It’s been a while since my last case review and I’m glad to say the time has come for another one, Koolcases sent over one of their cases which is called the “Prince” it is a black deluxe tool-less ATX mid tower with a 300w Pentium4 ready power supply, it also has two front-access USB ports.
Picking out the right case is a big decision for most because they want something that will do everything they need for them and usually want one with lots of case modding potential. I know for a fact that its hard to find a case that has all the features that you are looking for which is why I feel that case reviews are very important, below are some of the specifications for the case.
- UNIQUE DESIGN FOR INTEL® PENTIUM 4 AND AMD HIGH-SPEED CPUs
- THERMAL AND MECHANICAL TEST REPORT FROM INTEL® AVAILABLE IN MS-WORD FORMAT.
- SCREWLESS FRONT PANEL AND SIDE DOOR
- SCREWLESS SLOT COVER HOLDER.
- SCREWLESS DRIVE INSTALLATION FOR EASY ASSEMBLY WITHOUT REMOVING FRONT PANEL
- DETACHABLE TOOL FREE HDD DRIVE CAGES FOR EASY MAINTENANCE .
- UP TO 10 DRIVE BAYS (CD-ROM/DVD’S LESS THAN 190.5 MM IN DEPTH ARE RECOMMENDED AT 3RD AND 4TH 5.25″ BAYS)
- USB PORTS AT FRONT PANEL.
- EXCELLENT VENTILATION.
- OPTIONAL HDD SHOCKPROOF RUBBER KITS.
- ALL AROUND FOLDED METAL EDGE.
- MEETS CE & FCC REQUIREMENTS
While some of you may complain at the fact that I usually post pictures of the packaging of the products and pictures of the box I do this for a reason. Though some of you may not be concerned with how well it is packed for shipping or what the outside of the box looks like or whatever, I feel that it is important to take a look at this aspect of the company and of the product.
You are the ones that are going to be spending your money on these products and should know what you are getting from every point of view. This case came double boxed which I always like to see for shipping of cases, due to the large size and the fact that a case with a big dent in the side of it sucks. Within the box of the case usual Styrofoam is found which usually provides adequate protection for shipping.
Taking a close look at this case I can say it is very sturdy and the paint is really nice on it, the front of the case is really cool looking and really unique, there are 4 5.25″ bays and 2 3.5″ bays. The power button for the case is good, however I am not too fond of the reset button, this however might just be my personal preference.
I like to have reset buttons that are big so that I don’t have to search for it with my hand when I reach down and need to reset my computer. The front bezel is really easy to take off and no tools are needed, all you need to do is pop the plastic tabs out of place and pull the front off, it comes off really easy. Also as you can see taking a look at the naked front of the case there is a place for an intake fan which has a good cutout to allow a lot of air to flow through.
The case also has front USB which is hidden away very nicely behind a door which is mounted right below the 3.5″ bays. I really like this because I hate having to reach around to the back of my case and search around for the USB and after I do I usually end up banging my head into my desk on the way back up, which is why I wrote a guide on how to do a front USB MOD. This of course looks a lot more professional than the MOD I did and is much easier seeing how it comes stock on the case.
I was a little disappointed with the side of the case to be honest, the reason for this is because there is a hole on side which is for ventilation on the case, however there is no way to mount a fan here without taking a drill to the case. If there were just 4 holes around the circular grill it would make for some good airflow. It would be very easy to MOD this case a little bit and make the hole work much better but if it came stock it would be a lot better.
There is a feature on this case which I really do like though, on the back of the case instead of using screws there are tabs which hold the side panel onto the case. To remove the side panel all you have to do is give the tabs a little pull and it will release the panel from the case. The back of the case is also very nice, there is a spot for an 80mm exhaust fan and the cutout for the fan is really good because there is not much metal blocking airflow.
