Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Just like the original Blackhawk the main 0.8mm SECC chassis keeps all the same design elements and features. The real change inside is the black interior paint job. On the outside, the most notable change is that addition of a clear window. With the addition of the window, comes a much larger 250mm fan placed to add direct air flow to your graphics cards and processor. Looking a bit deeper, I found there is a door to gain access to the drives and to the releases for the drive covers, and fans for cleaning them. While this part of the design loses its once tool-less functions for the fans and covers but retains them for the drives installations.

Aside from the 250mm fan in the door panel, the cooling system inside the Color version is handled the same way. There are two 120mm fans in the front door panel, and also two 120mm fan at the top behind a mesh cover. The rear exhaust has room to add another 120mm fan, but XClio chose again to leave this hole empty. One major change to the cooling system is the actual fans being used. XClio has moved to a clear frame and fins for the 256 color fans versus the black ones with blue LEDs in the Blackhawk. Not only do the clear fans look better when not in action, but the shine of the LEDs will react much better to clear fans, spreading the color through the blades and frames.

Shopping as I usually do, hunting things down through Google, I was able to locate the case for sale currently. Although there is only one listed e-tailer, I am sure we can all be happy on who it is. I located the XClio Blackhawk Color at Newegg for $149.99. The original Blackhawk retailed for right around $100 when it released. How about we get down to it, and see just what this extra $30 demand in pricing gets you.