Most computer cases are made out of steel and aluminium, but there are companies which offer acrylic cases as well. There’s something about being able to see inside your case that makes acrylic cases better than traditional cases. Acrylic enclosures have been around the modding community for some time now and are widely used. ClearPC is one manufacturer of acrylic cases, and they do very high quality work. ClearPC was kind enough to provide us with one of their new designs, the Secret Agent “Briefcase” and this is what we found.

Introduction
When I recieved the case It was well packaged in bubble wrap to protect the acrylic case from scratches, while sitting in a layer of foam peanuts for added protection. Unlike other case manufacturers, ClearPC shipped the case assembled. The case looks like a briefcase as the name implies but it fits a standard ATX motherboard and ATX PSU, even though it’s smaller than the other designs put out by the company. The case is made out of 90% cast clear Lucite®, which is more expensive and stronger than regular acrylic. This case is all about quality. Let’s take a look at the specs of the case.

Specs:
The Secret Agent Briefcase can easily accomodate the following hardware:

• Full-ATX & Micro-ATX
• 2 x 5.25″ (CDROM), 2 x 3.5″ (HDD)
• Unibody. Not in kit form. Fully assembled utilizing just 2 thumbscrews and a molecular bonding agent.
• 2 X 40MM rear, 2 x 40MM HDD, 1 x 120MM side panel.
• CPU venting, side panel. Rear exhaust vent holes. Built-in HDD cooling tray.
• 2 USB 2.0, 1 firewire, 1 set audio/microphone/line-in jacks. Located on side panel. This custom, all-clear cable assembly is not included.
• 6.25″ wide x 14.25″ high x 18.5″ long.
• Weight: Approximately 12lbs.
• Shipping Box: 11″ wide x 26″ high x 20″ long (double-walled cardboard box). Each case ships individually plastic wrapped and is rigorously subjected to inspection prior to delivery.

Walkthrough:
From the moment I took the case out I noticed how well built the case was. This case has a wow factor of +10, and really, the pictures we’ve taken don’t do this case justice; it just looks so much better in person. The case is mostly made from one piece of acrylic and the hinges are held on by a molecular bonding agent. A handle is added to the design to resemble a briefcase, held secured onto the top of the case by bolts and acorn nuts. Even if you after you build your PC inside the case, the handle will do its job of handling the weight of your system. The lid has two small thumbscrews to hold it in place to the rest of the case when closed. There’s small rubber pads on one side and near the hinges of the case to help keep the case from slipping when in the vertical or horizontal position. All cases come with accessories, and the Secret Agent is no different. Each case comes with it’s own set of accessories which includes;

• 9 self tapping screws, motherboard installation
• 8 thumbscrews, HDD installation
• 7 thumbscrews, PCI slot covers, card Installation
• 7 PCI slot covers
• 8 Drive screws
• 4 PSU screws
• 16 fan screws, for the 40mm fans
• 1 power switch, prewired (aluminum switch caps are available)
• 1 reset switch, prewired
• 2 5mm LED lights, prewired
• 2 bay cover screws (single bay not included)

While this model doesn’t ship with the side mounted dual USB 2.0, Firewire and one set Audio/Microphone/Line-in jack, you can buy them from ClearPC for very little. The case consists of two main pieces: the top and bottom that fit together to make one piece; all users have to do is lift the top upward using the precut hole in the case. I noticed that the case opened very smoothly and it even has latch that extends to keep the lid in place when opened all the way. On the top there are 4 holes pre-dilled to insert the HDD/power LED’s and the power and reset switches. ClearPC just started offering it’s cases with the extra option of painting. Their older cases didn’t have this option, but the newer ones do. The case we received for this review was shipped with a really nice blue flame design. The paint kind of feels like vinyl in some ways, but it doesn’t feel cheap, so I’m sure it will last a long time.

