KickButtComputers.com has been building custom high end PC's for almost 10 years in a traditional bricks-n-mortar storefront in California. According to the owner, "we were selling high end systems with all the old school mods like  blowholes and windows from almost day one." Also according to him, "expanding our operations onto the net was the next logical step." Well, here we are, with one of KickButtComputers.com's Signature Series cases purring away in front of me. Does it capture that "old school of hard knocks spirit of modding" our EIC mentioned in his diatribe on pre-mods, or is it a cookie cutter Transformers POS? Those of you who can't bear the suspense can jump to the conclusions page--but you're going to miss a lot of great pictures--for the rest of you, read on!

Of all the staff at BoxGods, why am I the one that got the assignment to review this case? For the most part, these systems are aimed at people who lack either the time, space, or skill to "roll their own". In my case, it's all of the above. A full class load and running the news department for the site leaves about 2 free minutes a day. I live in an apartment in NYC, so a shop and the tools needed are out of the question. Last, my skill level for modding is a few notches up from retarded--oops, I mean modding impared. That said, I LOVE case modding and really wanted to have a PC with some bling.

I also think our EIC who is an extremely talented modder with many contest wins under his belt, and who takes it seriously enough to promote modding, didn't feel like he would be objective. As mentioned in a piece he wrote on the subject of pre- modding here, he discusses the modder's mentality, and the way the process alters the modder. The senior staff here, to a man, has been involved with modding from its earliest days. They all are more than happy to help others get involved, and that's a cornerstone of the site itself. Our electronics expert, Cliff Anderson, not only invented the BayBus for fan control, but freely shared those designs with the modding community at large.

That left me. WOOT =)

The case arrived at my doorstep in a big nasty brown box inside another box--as it should have. It had traveled from California to Texas, so the aforementioned cynical EIC could "see for himself". It then traveled here to NYC and arrived unscathed. A sophisticated method of packing (peanuts and newspaper) was used, and judging by the condition of the outer box, is as effective as it is plain. When I took the case out of the box, I immediately noticed the unmistakable pattern on the metal referred to as “Diamond Plating”. The custom “BoxGods” themed top panel was the first glimpse I caught of the case, and it was beautiful.

Also in the box were the spare modular power cables, some nice stickers, and the documentation.