The first thing you'll notice about the 8950 is its height, the 16.9" 8950 is just five tenths of an inch taller than the Palo Alto PA-600, a Mid-Tower ATX case designed for single processor desktop systems.   What's the killer?  The 8950 is a server case capable of accepting extended ATX motherboards, in other words, the boards that you wouldn't dream of sticking in your Mid-Tower ATX cases. 

The trick to Enlight's success in making the 8950 a short case is what quite a few server case manufacturers tend to do, make the case greater in depth than it is tall.  While hardcore hardware enthusiasts might find this approach "wimpy" in the bigger is better world of tweaking, server admins will appreciate Enlight's approach as it is easier to tuck the 8950 away in a crowded data center than it is to fit a much larger case.  And in the server world, although bigger may be better, it also costs quite a bit more as real estate in those data centers isn't a cheap commodity. 

The 8950 weighs in at a fairly light 35 pounds (light for a server case), and features a primarily steel chassis.  Once again, when dealing with a server motherboard, the same principles that apply to cases for desktop/office use don't apply so you won't be finding much plastic on this case.   The front of the case is the only place you'll find something that can break after being hit, the plastic front door. 

The front door is a two-way swinging door that locks on both sides, unlocking either the left or the right side will allow you to swing the door in either direction.  Unlocking both sides will allow the door to be completely removed off of its plastic hinges.  The door snaps in tightly to the hinges and requires force to make it swivel to either side once it is unlocked, so you can leave it unlocked without worries of the door flying open when it shouldn't.  The front door is made of solid plastic and won't chip easily and also provides an air intake to aid in the cooling of this server case.  On the opposite side of the front door are three filter panels that help keep the intake from bringing in too much dust and debris as they are so prone to do in computers that are on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, aka, a server. 

The front of the 8950 is left completely unpopulated with any buttons on the front courtesy of the door, however directly behind the front door are the power, reset and alarm buttons.  The reason for not putting them on the front door is obvious, since this case is designed primarily for use in a server environment, it wouldn't be too good of an idea to place a power or reset switch on the outside of the case where it could easily get bumped and thus toss a website or file server off line for a few minutes or at least until someone realizes the problem.  However, for those looking for a roomy case for a personal workstation, this can be considered a downside as it forces you to open up the front door of your case just to turn it on, reset it, or even gain access to any of the drive bays. 

Visible through the front door courtesy of a plastic window are the 10 LEDs that are both good attention grabbers and very useful in terms of the information they can provide.  The standard power and HDD activity LEDs are present here however we also see the inclusion of a LAN activity LED connector a feature starting to show up on some desktop OEM cases and even in certain models of IBM's Pentium III line of business computers. 

The LAN activity LED is an innovation that is long overdue and it is good to see that Enlight has included such a useful LED on the 8950.  Being a server case, it makes quite a bit of sense for Enlight to include the LED however the biggest questions are "When will we see LAN activity LEDs added on to mainstream cases?" and "What Ethernet cards support it?"  The answer to the first question is, hopefully soon.  With the increasing numbers of "regular" users making use of Ethernet connections, either for internet connectivity or for use with private networks, it makes perfect sense to include a front panel LAN activity LED.  Most Ethernet cards don't have a connector for an external LED and until the standard is set to include support for either a connector or an indicator it is unlikely that we will see any growing support for a connector on the cards anytime soon. 

Towards the lower part of the front door is a window for an IR port so communication between another IR device and your system built in the 8950 can be made without having to open the door at all, a wise consideration on the part of Enlight. 

With ease of installation not a primary concern for Enlight with the 8950, it comes as no surprise that the design of the case isn't a screw-less one however they did make accessing the inside of the case a somewhat simple task.  The case features the same three panel enclosure design that we're used to, the left and right side panels are attached via two phillips head screws each and the top panel is attached via a single screw.  Removing the panels after unscrewing them from the rest of the chassis just involves pulling them back slightly and lifting them out of the case itself, the construction of the case makes for an easy removal of both side panels without having to fight with the case at all. 

The rear of the case features the standard ATX I/O shield cutouts as well as two SCSI port cutouts which is another feature we unfortunately don't see in many standard ATX cases, if we were to give the example of what the perfect enthusiast's Mid-Tower ATX case would be like, it would end up with quite a few of the features the Enlight 8950 boasts as an entry level server case. 

