Topic: Cases
Product: A-Top Technology Gladiator Gaming Case
Provided By: A-Top Technology
Reviewer: K Elliott
Date: April 16, 2005

When I picked up the A-Top Gladiator to begin the photo shoot it surprised me how light the package was and after slitting open the top of the carton with my pocket knife I thought for minute I had gotten a display box with a foam insert inside.  Instead it was just a very well done packaging job on A-Top's part.  It's always nice to see the extra card given to the center portion of the shipping carton with the use of additional bubble wrap since this is the area of the case that will likely be dented from side pressure.

The finish and paint on the Gladiator is above average, the gun metal grey of the case plays nicely with the chrome of winged effects that begins on the lower bezel and ends on each of two side panels.  The use of curves on the door edges rather than the typical square corners is a nice touch to make the case look even more distingtive.

The window cut-out follows the same profile as the wings and this helps tie the two together nicely. Rather than use Plexiglas for the the side-panel window A-Top has chosen to a very fine mesh grill material that should allow a great deal of air to enter into the case and perhaps and equal amount of dust.  While I find no fault with this method of covering ones windows from a visual stand point, in the summer time when the windows are open I prefer my case be as filtered as it possibly can be.

The door on the Gladiator is rather unusual, you have the normal plastic door that opens and closes like any other door, but they have also added a piece of brushed aluminum which rests on short stand-offs.  With the door treatment like this it allows the door to be back lit and a nice blue glow comes from the entire perimeter of the door. One other thing of note on the door is the back lit logo that good rather nice when the light go down.

At the rear of the case you can see the opening for exhaust fan, which will accept either an 80, 92 or 120mm fan, if you want to have the maximum air flow you may want to work on the fan grill a bit or perhaps just remove it all together to allow more air to circulate in the case. You can also see the dual fan variable speed control on the rear of the power supply.