Chieftec Dragon DA01-BLD Full Tower Case Review
Date : Tuesday, 07 May 2002
Author : Wolfman
Provided by : Eclipse
Enterprise
Introduction
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 aluminium version, mid towers are slowly widening the gap between them and full tower cases. Athough 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. Honourable 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 handfull 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 honour of owning one of their cases thru the good people over at Eclipse Enterprise and today, we're gonna 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
Material
Drive bays
Fan bays with clipon fan mount design
Powersupply options
Net/Gross Weight
Certification and compatibility
Special features
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.
Accessories & Getting Inside
The case comes with pretty much the basic accessories for the user to get started. No power cord is provided as the case do not come with a PSU. You will find the mandatory pack of screws and motherboard stand-offs, two sets of keys for the front door and side panel and also 6 pairs of drive rails for the 5.25" drive bays. Having used a lot of cases before, I still favour the rail type mountings for the 5.25" drives. It makes it much easier for you to install/remove your drives.
Removing the side panel just requires ou to undo a couple of larger than average thumbscrews. Once that's done, pull on the handle and remove the side panel. I would've love to see thumbscrews on both side panels though. Once inside, you'll find vast amount of working space within the case, something even the normal PC enthusiasts will appreciate. Imagine all the things you can stuff in there.... water reservior, radiators, tons of CCs, fans, etc... heheh! You get the idea! Like all Chiectec cases, you ain't gonna find a removable motherboard tray, but with all that space available, it wouldn't be a problem with installation and maintenance.
In order to install your 5.25" drive bays, you will first need to remove the metal plate covers thats stamped onto the case structure. Before you do that, you'll have to remove the front bezel. Unilke their mid tower counterparts, the front bezel of the full tower is a two-piece design, like a two piece swimsuit! :oP There are two levers on each side of the top part of the bezel. Push them in and pull the top bezel away from the case. Then push the bottom part of the bezel downwards and it will disengage the locking tabs and you can then pull it away from the case structure. With all that parts removed, what's left is the trademark Chieftec durable and strong case structure. This case can really take a beating! But don't be fooled... although its' strong as an ox, the case is built with safety of the user in mind as well. The edges of the metal are nice folded so you wouldn't cut yourself during installation or maintenance work.
You will see that all the 5.25" drive bays are covered with the metal covers. Prying it off with a plier shouldn't take you long. Just be careful of the sharp edges of the metal stamp covers. (the only thing that's sharp in the case!) It wouldn't be too hard for Chieftec to exclude them altogether now would it? I mean, most of us would probably be using all the available drive bays anyway. Once you've done that, you can fix the front bezel back to their original positions and begin with the installation. Another thing worth mentioning is the paintwork. I've read a couple reviews on the case stating that the paint is rough/coarse and it scratches easily. I got to agree that yes, the paint does scratches easily if you're not careful. I guess most coloured/painted case do scratches easily. But I haven't known a guy who has nothing better to do than scratches the paintwork of a case! LOL! But as far as the paintwork being rough, I'll have to disagree. Those of you having the normal beige counterparts will notice the "orange-peel' texture on the case, but that's not the case with this blue beast. The paintwork is nice and smooth, the same for the silver coloured version.
Installation
I'm very sure most of ya would skip this part. How hard could it be to put the hardwares into the case aight? Heheh! But for the benefit of the newbies out there or for someone who have not used this case before, I'll show it to you once again! For floppy drive installation, you will need to mount the drive onto the 3.5" slot just below the 5.25" drive bays. The drive bay is removable from the case structure by removing two thumbscrews in the front of the case. Once you have got the floppy installed, just slide the drive bay back in.
Use the drive rails to install your 5.25" drives. Simply screw on the rails onto each side of your drives and then slide the whole assembly into the case from the front. The metal spring clip will lock itself onto the case and you're done. Motherboard installation is also pretty much straight forward. Mount the brass motherboard stand-offs on the appropriate locations on the tray and you're ready to mount your motherboard into the case.
For hard drives installation, use any two of the removable drive cages in the bottom front of the case. The cages also has an 80mm fan mont located in the front so that you can mount a fan there to help cool your hard drives. But due to the presence of the fan clips, the hard drive would be protruding out of the drive cage and over some motherboards. Could a problem for some but might not for others.
