INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Most enthusiasts, professionals and hardcore gamers i happen to know prefer to house their systems inside the largest PC Cases possible for a variety of reasons (spacious interiors is the most significant one obviously) something that i also prefer to do myself. However although people may want to house a system inside a large PC case that's not always possible due to space limitations and so just like a friend told me recently the only possible choice is to pick one of the smaller midi tower PC cases. These may not share the same features and spacious interiors as the larger Full and HPTX towers but we've seen quite a few interesting models from time to time that even we ourselves would use if we ever came upon any kind of space restrictions. Well since we are falling back slightly with our PC case reviews today on our test bench we have one of the latest midi towers to hit the market the 6018B MOD Series Chassis which is manufactured by X2 a subsidiary of the well-known Spire.

 

   X2 is originated by a team of PC enthusiasts based in The Netherlands, the design heart of Europe. X2 redefines the true meaning of performance PC hardware. With our exceptional style coupled with genuine product quality X2 is irrefutably above and beyond the rest. X2 strives to surpass the needs of our peers with the satisfaction and our guarantee of reliability, compatibility and consistency in our products. Our mission is to provide the highest endeavor of performance while obtaining top-quality levels in all our products.

 

   Spire is certainly not amongst the top PC case manufacturers out there so their newly established X2 subsidiary is even less known but something tells me that might change if they continue on the same path they have for the past year. Getting back to the PC case at hand the X2.6018b is aimed towards casual users and gamers who are not really into spending much but that doesn't mean it lacks its share of features. For example it features a very nice fan control knob at the top which can be used to control up to 4 fans, it has four 5.25" optical drive bays, room for up to five 3.5" drives, a completely tool-free design, a large transparent section on the left side panel and plenty of interior space. Quality-wise X2 has used 0.6mm SECC steel and so although it's certainly not the lightest tower out there it's quite sturdy and should also keep quite a bit of noise from reaching your ears. In the end we are talking about a PC Case so as always closer look is in order.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was nice to see that X2 ships the X2.6018b inside a red/white box with a large picture on both the front and rear.

 

 

The features and specifications of the X2.6018b are placed on the two sides of the box.

 

 

X2 uses two thick foam spacers and a plastic bag to keep the X2.6018b safe during transport.

 

 

A small box placed inside the tower contains the bundle which consists by a large Spire X2 sticker, the mainboard speaker, 4 cable holders, rubber spacer, several cable ties, the user’s manual and all the screws and mounts you will need to install the mainboard in a small plastic bag.

 

 

THE X2.6018B EXTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X2 has used a rather futuristic design for the X2.6018b so while some people will like it others will not (personally i think it looks nice).

 

 

As you can see part of the left side panel is transparent but there's also a section in front of that which really makes no sense since it looks as if it was also going to be transparent (or an extension of the other part) yet it's not. 

 

 

The front fascia is almost entirely perforated and it's also the part of the case you'll either like or not.

 

 

 

At the very top of the fascia X2 has placed the power on and HDD activity LEDs.

 

 

All of the 5.25" drive bays are perforated and have air filters behind them.

 

 

The X2 logo is placed on the lower perforated section of the fascia. Due to the amount of light on our test bench it almost felt that these blue pieces of plastic were illuminated.

 

 

You can place a 120mm intake fan behind the lower section of the front fascia and as you can see there's also a removable air filter in place.

 

 

The I/O is placed at the top and aside the very large fan control knob in the middle it also has the reset and power buttons, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB 3.0 port and the typical headphones/microphone ports.

 

 

At the rear top we see a large perforated space underneath which you can install up to two 120mm fans or a dual 240mm radiator.

 

 

Moving at the rear of the case we see the exhaust fan spot, 2 grommets, 7 PCI expansion slots and the PSU area.

 

 

Unfortunately much like the front the 80/90/120mm rear fan space is also empty.

 

 

Both side panels are held in place via normal thumbscrews.

 

 

The base of the X2.6018b has three perforated areas two of which have air filters behind them.

 

 

THE X2.6018B INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although there's no interior noise-absorbing coating present the 0.6mm SECC steel used should keep some of the noise from getting out.

 

 

For a midi tower the interior of the X2.6018b looks quite spacious.

