MGE Dragon
Oct 14th, 2005 | By Archive
MGE Dragon
Date
: 10/14/05 – 05:15:48 PM
Author
:
Category
: Cases
Page 1 : Index
Manufacturer:
MGE Company – XGBOX.com
Price:
$189USD MSRP
I'd like to think of todays review as getting back to the roots, the essence of where MGE came from. Fifteen years ago, MGE was formed with one purpose in mind, and that was to produce the best computer case around. Back then, computer cases were somewhat of a different breed. Evolution has brought us advancements in computer cases that could not be seen just five years ago. The enthusiast and gaming communities have taken that evolution and put an esthetic twist on it similar to the import scene at tuner shows across the globe every weekend; style and creativity on the outside with extreme performance inside. That is how the high end computer cases are described these days and MGE is one of the leaders of this innovation.
MGE strives to cater to the gaming community and they have done so by creating and expanding their XG lineup of extreme products. I will be looking at the second product from this XG line, the first was the fabulous Magnum 500W power supply and this one being their newest computer case, the Dragon. An all aluminum chassis, tool-less hardware mounts, built in temperature controller, and a list of other features that will take all day to go through make the Dragon MGEs best case yet. With so much to cover, we need to get started; first we will look at the packaging that the Dragon resides in.
Page 2 : Package & Contents
As I would have expected, the Dragon showed up in a brown box, a big one. The only difference from this big brown box and the rest is that it was a fair bit lighter.
The brown box was simply for protecting the retail box inside during transport and it did a fine job. The Dragons exterior shell is dark and the only thing visible is the moody looking dragon logo and an XG logo in the upper left. I like the black theme and I think the gamers this case is made for will like it too.
The top has a smaller version of the logo and XG branding on it. There is also a handle present that is very well supported for the weight of the package. If someone was so inclined, you could carry this case all day without worrying about it giving out. I'm sure retailers appreciate features like this from manufacturers.
The front and rear panels is where we will find features and photos of what is locked inside. This side gives us a good full shot and along the bottom are the four different colors that the Dragon will come in. I think that is a check on the grey case, so it looks like I get a grey one. The red looks sharp and the black looks cool, we'll see how grey looks shortly. There really is a full list of specifications and features and a few logos depicting primary features MGE wants to relay to potential buyers.
On the opposite end, seen here, the photos and logos continue. MGE has displayed their website address near the bottom and show a handful of images of the actual case and the features it possesses. With the exterior of the package looked over we will now move inside.
Upon opening the top flaps, I was greeted with a little present from MGE. I received a media packet with some information about the company and a few press releases of their latest products all contained in the dossier on the left. This is just another example of the top quality company MGE is. Not many companies will provide this type of information with their products but MGE has on both occasions that I have received products from them and it is very much appreciated.
The case inside is protected on top by cardboard and the tiny little things that MGE incorporates into their products and packaging begin to show face. The small hole on top serves no other purpose but to give us something to grab to pull the top off.
With the first layer of protection removed, the top handle is revealed and the case can be removed with ease from the package. This is when I realized just how light this case is. It really is incredible how easy this case is to move around, and the top handle is just perfect for transport.
What I was not expecting under the top protective piece of cardboard was the rear static guard that assists in exterior cable management.
With the case out of the package, I thought I would throw the top and bottoms back on just so we could get an idea of how the Dragon sits in the package. The foam padding keeps the case secure and there really is no risk of damage in transport. Before pulling the case out of the protective plastic bag and getting into the exterior photos, we will first have a look at all the specifications and features including those that are listed on the exterior of the package.
Page 3 : Specifications
The MGE Dragon certainly boasts an impressive resume of specifications, so let's take a look at those now.