The case also has a PSU rest plate installed but it does present a little problem for owners of PSU with an extra cooling fan like the Enermax. The grill from the extra 92mm cooling fan comes in contact with the rest plate and prevents the proper installation of the PSU. Not such a big problem as the rest plate can be easily removed. If you like, you can turn the PSU mounting plate around and have the PSU installed at the upper half but then the Enermax 92mm cooling fan would be facing upwards instead.... :^) The pictures below shows exactly where the rest plate is coming into contact with the PSU.
Cooling
Cooling is one of the main areas I personally look at when I'm out looking at buying a new case. With all the hardwares inside running at insane speeds, stock or overclocked, it's important to have a constant supply of cold air into the case and also an efficient way of removing all the heat generated. The mid tower Chieftec cases generally have a well-thought out and well-balanced stock cooling system, with two 80mm fan spots in the front bringing in cool air into the case and also cooling the hard drives and two exhaust fan spots in the rear, removing all the heat within the case. With this full tower version, it has a little more cooling prowess. 3 x 80mm fan spots in front of the case bring the cool air in, plus a single 80mm fan spot on the side panel.
The fan is situated to blow cool air directly onto the video card position and this fan spot was first seen on the Alienware KoolMaxx™ Video Cooling System. Of course, we modders are the ones they got the idea from right? Here yay! Here yay! And like its mid tower siblings, two 80mm fan spots are situated at the rear of the case to remove the heat. In addition to that, an extra 92mm fan spot is also added, providing another exhaust spot for heat from the 5.25" drives and hot air trapped near the top of the case. All in all, the case has a rather well-balanced airflow system to ensure your precious hardwares inside runs well and cool.
Mods Possibilities
We wouldn't leave out this part of the review now would we? Heheh! For starters, if you plan on using the 92mm fan spot at the top of the case, you might wanna lose that stamped grill and add your own chrome fan grill or Laser-Cut grills. Or if you plan on installing a second power supply, you can cut out the same shape opening as the one below it to for your second PSU. That second PSU can be used to power up your fans or any water-cooling accesories you might have. Pumps and what-not.
There's also a lot of working space at the top of the case for a chimney or even two chimney fans to help remove the heat from there. Since there's a considerable amount of space between the top and PSU (even when the PSU plate is inversed), you can put a standard 38mm thick 120mm fan at the top without worrying about the fan interfering with the PSU. Since we're in the topic of adding fans to this case, that puny 80mm side panel fan just don't cut it when it comes to cooling your brand new GeForce 4 now would it? :O) A dual fan configuration will not help help cool that beast better, but at the same time, bring in more cool air onto the motherboard and case interior in general.
Let your modding imagination run wild with this case peeps! More blowholes, windows, LED mods, etc... :O)
Conclusion
The mid tower Chieftecs has made it's mark with their mid tower cases, made popular by the likes of Antec and Alienware. And their full tower line carries on that tradition. Construction wise, the case is well-built and sturdy enough to stand the test of rigorous everyday use, or the testings done by you! :O) *whirrr! hears the Dremel spinning up!* The metal edges are nicely folded so as not to expose any sharp edges that could hurt you during installation or maintenance. 6 x 5.25" and 8 x 3.5" drive bays will certainly satisfy even the most demanding user among us. The abundance of working space is another welcomed feature for those who likes to swap hardwares ever now and then and for the watercooling freak, it's just heaven-sent! I believe every part of your watercooling rig will fit in the case with no problems at all. If you're not into watercooling but still wants good cooling for your rig, the case does not disappoint. With 7 stock fan locations/cages, your hardwares will stay cool and runs smooth... with the fans installed of course! :oP Like it's mid tower siblings, the lockable side panel and front door prevents unwanted access from nosy friends and relatives! Heheh! Another nifty feature is the drive rails for your 5.25" drives and also the removable 3.5" drive cages. These helps in the installation of your drives and does not require you to remove the other side panel of the case.
Pros
Cons
If you're in the market for a full tower, I suggest you put this case in your list, if not at the top of theat list! Costing at S$230, it's not cheap but then again, all good things seldom comes at a cheap price. Whether you're planning it for a server or just personal use, the Chieftec Dragon Full Tower will not dissappoint. I would like to thank the good people over at Eclipse Enterprise for providing the case and if you peeps here in Singapore wants to grab one for yourself, head on down any one of the Authorised Dealers listed on Eclipse Enterprise Website.
Cheers and thanks for reading!