Over the past year or so, we've seen an influx of mid tower cases from various manufacturers all over the world. Whether it's the normal steel construction or the lighter aluminum version, mid towers are slowly widening the gap between them and full tower cases. Although having a much smaller physical size than their full tower counterparts, some boast similar or close specifications and working space that is all so essential to the hardcore end-users like the modders and overclockers.

   But for some, a mid tower however can never replace a full fledge tower case and that's why there are still folks out there who swears by them. Full towers are also the case of choice for the extreme water-cooling freaks to build a self-contained water-cooled rig with pumps, reservoirs, etc all installed within the case itself.

   The only problem is that the full tower market seems to be moving at a very slow crawl, with nothing much coming out in terms of new design as compared to the mid tower sections of the market. Honorable mentions in the full tower arena are AOpen with their HX08 and HQ08 series, InWin with their Q500/600 series, Addtronics with their 68xx and 78xx series and a handful of other OEM and generic case manufacturers.

   One of the companies that's making headway is Chieftec. Based on their proven mid tower designs made popular by Antec and Alienware, they basically increased the height and expansion on it and made the full tower versions. We folks here in Singapore have had the honor of owning one of their cases thru the good people over at Eclipse Enterprise and today, we're going to take a look at the Blue Dragon Full Tower Case.

  We have reviewed the mid tower versions before right here and here, and also used them in a couple of projects like Project Tivoli and Project DiceBox, so we're interested to see what this full tower case can offer that the mid tower can't. So before we go any further, let's take a look at the specs, straight from Eclipse.

Specifications:

Dimensions

• With Door: 475mm(D) x 205mm(W) x 670mm(H)

• Without Door: 475mm(D) x 205mm(W) x 670mm(H)

Material

• High-quality 1.00mm SECC
  with rounded edges for added safety during installation

Drive bays

• 14 bays

  • External: 6x 5.25" bays, 2x 3.5" bays

  • Internal: 6x 3.5" bays

Fan bays with clipon fan mount design

• Total fan capacity: 5 x 80mm, 1 x 92mm

  • 3 Front 80mm intake,

  • 2 Rear 80mm output

  • 1 Rear 92mm output (above PSU)

Powersupply options

• Height clearance for ATX & Redundant PSU

Net/Gross Weight

• Approximately 15/16kg (w/o PSU)

Certification and compatibility

• Intel & AMD Dual processors approved chassis

• Fits standard ATX m/b and 12x13 ATX-E XEON m/b

• Seven standard ATX expansion slots

Special features

• Large ventilated area for optimal airflow

• Clipon fan mounts design

• EZ drive rails for easy 5.25" device installation

• Swing out side panel with functional handle and lock

• Detachable 3.5" internal drive bays

• Grounding shield for Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI)

• Lockable front door for added security (door model only)

A closer look.....

   Typical of a full tower case, these models from Chieftec is one heavy customer at 16kg w/o PSU! A PSU will probably add a couple more kilograms to the overall weight. Approved for use with both Intel and AMD systems, the case will fit any standard ATX motherboard and even ATX-E Xeon Processors motherboards as well. It spots the same cooling vents design with the mid tower siblings, the two 80mm exhaust fan spots and also the easy access side panel with the lockable handle.

   It also includes an extra 80mm cooling fan on the side panel, a feature only found on the new models of the Chieftec cases. A standard ATX I/O Plate is also provided together with the case. Only thing it lacks here is a PSU, but I'm pretty sure most of ya would've gone out and grab an Enermax, Antec or any other PSU unit with it. :O) There's also a 92mm exhaust fan port at the back of the case, above the PSU location. take note that you can turn the plate around and switch the location of the PSU and fan port. Or of course, you can mod that extra fan port to install a second PSU maybe.

   And just like the mid tower counterpart, the full tower version is available both with and without the 5.25" bays lockable door. But unlike the mid tower version, the Power and Reset buttons are situated on the outside and not inside where it will not be accessible once the door is closed and locked. Something to think about if you plan to use the case for a server system.

   Other than that, the size of the buttons are comfortable enough and the Power and HDD LEDs are situated on either side of the Reset button, although they're really screaming for a Blue/White combo!!. The door conceals the 6 5.25" drive bays and 2 3.5" drive bays. But there's still more expansion in there! 6 x 3.5" drive bays awaits you in the inside!! That's a total of 14 drive bays! Enough even for the most demanding user! Some full towers can't even match that! Now that we've seen the exterior, let's see the interior and what kind of accessories the case comes with.