In Win Dragon Rider Case

[HardOCP News]

Looking for a new case? XtremeComputing has a review of the In Win Dragon Rider posted today that is worth checking out. Here's a quote from the review:

Today I will be reviewing the In Win Dragon Rider, a full tower chassis with the same styling's as the Dragon Slayer case we reviewed recently. In Win is not the most well known brand, at least amongst UK enthusiasts, however with the ambitions and working ethic that In Win have set out, I am looking forward to reviewing their latest PC case.

 

[schizrade]

Hideous, but nice features.

 

[v0rtic3s]

Hideous, but nice features.

Actually, it's not "hideous" at all, and looks far better in-person.

I actually just got my system up-and-running in this case this afternoon.

It actually cools better than the HAF from what I'm seeing thus far, and has even a bit more room internally, believe it or not.

I'm running the following:
i7 950 (3.07GHz), 6GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator, GTX 580, Corsair HX 850, WD Raptor + two storage drives, Prolimatech Mega Shadow (CPU sink), Gigabyte UD-5 X 58.

Case set-up:
1 x 120mm front intake (drives), 5 x 120mm intake (side), 1 x 120mm intake (rear of CPU), 1 x 120mm exhaust (top-rear - option to add another), 1 x 120mm exhaust (rear).

Temps (CPU is average of all four cores).

Idle (room @ 78F):

CPU - 40C (cores @ 41, 37/38, 43, 37/38)
GPU - 38C (w/ fan @ 45%)
NB/SB - 36C/34C
HDD - 33C

Temps (CPU is average of all four cores).

Load (room @ 78F) - Borderlands:

CPU - 49C (cores @ 51, 47, 53, 48)
GPU - 68 (w/ fan @ 69%)
NB/SB - 39C/39C
HDD - 33C

In the last few days, my HAF 932 has offered me considerably worse temps, with the summer moving in now. With the HAF, my CPU temps ranged from 2-5C hotter, NB/SB temps ranged from 2-5C hotter, GPU ranged from 2-6C hotter.

That's quite the difference, especially for strictly air cooling. I'm actually sort of shocked at the difference for strictly air.

There are some "trade-offs" with this case, however.

- While the side mesh is larger holes, which usually makes for less noise, with five side intake fans (probably not really less with just four) it's relatively loud, somewhat annoying hum. Of course, it's also under my desk and probably echoing in-between the top/bottom (I have a corner desk) of my wooden desk (top/bottom of my desk), though we all know mesh + more fans = more noise.

- HDD set-up could be better. Cant use the very bottom slot because the bottom of the case sides are actually in the way. The drive mounts are "tool-less", but a little flimsy/rubbery.

- If you lose, or don't want to use, the screws that come with the case for the side intake fans, you will have to use normal fan screws with washers (#10, forget the exact size) because the holes are larger than normal, and normal fan screws fit right through the holes.

- If you have a tall CPU cooler, such as what I'm using, you cannot use a 200/220mm fan, as it will be in the way. With 120mm fans, you'll have to forgo the one right in front of the cooler, but that still leaves you with five.

- When removing the 220mm fan it comes with, just clip the wires at the base of the speed control, which is on the outside of the case, and leave it there, unless you want a little hole in the side of your case. It's small, though, so most people probably wouldn't care, but it's a bad design for those who replace fans, which is just about everyone.

However, those things aside...

- cools better than the HAF, HAF X and Antect 1200 more than I would have thought
- it's more spacious than the HAF
- more room for better cable management; large, roughly 3" high space under the mobo running the length of the case
- interior is painted black, which is nice, and the case comes with black mobo screws, which is pretty cool as well
- the general look of the case is actually pretty mean
- ability for various 120mm fan configurations

Both my cooling and cable management are better/neater in this case than any other case I've owned so far (including the HAF 932, HAF X and Antec 1200), and I don't think it's just due to more fans (though the rear CPU plate fan I think does make a difference); something about the case just has a good "flow", no pun intended.

Thus far, this case offers the best air cooling of any case I've owned. While the noise is a little irritating, thus far, it's worth it for the better cooling.

