Black to the Future - i7 Black Widow

Aegis

Aegis

Aegis

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Joined
15 Sep 2009
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London
Bought this case way back in 2003 for my first PC build and have been using it ever since - when I decided to upgrade to an i7 setup I was worried that I'd have to ditch it for a more modern case but then Corsair introduced the H50 and I realised there was life in the old gal yet :D

Hope you like the pics!

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Here's the complete spec:

Cooler Master 201 'Black Widow'
i7 965 Extreme Edition
Asus P6T Deluxe
6GB OCZ Platinum 1600Mhz DDR3
Asus Radeon HD 5870
Corsair TX650w PSU
Corsair H50 Hydro Series CPU Cooler
LG 'Super Multi Blue' External Blu-Ray/HD-DVD/DVD drive
256GB Crucial SSD
300GB Western Digital Velociraptor
Scythe Kama Bay
1 x Akasa Apache 120mm fan
3 x Noctua 80mm fans
1 x 40mm Fractal Design fan
1 x Cooler Master 80mm blue LED fan

And there's still room for a 2nd 5870 once I've upgraded the PSU - not bad for a six year old case :)
 
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There's a few battle scars around the 5.25 drive mounts where a cross-threaded screw had to be forcibly removed but other than that, yeah - she's in pretty good shape :)

I heard the people responsible for the ATCS series (including the Black Widow) are now at Silverstone - wish they'd make a case with a paint job like this one :D
 
I love that! I reckon it needs the inside spraying black though, and some lighting in there ideally. :P
 
Looks to have very good clearance below the psu, im running a p6t deluxe v2 with a TRUE cooler in an eclipse 62, bit of a squeeze. Looks like you wouldnt have had to many issues even with a large air cooler.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone!

Muel said:
I love that! I reckon it needs the inside spraying black though, and some lighting in there ideally. :P
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I've considered modding it but it's such a classic case (and seemingly quite rare now) that I'm probably gonna keep it as Cooler Master made it :) Might put some lighting in there though!

setter said:
Looks to have very good clearance below the psu, im running a p6t deluxe v2 with a TRUE cooler in an eclipse 62, bit of a squeeze. Looks like you wouldnt have had to many issues even with a large air cooler.
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It's smaller than it looks in the pics!

Here's the dimensions:

Width 19.5cm
Height 44.5 cm
Length 49 cm

That's the main reason I nearly retired it - I bought a Noctua NH-U12P without checking and couldn't get the side of the case back on :D I swapped that for an NH-C12P which fitted but was such a squeeze my CPU idled in the 50's - with the Corsair cooler my idles are in the low 30's and load temps stay under 70.
 
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I used to have one of these many years ago but sold it for i think £40 but it was not in as good condition as yours. Seeing that makes me wish i had kept it.
 
I've still got an original CM ATC-201 which is the original chassis that the Black widow was based on. They are awesome cases except for the 80mm fans.

Unfortunately (from a purists view) I have watercooled mine and cut a big hole in the roof :D
 
beefybarn said:
I used to have one of these many years ago but sold it for i think £40 but it was not in as good condition as yours. Seeing that makes me wish i had kept it.
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Don't feel too bad! It's pretty impractical for modern components and I wasted a fair bit of cash in trial and error attempting to get it both cool and quiet - it's like keeping a vintage car on the road :D
 
Great looking case and build, immaculately done. :)

I have an ATC201 in the loft too, can't bear to throw it out. Although knowing now that the 5870 fits in there... right, that's it the bedroom is becoming an office again. She's had her turn!
 
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