[edit] Does anybody have the Chieftec DA-01W Maxi Tower??..

Dance123 · Post by **Dance123** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 10:28 am

Hi,

I think I am gonna get either the Aopen H600B (350W), Chieftec DX-01W or DA-01W (full tower), for the simple reason that other cases aren't easily available over here. Therefore, if you had to choose between those cases, which would you choose for a silent PC?!

To get a better idea, here are big pictures of the three cases so you can see for yourself regarding the airholes:

- http://www.aopen.com/products/housing/ph600a.htm
- http://www.chieftec.de/images/big/DX-01W.jpg
- http://www.chieftec.de/images/big/DA-01W.jpg

The main difference seems to be that for air intake (but also noise to go out!) Chieftec has air slots in the bottom half of the front plate, opposed to the H600 which has (I think?!) none in the front but has 2 vertical stripes of airholes in the sidepanels close to the front (and harddisks). So in both cases the air intake (and noise going out) is close to where the harddisks are located.

PS: am I seeing it correct that the DA-01W also has a vertical stripe of airholes in its sidepanels on top of the front grill, so basically the air intake but also noise from the DX-01W and H600 combined?!

So which case do you think will leave out the least noise, especially from the harddisks and other components in the front?!

PS: any better options from Aopen or Chieftec cause those are the popular brands over here and I don't want to wait a month to get a new case. Don't they any cases where you can put the harddisks in the back above the PSU, so you won't hear them thru the front intake holes.

Thanks for all good feedback!

Mike.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 12:00 pm

Where is "over here"?

Of the 3 you are considering, I'd pick the DX-01W.

You don't necessarily want a closed in front bezel because you need airflow through the case or the hardware will overheat. You need good airflow with a well designed bezel. You don't need to hide the HDD away in some hot corner of the case so that you don't hear it. An HDD like a Seagate Barracuda or Samsung Spinpoint is very quiet anyway and can be made even quieter with the appropriate mounting techniques. There's plenty of info about this subject on the main SPCR site, along with recommended cases too.

Popular cases "in my neck of the woods" are the Antec Sonata, Antec SLK3700AMB, Compucase 6A19, Evercase 4252. All have decent to excellent ventilation and are well designed. Look for them at a distributor near you.

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 2:46 am

I concur (sp?) with Ralf about choosing the DX-01W.
I have a dragon myself and you might want to cut out the grilles and drill fan mounting holes since they use the blody plastic fan holders.

Other than that it is a very nice roomy case with good airflow.

Dance123 · Post by **Dance123** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:06 am

Anybody who has the DA-01W Maxi tower as I think I am gonna order this case. If so, could you please help me out with following questions. I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!! Here they are:

1/ Does the DA-01W Maxi Tower have any airholes in the sidepanels?! If I look at a big picture of this case over here: http://www.chieftec.de/images/big/DA-01W.jpg I get the impression that there is a vertical stripe of airholes in the sidepanel close the front or isn't that so? What are those stripes in the sidepanel that you can see on the picture??

2/ all the dragon cases seem to have a grill with grooves in the bottom half of the front panel. Is that just decoration or does actual air (and noise) goes thru those grooves. If so, does the noise go out in a straight path thru those grooves or does it go out with an angle or something?

3/ is there a bracket to install harddisk above the PSU. Actually, is there any room above the PSU or have they placed it completely against the top of the case. If there would be any room above the PSU, have they made airholes (and perhaps the possibiltiy for an outtake fan) there in the back of the case above the PSU for air to go out or not?!

Thanks again for the info!

Mike.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:05 am

Dance123 wrote:Anybody who has the DA-01W Maxi tower as I think I am gonna order this case. If so, could you please help me out with following questions. I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!! Here they are:

1/ Does the DA-01W Maxi Tower have any airholes in the sidepanels?! If I look at a big picture of this case over here: http://www.chieftec.de/images/big/DA-01W.jpg I get the impression that there is a vertical stripe of airholes in the sidepanel close the front or isn't that so? What are those stripes in the sidepanel that you can see on the picture??

It does have a whole bunch of holes on each side panel.

Dance123 wrote:2/ all the dragon cases seem to have a grill with grooves in the bottom half of the front panel. Is that just decoration or does actual air (and noise) goes thru those grooves. If so, does the noise go out in a straight path thru those grooves or does it go out with an angle or something?

