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#860 - Sunbeam Quarterback Case |
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Written by Zach Jeffers
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Monday, 20 August 2007 |
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Page 3 of 5
Contents and the Outside:
With the foam and plastic removed from the Sunbeam Quarterback mid-tower case, you can see that the case has a very bold look to it. Deep cut pockets in the door reveal a full array of slot type ventilation holes. The entire front of the case is made up of plastic and the chassis itself is comprised of standard steel. The Quarterback features a black exterior with silver door.
Included with the Quarterback case is a User’s Manual, three sets of 3.5” drive rails, four plastic feet, a single cable organizer with zip-tie, four four-pin Molex to three-pin fan header adapters, and all the necessary screws for mounting your motherboard and power supply.
 
At the front of the case, you will see that the case has a very “DOOM3-panel-esque” look to it. The silver door has four octagonal areas removed from it allowing access to the drive bays and the ventilation. Honestly, at this point, I see this ‘door’ as pointless. All this type of door does provide is an obstacle when trying to access a 5.25” bay accessory as not all five bays are accessible when the 'door' is shut. I would have like to have seen the bold looks of the door implemented differently; perhaps as molding built into the bezel…
With the ‘door’ open, you can see that the ‘door’ is hollow. This makes it very flimsy. I could see this door being easily broken off. The ‘door’ does open greater than 90° from the bezel, which many other cases do not. The door is held into place, when shut, by three magnets located behind rubber pads on the front bezel. Three standard Phillip screws in the ‘door’ help keep the door shut. These magnets are not very strong, so be careful during transport. The ‘door’ has three hinges that are snapped into place. Again, these are made of plastic and were easily strained when opening the door with any kind of carelessness.
  
The front drive bay covers each come with angled ventilation slots to aid in fresh air intake within the case. These bay covers, while functional, do not include filters. Those of you that place the case on their case on the floor be warned. Between the 5.25” bays and the lower 3.5” bays, Sunbeam has thoughtfully included their website address in the form of a beveled plastic name badge. I found this very tacky and really could have done without it. Below the 3.5” external drive bays, the Quarterback case continues its bold looks with rectangular power and reset buttons. These have a clear border that lights up a very bright blue when powered up. Please note that the ‘open-ness’ of the ‘door’ allows for the reset and power buttons to be pressed while the ‘door’ is closed.
  
The left side panel features a medium sized window with an included 80mm fan and VGA ventilation holes. The window is held into place by eight chromed rivets. Taking a closer look at the ventilation of the window, you find that the holes are beveled and do not allow max air flow. Some kind of mesh would have been a better choice. The 80mm is held into place by four recessed fan screws. Below the fan, there are multiple holes for air to help cool any VGA components you may have installed. If you study the image of these ventilation holes, you can see that in the four corners of this area there are, what appear to be, four fan mounting holes. These are obviously not the correct size of a fan as they are not in any standard fan spacing. I found this very odd.
 
 
The right side of the Quarterback case does not offer much to the eye as the side panel simply features a recessed area to assist in removal of the panel. On the right hand side of the front bezel, there are the front I/O ports. These include an 1/8” Audio Out, two USB2.0 ports, an 1/8” Microphone In and an un-occupied Firewire port. It really bugs me when manufacturers place a ‘place-holder’ on a case or product instead of simply including it, but that is just my opinion.
 
At the back of the case, you will find the standard mid-tower case layout. Starting at the top, you have the standard ATX PSU mounting area, the back I/O shield plate, a rear ventilation fan mount (70, 80 or 120mm) and the seven expansion slots. Sunbeam has included four chrome thumb screws for easy removal of the side panels. At the bottom of the case, you can see where the plastic feet get installed along with the additional opening for cool air intake at the bottom of the front bezel.
  
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