 

[mynamehere]

I've actually been toying with the idea of placing a fan behind the mobo like that. I wish they whould have gone ahead and tested to see if it made any real/useful temp difference.

A quick search didn't come up with much hard data, but one site said it improved temps immensely and another said 4 degrees cooler at idle (though there were no system specs). I'm thinking that my idea wasn't so crazy, and that it may just be a worthwhile fan mod.

I definitely prefer full tower cases, and think my next case may just be one of these or something very similar.


With so many possible fan mounting locations, I wonder how it would do with fans with the best of the "high CFM/low dBA" fans. Maybe one of those 12MM thick Scythe fans would work well in that spot.

@ v0rtic3s
Have you done any temp/loudness testing with & w/o the fan behind the mobo connected? If so, could you please post your findings? Thanks

 

[v0rtic3s]

I've actually been toying with the idea of placing a fan behind the mobo like that. I wish they whould have gone ahead and tested to see if it made any real/useful temp difference.

A quick search didn't come up with much hard data, but one site said it improved temps immensely and another said 4 degrees cooler at idle (though there were no system specs). I'm thinking that my idea wasn't so crazy, and that it may just be a worthwhile fan mod.

@ v0rtic3s
Have you done any temp/loudness testing with & w/o the fan behind the mobo connected? If so, could you please post your findings? Thanks

It could be worth doing such a mod, as I'm thinking it's having a good effect.

I haven't been able to do any direct testing yet, but based on the numbers I keep around from each case I run, I can tell you that I'm running considerably cooler.

Right now, I'm in a hot corner of a room that's 79F, and my CPU temp is a steady 40C, individuals cores running at 41C/38C/43C/38C, which is way lower than my temps with the HAF or HAF X.

Idle, I'm seeing probably 3C-4C cooler, but under load is where I'm seeing the real benefits so far, as is what matters most, and is the true test. I haven't run exact numbers yet, but under load in this weather, the HAF and HAF X were considerably warmer regarding CPU temps and general temps. So far from what I've tested, it's looking like I'm at least 5C+ cooler under load, but I'll have to sit and really test when I get the chance.

My NB/SB also have never been this cool in this kind of heat. That might have to do more with the side intake fans and general flow of the case, but who knows, the rear CPU plate fan might be helping to cool things in general as well.

 

[mynamehere]

It could be worth doing such a mod, as I'm thinking it's having a good effect.

I haven't been able to do any direct testing yet, but based on the numbers I keep around from each case I run, I can tell you that I'm running considerably cooler.

Right now, I'm in a hot corner of a room that's 79F, and my CPU temp is a steady 40C, individuals cores running at 41C/38C/43C/38C, which is way lower than my temps with the HAF or HAF X.

Idle, I'm seeing probably 3C-4C cooler, but under load is where I'm seeing the real benefits so far, as is what matters most, and is the true test. I haven't run exact numbers yet, but under load in this weather, the HAF and HAF X were considerably warmer regarding CPU temps and general temps. So far from what I've tested, it's looking like I'm at least 5C+ cooler under load, but I'll have to sit and really test when I get the chance.

My NB/SB also have never been this cool in this kind of heat. That might have to do more with the side intake fans and general flow of the case, but who knows, the rear CPU plate fan might be helping to cool things in general as well.

Very nice. Thanks for the info.

It seems they thought of it before I did, but I hadn't seen it when I thought of it, so it's pretty cool to see my thought was valid. The idea came to me when I was hacking up a mobo tray in an old cheap full tower a couple weeks ago because it didn't have any access to the retention bracket, and for better cable management. I started thinking that more airflow behind the mobo couldn't be a bad thing, and then I realized that a fan behind the CPU would prbobably be the best way to do it since the air would then flow across the back of the mobo.

Part of the idea was from seeing some of the things that have been tried to remove heat from the back of vid cards over the years. Now I see these 3 slot cards. I know they beef up the heatsink, but I've wondered why they don't just use the slot above the card to draw cool air in across the backplane and exhaust it across the GPU instead. Wouldn't that help just as much without all the added cost of the beefed up heatsink since you wouldn't be drawing hot case air across the GPU? It's not like you can use 2 or 3 of those coolers in SLI unless you've got the right mobo anyway. And if you did have a mobo that supported it, there wouldn't be the airflow problem for the upper card in SLI (and mid card in tri).

