Once I had removed the XPlode from its box, I examined its exterior to make sure that it had not sustained any damage during shipment. I started by taking a good look at the front bezel. The first thing I noticed was how simple, yet quite striking, the color accents make the XPlode look. The next thing I noriced was how the use of the metal mesh complimented the black and blue color scheme by adding an almost grey tone.
The bezel itself was fairly easy to remove, needing only a sharp tug from the bottom to pop it loose. I was very happy to see that A-Top had once again chosen not to add unnecessary screws to the bezel to help hold it onto the case. I also like the use of the mesh in the bay covers. This is very useful for stealthing any hard drive coolers you might wish to install in the 5.25" bays.
The Side Panel
The side panel of the XPlode also makes use of the metal mesh, this time as a replacement for a plexiglas window. This means, as it did on the Gladiator, that getting outside air into the XPlode will not be an issue, but dust will be. It also means that you may want to be a little choosier with the fans you decide to add to your system, as you'll get to hear them loud and clear if you aren't careful.
As you can see, the mesh is a single sheet held on by nuts and bolts. I would have liked the bolts to have been longer, but these seem to work well enough for now. If this were a LAN case, I'd probably see about replacing the bolts with longer ones and using lock washers to make sure the nuts stayed in place.
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