At first glance, the Asys CK-1022-5 has a lot going for it: an obscene number of optical drive bays, no front-panel door to get in the way, and an appealingly industrial design. Upon closer inspection, the $135 full-tower case fell flat in basic usability, adding layers of complexity that most PC builders will want to avoid.
The front of the case has more drive bays than you'll ever need. From top to bottom, bays one and two are configured as a USB/FireWire/audio input panel and a 3.5-inch bay, respectively. Bays three through five are open for use, and bays six through eight can hold 5.25-inch drives if you remove the fan bracket that's preinstalled there.
Actually getting those drives installed, however, is another story. We had to open both sides of the case, flip some plastic latches by the drive bays, then try to wrestle the plastic drive rails from their storage space in the hard drive cage. Even though you can install hard drives without removing the cage, we were forced to yank it out to get at the drive rails, which were literally stuck in there.
There's an optional ATX-to-BTX conversion package, which involves installing a few new parts and taking apart and reassembling large parts of the case so that the motherboard sits on the opposite side. Anyone who wants to build a BTX-style computer would do better to just get an off-the-shelf case made for that purpose.
Discuss Asys CK-1022-5