Author: Fido Posted on: 9/16/2002 Sponsor: KoolCases Discuss: In the forums

Introduction and Features If you're a regular reader of the articles here at LWD, during the course of the last few months you may have noticed the three case reviews prior to this one have all been priced above $150 dollars. Today however, we're going to break that trend with a review of a case that hopes to provide the features of a high priced case, at an affordable cost. Well, maybe not all the features, but at least attempt to provide you with a few of them. We'll take this case completely apart, as we do in all of our case reviews, but there are few things we must discuss before we begin. First and foremost, the Condor case was provided to us by KoolCases.Com and is currently selling on their website for $85.00 US dollars. The Condor is a modified Sky Hawk ALP4350U case. The manufacturer has removed a few of the original Sky Hawk features and has added a few of their own, so if you're planning on purchasing one of these make sure you study the feature list very close. You should also be aware of the fact that while the sponsor of this review has named this case the Condor, I have seen a few other sites selling the same case under a completely different name. Condor Features: Chassis Dimensions: 16.5" (H) x 8" (W) x 19" (D) Drive Bays: 5.25"x 4(open) 3.5"x2(open) 3.5x1(hidden) Power Supply: 350 Watt Construction: Aluminum and plastic Window: Window kit factory installed Fans: 80mm side panel intake (clear) 80mm front panel intake 80mm rear duct exhaust Maximum board size: 12" x 10" Front Mounted Ports: 2 USB Inside Outside Upside Downside On the outside, the Condor case has all the markings of a very high quality aluminum case. You can clearly tell from the finish the case has an aluminum shell. The front panel has been trimmed with plexi-glass and includes four large chrome screws. The windowed side panel even has some nice chrome and gold accents further adding to the mech-like theme.              Taking a closer look at the front of the case, you'll immediately notice it's made of plastic. The surface texture matches the aluminum panels quite well, as does the color, but it just doesn't reflect light the way aluminum does. Adding the front plexi-glass panel does dress up the front of the case nicely, as does the large chrome screws - even though they're falsettos (they don't actually screw into anything). Fat fingered folks will enjoy the large power and reset buttons, but may not find the placement and size of the fold-down USB door very friendly. I'm not sure why case companies insist on placing these doors at the very bottom of the case, or why they seem like they keep getting smaller and smaller. We'll talk more about the USB door after these pics.                     Even though I'm not very fond of the size and placement trend I've been seeing lately, I'm actually quite fond of having USB ports in the front of a case. I also think having sound, microphone, and firewire ports up-front is just as important as USB. When you open the fold-down USB door on this case, you'll notice a set of firewire ports, a pair of USB ports, and ports for sound / microphone. The only ports that are functional though, are the USB ports. The others are either "blanked out" or are just holes where something should or could be. While an experienced case modder will probably find a way to make these useless ports (holes) come to life, a first time box builder may become very confused by their existence. The motherboard side of the case doesn't really have much at all worth discussing. It's just a big piece of thin lightweight aluminum secured to the case with a couple of thumbscrews. The access side of the case does a good job making up for the lack of excitement on the other side. For starters, the preinstalled window has been secured behind an "X" - which has been cut in the case panel - using chrome pop-rivet style bolts. The center of the inverted "X" has been expanded to make room for an 80mm clear intake fan. A filter on the intake fan would have been nice, and in all fairness we should probably question the "movement" of air through this case. Several arguments can been made for, and against side-mounted intake fans. Some dogs say they disturb the natural flow of air from the front, to the back. While others claim that the more cool air you bring inside the case, the better - no matter where it comes from. For the purpose of this article, I'm simply going to state what this case has to offer, and the leave the argument open to a proper discussion elsewhere.                     The gauge of aluminum that has been used to construct both side panels, along with the top of the case, is somewhat thin compared to the thickness found in a Lian Li. As a result, the panels are a little flimsy, but since they aren't structurally important the only drawback I foresee are possible vibration issues - even though we experienced no vibration problems during any of our tests. Foam strips have been applied to the top of the case, to help reduce the possibility of vibration. Moving around to the rear of the case we are met with, well, nothing too out of the ordinary. The power supply is at the top, and is held in place using four standard screws. There are plenty of ventilation holes along the back of the case, which we'll talk more about once we open up the case, and at the bottom we have the standard seven deadly card slots. Oh, and we can't forget about the side panel handles. On the rear of the case, attached to each side panel is a small plastic half-ring. At first, they appear to be some kind of wire / cable guides, but I think their purpose is to give you something to grab onto when you want to remove the side panels. A nifty idea, but they're not very visually appealing.        