3DCool Chenming 602 Case Review
Date : Friday, 18 June 2004
Author : Diceman
Provided by : 3DCool
Chenming 602 Silver
w/ Side Window
Introduction
Finally a noteable redesign the case that redefined a generation. The new Chenming 602 is a modest overhaul of the venerable 601 series which was already the most popular case for enthusiasts. It's size, weight, cooling ability, and just overall goodness has not been equaled in a stock case in my opinion. The new 602 takes that great base case and steps it up a notch or two.
The 602 has an aluminum chassis for a hefty weight reduction over the steel behemoth. That's not the "new" part though. The Aluminum 601's have been around for quite some time. However, there's a host of smaller new features ( with a couple big ones ) that really seperate this case from the pack. 3dcool.com was nice enough to send me this unit for review so let's take a closer look...
The Chenming 602 Case
Looking at the side views of the Chenming 602, It's a pretty standard 601 model. The real differences are on the inside. We'll get to the that in a minute.
 Window View |
 Side/Rear View |
 Shiney Aluminum Interior |
 More Shine from Inside |
The trained antec/chieftec/chenming eye will notice some drastic changes on the interior. Namely the hard drive area. They're now pointed outward from the case and include individual drive rails. A very nice feature indeed.
 Great care for the Accessories |
 Lots of pictures in the "manual" |
The included accessories for this case were perhaps the best I've seen in a case of this price range...individual screw baggies for HDD screws, DVD screws, MB screws, and 2 complete key sets ( 4 keys total ). One set in the accessories box and another set taped to the interior of the case....quite interesting. The paper sheet manual was also very well done with lots of pictures.
 Front Door Open |
 USB, Firewire, and Headphone-Mic Ports |
 Easy Access Fan Holders , No Filter |
 Drive Rail Storage Behind Bay Covers |
 3.5" Drive Area |
 Front Upper and Lower Comes Off |
As you can see in the pictures above, there are certainly some interesting new designs implemented in this "602" version of the case. The easy-access front fan assembly being one of them. They removed the cages from inside the case and placed them on the outside of the chassis. This concept would've been dynomite had they included some type of fan filtering system. Still a nice new feature. With the front fan cover , and the upper plastic piece on the door , easily being removed, this should add to lots of mod possibilities for this case.
 Closeup of rails and place of storage |
The 5.25" drive rail storage behind the drive covers is an added feature as well. That should cut down on losing the rails when they're not in use.
 Window mounted to inside of door,flush on outside |
 6 hdd's with rail drawers |
The exterior side window is mounted with rivots. You can see the window thickness fron the inside of the panel, but the window is absolutely flush on the outside.
The hdd bay area is the real showpiece to the inside of this case. It allows for housing 6 hdd's, each in their own seperate rail drawer that slides out and clips in. This certainly improves on the old design where once you put your video card in, you couldn't remove the hdd without taking the vid card out again. Now you have unobstructed access.
 Inside rear |
 2x80mm "superred" fans included on rear |
 6hdd's with rail drawers (2nd shot) |
The inside rear of the case is pretty standard. There are 2 x 80mm fan cages in the usual place. This design is pretty damn good and no reason to change it in my opinion. The 2 included fans ( only rear fans included ) were of the "superred" trademark. I've never heard of them personally, but they performed and sounded like an average 80mm fan.
 There's a MB tray back there, see it? |
 The MB Tray Removed |
 Full size ATX MB installed on Tray |
 Tight fit going back in |
The "602" Chenming includes a motherboard tray. Not a "slide out" motherboard tray....just a tray that you need to manually remove fully from the case, thru the inside. This is virtually useless. I think they just felt pressured to come up with a mb tray from all the years of people nagging them for one. They should've just left it be without one. In my opinion , this case has plenty of room to work in and does not NEED a motherboard tray. It especially doesn't need THIS one. it's actually harder to install the motherboard with the tray attached than it would be without a tray at all. I would personally leave the tray alone and pretend it's not even there when building a system in this case. This case is fantastic without a tray at all.