Right near the top of the list is the first specification that stands out, a 500W power supply that looks like an impressive unit and not just something thrown in the box that will get the job done. I will be taking a look at that later on in the review. There are plenty of drive bays for gamers and the two fans included are both glowing blue with LEDs. The material is an all Aluminum alloy measuring 1.2mm thick. This is the reason for the incredibly light package that I received. Don't forget to look at the additional features at the bottom. MGE has certainly not missed anything in this offering. With four colors and a special limited edition color offered at the time of this review, the Dragon should be able to please everyone.
Here is how MGE describes the features that the Dragon offers:
Page 4 : Exterior
The Dragon is definitely not your Mom and Dads computer case, that is, unless your Mom and Dad are really cool. From front to back this case is designed to be different and I think it does a great job at it.
There is a big window on the side to show off your components, as well as a CPU intake with tunnel that extends to provide the CPU heatsink and fan with fresh outside air and a mesh opening down by the video card to supply it with fresh air as well. The front certainly draws the most attention with the big dragon logo and elaborate shape so we'll look at the front panel first.
The dragon logo is carved out of the front aluminum panel and will likely glow blue in color once we provide the case with power. I like how the top flares out at the corners, it makes the front panel look almost like a shield and it really commands your attention. The brushed aluminum finish of the front panel matches that of the sides and top of the case.
To open the door it just takes a little tug on the edge and, the way the front panel is designed, no handle or specific area is required to release the door from the case as the whole edge acts as a handle. The door is secured against the case with a pair of magnets that are only visible on the backside of the panel and gives a secure suction when the door is closed. My only complaint would be the angle at which the door opens. The photo shows as far as the door will open which is just over 45 degrees. A little more would be nice but this will provide plenty of access to optical devices.
The door is obviously a 3/4 design and is not really a door at all and more just a panel. I can see a cable going to a small circuit board on top with LEDs so my first guess that the front lights up is definitely correct. The hinges are a bit different as they are just thin little arms that move through a slit at the side of the case. You can barely see them and it provides a very clean appearance to the panel. As I said, a magnet is visible at the top and bottom of the door but not on the case body itself, again adding to the cleanliness of the whole front end.
Below the tidy front door is the much talked about LCD display and shiny grills that provide plenty of access for the front mounted fan to introduce fresh air into the case. The angles at which the cuts are made provide a samurai feel to it. I think it compliments the sharp edges and flowing points at the top of the front panel well. Three elegant buttons provide function to the features built into the LCD display and I can hardly wait to see it in action.
At the top, we can see that the front connections are offered here behind a pop-up panel. The power and reset buttons are recessed so they sit flush with the panel they reside in as do the hard drive and power indicator LEDs. Everything about this front panel blends into the design and the lines of the case. This makes the case feel and look very symmetrical and the design flows from the front to the back.
Moving along the top from the front inputs, the handle molds right into the case and incorporates seamlessly into the design. The handle feels more than secure and with the weight of the case it has no problem allowing me to throw the Dragon around and feel completely safe in doing so. If I have ever seen a LAN party case, this is it. There will be no sore arms lugging this thing around.
Zooming out from the top handle reveals the other side panel finished smooth with the exception of the claw like ornaments towards the rear of the case. The molding on the side panel incorporates into the front panel design and the fit is nice and snug.
As we turn our attentions to the rear of the Dragon, the first thing that I noticed was not four, but eight thumbscrews back here. Four are for securing the side panels and the other four are for securing the removable motherboard tray that obviously includes the PCI expansion slots and the entire rear panel pretty much. We also get our first look at the including 500W power supply and the single 80mm fan. Seeing the amount of room where the fan is located, I would have liked to see a 120mm fitted here but we will see how the 80mm fan works before I start to complain.
The bottom of the case is supported by four feet that can be used either under the case like at the top or sticking out to the sides. There is no way of locking the feet in place and I found that they didn't want to stay sticking out when I was moving the case around for the photos. Little notches around the inner circle to keep them in the out position would be nice.
