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Product:
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Nikao Dragonfire Mid-Tower Gaming Case |
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Price:
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$76 (CAN) / $65 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Nikao/Tradex
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Author:
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Skaal-Tel
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Date:
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November 23rd, 2005
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Rating:
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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Speaking of airflow, I think this is probably the finest sub-100 dollar case I've ever seen. Provisions are
made for 120mm fans in the rear, front and side panel. The case actually comes with two 120mm fans, one in
the side and one in the front. Both are intake fans creating positive pressure inside the case to keep the
dust from being sucked in through all the holes in the mesh. Did I mention the fans are clear, with blue
leds? The only gripe I had here was the punched out circles in the sheet metal for the fans being a little
too restrictive. Nonetheless, enterprising modders can easily clear this out with a Dremel.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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The Nikao Dragonfire Mid-Tower Gaming Case comes with the standard Power and Reset buttons, Power and HD LEDs, 2
front USB and Audio ports. The internal cables for all are of suitable length, and I personally appreciate the
grouping of the pins together, making a tedious task a bit quicker. The Power LED pins are separated, so they
can easily be used on any motherboard.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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Moving on to actually installing a system in the Dragonfire, I just happened to have an old ASUS A7V8X Motherboard,
Athlon 2700+ XP, 512MB of PC2700 RAM and a Radeon 9800 Pro system lying around without a case. I noticed during the
installation of these parts for some reason that Nikao didn't provide enough standoffs to properly install an ATX
motherboard. The case is short two standoffs which is not a problem since I have tons just lying around, but not
everyone will be in the same position. On the plus side, there is loads of space for installation and the case is
wider than what I'm used to with a sizeable amount of space between the drive cages and the motherboard. There is
no removeable tray, but there is plenty of space. The expansion card slots are not tool-less, a plus in my book,
and are more durable than those of most cases in its price range.
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