In October I reviewed a case from SkyHawkUSA which is called the Jupiter. It had a cool feature which was really unique, a LCD/light module which displayed time, temperature, and changed colors. This is their newest case called the Galaxy, which continues with the space theme. This case is very similar to the Jupiter but has a new and different feature which we will see later. This case like the Jupiter is made of 1mm anodized aluminum, and has the same chassis.
The box of the Skyhawk Galaxy came in the same that the Jupiter did which was good because it protects well. I opened up the box to see that it was packaged well and had a plastic bag around it as well to keep it from being scratched. Skyhawk did a good job packing the Jupiter and continued in the same fashion with the Galaxy.
After taking the case out of the box and removing it from the plastic bag I looked over it and was pretty impressed. The front of the case has a similar look to the Jupiter with the acrylic on the front. The front of the case is protected with a plastic adhesive sheet so that it won’t get scratched. This case has two vertical tubes on the side of the case which have bubbles in them that light up.
I really like the finish on this case, the brushed aluminum really looks good, a lot better than steel in my opinion. The side of this case has a window which is cut in a cool design, rather than a normal rectangle or square. The window has a blue tint to it and has an 80mm transparent blue case fan mounted in the middle of it. I like the side of this case because it looks cool and the fan will help cool the system. The window is held on with rivets not molding because of the more complex design, the overall look is good though.
The back of the case is also pretty nice, it comes with 4 thumbscrews which are used to hold the side panels in place. The side panels of the case have a little handle on them so that they are easy to pull off, we will see that more on the next page. one of the problems with the Jupiter case is that the power supply mounted upside down. This is a problem for power supplies that have a fan on the bottom of them to pull air away from the CPU and out of the case. This case unfortunately did not fix that problem, hopefully with the next case it will be.
This case has a good sized power and reset button and comes with a red and green LED for the power and hard drive actively. There is also a place for a case badge at the bottom which is nice because a lot of new cases don’t. I went ahead and put an OCmodshop case badge because no case should go without one. You can buy one of these case badges for your case from the OCmodshop store for only $3 each.
At the bottom of the case there is a flip down cover which has front ports. There are 2 USB 2.0, 1 microphone, 1 earphone, and 1 IEEE1394 (firewire). I always love cases which have these front ports for USB and other things because it make it so much easier and less time consuming to do what you need to do. Instead of having to get up and reach around your computer and search for the hole you can just flip the cover down and plug it in. There is also a button next to the firewire port that allowes you to set the color of the lights on the side of the case.
Like I mentioned before each side panel has a two position handle. it lays flat when not in use so that it is not in the way and so that you can push your case closer to a wall if you want to. When you want to take the side panels off all you need to do is remove the two thumbscrews, flip the handle up, and pull the side off. I really like these handles because they make it a lot easier to get the side panels off. After I took off one of the side panels I could see and feel how thin this case really is.
When I took the side panel off, I took a look inside and found some cool things. The first thing that caught my attention was a fanduct inside of the case which is positioned right over where the heatsink should be. The case does not come with a power supply which is a little disappointing but that would also make the price of the case more. The case comes with a manual for the front ports, a bag of screws, I/O panel, 2 expansion bay covers, and a wire which will convert the power LED for the case from a 3-pin to 2-pin connection.
You are able to take the duct off completely or just move it so that it is positioned correctly. The duct holds a 80mm fan which vents the air from the large opening to the outside of the case. The duct is made of plastic and is a really nice feature which will help with CPU cooling. The back of the case has a bunch of holes in it which is why you are able to move the duct around. The back of the case also has a 60mm exhaust fan which will help with cooling.
One thing I do not like about this case is that the expansion bay covers are the type which are one use only. After you punch them out to use that’s it, you cant reuse them. The case comes with 2 extra expansion bay covers to use but it would have been nicer to have all 7. It would have also been nice to get 7 more thumbscrews so that they could be used here as well. The inside front of the case has a fan housing which holds one 80mm fan, you can also see the PC speaker which is right next to it. The one Molex connector that does not go to the fan is for the lights on the side of the case, unfortunately there is no switch connected to it.
There are the standard jumpers which are for the LEDs, and switches on the front of the case. The front ports have their own jumpers as well, one set is for the USB, another set is for the front audio and there are 2 sets for the USB, you can also see in there the PC speaker jumper.
All of the edges of this case are nice and smooth, most of the edges are all rounded over so that there is no possibility to be cut on them. I really like how most companies are now making sure that all the edges in the case are not sharp because it really sucks when your case cuts you. I like the front bezel for the most part because there are circular clips which holds the bezel into place. There are three of these clips on the case and all you have to do to remove the bezel is pinch each one together and pull off the front.
The tubes on the side of the case change colors every few seconds, the colors are: red, green, light blue, purple, dark blue, and yellow. The colors look pretty cool and I like the overall effect for the most part. The thing I do not like about the light setup is there is no switch to turn it off, you could always attach one or unplug the Molex but it would have been nice to have a stock switch. You are able to pick the color you want with the button that is next to the front firewire port the only bad part about this is that when you power off then back on it starts to rotate again until you pick the color you want. (Thanks to Inder for pointing this out).
I made a shot little video clip of the light changing color with my digital camera. The quality isn’t the best on the video because it was made with a digital camera not a camcorder but it gives you a good idea of how it looks. This movie file is a 1.1MB Quicktime .MOV file so you will probably need Quicktime to watch it. Click here to watch the movie.
Conclusion
SkyHawk USA has made another fine case which has some cool features and a pretty good overall design. The front light tubes on the case are pretty cool but you are going to probably want to install a switch for it if you get this case so you can turn them off.
I really like the side window of the case, especially the design and the fact that there is an 80mm fan in the middle. The thumbscrews and handles for the side panels make it easy to in and out of the case easily and quickly which is good. I always give praise to cases with front ports and this case has front USB, firewire, and audio which is nice because most cases only have USB if any.
The case does not come with a power supply which is a little disappointing because you will have to buy one if you need one. The thing that I was hoping to see changed about this case was the power supply issue because it mounts upside down.
If you are going to get this case and have a power supply with a fan on the bottom of it you will probably want to drill holes so that you can mount it the correct way. I was also hoping to see a motherboard tray and reusable expansion slot covers but there is no remoable motherboard tray and there are only two extra expansion slot covers.
The SkyHawk Galaxy case would be a good case for someone who doesn’t want to modify their case and wants something that looks cool and doesn’t mind the few minor issues that it has. Overall I am going to give this case a 7/10, I would like to thank SkyHawk USA for providing me with this case, they have a list of places where you can purchase this case from on their website.
Pros
- Stock side window
- Looks awesome
- Fan duct included
- Thumbscrews included
- Side panel handles
- Lightweight
- Front USB, firewire, and audio
- Instructions included
Cons
- No power supply
- Power supply mounts upside down
- No removable motherboard tray
- Non-reusable expansion slot covers
- No switch for the lights