That got a little off topic, but still related. Never know, someone might just use the idea. Not quite water cooling, but a lot less costly. It'd be intersting to see what kind of temps (price/performance) would be achieved.

 

[v0rtic3s]

Very nice. Thanks for the info.

It seems they thought of it before I did, but I hadn't seen it when I thought of it, so it's pretty cool to see my thought was valid. The idea came to me when I was hacking up a mobo tray in an old cheap full tower a couple weeks ago because it didn't have any access to the retention bracket, and for better cable management. I started thinking that more airflow behind the mobo couldn't be a bad thing, and then I realized that a fan behind the CPU would prbobably be the best way to do it since the air would then flow across the back of the mobo.

Part of the idea was from seeing some of the things that have been tried to remove heat from the back of vid cards over the years. Now I see these 3 slot cards. I know they beef up the heatsink, but I've wondered why they don't just use the slot above the card to draw cool air in across the backplane and exhaust it across the GPU instead. Wouldn't that help just as much without all the added cost of the beefed up heatsink since you wouldn't be drawing hot case air across the GPU? It's not like you can use 2 or 3 of those coolers in SLI unless you've got the right mobo anyway. And if you did have a mobo that supported it, there wouldn't be the airflow problem for the upper card in SLI (and mid card in tri).

That got a little off topic, but still related. Never know, someone might just use the idea. Not quite water cooling, but a lot less costly. It'd be intersting to see what kind of temps (price/performance) would be achieved.

You're welcome... and that's an interesting idea regarding GPU cooling I never thought about... could be onto something.

Just FYI, I'm testing the cooling of this case and the CPU cooling with that CPU plate fan tonight. I'll be pushing it with APB, which is far more CPU-heavy than Borderlands, and it's rather warm in my living room right now.

So, that will be the test. I'll report back here to let you/people know whether or not this case indeed is as much of an improvement in air cooling over the HAF as it seems, and whether or not that CPU fan actually makes a big difference.

 

[DOOMHAMMA]

Interesting features, but I am going to have to side with the "it's kind of ugly" opinion.

 

[v0rtic3s]

Honestly, I'm telling you... it's really not an ugly case, ha ha. I thought the same thing before I bought it, but in-person, my wife and I were both shocked (and we're both artists/designers) as it actually has a really nice aesthetic.

Anyway, as for temps, my results so far are impressive, though I'm dealing with varying weather temps in northern AZ right now.

Yesterday, temps were 79f in the room, same as when testing two weeks ago, and here are my results thus far:

Load temps, playing APB

HAF 932 & HAF X:
CPU - 55/56C
NB/SB - 45C, 43C

Dragon Rider:
CPU - 51C
NB/SB - 40C, 39C

I'm 4C cooler on the CPU and 5C cooler on the NB/SB thus far, which is a big difference.

GPU temps (GTX 580) are about the same so far, but I'm still testing.

I'm going to test by directly turning of the CPU rear plate fan tonight, then turning it back on, and see just how much of a difference it's really making.

I'm also wondering about the fans I'm using, the XIGMATEK XLF-F1253 120mm 4 white LED Orange Case Fan (1500 RPM, 61 CFM) in terms of their sound. I think they might be loud in themselves then the Antect TriCool fans which I normally use, so I might switch them out and see if there's a noise difference.

I hate mesh. All it does is reduce airflow and create more noise, and truly, it's pointless. With my HAF 932, I actually cut out the mesh around four 120mm fans, and dropped my temps by about 3C just doing that, so I'm considering getting an extra door and cutting out the mesh to see what happens then! Mesh should be banned! Ha ha.

 

[schizrade]

Honestly, I'm telling you... it's really not an ugly case, ha ha. I thought the same thing before I bought it, but in-person, my wife and I were both shocked (and we're both artists/designers) as it actually has a really nice aesthetic.

Tear the face off and make it look like the side of the case, and I am all for it. It just looks slapped on for xtreme-ness.

 

[mangyrat]

Interesting Case, I picked one up a while back.