GMC X-7

Exterior of the GMC X-7 ‘X-Station’

The GMC X-Station is made from a steel construction with a plastic front. Although the panels aren’t as thick as the ones on high-end cases from other companies (e.g. Antec, Thermaltake), they’re much lighter and so help to achieve a system which can be easily moved. This is a definite advantage if you regularly attend LAN’s.

The external front of the X-7 is black, like the side-panels and looks rather industrial. It boasts four 5.25” drive bays and one 3.5” bay.

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The top 5.25” bay is ‘stealthed’ for an optical drive to fit behind whilst the others have uniquely designed face plates installed. There is a tab on the right side of each face plate which makes removing each one incredibly simple.

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The single 3.5” bay is alike the 5.25” bays by having a tab for removing it. At either sides of the bay are orange ‘indicators’, behind these ‘indicators’ are LEDs to strengthen the orange glow.

Below the 3.5” bay there is a single-line LCD with orange backlight. This LCD is used to display system temperature, fan speed readings and HDD activity.

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Many cases have now moved on from the traditional front-mounted power switch to the more easily accessible top-mounted switch. The GMC X-Station also follows this trend with the power switch sitting right at the top of the front panel with the ‘GMC’ logo below it.

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However, unlike most cases, the GMC also has another power switch which is located in the traditional placement. Along with the power switch, you will also find quad USB sockets, headphone + microphone jacks and a Reset switch.

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If we turn the whole enclosure upside down you can see that the front panel folds right round the front of the case and is utilized as the front feet. To make up for the extra height, the rear feet are a little taller than standard ones.

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Another feature panel of the GMC X-Station is the left side. It’s basically a more appealing version of a fan grill, it’s purely for aesthetics. It boasts a number of fins to help cool air make its way into the case and has an 80mm fan installed behind.  On the side of the air vent unit are two LED’s (red and green) and a switch which feeds more volts to the 80mm fan when pressed, thus speeding it up.

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The rear of the case is fairly standard: a top mounted PSU, 120mm fan placement and the normal ATX motherboard positioning.

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