown in the pictures above. In that case you'll just have to run the wires directly over your motherboard to the correct spot, something that isn't ideal.

Side fan rating.

Connectors in the manual.

Looking at the right side there's not too much. There's a hole near the front of the tray potentially for routing cables but with the limited space on the right side cables may not fit too well. As mentioned before, you don't need to remove the right side panel thanks to the tool-less nature of the case, unless you want to remove the front panel - which you may need to, as we'll see in the installation section.

Right side.

Another bottom view.

Overall the X-Jupiter has a fairly clean layout and ample cooling ability, though there may be some ventilation issues with the front fan, depending on what's in the HDD bays. Additionally, the cable lengths may not be sufficient and the top drive bay might be blocked. Let's see how this all affects installation.

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