Raidmax recently sent another of their new release chassis for review – this mid tower offering called the “Seiran”. Raidmax has been very busy lately releasing several new chassis designs and giving their customers many options when deciding on a case for a new build or upgrade. The Seiran chassis comes in a white, red, or black version. Today, we will be reviewing the black option. The Raidmax claim to fame is offering good looking, high quality, and affordable products. There is certainly no shortage of unique features and design qualities included in the Seiran chassis, so read on as we take an in depth look at the Seiran Mid Tower Case to see if it lives up to the Raidmax standard of a great product at a great price.

Having been in the computer component business for over two decades, Raidmax has survived in today’s challenging economic times by offering quality, affordable components.  By doing so, they give those who need to save money or simply can not afford high priced components many options to choose from.

Raidmax sports a global presence with product availability spanning across the Americas, Europe and Asia just to name a few. Regardless of what part of the world you live in, getting Raidmax products should be an easy task. In addition to the product availability provided through their distributors, Raidmax has offices located in the USA, Thailand and Taiwan.

Here is the official “About Raidmax” as posted on their website.

“Raidmax was founded in 1988 with the mission of providing the best solutions: specifically, meeting your requirements for innovative designs, excellent performance and quality products.

In early 2003, Raidmax was the first to debut the design “Scorpio”: an alien eye shape on its general front panel. At the time, it was the best ever hit in the gaming case business and almost every factory had owned at least one similar design back in China. Two years later, Raidmax released another cutting-edge design, Samurai, and people who had seen the case itself instantly fell in love.

After numerous global feedback, Raidmax is known all over the world. It is said our company is not only a case designer but also the perfect budget keeper. You can simply spend a little but you receive higher quality than you expect.

It has been more than 10 years since Raidmax began its work on its unique product lines and market position. The name of Raidmax is synonymous to gaming design and budget cases. In the United States, Raidmax is considered to be the best second tier brand; in Asia, it is said that only Raidmax can offer the budget cases with great designs; in Europe, with almost no brand management, Raidmax’ followers are still showing their loyal support in many ways.”

The Raidmax Seiran case arrived in excellent condition free from any shipping damage. This is due in large part to the case being shipped double boxed. We are not sure when ordering the case from a vendor if it will come double boxed or not, but even if it is not, rest assured it is well packaged either way.

The box packaging is comprised of a black and white theme, one side of which shows the black option and the other side showing the white option. The box sides have additional graphics displaying the different color options and highlighting some of the Seiran’s features.

Upon opening the box, we are presented with the case itself wrapped in a clear plastic bag and well protected by cardboard with supporting foam inserts. All and all the packaging is appealing and very functional, nice job here!

Features

• Perfect ventilation meshed side panel with options for 12cm or 18cm fan
• Slide out side panel handle
• Combination Hard Drive/SSD racks
• Bottom power supply filter
• New design side panel with 25mm cable management room
• Top I/O ports with extra USB 3.0 X 1, fan control switch and LED light adjuster
• Novel 5.25″ meshed bay covers
• Tool free drive installation design
• Rubber grommets for cable protection
• Water cooling support via three pass through tubing holes at rear
• Bottom mount power supply

Specifications

Continue reading as we explore the Raidmax Seiran’s exterior features!

As mentioned earlier, the Raidmax Seiran case is loaded with unique features usually reserved for a chassis costing substantially more. Our exterior tour begins with a look at the front of the case, which is made up almost entirely of nine 5.25″ meshed bay covers. The top of the front area is where the fan speed and LED light controller is located. Incorporated in the design of the fan controller is the HDD activity light, the power light, and the power and reset buttons. At the very top is where you find the two USB 2.0 connections, headphone and mic jacks, and a single USB 3.0 connection.

All of the bay covers are made of plastic and incorporate a foam filter on the back side to aid in keeping a dust free environment inside the chassis. The covers are easily removed by simply pressing the lever towards the left and swinging out and off. Behind the bottom three bay covers is an included 120mm red LED intake fan. The top most bay cover is intended for use with a 3.5″ bay device, such as a card reader. The accessory pack includes an additional 5.25″ bay cover, should you have the desire not to use the 3.5″ option.

With all the bay covers removed, you get an initial look at the HDD trays and accessory pack – more on these later.

The left side of the Seiran case has a large, see through mesh area and a 180mm red LED fan attached. The appeal of the large mesh area in lieu of a standard clear window will be up to one’s individual taste, but we actually think it blends in very nicely with the overall appearance of the case. The rest of the left side is comprised of the standard steel panel design.

The right side of the chassis is comprised of a stamped metal design, which enhances the theme of the Seiran case. One added benefit to the stamped design is the additional room it provides for cable management behind the motherboard tray area.

The top of the chassis does not have any ventilation or the option to mount a fan, but it does feature a grab handle area to aid in transporting the case.

Looking at the rear of the Raidmax Seiran, you can see that the case incorporates a bottom mount power supply design, which seems to be the standard now days. Just above the power supply mounting area are the seven expansion slot covers and three rubber grommet holes for water cooling system tubes to pass through. The rear top area of the Seiran is where the I/O shield gets installed and where you will find another 120mm non LED exhaust fan. You may have noticed the two handles at the back of the case, these are attached to the side panels and are used for removing them. While the handles are certainly a unique feature, their usefulness is in question. When the handles are closed, they interfere with the water cooling tube holes on one side and partially cover the expansion slot on the other side. If you have an add on card installed that has several connection points, such as a high end sound card, you may find that the handle will get in the way of some of the jacks. You can’t blame Raidmax for trying something new here, but the additional cost of implementing these handles may have been better spent in other areas.