After removing the four thumbscrews on the rear of the case, and reaching around to grab hold of those funky handles, we're now ready to remove the sides from the case. Dealing foremost with the obvious, the upper front regions of the case are home to the four 5.25", and three 3.5" drive bays (one is not exposed). Below the drive bays we find a speaker, an 80mm intake fan, the LED / Power / Reset button leads, and the connections for the front mounted USB ports. The upper rear of the case is home to a 350-Watt power supply that ships with the case. Below the power supply, you'll find a funky looking exhaust fan, more ventilation holes, and the seven deadly card slots (thumbscrews are provided for the card slots). My biggest complaint about the drive bays is the lack of drive bays. While there may be enough bays to build a box for your mom, a power user will probably run out of 3.5" in bays rather quickly. There are also a few small sharp edges around the drive bay areas, even though the manufacturer attempted to protect us from them by rounding them off.              As mentioned earlier, the lower front area of the case is home to an 80mm intake fan, a speaker, the LED / Power / Reset button leads, and the connections for the front mounted USB ports. Filters on the fan would have been nice to have, along with better documentation about which front mounted ports actually function, and which ones didn't.              The rear exhaust fan is one of the strangest contraptions I've seen in a while. Instead of placing the exhaust fan in the traditional spot, similar to what was done with the Lian Li PC-60, they've left this area of the case empty and have moved the fan off to the side. In order to have enough room for the 80mm fan, they've mounted the fan sideways and placed it inside a small plastic duct. The duct can be positioned towards the top of the case to draw air away from the CPU, or be mounted towards the bottom of the case to draw air away from your cards. To move the duct around, there are two screws you'll have to contend with, both on the rear of the case. The goal behind duct exhaust fan design: you can move it to the area of your case where you're in need of the most cooling. You also have the option of removing the fan from the duct, mounting it backwards and reversing the airflow.                                  To install a mainboard in this case, the duct we've just talked about will have to be removed, because the Condor does not have a removable motherboard tray. Once the duct has been removed though, you should have more than enough room to install your goods. When I say "more than enough room" I'm not saying you won't cuss - you'll just cuss a little less. You won't have to worry too much about cutting your paws while working inside this case. Nearly every edge inside has been rounded. There were still a few areas around the drive cages that were a little on the pointy side, but it's nothing like the old stamped cases we saw on the market 5 years ago.              There are only a few more items to cover before we summarize what we've learned about this case. All seven card slots come with thumbscrews. These are really nice because you don't need a tool to remove a card, but there are times when my fingers aren't quite small enough to reattach them. Earlier we mentioned the power supply, but a few additional details are necessary. The power supply was made by a company called L & C, and carries a 350Watt rating. It is included in the $85.00 dollar advertised price on KoolCases website. Last but not least, we have the doggie-bag: power cord, mainboard stand-offs, screws, and I/O port mainboard plate. Nothing out of the ordinary here, but a mention is still required. Or is it?              Summary The Condor attempts to bring a few unique features to the table, while failing to deliver a few of the more common ones. For example, the rear exhaust duct is a very unique feature, but a common feature such as a removable motherboard tray has been left out. In fact, this case seems to contradict itself quite often. I'm sure this was done to keep the cost of the case as low as possible, which I don't have a problem with. What is most important, is for you to have a good solid grasp of what you're going to get, and what you're going to have to give up. As long as you can live with those facts and make an educated decision about this case, my job here is done. The Good The price Aluminum construction Exhaust duct design concept Power supply is included Preinstalled side window Side mounted clear intake fan Gold fan guard on side fan Front mounted intake fan Rear mounted exhaust fan Plexi-glass on the front of case Front mounted USB ports Thumbscrews The Bad Plastic front Very thin gauge aluminum Exhaust duct design concept No intake fan filters No removable motherboard tray Not enough internal drive bays Front I/O ports that don't exist

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Published on: 2004-02-01 (7881 reads)