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Ultra Products Glossy Dragon


Date
: 02/8/05 – 02:33:07 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: Ultra Products
Price: $99.99

In the past we have taken a look at some cool stuff from Ultra. Including some hot power supplies, some speedy ram, and even UV cases. Ultra has been a strong contender in all types of products and has certainly made a name for itself. Ultra has sent to the table another case for OverclockersOnlines scrutiny.

Today we will take a look at the Glossy Black Dragon Series from Ultra Products!

Page 2 : Specifications

Well give you some numbers to think about for a minute before we get to the fun stuff.

Page 3 : Package

I am beginning to wonder why we have this section at all. Once youve seen a box to a case, youve seen em all! Well at least until someone invents a go-go-gadget box that unpacks itself, then well have something cool to look at! Ultras packaging is not quite a go-go-gadget box, but it did help protect the case from any damage during shipping. It also does its best in a limited amount of space to educate a consumer about its product.

So enough of our go-go-gadget box, or lack thereof. Lets move on to whats inside.

Page 4 : Exterior

So you may say the exterior of the Ultra Dragon is going to be what makes it stand out beyond most of its look-alike rivals. Lets take a quick walk around first:

The case has quite a nice finish on its paint job. For some reason, my flash on my camera did not like it, but it is truly wonderful black. You can even see how glossy the paint is by the reflection on the front. Towards the bottom of the front of the case are grilles that allow for plenty of airflow. The front of the case also has your standard USB and 1394 Firewire connectors:

From the picture of the side with the window, you can get a much better feeling of the color of this case. Ultra has a nice sized window in one of the sides, which also has an 80mm fan already installed with a mesh grille over it. The other side, well … not too much exciting going on over there.

The back consists of a pretty standard layout. Room for 2 80mm fans in the back, and the power supply up top. On the bottom of the case, there are 4 extendable feet that help prevent it from tipping over.

Since Ive really liked the paint job on this case, Ill give you a better idea of how glossy it is.

In this picture you can obviously see how glossy this paint is. Lets move on to the interior.

Page 5 : Interior

After you open the door revealing the inside of this case, you are greeted by steel, steel, and more steel. Like many of its other branded cousins, this design of the ATX case generally follows a durable pattern. Again, lets start off with a walk around the inside.

On the inside front youll have room for 6 3.5 devices, 2 of those can be exposed with bays. All of the 3.5 devices sit inside of these trays:

The bottom tray comes with a tool-less fan insert which will allow the installation of an additional fan to the front of the case along with the same type already on the bottom of the case:

Of course if you dont want either of these in, you can remove them completely

For instance if one wanted to install a 120mm radiator into the front of this case, the bottom tray could be removed to allow for more room. However, the support for the tray, held down by rivets, would still be in the way.

Also at the front of the case you have your front panel connectors:

These include your standard FPIO connectors as well as 2 x USB 2.0 and 1 x 1494 Firewire.

Spinning around the back of the case you can see two more tool-less fan holders

At the top of this picture you can see the steel supports that run horizontal along the case to keep the case from twisting towards the top.

Page 6 : Installation

The installation of your system goes pretty standard into this case. In my case, I did need to install a 120mm radiator into the front as I had mentioned. So the removal of the bottom 3.5 devices support tray is almost trivial. By removing the front plastic bezel, you can simply drill the existing rivets out to release the tray without damaging the case. If you ever wanted to put the support tray back, for about $5 from Lowes Home Improvement you can buy a rivet kit which comes with a rivet gun and plenty of rivets for the job.

The 5.25 bays have a rail system for mounting components, however the 3.5 devices attach directly to those removable trays:

It would be nice to see these rails in a tool-less design, so you still dont have to fight with the screws. But it is much easier to put the rails on outside the case, then slide your component in, rather than trying to take both sides off of the case to put the screws directly onto the case for each device. So my final installed product looked something like:

When you remove the door you can see that this case has plenty of room to move around inside:

If you do not have LED 80mm fans for the front of this case, I would highly recommend getting some, because it looks awesome .

This case comes with only 1 pre-installed 80mm fan, which is in the side panel. I could not find any details specs on this fan, but it isnt loud at all. The noise generated by my water pump and the 120mm fan on my radiator dampen any noise this fan puts out. Although its placement is right over where your video card would be installed, which makes it very functional.

Page 7 : Conclusion

Although this is a pretty conventional case design, those looking for a simple yet attractive case may look no further than this Ultra Dragon. They come in a variety of colors including the black one we reviewed as well as blue, red, silver, and white. By adding some colored LED fans to this case you get a slight eerie glow which will appeal to most everyone. The temperature differences (if any) for me were negligible as my system was previously installed in a vary similar case. If you were moving out of a smaller form case or a case with less airflow, you would notice a decent improvement. If you are looking for a case with more bells and whistles you wont have to browse the O² reviews long, but for a sleek looking case with your standard load out of features, and a tried and tested design, pick up the Ultra Dragon, you wont be disappointed.

Advantages:

- Awesome glossy paint job
- Standard design that yields great airflow
- Easy to install components

Disadvantages

- Lacking some usable bells and whistles other cases may have
- Somewhat pricey for such a basic design
- Not completely tool-less

Overclockers Online would like to thank Ultra Products for supplying this sample.