Those are the air vents for the air to flow through the bezel into the case. They're not a direct path unless you're laying on the ground in front of the case.

Dance123 wrote:3/ is there a bracket to install harddisk above the PSU. Actually, is there any room above the PSU or have they placed it completely against the top of the case. If there would be any room above the PSU, have they made airholes (and perhaps the possibiltiy for an outtake fan) there in the back of the case above the PSU for air to go out or not?!

Thanks again for the info!

Mike.

Look at all the pics of that case on this page. That should answer a whole lot of your questions.

Dance123 · Post by **Dance123** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:40 pm

Thanks for the info and link Ralf!

First of all: am I right that the DX-01W (the mid tower version) doesn't have those airholes in the sidepanels like its big brother, or am I wrong about that? The mid tower doesn't seem to have a close up picture of the front on that site you mentioned.

Actually, why did they make holes in the sidepanel with the maxi tower if they didn't do it with the mid tower? Does that make sense, as I thought these cases were of the same line?!

I really don't understand why they keep making all those airholes in the sidepanels, esp. since the dragons already take air thru the front grill?? I could aswell get the Aopen H600/700 then which has similar holes in the sidepanel.. Isn't it so that airholes in the sidepanels will give you the most perceivable noise, since the pc is mostly placed to the side of you and if the sidepanel airholes are from top to bottom maybe you will also hear extra noise from devices like dvdrom, cd-writer, etc.. Do those devices make much noise, even when idle, or will a 7200rpm harddisk like Maxtor always make the most noise of the devices sitting in the front bays?.. Would this be a good reason to choose the DX-01W over the DA-01W?!

Something else: do the Dragon cases come with a silent enough PSU (how much db?). Does the PSU have 80mm or 120mm fan and also a fan at the bottom? I've been told that the Aopen H600/700 cases come with a silent PSU which I believe uses 120mm fan, so I wonder how they compare?!

Thanks again for the info!

Mike.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 6:12 am

Dance123 wrote:Thanks for the info and link Ralf!

First of all: am I right that the DX-01W (the mid tower version) doesn't have those airholes in the sidepanels like its big brother, or am I wrong about that? The mid tower doesn't seem to have a close up picture of the front on that site you mentioned.

Side panels on the mid tower are solid, except sometimes they'll throw a side-mounted fan into the mix.

Dance123 wrote:Actually, why did they make holes in the sidepanel with the maxi tower if they didn't do it with the mid tower? Does that make sense, as I thought these cases were of the same line?!

I really don't understand why they keep making all those airholes in the sidepanels, esp. since the dragons already take air thru the front grill?? I could aswell get the Aopen H600/700 then which has similar holes in the sidepanel.. Isn't it so that airholes in the sidepanels will give you the most perceivable noise, since the pc is mostly placed to the side of you and if the sidepanel airholes are from top to bottom maybe you will also hear extra noise from devices like dvdrom, cd-writer, etc.. Do those devices make much noise, even when idle, or will a 7200rpm harddisk like Maxtor always make the most noise of the devices sitting in the front bays?.. Would this be a good reason to choose the DX-01W over the DA-01W?!

Who knows why they do things like that. A styling exercise perhaps? There's about 50 million versions/knockoffs of these Dragon-style cases and many of them have their own unique features, none of which were implemented with "quiet computing" in mind. Someone probably thought the holes would add some venteilation to the case so they added them. Simple as that. I wouldn't use a case with airholes in the sides. I learned this the hard way with the Addtronics cases. They're nice cases but they have a series of air holes up around the 5.25" bays and a lot of noise escapes through them.

Dance123 wrote:Something else: do the Dragon cases come with a silent enough PSU (how much db?). Does the PSU have 80mm or 120mm fan and also a fan at the bottom? I've been told that the Aopen H600/700 cases come with a silent PSU which I believe uses 120mm fan, so I wonder how they compare?!

Thanks again for the info!

Mike.

There's about 50 million different PSUs in the Dragon series too, all of which (except for the Antec version of this case) are generic PSU's that range from crappy Deers to fairly decent HECs. Certainly none of them are anywhere near quiet enough for the typical SPCR'er. I don't ever remember seeing any Dragons with 120mm fan PSUs but who knows what's ended up inside of them.

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 4:03 pm

The Aopen PSU is defintely very quiet - much quieter than the 380W single fan PSU in the Antec Sonata. So much for Antec's "hear the silence" slogan.