HEC Blitz Case Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

The HEC Blitz (a.k.a. 66RCBB) is an inexpensive mid-tower case, costing only USD 40. Carrying features usually found on more expensive models, let’s see if it is a good pick.

We have to start this review with some constructive criticism to HEC. First, this company has two websites, one “global,” based in Taiwan, and one for the US market. (Maintaining two separate websites with the same contents make no sense to us unless one was in Chinese and the other was in English, which is not the case.) The portrayed case is only listed in the Taiwanese website. The problem is, it is not listed as “Blitz,” but as “66 Series,”  and nowhere in the “66 Series” page is the name of the product, “Blitz,” mentioned. Furthermore, we have the problem of the manufacturer calling their mid-tower cases as “midi” tower on its website and product boxes, which is a very basic mistake.

That said, let’s take a good look at the Blitz.

Figure 1: HEC Blitz case

Figure 2: HEC Blitz case

The left panel of the Blitz is meshed, not featuring fans or an air filter.

Figure 3: Left-side panel

[nextpage title=”The Front Panel”]

The front panel of the HEC Blitz has eight external 5.25” bays, and the bottom three come with the hard drive cage installed, leaving five bays available. All eight bays have meshed covers with air filters.

Figure 4: Front panel

The hard drive cage comes with a 120 mm sleeve bearing fan attached to it (Young Lin DFS122512L, 1,200 rpm, 50.92 cfm, 25.29 dBA), which glows blue when turned on. This fan uses a three-pin power connector, so you can install it on your motherboard and monitor its speed.

Figure 5: Front fan

On the top part of the front panel, the Blitz comes with two USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port, and the traditional audio jacks.

Figure 6: Buttons and connectors

[nextpage title=”The Top, Bottom, and Rear Panels”]

The top panel of the Blitz can be seen in Figure 7. It has a mesh with an air filter, featuring a 120 mm fan (Hong Sheng A1225L12S, which is the same fan sold by Thermaltake as TT-1225, 1,800 rpm, 70 cfm, 32 dBA). You can install a second 120 mm there, if you want. The top panel uses a tool-less mechanism for these fans, and it is very easy to change the fan from exhaustion mode (i.e., pulling hot air from inside the case to the outside of it) to ventilation mode (i.e., pulling cold air from outside the case to the inside of it). This allows you to easily configure the case to work with positive air pressure, meaning that you have more forced air entering the case than exiting.

Figure 7: Top panel

Figure 8: Top fan

The bottom panel has two air intakes, one for the power supply fan, and the other for an optional fan.

Figure 9: Bottom panel

The rear panel and the interior of the Blitz are painted black, which is nice to see on a USD 40 case.

Only two expansion slot covers are reusable – the other five you need to break and toss away. The rear panel has a locking system for the expansion slots which fastens all expansion cards using only one screw. You can still use individual screws with each expansion card, if you want.

There are two holes for hoses of liquid cooling solutions, but if you have hoses bigger than 0.5” (12 mm) in diameter, you will need to break their metallic protections in order to fit hoses up to 1.2” (30 mm).

To the left of these holes, the case has a place for installing a nine-pin D-Sub connector (the one used by legacy serial ports).

Unfortunately, the Blitz doesn’t come with a rear fan installed. It supports the installation of one 80 mm, 90 mm or 120 mm model.

Figure 10: Rear panel

The Blitz comes with a hole for you to install a Kensington lock, preventing unauthorized people from opening your computer. We think that HEC could have simply added a tab or a loop for installing a regular padlock, since the locks from Kensington are somewhat expensive.

Figure 11: Hole for Kensington lock

Let’s now take a look inside the HEC Blitz.[nextpage title=”Inside the HEC Blitz”]

Both panels are attached to the chassis using regular screws, but at least they are black. The motherboard tray has a huge hole for you to access the backplate of the CPU cooler without having to remove the motherboard from the case and a hole for you to route cables behind it. Also, the motherboard tray doesn’t touch the disk drive bays, so you have a good space between them to route the cables behin
d the motherboard tray.

Figure 12: Overall look

Figure 13: A view behind the motherboard tray

In Figure 14, you have another overall look inside the case. The Blitz supports video cards up to 16.5” (419 mm) long.

Figure 14: Overall look

The power supply is installed at the bottom of the case. Note that it can be installed with either its bottom fan facing up or facing down, so you can decide if you want the fan of your power supply pulling air from inside the case or from outside of it. The case comes with an air filter for the power supply fan.

You can install an optional 120 mm fan on the bottom panel of the Blitz, and the case comes with an air filter for this fan.

Figure 15: Power supply compartment

[nextpage title=”The Disk Drive Bays”]

The HEC Blitz has eight 5.25” external bays and a hard drive cage that uses three of these bays, leaving you with five usable 5.25” bays. The hard drive cage supports three 3.5” hard drives. No tool-less installation mechanism is available.

Figure 16: Disk drive bays

The hard drive cage is removable and comes installed in the bottom three 5.25” bays, but you can move it to a different position.

Figure 17: Hard drive cage

You can convert any of the 5.25” bays into an external 3.5” bay using the brackets and bezel that come with the product.

Figure 18: 5.25”-to-3.5” adapter

Figure 19: External 3.5” bezel

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

The main specifications for the HEC Blitz case include:

• Style: Mid-tower
• Application: ATX and smaller form factors derived from this one
• Material: Zinc-coated steel (SECC) body
• Power supply: Doesn’t come with the product
• Available colors: Black
• Side panel: Meshed
• Dimensions: 16.1 x 7.5 x 18 inches (410 x 190 x 457 mm) (H x W x D)
• Net weight: 12 lbs (5.6 kg)
• Gross weight: 15 lbs (6.8 kg)
• Bays: Eight external 5.25” bays (five usable when the hard drive cage is installed), three internal 3.5” bays, and one external 3.5” bay converted from one 5.25” bay
• Expansion slots: Seven
• Maximum video card length: 16.5” (419 mm)
• Maximum CPU cooler height: NA
• Fans: One 120 mm fan on the front panel (1,200 rpm, 50.92 cfm, 25.29 dBA) and one 120 mm fan on the top panel (1,800 rpm, 70 cfm, 32 dBA)
• Optional fans: One 120 mm fan on the top panel, one 80 mm, 90 mm or 120 mm on the rear panel, and one 120 mm fan on the bottom panel
• Extra features: Hole for a Kensington lock
• More Information: https://www.hec-group.com.tw
• Average Price in the US*: USD 40.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

The HEC Blitz is a very good option for its price range. The case has some drawbacks and doesn’t come with “all” the features you may be looking for, but for its price, we can’t complain.

Strong Points

• Price
• Rear panel and interior painted black
• Meshed bay covers with air filters
• Air filter for the power supply fan
• Air filter for the optional bottom fan
• Air filter for the top fan
• You can easily reconfigure the case for positive air pressure
• A huge hole in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler
• Hole for routing cables behind the motherboard tray

Weak Points

• Doesn’t come with the rear fan
• Anti-theft device requires a somewhat expensive lock
• No tool-less installation mechanisms for the disk drives
• No support for 2.5” devices