AZZA Fusion 4000

Calling the AZZA Fusion 4000 a gaming case is like calling the Empire State Building an office complex: technically correct, but woefully inadequate. So big is this case, in fact, that it can hold not only an ATX motherboard and all the trimmings, but also a separate Mini ITX motherboard and all of its trimmings?in both instances, including the power supply. Die-hard DIYers will undoubtedly love all the options the case gives them, and at $259.99 (list) the price is even sensible. But the Fusion 4000 is, unsurprisingly, difficult to carry and bulky enough to defeat some typical work habits, so unless you have a specific need for its unusual offerings, you're better off setting your sights elsewhere.

Assuming, that is, you can even see over the top of the Fusion 4000. Measuring a dizzying 30.7 by 10.2 by 24 inches (HWD), this is, by quite a margin, the tallest case we've ever seen. It dwarfs the Thermaltake Level 10, and even hulking full-system behemoths we?ve seen from boutique desktop manufacturers, like the Maingear Shift or the BFG Phobos (which also housed a smaller computer), tremble under its mighty shadow. And with a weight of 42 pounds empty, it's also one of the heaviest. Though these qualities are imposing, neither would present much of a problem were it easy to transport. But no: There's no handle, whether a detachable one or even an indentation on the exterior bottom panel. That makes carrying it around both a figurative and literal pain; we recommend placing the shipping box where you'll want the case to stay forever before unpacking it. (And, remember, chances are that this monster will fit only under the most Brobdingnagian of desks.)

At least the Fusion 4000 is decent on the equipment front. Its dual PC-nality, for one thing, is well addressed. The components for the Mini ITX system are installed in the uppermost of the case's two chambers, which opens (on either side) when you push two locking switches and lower a hinged door. Inside you'll find two internal 3.5-inch drive bays (which, thanks to two preinstalled SATA backplanes, are hot-swappable), two external 5.25-inch bays, and a single expansion slot. There isn't room up here for a full-size power supply, but you won't need one for most Mini ITX builds anyway. If you decide you don't want to install another computer in this area, you can use included replacement rear-panel plates to instead add a vent (for another fan) or a second full-size power supply (a special Y-cable, for linking both power supplies' output to the motherboard's 24-pin input, is included for this purpose).

The lower chamber is accessed in the traditional manner: by removing two thumbscrews and pulling off the side panel. In addition to the four 5.25-inch and six 3.5-inch drive bays down here, you'll also find two bays designed specifically for 2.5-inch drives (most likely of the solid-state variety); all of these are externally accessible from behind a front-panel door containing two 140mm intake fans. Because this is a truly hard-core case, there are ten expansion slots, so you can install one of the few XL-ATX gaming motherboards on the market, such as the Gigabyte G1.Assassin or the EVGA X79 Classified (though, of course, E-ATX and standard ATX form factors are fine as well). Grommeted openings allow for easy routing of wires and cables throughout the case, and there?s plenty of room beneath the motherboard for running cables; and a large rectangular hole facilitates adding mounting plates for aftermarket CPU coolers.

There's decent front-panel connectivity, too, from two adjacent collections of ports on the front of the top panel?ostensibly one set for each of the two computers you may want to install. In total there are three USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports (which connect to a header on your compatible motherboard), two headphone and two microphone jacks, and two power and reset buttons. It can be intuited (correctly) that the upper set is for the Mini ITX system and the lower set for the ATX system, but there's no direct indication of this anywhere near the controls themselves.

There are a few other examples of a lack of polish as well. In addition to the potentially confusing controls and the lack of a carrying handle, the front-panel drive door scrapes along the floor if you try to open it; you can alleviate this problem by using the included stand (which will add another 1.5 inches to the case?s height), but preinstalled feet don?t seem to be a lot to ask on a case that?s this skyscrapingly unwieldy. We were also disappointed in how relatively few fans were included. In addition to the aforementioned intake fans, there's a single 140mm exhaust fan in the ATX chamber?and that's it. There's room for two more fans (either 120mm or 140mm, or one measuring 230mm) in both the filtered side panel and up to four more fans (120mm, or three 140mm, or two 230mm) in the top panel, but none of these is included. Perhaps AZZA assumed that anyone choosing a case this extravagant would default to liquid cooling (there are plenty of grommeted rear-panel openings for routing piping into and out of the case, and the company boasts it can fit three such coolers at once), but this is too big of a case to be cooled so casually out of the box.

Worse is that there's no convenient way to work in the Fusion 4000. We normally advise laying cases horizontally on a flat surface, but doing so with this case could easily eat up more real estate on most workbenches or dinner tables than you may have to spend. If ever a case in modern times cried out for a removable motherboard tray, this is the one?but such a feature is sadly absent. You could remove the Mini ITX "case," but that's a relatively involved and cumbersome procedure that shouldn?t be necessary. We also found both the top panel, which consists mostly of louvered vents, and the Mini ITX chamber's side door flimsy; we frequently had difficulty snapping them back into place when we were done, and more than once inadvertently opened the side panels just by touching them the wrong way.

The good news is that once you solve (or look past) these shortcomings, installing components is not much of a chore. The Mini ITX chamber is a bit cramped, true, but if you install as much as you can on the motherboard before putting it in, the process isn't too bad. (We recommend doing that anyway.) Tool-free construction on almost all of the drive bays and expansion slots means you won't need your Phillips screwdriver for much beyond attaching the motherboard. (The one curious exception? The Mini ITX chamber?s single expansion slot.) And you certainly don?t have to worry about having enough space for, well, everything, even extra-long video cards like the AMD Radeon HD 6990.

Attractive as the AZZA Fusion 4000 may be, with its stylish matte black and red accenting inside and out, for all regular intents and purposes the case simply isn't practical. Other extra-tall cases, like the Corsair Obsidian Series 800D are more manageable; and more still, whether the original Level 10 or its Level 10 GT offshoot (both of which are Editors' Choices and, we feel obliged to mention, have handles), are more "fun" and more engagingly designed. The Fusion 4000 is novel only for its two-systems-in-one gimmick, which will appeal to only a small minority of even the most adventurous DIYers. If you know you need this case's unique features, you won't be too disappointed in what you get; but for everyone else the Fusion 4000 is neither compelling nor reasonable enough.

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