Chenming 301-KE, Aluminum Case

Provided by: ISI Technologies
Retail: $89.00
Review Date: July 15th, 2003

Aluminum computer cases have grown rapidly in popularity among computer builders, and why not? Aluminum computer cases are lightweight; thus, easy to transport. One drawback to an aluminum case is that they are not as sturdy as steel cases. If you are looking for a case to withstand heavy objects sitting on it or being bumped around a bit, go with a steel case. Althoug, lightweight cases are a back saver when carrying a case to a LAN party. ISI Technologies sent us their new aluminum Chenming, 301-KE, mid tower case; about 7 pounds in all.

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The Chenming 301-KE case is available in black, blue, green, red, silver, and yellow. Chenming's aluminum case includes a plastic window that is protected by a plastic tape during shipping. Most cases are shipped with this protective plastic to avoid scratches on the window during shipping.

The window of the Chenming aluminum case contains two 80 mm fan holes that could provide an excellent source of cooling if utilized right. A good cooling idea is to use an intake fan in the back of the case. Then set both window fans as exhaust fans. These fans will pull the warm air off the video card and processor. Another idea for this Chenming case is to switch the top window fan to an intake fan. All solutions with this kind of a setup will be very sensitive because high and low pressure zones are easily created. The fans push more air onto a single fan than it can handle or the different fans are competing for the same air. A fan controller setup would be the best solution in finding the best cooling setup with this case.

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Chenming's 301-KE aluminum case includes four 5 1/4" bays and two 3 1/2" bays. The rails for mounting the 5 1/4" drives are inside of the case's front face plate. The rails only mount to one side of the drive as will be shown later.

As with most Chenming cases dual USB 2.0 and a single IEEE 1394 Fire Wire connections are included in the front. This is a handy feature for connecting devices quickly and easily to your case. There is no need to struggle to reach around back of the case and fight through all the other cables.

Chenming 301-KE is a sweet looking case except for one little thing, the pigment in the plastic is darker than the aluminum. I cannot tell if this is on all the Chenming 301-KE cases but by looking at ISI Tech's web site, the pictured cases do not have this problem, so maybe this is just a flaw with this case. To follow up further I contacted ISI and they assured me that this is not normal and are checking into the matter further.

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The rear of the Chenming aluminum case supports one 80mm fan. There is a built in honeycomb fan guard that extrudes a bit from the case.

Within the rear blue plastic piece are the screws for the case. If the blue plastic piece is removed, the screws for the slot cards can be accessed. I cannot see a big advantage to this setup except if a screw is dropped it will fall outside of the case. Another advantage is the screw driver is straight on with the screw head and does not have to be pointed at an angle.

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