As with most server cases, the 8950 does offer built in electrical chassis intrusion detectors as well as the dual locking front door as mentioned before as two types of prevention against unauthorized case access, which is much more of an important issue when dealing with server cases than with your home computer case.  Another feature commonly found with server cases are the four wheels present on the 8950.  The two front wheels feature a locking mechanism that effectively prevent the case from rolling when you don't want it to. 

The final point of the design of the 8950 that truly sets it apart from the competition is the fact that the 8950 can be mounted in a standard 5U-19" rackmount case with the optional rackmount brackets.   This is the explanation behind the weird dimensions of the 8950 in comparison to other entry level server cases that opt for the larger full tower ATX layouts in order to provide support for extended ATX motherboards.  This convertible approach (offering both rackmount and standup tower support) is ideal because it addresses the concerns of users that have to pay for the amount of space they occupy on a rackmount (try sticking a full tower ATX case in a rack mount, it's not the most practical of ideas) while at the same time making sure that it isn't a rackmount only solution for those users that aren't required to install it in a rackmount.  Smart thinking on Enlight's part.

Enlight offers a number of options for the power supply of the 8950, since this isn't your run-of-the-mill desktop case the options range from the standard 300W Enlight power supply to the top of the line (at least Enlight's line) 400W redundant power supply setup.  The unit we tested came with the base 300W Enlight power supply, boasting full ATX 2.01 compliance and includes 6 standard and 1 mini power connector.  The quality of Enlight power supplies was once the topic of much negative publicity towards the company, however most Enlight owners won't argue that their power supplies have definitely become much better in recent times.  While they are still not the "best" in the business (it is arguable who is the "best"), they do get the job done and aren't nearly as bad as they once were.  

In comparison to most other ATX power supplies, the Enlight power supply is "upside down" with the power connectors on the right and the fan on the left.  Fortunately, the power supply doesn't attach itself directly to the chassis, instead a metal bracket is what the power supply is essentially "installed" into.  What this translates into is that if you don't want to use the Enlight power supply for any reason, all you have to do is simply remove the power supply bracket, flip it over, and then re-install it with your new power supply.

The expansion of any server case is almost critical to its success as a flexible product, and as an entry level product the 8950 doesn't do too bad.  The 8950 shows off a total of 10 drive bays, which seems to be quite a bit since the larger Supermicro SC750A only offers a total of 9 drive bays while standing a full 50% taller.  Of those 10, 9 are external 5.25" drive bays and a single external 3.5" drive bay is made available also for use with a floppy drive. 

At the sacrifice of three of those 5.25" drive bays Enlight offers the optional EN-8700, a hot swappable SCA Ultra2 RAID module.  The EN-8700 converts the three 5.25" drive bays into a single module that provides shelter and cooling for five 1" SCA Ultra2 drives, and if you need a greater amount of storage space, a second module can be used (at the sacrifice of another 3 drive bays) for a total of 10 drives.  The beauty of the EN-8700 is that it cuts down on the amount of space used (5 drives in 3 bays or 10 drives in 6 bays) while providing cooling for the drives courtesy of a 92 mm fan present on the back of the module.  Since the 8950 does not offer any hot swappable bays by default, the addition of the 8700 is ideal for any user that will be taking advantage of a decent sized RAID subsystem while not penalizing those users that won't require such support with a more expensive case.

The nine 5.25" drive bays all make sure of Enlight's classic metal drive rails that have both been praised and denounced by tweakers and enthusiasts alike.  The usefulness of drive rails in a server is debatable, while some argue that it allows for a single drive to be moved from one system to the next, others will argue that in a server, that really isn't necessary.  In any case, the metal drive rails attempt to provide the user with the best of both worlds.  Since the drive rails are metal they do dissipate heat coming off of the drives much better than plastic drive rails and they are much more durable than plastic drive rails, however for purposes of shipping, drive rails aren't usually the most reliable method of keeping drives installed and secure. 

