Verdict: Three 120mm fan mounts give the Gamer great cooling potential

From the outside, the Nitro Gamer looks fairly undistinguished. The black steel finish and aluminium front panel hardly make it worthy of a place in the Louvre.

However, the Gamer is very well laid out inside. The five internal 3.5in drive bays are positioned at 90-degree angles to the front of the case, so it's very easy to install drives. Not only this, but any hard drives installed in these bays can be cooled by the front 120mm fan mount. It's a shame that the Gamer doesn't include a fan as standard, although at least the rear 120mm fan mount is populated.

There's also the option of fitting a third 120mm fan on the left side panel, which also has a large duct so that fresh air is blown directly onto the CPU. This is the only case you can fit three 120mm fans as standard, so it has awesome cooling potential.

Although a door covers most of the 5.25in drive bays, the uppermost bay is left exposed, so you don't have to open it every time you need to change a CD or DVD. It's a great design innovation that makes us wonder why nobody has done this before. Five 5.25in and two external 3.5in drive bays lurk behind the door. Blue LEDs glow from behind the air intake on the front panel too.

Another interesting design concept is the rotating USB 2/FireWire/audio jack block. It's located on the right side of the front panel, and can be rotated through 90 degrees, making the ports more accessible, regardless of whether the case is on your left- or right-hand side. However, despite its towering height (540mm) there's no room for an E-ATX motherboard, as the Gamer is only 488mm deep. This is a real shame considering the three 120mm fan mounts.

This year definitely looks as though it could be the year in which manufacturers finally start including two 120mm fan mounts on every case as standard, so it's a real pleasure to see three well-placed 120mm mounts on the Gamer.

It might not be the most distinguished-looking case ever created (although it's certainly distinctive), but it could be superb for a high-end air-cooled PC. If Nitro were to make a slightly deeper model, with room inside for a water-cooling kit or E-ATX motherboard, then it would be a real contender.

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