Author: Will Schumaker Editor: Andrew Schembri Date: September 10, 2008 Manufacturer: Sunbeam Tech Provider: Sunbeam Tech

The Assembled Case » Page 1: Sunbeam UFO Acrylic Cube Case

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Over the years, Sunbeam Technology has established itself as one of the leaders in the acrylic case and case modding/lighting markets. One of the latest additions to their acrylic product line - Sunbeam’s UFO Acrylic Cube Case - was recently sent to us for review. As with their previous acrylic cases, Sunbeam has ambitiously designed the UFO with enthusiast in mind. However, already on the market for over a year now, does this cubic case deserve prolonged attention from the enthusiast crowd? In this review, I will do my best to answer that question as well as compare the UFO to Sunbeam’s previous attempts at the ultimate acrylic enclosure!

Specifications:

15” x 11.6” x 11.8” (380mm x 295mm x 300mm) (L x W x H)
11.2 lbs (5.1kg)
Fits Standard ATX/Micro ATX motherboards
2 x 5.25” external bays
2 x 3.5” internal bays
2 x 120mm fan ports
Front I/O: 2x USB 2.0, Microphone, Speaker
Available Colors: Transparent or UV Blue


UFO = Unassembled Frustrating Object?

Like their other acrylic cases, Sunbeam ships the UFO completely unassembled, but with good reason. Doing so definitely cuts down on damage during shipping but also gives the owner a chance to build the case from the ground up, so to speak. Since acrylic cases are for show and not convenience, the assembly process is helpful for installing features such as CCFL lighting, watercooling, etc. which become more difficult to implement later on, when the case is fully assembled.

Looks large enough to be assembled, right?


Take a closer look:


The front & back of the box:


The goodies within:


Unlike Sunbeam’s Acrylic HTPC case reviewed here, Sunbeam does not provide long and short skinny screwdrivers, but that’s OK, because building this case is even simpler than that one and does not require such tools. Sunbeam does of course include all the screws, and panels necessary for construction as well as those infamous Michael Jackson gloves! Here are the other extras that the UFO Cube case ships with:

• 120mm LED fans (x2)
• 120mm standard fan grills (x2)
• Rubber case feet
• 3.5” to 5.25” HDD spacers
• Rear I/O bracket
• Front I/O bracket
• PC speaker

The 120mm LED fans are a welcome to the UFO cube case and give the case that UFO feel… not that I’ve ever seen a UFO… and no, they never abducted me… Anyway, there are two versions of the UFO Cube case, a transparent original, and a UV reactive blue variation. The transparent edition ships with blue LED fans, and the UV reactive variant ships with UV LED fans.

Building the Case

Thankfully, Sunbeam simplifies the entire process with a detailed guide with a lot of text and good images, as well as thoroughly labeled parts. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist/nuclear engineer to read the schematic or to guess what “MOBO Screws” are for!


The panels of the case are all fastened together with these thumbscrews and triangular acrylic pieces. The female acrylic pieces have tapped slugs of metal into which the thumbscrew threads. This creates a good connection and ensures that the acrylic does not crack from over torqueing the thumbscrews.


The front I/O panel is attached to the front of the case with 2 regular (not thumb) screws. This panel includes the power and reset buttons, power and hard drive LEDs, 2 USB 2.0 ports, an audio in port and an audio out port.


The actual act of constructing the case is a very painless and fun procedure, although the gloves are made for much smaller hand than my own. The whole process, from the start of building to having a completed case took about 1 hour. This was with taking pictures in between.

Assembly hint: Hold off on tightening all the thumbscrews on the joints until you have aligned all the acrylic panels.

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The Assembled Case » Page 1: Sunbeam UFO Acrylic Cube Case Page 2: The Assembled Case Page 3: The Final Product