We’ll conclude the exterior tour with a quick look at the bottom of the Raidmax Seiran. The four feet are larger than most cases, both in length and height. The size of the feet provide excellent stability and because the case sits a bit higher, this allows for good air flow to the power supply’s fan. Each of the four feet have a rubber strip applied to them. This keeps the case from sliding around and provides good anti vibration qualities. Lastly, at the bottom of the case you will find a mesh filter that covers the power supply ventilation holes.  This filter is easily removed by simply sliding it rearward and out, making cleaning a breeze.

Next up we will pop the side panels off and explore the interior of the Raidmax Seiran!

Interior design can make or break the functionality of any chassis on the market. The ease of building, cable management, and looks are all important factors when choosing a chassis for your next build. Let’s have a closer look at the interior of the Raidmax Seiran and see how it measures up.

After removing the side panels, we took a quick look at the included 180mm fan attached to the left side panel. As mentioned before, it has a red LED light and also has rubber cushions at the mounting points that help dampen any fan vibrations. There are two power leads coming from this fan, one for powering the fan, and the other for the LED. Both of these leads get connected to the front panel fan controller allowing the user to control both the fan speed and the brightness of the LED. The same holds true for the front intake fan.

The interior is painted completely black and features a very large cut out area in the motherboard tray section to allow for easy removal of a CPU cooler. The wire harness is complete with everything you need to connect the fans to the controller and the front panel USB connections (both 2.0 and 3.0) to the motherboard. The standard motherboard connection wires consisting of the power, reset, HDD activity LED, and power LED are all present.

The bottom interior area is highlighted with the ventilation area for the power supply and a large cut out for cables to pass through.

The inside rear doesn’t really have anything we have not already covered, except for the fan blades, which are a bold red color and match nicely with the black and red theme of the case. The rear fan does not get connected to the fan controller and has the standard 4-pin Molex power connector. Also worth mentioning is the meshed expansion slot covers that allow for additional air flow. The expansion slot covers are held in place with standard PC type screws and not thumb screws.

There is room for nine drives to be installed in to the Seiran case, either 2.5″, 3.5″ or 5.25″ devices can be installed in any of the bays. One issue that we had was that only six drive trays are included with the case. We would have liked to seen the full allotment of nine trays included. Just to the rear of the upper drive bays, there are two rectangular shaped rubber grommet pass through holes for additional cable management opportunities. In addition to these pass through holes, Raidmax has allowed for some extra room between the right side panel and the body of the case, 25mm clearance to be exact. This is a welcome sight as much too often we run across cases that have very little room in this area, making cable management behind the motherboard tray almost impossible.

Installing a drive into the Seiran is a relatively painless task that requires removing the lock plates on each side of the bay targeted for a drive. You simply twist the knob to the open position and remove the lock plate. At this point, you can slide the drive tray out and install either a 2.5″ or 3.5″ drive in it. Installation of a 5.25″ drive does not require the use of a tray, you simply slide a 5.25″ device in and lock it down with the lock plates on both sides of the bay.

The drive trays are another unique design found on the Seiran case. They are both very easy to use and to install drives into.  You just need to lay the drive in the tray, line up the mounting holes, and secure the drive to the tray using screws. Once this is accomplished, you slide the tray back in the desired location and secure it in place with the locking plates.

As previously mentioned, installing a 5.25″ device is just a matter of removing the bay cover, sliding it in place, and securing the drive with the lock plates. Here are a couple of pictures showing a ROM drive installation.

Finally, we removed the front panel to get a look at the inner workings of the fan controller area. The front panel is removed by grabbing the bottom and pulling straight out, much like many other cases on the market. All of the controller area solder joints were nicely done, and the wire leads were found to be of good quality and securely fastened to their respective connection points.

We will finish off the tour of the Raidmax Seiran with a quick look at the accessory box included in the package. The box of accessories were tied securely in the drive bay area and arrived intact. Included in the box were a users manual, an extra 5.25″ drive bay cover, and three adhesive backed wire management clips. Also, included in the accessory box is a bag full of miscellaneous screws, wire ties, a speaker, and motherboard mounting pegs.

We wanted to test out the fan controller and lighting system before we provided our readers with a final conclusion about the Seiran case.  We proceeded to hook up a power supply and powered up the case. The fan and light control worked perfectly and provided a pleasing experience in both functionality and appearance. While the fan controller does not allow you to control each fan individually, it’s a great feature to include on a case at this price level, which just adds to the value of the product.

A quick internet search shows the Raidmax Seiran case is available at a cost of around $89.99 USD. At this price point, the Seiran case should be a very appealing option to anyone looking for a big bang for their buck. The Seiran is loaded with unique features and was a pleasure to work with. The additional space allotted for cable management behind the motherboard tray, the included fan controller, and the three included fans make the Raidmax Seiran rival much more expensive offerings from other manufacturers. The only two complaints we have with the Seiran is the shortage of drive trays and the usefulness of the side panel handles. Other than that, it’s really difficult to find anything wrong with a case in this price range.

If you are in the market for a mid tower case that looks great, is loaded with unique features, and priced well below what you might expect, then the Raidmax Seiran needs to be at the top of your list. We think Raidmax has a winner here!

Pros

• Great Looks
• Great price
• Excellent Cable Management Options
• Tool-less Drive Installation
• All black Interior
• Included Fan Controller
• Three Included Fans
• Drive Tray Design

Cons

• Only Six Drive Trays
• Side Panel Handles Interfere With Water Cooling Holes and Expansion SLots

Based on the excellent value and the multitude of features the Raidmax Seiran offers, Overclockers Tech is proud to award a 9/10 and the accompanying Gold Award to this offering from Raidmax!

Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)

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