The main side panel we are looking at has a large cutout window with the dragon logo etched onto it. The window really shows a lot of the drive tower and not the motherboard because the CPU vent takes up most of that area. I like panel windows as much as the next guy to show off all that beautiful hardware inside, but showing off the drive tower just doesn't do it for me. I think it is time to get that side panel off and take a look at the Dragons interior.
Page 5 : Interior
To get inside the MGE Dragon the two thumbscrews have to be removed and the side panel is then able to slide off.
Once inside, we can see that everything is secured nicely for transport and nothing should have been flying around during shipping. There is a whole pile of connections coming from the power supply and this means lots of expandability. First thing we are going to do is start taking stuff out of the interior so we will look at the box of hardware secured in the hard drive tower.
This is not just some plain brown box or a flimsy little box. MGE has gone all out with every detail of this case, right down to the box that holds the hardware. It holds the same design as the box the case comes packaged in and is quite solid protecting its bounty that it holds.
I have laid out the contents here that include an installation manual, a power cord, a bag chalk full of tool less clips for the optical and hard drives as well as the standard bag of standoffs and mounting hardware. MGE has also included a few cable ties and clips that will allow us to secure the cables running through the case to keep it clean. There are two little pieces of foam with an adhesive back but I am not sure what they are intended for.
The next piece to remove from the case is the included 500W power supply. It comes mounted on a plate which is the secured to the case at the rear and I have removed that so we can get a good look at this two fan power supply unit. The rear fan is 80mm and looks to be identical to the case fans with the bottom fan measuring 90mm.
Oh and I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but this power supply happens to be a modular design. How great is that? The 24-pin ATX power cable and the 4-pin auxiliary power cable are hardwired and showed here coming out the edge of the power supply but the rest of the cables can be disconnected or connected as you need to minimize the clutter in the case.
The modular cables that are included are as follows:
1 x double SATA
1 x 6-pin PCI-E
2 x double 4-pin Molex and single floppy drive
1 x triple 4-pin Molex
There are plenty of 4-pin Molex connections to go around but with the rising popularity of SATA drives, four of those would be nice. Even still, this power supply looks like an impressive unit and not something that will need to be replaced before you even install your components like some cases offer.
This is a case review but I thought I would pull the top off the power supply while I had it out. There is a couple large aluminum heatsinks and large capacitors used throughout. The fans both appear to be LED fans and there is three additional LEDs scattered throughout the power supply that I could find. This case is going to glow like a street light, it should be very nice. Look for the voltage tests of this power supply in the testing section a little later on.
As the specifications state, the PCI expansion slots feature a tool-less design and it appears to be one single locking mechanism for all the PCI slots. It feels nice and smooth in operation and I will comment on how well it works during installation. The rear fan obviously is an LED fan and will add more than enough color to the interior in combination with the power supply.
At the opposite end of the case, we are offered four hard drive slots and two additional external slots for floppy drives but looking at the cutouts, it appears that hard drives can be installed in the upper slots as well for those of us in the crowd with more drives than fingers on one hand. Of course everything in this case is aluminum and looks fantastic.
At this point, I decided it was time to take more stuff off of the aluminum shell and the front panel was easily removed to reveal the backside of the LCD display. I have highlighted the hinge from the front side to show how clever MGE is in providing power from this rear LCD panel to the front door for the LEDs. Instead of having a cable run from the case to the front door near the hinge, MGE has made the hinge the pathway for the power. The red wire coming from the LCD connects to the metal hinge and the hinge is mated with the two wires on the front door to supply them with power. This is the type of thing that makes this case stand out and allows for the clean design up front to be maintained, brilliant and so simple. It's not like there is enough voltage going through the hinge to get hot and melt the plastic so this is really a perfect solution.
With the front panel off, it reveals the all aluminum front face to this frame that holds everything together. I think at this point every one reading understands my feelings towards 80mm fans when 120mm fans will fit. Clearly there is plenty of room for a 120mm fan and the front grill would supply ample opening for a bigger fan to suck air in through so why do I see just an 80mm fan here? It will break my heart to cut this beautiful frame, but it will have to be done.