There is enough room to house up to two hard drives and attach them with the included HDD thumbscrews. Behind the drives are two 40mm fan holes which are used to push cool air (that is drawn in from the 120mm directly behind them) over the hard drives and out through the small ventilation holes on the other side. Right below that sits the two 5.25 drive bays. It a little tricky to get screws through the outer side to hold the drive. I would suggest using a magnetic screwdriver since it is a little hard to get the small screw in without one. Don’t install the PSU until all devices are installed first, unless you want to have to take the PSU out many times to install screws for the drives. The other two 40mm fans are in the back are used for exhaust by the motherboard. One thing I love about the design of this case, besides it being small, is that the motherboard standoffs are pre-mounted so you don’t have to mess around with them, and of course, the case can house a full sized ATX motherboard without any problems. While the space may look a little small, trust me it will fit.

Installation:
I used some really old hardware for this review since I had nothing else at the time. I started by installing the HDD first. The included thumbscrews are a little smaller than most thumbscrews and they went in nicely to attach the drive. I decided to put in this drive first since I didn’t have and 40mm fans to add to it. I started to add a CD drive while putting the insides screws in first. As I said before, it can be a little tricky to get the outside ones in without a magnetic screwdriver. This is also why we install the power supply last, since the inside screws are right next to the power supply space. Next, I installed the power supply which was easy to get in, with ample room on the sides to let power and IDE cables reach the drives. I would have to suggest that if you’re using an IDE hard drive to use the flat ribbon cables as they’re much easier to get to the hard drives than the round IDE cables. A better choice would be to use SATA since the cables are smaller and would fit nicer. The only problem that I noticed was the way that the power supply hole is sitting. If you have a power supply that has fans on the bottom, they will be touching the bottom of the case since the power supply sits right-side up. For a case like this, I would suggest getting a power supply with a fan only on the backside so it’s not blocked. Other than that this case is golden. Now onto the motherboard. The motherboard mounts are already pre mounted like I said before so adding a motherboard is quite simple. Just lay the board down matching up the screw holes and add the screws. All expansion cards are held into place by a horizontal mount that can be very fragile with pre drilled screw holes. There is more than enough room for cards with seven expansion slots. One good thing about the case is it has a CPU vent located on the side right above the 120mm fan, which will help disapate the heat your cpu puts off.

Now that everything is installed I notice that my wires are all over the place. It might be a good thing to pick up some zipties since this case has less space than most. Cable management could get out of hand in such a small case. With everything running at full, I noticed that my system is a lot cooler than it would be in a traditional case, even the case is cool to the touch. Some may argue that it’s harder to get the heat out of an acrylic case over a metal case. While the metal case dissipates the heat through the case itself, the acrylic doesn’t have that option. I did, however, look it up and found that acrylic is very porous. What that means is that the acrylic has a bunch of small holes (not visable to the naked eye) that the heat can dissipate through. I have used a similar case from ClearPC for 2 years now and I know that the case being acrylic helps with the heat.

Overview:
This case was designed for LAN parties and the PC modder in mind, but more so for the LAN party gamer. The overall design is good for consumers utilizing a Micro ATX or full ATX motherboard and allows for simple installation of system components. The cooling on this case seems to keep everything cool enough even for the hotest systems. Air circulation has been well placed through out and works well four 40mm case fans and one 120mm case fan placed in certain areas to cool the system. The ventilation slots above the CPU area are great for letting air in and out of the system. While it would be nice to have a filter mounted to the ventilation slots to keep the dust out, it’s not that big of a deal, just an added feature. Having the PSU right side up with a dual fan PSU kind of has problems for the other fans. Maybe in the future ClearPC can flip the design upside down for the PSU mounts to adapt to dual fan PSU’s. The pre-mounted motherboard mounts are a plus since I wasn’t expecting to have them there. A lot of people might find that to be a nice added feature. Cable management can get out of hand but with a little work it can be cleaned up just fine. Overall it’s a must buy. I would definately recommend this case to everyone that wants a portable acrylic case that looks great and does its job. ClearPC has done a great job presenting this case and overall design, portability, and quality. If you ever have any problems, their customer service is top-notch, quick, and extremely professional. The Secret Agent “Briefcase” gets a 10 out of a 10 and a Spanking Monkey Award.

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