525w V-Tech PSU
3Dcool.com also sent me a 525w V-Tech power supply along with the case. I was going to review it seperatly, but once I receieved it I noticed it was an absolutely no frills, no thrills power supply. At first glance ( and still ) , it reminds me of a plain enermax power supply from about 4-5 yrs ago. I felt it certainly didn't warrant a seperate review.
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You can see what I mean about "no frills". I'm not saying it's junk, just that without even a trace of LED's or colored sleeving, it's not gonna draw many looks in todays market for sure. Not to mention, I couldn't find a stitch of information about this power supply on 3DCool's site right up until the time of this writeup. However , after some googling, I found the real V-Tech Computer Industrial Site.
Here's the Specs I found on it.
| -3.3V | 27A |
| +5V | 29A |
| Combined PWR | 220W |
| +12V | 1A |
| -5V | 29.5A |
| -12V | 0.8 |
| +5V sb | 2A |
| Feature Brief | .Double Ball Bearing Fan .4 pin + 12V power connector for Pentium4 (Option) .High efficiency .TC Function (Thermal Control) .Compies with FCC part 15 J class B 115Vac operation and .CISPR22 230Vac operation .Approved by UL, CUL, TUV, CE, NEMKO, FCC .Over voltage protection .Over power protection .Short circuit protection .100% Hi-pot & Function (Chroma) tested .100% Burn-in under high ambient temperature(50¢J) .MTBF above 100,000 hrs at 25¢J .Low noise and ripple |
Again, extraordinary here. It's too bad, that with todays competition in the power supply market, a decent 525w PSU just doesn't get a 2nd look anymore. It's gotta glow, catch the eye with colors, or have a few dials or buttons on it now. The one thing that really thru this power supply under the bus for me was the lack of thermal control. It's really old school in todays standards.
 PSU Installed |
 Glance under the skirt ;) |
 Long Power Lines, Too long really. |
 Notice no thermal controls or lights... |
The first thing I noticed upon powering up this unit was the lack of noise....and airflow. You practically gotta put your ear to it to hear the fan and put your hand flat against the rear fan to see it anything's happening. I can see it going for a quiet approach, but this is too much, heh. The lack of high-performance settings to speed the cooling is a sure sign to overclockers and enthusiasts to look the other way for a power supply.
However, if you're looking for a plain, dual fan, 525w power supply, You've found it here. Well maybe, I still can't find a place for you to buy it yet. I guess if you're interested you'll have to email 3dcool about one. *sigh*
Conclusion
I could sum up the conclusion to this with ....it's a winner. I'd surely call it the best case you can buy for under $100 USD. I'm still loving my Antec 1080AMG and this "602" is just as good, with a slightly different feature set and build materials. With the "602", the quality aluminum construction, excellent stock cooling, innovative features (like the hdd cage), and reasonable price ($84.95 USD), it's a no-brainer. Not to mention it's predecessors incredible track record over the past few years as being the most copied enclosure design on the market. Personally, I feel there is no equal to this case design anywhere near its price range in the current market. And for that matter, anything too far outta this cases price range just simply isn't worth it. The super-high priced Lian Li's or Silverstonetek's simply aren't worth it to me. (with the exception of the new V1000 which is just plain cool as all hell)
In other words, unless you build a case from scratch, this case design is the next best thing. It's "value" is untouchable as I see it. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new, high quality case.
One last note, I hate to see uneducated people spend the same money on fancy light up cases that suck, compared to a high quality case like this. This case will last you until you're tired of looking at it versus those cheapy crapboxes that you will no doubt be tired of looking at soon. Spend the money on a nice case, like this one....you'll thank me, and yourself, when you get it.
You can buy this case in the silver/grey shown in this review, or the Black/Grey version everyone else is reviewing. You can also buy this case with, or without a full side window.
The Black version seems to be the only one I can find on 3DCool's site *sigh*, so you'll have to contact them for the silver one.
A special Thanks go out to 3DCool.com for sending me this review unit. Any questions about this case can be directed to me from the email link in the review title.