Page 3 -- Fireside Photography

Product Photography

Moving on to the photographic portion, where we can spend less on ink and just post pictures.  Well, it certainly is a handsome looking thing.  The handle reminds me of an old school satellite phone, don't it?  Its just about the same size, too.  But this ones got flames, man.  Flames!

Anyway, the Firestorm is based around Silverstones SG04-HF case, a new design by Silverstone, and not a bad one.  The SG04 is surprisingly accommodating, and not bad to work on after you read the instructions.  Im a use the force kind of builder myself, but I had to read the instructions on this baby.

We keep saying it, but SmoothCreations do world class paint jobs.  However, the paint job on this example is a little dull and slightly non-uniform on the handle where it gets slightly more vibrant.  The black is very black, and the clear coat is deep like a pool.  No matter, the fire is still inside.

With a case this small, there really is only room for a single DVD-ROM drive.  Most bezels have a door that allows access to drives behind it.  None of that silliness with this case, just the left hand side is a door that opens to access the reset button, front audio, and USB.  The right side bezel just has a solitary power button and a LED that serves both power and HDD activity.

The case doesnt have a window on the side, it has a screen to improve exhaust around the video card.  The interior of the Firestorm is mostly PSU, however.  It is impressively small.

The finish is superb however, the black is deep and glossy.  I kept a Swiffer sheet handy to swipe the dust off.

The expansion slots are just perfect for the Genes two PCI x16 slots.  Presumably you could run two video cards in this case.  But that would just be overkill, wouldnt it?  Yeah, overkill is just right!

The backplane of the ASUS Rampage II Gene.  I really like this board, it's layout is clean and has all the connectivity you'd need for a LAN gaming machine. 

The back also has the fan control, something I thought the LANShark should have included.  The fans in the Firestorm can actually be slightly louder than the LANShark at about 60dB going full tilt.  At full blast, the fans dont spin at the same rate and produce difference tones.  This means it can sound a little like nails on chalkboard.  But the knobs are nice to touch, and its fun to tune the fans.

OK, now lets's take the covers off.