For those of you that aren't familiar with Enlight's drive rails, they are essentially two tracks of metal that are screwed onto the drives/devices that you wish to install.  Then, they can easily be slid in and out of the case or any Enlight case (that uses drive rails) for that matter.  The final verdict here is up to you, but the fact of the matter is that Enlight has been using their drive rails for quite some time and this is a feature that has naturally made its way to the 8950.  The beauty of the depth of the 8950 is that it allows all nine 5.25" drive bays to be occupied without even coming close to hindering the installation of any components on the largest of extended ATX motherboards.  

The sole 3.5" drive bay is mounted vertically and uses a drive carriage instead of the rails from the 5.25" bays for installation.  The carriage is also a classic Enlight feature and makes the drive installation easier as it prevents you from having to screw the drive directly into the case.  This semi-modular design has been advocated by Enlight for a number of years now, however it is by no means exclusive to Enlight cases alone, even some of the generic cases out on the market are now coming with similar modular features.   While these expansion frills are definitely appreciated, we are at the point now where they are expected; whether in the form of drive rails or removable drive cages, the trend towards making cases more modular is definitely an appreciated effort and Enlight has been a solid contributor to it.

Nine 5.25" drive bays is enough for an entry level server case, and more than enough for a high end workstation for the most hard core of hardware enthusiasts.  Although it is obvious that Enlight had to cut some corners to keep the cost of the 8950 below the $200 mark, it is good to know that the case's expansion capabilities didn't take the fall because of cost. 

The no frills approach to the motherboard installation process with the 8950 is to be expected from Enlight.   Neither a slide out motherboard tray nor a quick and easy way of installing the motherboard is provided for with the 8950, rather the standard set of metal standoffs are the only tools the 8950 leaves available for motherboard installation.

Since the 8950 is designed for use with extended ATX form factor boards while maintaining compatibility with all other forms of the ATX specification, there are quite a few positions for standoffs on the motherboard tray.  Our test bed ABIT BX6 Revision 2.0 motherboard naturally fit into the case without any problems, however the true test would be to use an extended ATX motherboard. 

The dual Xeon boards, all extended ATX form factor, we tested out in the case installed very easily and left us with quite a bit of room to work with.  The 24" depth of the 8950 definitely comes in handy when you're dealing with motherboard installation.  At the same time, the 9" width of the case is more than enough to support the installation of a Xeon processor with the heatsink support and still offer a good amount of vertical clearance above the motherboard to work with.

The 8950 is free from many dangerously sharp edges, even around the drive rail contact points where sharp edges normally emerge.  Unfortunately the base of the case is a very different story as it does contain quite a few sharp edges that would provide for quite the unpleasant experience if we had accidentally rubbed up against them during the installation of the motherboard.  Luckily, with a case of this size, squeezing into tight (and sharp) areas isn't a situation you are often placed in. 

When dealing with server cases, noise isn't that big of an issue.  Generally speaking, you don't really care whether or not your server is loud since most of the time you will be tossing in some very noisy components into your server or high end workstation that will create quite a bit of noise even if your case doesn't (10,000 RPM hard drives aren't quiet).   Instead of making noise a primary consideration, cooling is an even bigger factor with server cases than it is with any other type of case simply because of the type of hardware that will generally find its way in these cases.

Enlight is to be commended on the placement of their two 80 mm exhaust fans towards the rear of the case as they remove the heat from one of the most incredible source of it in the case, the CPUs.   The two fans are placed in the ideal location (directly over and to the back of the CPU(s)..) for cooling your CPUs, especially in the case of a dual Xeon setup where the processors are literally located perpendicular to the fans. 

The only complaint here is that there are no cooling mounts at the front of the case to aid in cooling the drive bays, a potentially very prominent source of heat in a server.  While it is true that the optional 8700 RAID bay comes with a 80 mm fan, the key word to keep in mind here is optional so for those users that aren't taking advantage of that capability, they are still left fan-less. 

As mentioned before, the front door features three air filters behind the door itself to help keep dust out of the case.  The filers themselves are washable and are easily removable as they simply snap in and snap out of the door. 

Other than that one complaint, the case was left fairly well ventilated primarily due to its size and the two exhaust fans at the rear of the case.  But let's leave it up to the cooling tests to decide exactly how good of a job Enlight did with cooling the 8950.

The Test

As always, we used the procedures outlined in AnandTech's case testing methodology, which includes temperature and noise testing following reader suggestions and requests.

Conclusion