I pushed on those tabs and the side panel came off like a charm, the inside of the case has a power supply, power supply cord, a box of hardware, a manual and a pack of silicone to keep the inside of the case dry, don’t eat that stuff its not good for you. It’s always nice to see a case with a good stock power supply and extra stuff in it. I was a little disappointed to see that there was no removable motherboard tray but regardless of that fact there were spots already in place for me to mount my motherboard without screwing in the brass mounts that are the standard. I really would have liked to have seen a removable motherboard tray in this case because they always make installation much easier.
The power supply that comes with this case is an AGI 300w which should be sufficient to power any system unless you have major stuff going on. This power supply is Pentium 4 compliant, and AMD approved, you can see the 2 plugs that are used for Pentium 4 systems. I went ahead and opened up the power supply to see if I got lucky and got one with POTs in it so that I could do the voltage MOD, alas there were none. The only power supplies that I have run across with these are Antec and Sparkle.
The jumpers for this case are the kind I like, the kind that are all bound together into one rather than a bunch of different individual ones. Because most motherboards have different layouts for the USB headers each pin is separated so that you can use your motherboard manual to see which pin goes where so you can use the front USB ports that come on the case. I really like that they are all separated because if it wasn’t some motherboards would not allow it to be used. There are virtually no sharp edges on this case, all of the edges inside of the case are rounded over so they are not sharp whatsoever, and the ones that are not rounded are very dull, I always love to work with cases that are not sharp on the inside because I hate getting cut when working inside.
The expansion slot covers on this case are very nice, usually they are held into place with screws on each one. This case has a little bracket which goes over them all to hold them into place and when you want to remove one of them all you have to do is remove the bracket which requires no tools and remove the one you want to take out. This is really cool because it will save you time and will save you from losing screws in your carpet only to later step on them.
Floppy drives are mounted at the top section of this picture, it is a screwless installation which is awesome because it’s fast, all you have to do is slide your floppy drive in to where you want it and slide the tab forward which will apply pressure to the drive and hold it into place with no screws needed. right below that is the hard drive cage which can be removed so that you can take it out, install your hard drives to it and then put the cage back into the case, this makes it very easy and fast to install your hard drive so you can get up and running as soon as possible.
The 5.25″ bays work just like the 3.5″ floppy drive bays, no tools are needed to install your CDROM drives or anything else that will fit into a 5.25″ bay. All you have to do is slide your CDROM into the drive and get it aligned to where you want it to be and slide the tabs forward which will apply pressure to the drive and hold it into place. I used a 52x CDROM that I painted black in my case painting guide I think that this case looks really cool especially if I were to really do some work with it.
I went ahead and threw most of a system into this case just to see how it would work. Installation couldn’t have gone better, the motherboard fit right into place and the holes lined up right away, a lot of the time you have to push your motherboard all around so that it will go where it needs to but not with this case, the CDROM, floppy, and HDD installation was a breeze because no tools were needed. The jumpers were great because they were all together in one bunch and the front USB on the case worked great. There were no sharp edges like I said before so I didn’t get a scratch on me.
Conclusion
Reviewing cases is always fun for me because your case is going to hold all the hardware that you spent all of your money on so that you could have the ultimate machine. You want something that is going to support all that hardware and keep it running well and you are going to probably want something cool looking so when you show your friends you wont be embarrassed. Before you buy a case you usually will have an idea of what kind of MODs you want to do and what kind of things you are looking for in a case so hopefully this has given you what you need. I really like this case for so many reasons most of which are listed below in the pros and cons. I must say in all honesty that this is one of the best cases I have had a chance to review so far and would really recommend it to you if you are in the market for a new case. The few cons that this case has are nothing compared to all the pros and the cons can be modded into pros very easily. Overall I am going to give this case a 9/10 and award it the OCmodshop Seal of Approval. I would like to thank Koolcases for sending this case over to review, head over and check out their store they have this case and many other cool looking ones.
Pros
- Double boxed for shipping
- screwless design
- Very good paint finish
- 300w power supply included
- Front USB ports
- Fan cutouts don’t restrict airflow
- No sharp edges
- Tidy jumpers
- Great expansion slot cover design
Cons
- Small reset button
- Side vent has no holes to mount a fan
- No removable motherboard tray