Xion Predator AXP 970 Case Review

I’m always a bit skeptical of gaming cases, or the enthusiast cases.  There’s no way I could convince myself to walk into my nearest Fry’s and pick one off the shelf that looked good.  It simply goes against the common sense that many of us have developed to do our research before we buy.  That said, when a Xion Predator AXP 970 landed in my lap for review, it felt a bit like the Russian roulette of performance cases.  Knowing nothing about the case, I set out to personally acquaint myself with it.

At first glance the Predator AXP 970 looks much like many other performance cases.  It’s got the standard color, the obvious frontal intake fan, some distinguishing lines and the side window, or mesh in this case.  However, lets not judge this boo-, err, case by its cover!  A little time spent poking around inside can tell us far more about a case than the exterior alone, so let’s take a look under the hood and see what’s in store for us…

Opening this case was a little like opening the door of a Lincoln Town Car, stepping in and finding yourself inside a limo.

The interior of the Predator AXP 970 was for more revealing than the rather ordinary-looking exterior and there was plenty to be impressed with.  Immediately obvious were the built-in front-loading hot-swappable SATA hard drive trays, a feature which immediately had my attention.  Could installing a hard drive in this chassis be as easy as slipping it into a front-loading slot?  Someone pinch me!

The surprises didn’t end there.  The case was well equipped to handle many of the configurations an enthusiast (or gamer) could throw at it.  It’s got pre-drilled holes for water cooling tubes in addition mounting slots for 120mm fans or a radiator at the top of the case.  Cooling isn’t all just about fans though, often those pesky cables get in the way of everything, and it was apparent in this case that cable management was on the mind when they designed her.  Finally, the addition of hard drive slots for SSDs and a filtered mesh for the bottom-mounted PSU slot is the icing on the cake here.

After snapping some luscious photos of this bare beauty, I finally calmed down enough to compile a list of exactly what she’s equipped with.

No lack of options here!

Internally, the Predator AXP 970 boasts four 5 ¼ inch drive bay (all with mesh front covers), two externally accessible hot-swappable 3 ½” SATA drive bays, three internal 3 ½” hard drive bays and four 2½” internal SSD slots.  The case comes with two 120mm fans, and mounts for up to four more, with the possibility of an even larger 180mm fan mounted on the side panel. Last but not least, the front panel hosts your standard audio, USB and eSata ports.

But that’s enough ogling, lets get to work and find something to fill this beast.

I selected a DFI LanParty motherboard with a Core 2 Duo e8400 as the building blocks for the build.  It’s not exactly the fastest system on the block, but it’s no slow-poke either.  With 4 GB of memory and an ATi Radeon HD 5850 to boot, it may even run Crysis.  The case didn’t come with any motherboard stand-offs, which seems like such a minor thing to exclude considering all the other extras that are thrown in.  The motherboard mounted easily and had plenty of breathing room in the relatively spacious case.

Installing the power supply was also a cakewalk, and there was even the added option of determining how one could orient it.  Fan up, as with most bottom-mounted PSU case designs; or fan down, which takes advantage of the mesh at bottom of the case designed for this setup, complete with externally removable air-filter.  It doesn’t take much time to throw some components into a case and close it up.  However, I wanted to utilize the full set of features that this chassis provided.

Home base?  Nope!  It’s the side of the case, with mounting holes for 120mm and 180mm fans.

Mounting the PSU in this fashion not only allowed it to make use of the mesh, but also allowed the mess of power cables to efficiently slip into one of the cable management holes allowing the working area of the case to adopt and maintain a very cable-free appearance.  These cable drops were a little tight for some of the larger power cables, but with a little pushing and pulling they worked out splendidly.  The cable lengths on the power supply I used were just long enough to make this all work, though I had a growing concern that the side of the case may prove difficult to close considering the growing volume of cables stashed behind it.  Fortunately, a little cleanup allowed me to get the side of the case back on with only a minimal amount of grunting and shoving.

Installing the drives was ridiculously easy, though I was not convinced that these units were as secure as they otherwise might have been.  The optical drives only had thumb screws on one side, so in order to completely secure the unit, one would still have to manually screw in the other side (and then face the task of getting the side of the case back on).  The internal hard drive was simple to install and snapped securely into place.

After the tool-less installation of the internal hard drive, I was quite baffled to learn that one would still have to screw in any drives using the hot-swappable trays.  Whatever benefit which had been gained over using the removable hard drive trays was lost considering it required nearly as much effort as installing another internal unit, not to mention a screwdriver!  However, I still found the front loading method quite preferable when faced with the prospect of routing more cable through the already crowded cable management system.

The front loading SATA bays still required one to secure the drive to the tray with screws.

When all the components were in place the chassis maintained a very presentable appearance that emphasized function over form.  The interior was clean and neat with only a minimal amount of visible cables, while providing ample room for future expansion.  The uncluttered design allowed the two 120mm fans included with the case to operate unfettered by the constraints of cables and other obstructions.  A SWiF 2 (again, the Silent Whisper Fan 2) was added to the side of the case for good measure.

Despite some minor annoyances the Xion Predator AXP 970 was a pleasure to work with.  It offers a full range of features for the enthusiasts and gamers alike, provides plenty of room for the powerful video cards known for their size, and caters to a wide array of possible setups.  With room for a plethora of hard drives, SSDs and optical drives, you won’t run out of space inside anytime soon, and the included cable management options will ensure that the inside of the chassis stays relatively free of cable clutter.

Sadly, the case lacks any sort of windows, and ogling your creation through the side mesh once it’s been assembled simply isn’t as inspiring as it might otherwise be (bonus points for airflow though).  Don’t let that dissuade you though, the Predator has functionality in spades and is well worth entry price if you’re looking for a well-rounded case.

While it won’t be winning any beauty contests or otherwise setting itself apart from the crowd, the design sports some notable features that are simply not found on other cases.  I’ve worked with few cases that have been this feature-rich, and I can safely say that it’s a great case for it’s price-point.

One can nit-pick and gripe about the small things all they want, though it doesn’t change the fact that the Predator AXP 970 is a solid choice for a performance/gaming build and earns my recommendation.

	REPORT CARD : Xion Predator AXP 970 Case category rating comments Quality 4 Well constructed, but not the sturdiest thing in the world. Innovation 5 Great features for today’s modern hardware Performance 4 Lots of mesh make for great cooling performance, but requires more cleaning Installation 5 Lots of thoughtful features make installation a breeze Value 5 Really great case for its price point FINAL VERDICT: 5 out of 5 stars