It is time again to praise the design of the Dragon by MGE. The little piece in the inset image is what is mounted by the three screws just above it. This piece acts as a support bar for the end of the power supply and is adjustable to accommodate larger or smaller power supplies. So in the event that you do need to mount a power supply other than the included 500W one, such as maybe the MGE Magnum, you can adjust this a little further back and provide unbelievable support for the power supply.
Here is a quick photo of the support bar from the power supply mount location. We can also see ledges along both sides that are there to support the power supply. There will be no power supplies hanging down in this case, that is for certain.
I mentioned earlier that the entire rear panel would be part of the removable motherboard tray and now it is time to show it. This design is preferred by almost all system builders as it will allow complete setup of a system and the ability to test it before mounting in the case saving frustration if a component is not working out of the box. We can also see the little button and cable on the frame near the top. This is for motherboards with chassis intrusion detection capabilities.
Here is the entire motherboard tray removed and ready for action. The panel is light as a feather as expected but very sturdy due to the support bar in the upper corner and the creases imprinted in the panel itself to provide rigidity to the piece. This case is almost guaranteed to be an easy installation with the abundance of features.
The last of the photos I will be showing before we get to installing components is the shot of the naked frame. Without anything on this frame I cannot stress how light it is. The frame itself is very solid and rigid and feels as strong as any metal case that I have stripped down this much. Plus the aluminum just looks amazing being a consistent polished finish throughout.
Page 6 : Installation
With any installation, a removable motherboard makes life easier. A removable motherboard that incorporates the rear panel with PCI expansion slot mounts further alleviates the frustration because you can mount everything outside of the case and test if you want, then just slide it into place when youre ready.
The motherboard tray that comes with the Dragon is extremely solid. I think I mentioned that once already but I am saying it again, it really is that good. The first step in getting the motherboard mounted to the tray is to give it something to sit on so it's time for the supplied standoffs to go in.
Once the I/O panel is in place and the standoffs are secured it is time to mount the motherboard to the tray. MGE has supplied us with screws for this task and little cardboard washers to protect the motherboard from being scratched by the screws.
Once the motherboard had all nine screws holding it down, I can now mount the video card and the backside of the tray has these slits to allow the tip of the mounting bracket to slide through if it needs to. The slits could be the slightest bit wider as I found that to install a card it had to be pressed into the PCI slot perfectly parallel with the motherboard so that the mounting tab could go through these slits exactly perpendicular otherwise it would end up getting jammed and would not go through the slit.
Once I finally got the tab to go through the slit, I ran into my second problem mounting the video card. The tool-less locking plate would not close to secure the video card. It would pull down a little bit and get stuck on the corner of the PCB of the video card. I played with it for about 15 minutes trying to get enough room to pull the locking piece down in place but nothing would work. I thought it might just be this particular card so I tried the HIS X800GTO and it was the exact same result. In the end, after an hour or so with no luck, I just removed the tool-less panel and grabbed a few screws from another case as MGE had none provided should this situation arise. The old fashioned way worked like a charm and I could move on.
The Asus motherboard I was using for testing already had the CPU and heatsink installed as was the RAM so there was nothing left to do but slide the tray in place.
With most removable motherboard trays of this nature sliding them in place with a large CPU cooler already mounted is not possible so I thought best to try it with this one. I grabbed the tallest and biggest CPU cooler I have, the Titan Vanessa L-Type, and did some testing. What I found was that it looks like it should go in with ease but when I actually went to slide the tray in; the little button on the top of the cooler got stuck. If I took this button off, the motherboard tray was free to enter its home with massive CPU cooler intact. Basically if you have a monster CPU cooler that is 1-2 mm shorter than the Vanessa L-Type then you should have no problems installing it prior to siding the tray in. If you happen to have a Vanessa L-Type and this case then simply pop off the button, slide it in, and put the button back on.