 

 

It's a bit unfortunate but on the other side of the mainboard tray there's very little space for cable management purposes.

 

 

The 5.25" drive bays feature a sturdy lock mechanism which I’ve never seen in the past.

 

 

In the 5th 5.25" drive bay you can either install a 3.5" drive or a 1.44" floppy disk drive.

 

 

Unlike most cases nowadays X2 placed the 3.5" drive cage facing the mainboard and not outwards something which might disappoint some people. All 4 spots feature the same kind of lock mechanism as the 5.25" bays.

 

 

The mainboard tray features 4 holes ment for cable management purposes (not rubber coated), a large cut out beneath the CPU area and a small round hole right beneath the PCI expansion slot area (have no idea why).

 

 

This plastic plate may "divide" the interior space appearance-wise but in the end it's of no use (unless you are willing to mod it) so you should remove it to install hardware components with ease.

 

 

All 7 of the PCI expansion slots come with lock mechanisms and although not the sturdiest we've ever seen they seem to work quite well.

 

 

There's a large air filter at the base of the X2.6018b and although it sits beneath the PSU area you just need to pull it from the other side to remove and clean it (sliding it back in however might be tricky).

 

 

At the top you can use either two 120mm fans or two 140mm fans with 120mm holes (like the Noctua NF-P14). Of course you can also fit a 240mm radiator up there.

 

 

BUILDING THE SYSTEM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As usual this area is not to showcase a fully functional system but just to showcase the amount of interior space you can expect from the case at hand.

It seems that the X2.6018b can accommodate even EATX mainboards so not bad in terms of interior space.

 

 

With the divider installed you might have a problem mounting really large CPU Coolers so in that case i strongly suggest removing it.

 

 

There's also enough space to install most graphics cards however current mGPUs are out of the question.

 

 

You can also mount even the largest PSUs as seen above but i wouldn't recommend it due to the position of the drive cage.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   For good or bad in order to keep a low cost most manufacturers don't really go the extra mile when designing their products and this can be easily seen especially with PC Cases since here we take into account quality, features and design. Unfortunately although the X2.6018b is a nice looking midi tower in the end it's not really special in that regard and since there's only a handful of cases out there that have gone beyond the "typical" design (CM Cosmos II/TT Level 10/LL PC-888 & PC-U6) I’d really like to see something new here as well for a change (that of course applies to every manufacturer out there not just Spire and X2). However the largest drawback the X2.6018b currently has (up to X2 to change that) is the total lack of fans. I've been testing PC Cases for many years now and this is the first time i see a case that comes without any preinstalled fans whatsoever. Granted for most people that will not be a bad thing since preinstalled fans are mediocre in performance and noise levels at best so swapping them for better ones is the obvious choice however that's not what everyone out there is willing or is able to do (many may never even add extra fans) and thus even a single fan would be a lot better than none at all. Another issue is the very limited cable management space behind the mainboard tray and although this may not affect casual users in any way (limited hardware thus very few cables) it will certainly affect gamers so i certainly hope that X2 will improve on that with their next solutions. On the other hand the X2.6018b has room for up to 4 fans (front/top/rear) ready with a fan controller at the top I/O, has a total of five 5.25" drive bays (4 usable, 1 for 1.44 FDD/3.5" HDD), has four 3.5" drive spots, features a tool-free design and has plenty of space in the interior so the end result is not really bad.

 

   Price is really what saves the X2.6018b in the end since its recommended price tag is currently set at USD69 inside the USA and at around 50Euros inside the EU so you will probably be able to find it for even less when availability gets better. After reading the recommended price tag I’m sure you all realize why they decided to skip on fans all together and give consumers the chance to pick their very own but like i said some people will probably not like this at all. Still we are talking about a quality PC Case with a nice assortment of features and a very low price tag so if you do like the design and you don’t mind purchasing fans separately (or if you'd swap the preinstalled ones either way) then be sure to check it out since it might be exactly what you're looking for. 

 

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design (For Some)
- Five 5.25" Bays
- 4 Fan Spots With Air Filters
- Top Fan Controller
- Tool-Free Design
- Price

 

  

CONS

- No Bundled Fans
- Limited Space for Cable Management
- Position of the 3.5" Drive Cage
- Current Availability