Interior and System Build
Interior
The case is quite spacious, providing plenty of space for large GPUs (with the upper HDD cage removed), PSUs, and tons of cooling.
Door panels are standard fare for a steel enclosure, with 2 thumbscrews securing each
A look behind the motherboard tray gives us another view of the removeable HDD cages (which can be disconnected with a pair of thumbscrews), and over to the right we see the 2.5" SSD drive trays behind the motherboard. There are a good number of cable routing openings, and while these don't have any grommets they are at least rounded so there are no sharp edges.
As mentioned in the exterior overview on page one, there is a lot of cooling support with this case. Dual fan mounts supporting 120mm and 140mm fans and radiators (and 240/280mm dual-width radiators) are available on three sides of the case. Only the back is limited to just one 120mm fan or radiator, so right away this Kublai KL05-W looks like a great budget option for watercooling.
With the front grill removed (detaches with a single latch from the front) we see the second pair of 120/140mm fan mounts, with the included 120mm (blue LED) fan installed. (The final pair of 120/140mm fan mounts is on the case floor.)
Installing the motherboard and components was very easy and I didn’t encounter any issues during the build. The layout in the KL05-W is standard ATX, so no surprises here.
Storage
Right away you might notice the pair of hard drive cages stacked in the front of the case, and after removing a pair of thumbscrews from the back, the top cage slides out easily to allow for longer graphics cards (I had to do this to accommodate my R9 290X Lightning).
Won’t stop using optical storage until the bitter end? No worries here
The optical drive bays and both HDD cages are toolless designs, with plastic HDD trays for each hard drive (and each of these trays are also toolless). There is also the option of attaching 2.5” drives to the center of the plastic trays with screws if desired, though I preferred the SSD mounts behind the motherboard.
Around back we have two 2.5” trays, and these are held in with a single thumbscrew each. There isn’t much room between the screw and the back of the chassis, so SilverStone has added a hole for each on the back of the case for a philips driver to loosen the thumbscrew here.
Power
The power supply rests on four soft rubber mounts at the bottom of the case, and there is plenty of space for longer units here.
The height of the enclosure pushed the limit of my PSU’s cable length for CPU power, as most motherboards (including mine) have the 4 or 8-pin 12v power connector on the upper left. It still fit, but I had to stretch it a bit so it might be a good idea to check the length of your PSU cables (or pick up an extender) before picking up this case. Cable routing was otherwise very simple and I had plenty of room to keep things organized for a tidy build.
Next we’ll look at the completed build and see how the Kublai KL05-W performed!
Something that is really
Something that is really important for me when looking for a case is knowing how simple to clean this is. I have a COOLER MASTER HAF X, and that monster is difficult to pull apart in order to clean.
This one is really easy
This one is really easy except for the bottom screen filter. You have to turn the case over to pull it out. You do make a good point about ease of cleaning – certainly bears mention in future reviews.
Looks like a nice case, I
Looks like a nice case, I have always been impressed by Silverstone’s attention to detail and the documentation they provide. That bottom dust screen needs to be changed, so it is easy to remove. Why did they make it such a pain in the arse to get too? To me, it defeats the purpose.
I actually just purchased
I actually just purchased (09/2018) this case and I am not even sure they make it anymore, but it will be the ideal replacement for my Corsair 200R. I built a new game PC in that and I am generally unhappy with some aspects of my current build.
1) The 200r case is too small so ventilation is reduced.
2) No room for 240/280 radiator cooler with gaming motherboard, or possibly at all.
The KL05 case could use some improvements but its still the best case I could find right now that meets my needs and quite honestly, my personal design requirements.