Now that the motherboard was in place and secured with the four thumbscrews I could focus on the front of the case and getting drives installed. The top optical panel popped right out allowing me to slide the optical drive right in. This case uses a tool-free design that does not require anything to be mounted on the drive before being slid into the slot.
The gap around the optical drive is minimal and it is able to sit flush with the front panel without any rubbing while going in. Now if only I didn't have such an ugly beige drive it might look alright in this beautiful case.
The clips on the right are basically the same for hard drives, floppy drives and optical drives just different sizes and they are all labeled just to be sure. Basically it works by sliding the drive in place and then placing these clips on each side with the dial at the 12/6 o'clock position. This will insert the 'key' into the hole and when you turn the dial to the 3/9 o'clock position it is locked in place and the drive is secure.
You can see how they work in the image above. Two pins at the front and the back just stick into the screw holes on the drive and hold it in place. This method worked rather well and was very straight forward to figure out without requiring the instructions.
With all the hardware in place, it was time to start hooking up some cables. You can see the CPU thermal probe placed on the top WD Raptor. I wanted to use the probe to measure the drive temperature because I already have SpeedFan to monitor the CPU temperature and SMART won't allow monitoring drives that are in a RAID array. The wire that the probe is on is extremely long, this is very nice to see. You can put this probe anywhere you want and it will reach up to a foot outside the back of the case.
There you have it, all cables connected, secured and managed quite well. The design and layout of the case really aids in keeping the space clean and tidy with plenty of room to tuck cables behind the drive tower. The support bar for the power supply also aided in keeping the excess cable up and out of the way. Let's fire this machine up and see how it performs.
Page 7 : Testing & Performance
For testing the thermal performance of the Dragon, I will be using the following installed components:
NB cooled with ZM-NB47 J
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester @ 266*9 1.64v
Retail boxed HSF w/Artic Silver 5
2*512 OCZ PC3200 PDC DDR RAM @ 436MHz
Sapphire X700Pro 256MB
2 x WD Raptor in RAID 0
MGE included 500W PSU
MGE Dragon
Antec SLK1650B Mini Tower (80mm exhaust fan, 80mm front intake fan)
Aspire X-Cruiser
The system booted and I was able to jump straight into the BIOS to setup the machine upon first power up. All the front panel connections worked first time out and I thank the manual for providing a good description of where each connection goes for that success.
For testing I will be using the exact same method and components as the other two cases that are in the graphs for comparison purposes. The only difference in the components will be the power supply as I wanted to use the included 500W power supply with the Dragon for its testing. Testing involved running Prime 95 and 3DMark 05 for a full hour from a cold boot. SpeedFan was used to record the CPU, PSU, and MB temperatures and for the HD temperature I used the included thermal probe that came with the MGE Dragon. After the hour both Prime95 and 3DMark 05 were closed and the system was left to idle for an hour with just normal services and SpeedFan running. Throughout testing the room temperature remained a consistent 21-22C. Here are the results graphed out:
I figured I would include the other two cases because they are pretty similar in design with a front mount and rear mount 80mm fan each and all three cases include a wind tunnel to supply the CPU with fresh air from outside the case. All three cases really do compare very closely. The PSU temperature is a little higher due to the fact that the fans are thermally controlled and during testing were often not spinning. This tells us that they are designed to try and keep the PSU at or around 55C I would imagine. The wind tunnel on the Dragon did not line up near as well as the other two cases and is likely the reason for the extra degree or so that the CPU was running at. Overall, the performance is good for having just a couple fans and with two 120mm fans instead of the 80mm ones the performance would be that much better and even quieter. Not that the case is loud because it certainly isn't. The fans can be heard but they are not buzzy or obnoxious sounding at all. There is a bit of hard drive noise emanating from the case but overall I was quite pleased with the noise or lack of it I should say.
