Kingwin Mutant X Black Case with Window

A well made case with good cooling and LOTS of room for drives – Joe

SUMMARY: A well made case with good cooling and LOTS of room for drives

The good guys at Kingwin sent us a sample of their Mutant X Black Case with Window to check out.

Key Features:

• Clear side acrylic glass window with laser cut fan grill
• 2 front USB 2.0 ports
• 1 front firewire port
• Front audio port and microphone jack
• Front fan, rear and side 80mm LED fan
• 2 front blue LED lights
• Complete tooless design
• Dimension: 20″/507 mm x 7 7/8″/200 mm x 16 1/8″/411 mm high
• Eleven Drive bays: 4 CD ROM, 2 floppy, 5 hard drive
• 420 Watt ATX power supply (4 four pin connectors, 2 floppy and one P4)
• Weight: 24 lbs
• Main board type: Baby AT, Micro ATX, ATX

The front opnes to provide access to CD ROM and floppy bays:

There is also a small opening cover at the bottom front for the USB, Firewire and audio ports:

All covered up and powered, the Mutant lights up with two front LEDs:

In addition to the front LEDs, the fan in the window also features a bright LED to illuminate the interior:

Starting with the side,

removing the window panel shows the clear acrylic panel:

Ambitious case modders could easily remove the panel (held in by screws) and substitute a custom design.
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The inside of the case reveals a LOT of room for drives – for a case this size, room for five hard drives is impressive:

What is also a big plus is the front mounted fan which blows cooling air through the drive cage:

A real plus for 10,000 rpm drives.

There is a rear exhaust fan included with space for a second exhaust fan:

A view from the back

shows very good case ventilation – lots of openings for cooling air to enter and exit:

Opening the other side shows the back of the motherboard tray:

Nice openings for back of the board airflow. Also note that all openings are folded:

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Having dealt with cheap cases, I am pleased to see one with no sharp edges. The case requires no tools to open:

Both side panels can be easily removed with your fingers. However, the front panel requires removing screws should tt be necessary to remove it. Air enters the front through vents in the case’s front – adequate considering the side fan and rear openings.

Finally, the power supply is a 420 watt unit:

I would not consider this a strong point with this case – it’s adequate but not much more than that.

With the case powered up, noise from the three fans and power supply is low but noticeable; a good addition would be a fan control panel to moderate noise as conditions warrant.

Overall, Kingwin’s Mutant X looks like a well made case with good cooling and LOTS of room for drives. Considering there is space for two 80 mm exhaust fans, I think adding watercooling to this case with the right sized radiator could make a very nice looking system.

Thanks again to Kingwin for sending this our way.

Email Joe