It seems that most case companies are moving to aluminum rather than steel which I think is a good idea, not only for looks but for better cooling and less weight. With so many cases on the market today in so many shapes, sizes, colors, and with different features it can be hard to chose the one that will best suit you. Skyhawk’s newest case is called the Jupiter which is made of 1mm thick anodized aluminum alloy which will resist dust & fingerprints. It has 4 x 5.25” (external), 2 x 3.5” (external), & 4 x 3.5” (internal) drive bays and 7 expansion slots. This case has a feature which is really unique and is also a first on the market, an LCD/light module which can do a lot.
The box of the Skyhawk Jupiter case is pretty basic looking in a plain white box with a few things on it. I went ahead and 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. Almost all cases are packaged this way because it is a good method to keep the case safe during shipping.
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 design to a lot of cases on the market having acrylic on the front of it giving it a nice effect. The front of the case is also protected with a plastic adhesive sheet so that it will not get scratched. This case does however have a really cool feature, which I have not seen any other case have, a LCD/Light Module which is really cool looking. The LCD/light module is always on (even system off) because of the power from VSB output. The LCD will Display time, temperature, and HDD/System-on/off status. It has multi-color light, the auto mode automatically change colors every 2 seconds; Manual mode allows you to manually choose and lock the colors. It also has a built in temperature Sensor which is 23” long, and can be placed anywhere in the enclosure.
I really like the finish on this case, the brushed aluminum really looks good, a lot better than steel in my opinion. The back of the case is also pretty nice, it comes with 4 thumbscrews which are used to hold the side panels in place. There is a little handle which is used so that you can easily remove the side panel because there are no indentations which can be used as hand holds. I really like this because cases which do not have indentations or these little handles can be difficult to work with and getting the side panels off can be a real task.
Below the LCD/Light module is a flip down cover which has front ports which include 2 USB 2.0, microphone, earphone, and 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. You can also see on the left hand picture on the bottom of the case there is an opening which is for the front intake fan, the opening is not very big and doesn’t look like it would be very effective.
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 fan duct inside of the case which is positioned right over where the heatsink should be. There are also a ton of different jumpers which are used for the front ports, LEDs, and the LCD module. The case does not come with a power supply which is a little disappointing but that would also jack up the price of the case. The case comes with a manual for the LCD module, a bag of screws, I/O panel, two 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 two extra expansion bay covers to use but it would have been nicer to have all seven. It would have also been nice to get seven 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 case has a lot of jumpers because of all the front ports, LCD, and normal LEDs, and switches. The LCD display has an ATX adapter which is used so that the LCD can interface with the power and tell what is going on. The HDD pass-through jumper is so that it can plug into the motherboard header and work with the LED on the front and the LCD display. The thermal probe is also connected to the LCD and can display temperatures on it in either Celsius or Fahrenheit. 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. Finally there are the standard jumpers which are for the LEDs, and switches on the front of the case.
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. The motherboard standoffs are pretty standard, they use the normal brass screw-in style. The one thing that I don’t like about this setup is the fact that if you are going to use a normal sized motherboard you will have to use three plastic standoffs which slide into place. The reason I do not like these is because they are difficult to use and remind me of the AT form factor era.
I like the front bezel for the most part, the flash reflected off of the case a little so its not the best picture but I was not able to take one where it did not reflect. You can see right under the shiny part there is a circular clip which holds the bezel into place. There are three of these clips on each side of the case, all you have to do to remove the bezel is pinch each one together and pull off the front. You can see that the back of the bezel is full of things like the LCD module, and all of the jumpers and switches. The only downside to this is that the intake fan of the case is not going to be able to do much due to the fact that so much stuff is blocking the flow of air.
Installation is simple for this LCD/light module, all you need to do is plug the ATX power supply adapter into the motherboard and the power supply ATX plug into the adapter, this will now power the unit. After you have that done you will need to plug the HDD LED jumper into the pass-through cable for the LCD/light module and then plug the pass-through cable into the motherboard. You can also put the thermal probe wherever you want depending on what you want to monitor. I just left the probe inside of the case so that it would display the case temperature.
The LCD/light module has seven different colors to chose from which are: red, dark blue, violet, green, yellow, white, and light blue. There are 2 different modes for the colors; Auto mode which automatically changes the colors every two seconds and manual mode which is one color only that you can set. The LCD/light module will display the system power status, HDD status, time, and temperature in both Celsius and Fahrenheit which is read from the thermal probe. The time button is actually the mode button, it lets you set the time, and color of the display. The right button moves between time and temperature and while in temperature the left button changes it from Celsius to Fahrenheit. The LCD is really easy to use and works really well. The thing I do not like about this display is that the time is only in military time rather than AM/PM, it would be nice to have the option to change it.
Like always my camera does not take good pictures of lighted things like cold cathodes, LEDs, or in this case the LCD. Most of the bluish colors look the same so below is a animated .gif from SkyHawk which shows the colors better. I have also used my digital camera to make a movie of the colors changing but again my camera is just that, a camera not a camcorder. The file is a 1.1MB .MOV file meaning you will need Quicktime, if you don’t have it go here to download it.
Conclusion
When I first saw this case to be honest I thought it was going to be lame, of course when I judge things before I actually see them I am usually incorrect. This case is awesome, not only does it look cool but it has a lot of good features and a pretty good design. I really love the LCD/light module on the front of the case and I think that SkyHawk did a great job coming up with a new idea that has not been done yet.
They have also included some nice features with this case like the front USB/firewire/audio, thumbscrews, and a fan duct. The case really looks good because of the brushed aluminum and is really light because of that fact. The handles on the side panels make getting in and out of the case really easy and fast.
There are a few downsides to this case however: you don’t get a power supply, removable motherboard tray, or all needed expansion slot covers. I also do not like the design of the front intake fan or the motherboard standoffs, I will be talking to SkyHawk about these things and hopefully they will be addressed.
The negative aspects of this case are not really that big of a deal for a few reasons: You may not need a power supply and if you did you might not want the stock one which would make the case more expensive. Also, expansion slot covers are very inexpensive. I really like this case and think Skyhawk has done a really great job with it,
I would recommend this case to you if you are looking for a good, low price aluminum case with some cool features. Overall I am going to give this case an 9/10 and award it the OCmodshop Seal of approval, I would like to thank SkyHawkUSA for providing me with this case to review, look forward to more SkyHawk case
reviews in the future.
Pros
- LCD/light module
- Looks awesome
- Fan duct included
- Thumbscrews included
- Side panel handles
- Lightweight
- Front USB, firewire, and audio
- Instructions included
Cons
- No power supply
- No removable motherboard tray
- Poor front fan intake
- Non-reusable expansion slot covers
- Poor motherboard standoff design