As you can see, the lights throughout the case glow blue and there are a lot of them. The LEDs in the front panel are responsible for lighting up the Dragon logo and the front fan LEDs are lighting up the grill area below. The light on the inside is provided by the combination of the two fans and the case looks great in the dark. The dragon logo looks like it is glowing a different color in the photo but the blue throughout is all the same, that is just the camera playing tricks on the color due to the brightness of certain areas. I also did a quick check of the front panel connections and the microphone and audio ports performed without any extra static, background noise, or interference of any kind.
As you can see, there is a Dragon logo on the LCD to compliment the handful of information it provides. Along the top are the three fan speeds and just below that is the temperature probe reading and the time. You can easily switch the temperature to F and the time can be switched to display the uptime of the machine. Configuring and setting the display is simple with the three buttons and the feel of them is great.
Although the power supply is brand new and only been running for a few days I thought some would still like to see the voltage readings from it so I am including those now.
There is nothing that jumps off the screen to be concerned about as all values are well within acceptable ranges and the difference between the three states is minimal. This looks like another really solid power supply from MGE and adds tremendously to the value of the case it comes with.
I will now talk a little bit about using the case it self. First of all, the front door is great! The magnets hold it firmly against the front panel and make it feel very secure. When you need to open it there is plenty to grab on to with the lip around the entire panel and the hinges are smooth like butter, MGE has done very well here. The side panels are a bit of a different story. They are not smooth at all and a little tough to get on and off. When installing the side panels they would only slide on so far and to get them all the way on and to match seams with the front of the case the thumbscrews had to be screwed in to tighten them up which is fine, but I would just like to be able to slide them fully in place and then just loosely screw in the thumbscrews and not have to tighten them up to get the panels flush. The handle on top, however, is great. I have said before it and I will say it again, the handle is awesome, so strong and sturdy this case is very easy for transport.
My final thoughts can be found on the last page in the conclusion section.
Page 8 : Conclusion
The computer market is always changing do to the evolution of technology and the tastes of consumers which invokes cosmetic changes as well. Most recently modding and themed cases have become quite popular with gamers and enthusiasts who want to stand out when they show up at a LAN party or post photos of their computer in forums on-line and want to be the one everyone else is talking about. MGE has been at the forefront of this evolution and the Dragon is another big step taken in the process. The stunning front panel really is great to look at when turned off and even better when power is sent to the multitude of blue LEDs throughout the case. The LCD blends in extremely well with the lines of the grill and provides very useful information to the user. I initially wasn't sure what to think when I saw that I received the silver case as I was hoping to see the glossy finish of the black, red or blue Dragon that MGE offers but I have to admit that the brushed aluminum has really grown on me. It almost gives the case a higher level of maturity.
Of course, looks are not the only important deciding factor when shopping for a computer case, for some it may be, but performance is always at the top of my list. The Dragon definitely does not disappoint. It did a fine job cooling the stressed set of components in testing and did so remaining very quiet in the process. I will not deny that I wish there were two 120mm fan mounts instead of the 80mm ones but they did do a good job keeping fresh air coming in and hot air going out. Keep in mind this test setup was designed to really push the limits of a case with a passive cooler on the chipset and the stock cooler on an extremely over-volted and overclocked CPU that really should have an aftermarket heatsink and fan attached to it. The pair of WD Raptors in RAID tend to generate a lot of heat and the Dragon had no problem keeping them cool.
If you want to hear a buzz when you walk into your next LAN party, then you will definitely want to walk in with the Dragon swinging from your right hand. It's portable, it's cool looking, and it performs very well. There are a few minor issues that can be over-looked but nothing major that should keep you from over-looking this case in your next build. The features speak for themselves and that list of features is a long one, you definitely won't be disappointed with the Dragon from MGE.
Advantages:
- Light as a feather compared to metal cases
- Excellent included power supply
- Man this thing looks good at night
- A lot of small details that add up
Disadvantages:
- 2 x 80mm fans means good but not amazing cooling performance
- Tool-less design at the back has its issues
- Hefty price tag
We at Overclockers Online would like to thank MGE for providing a sample of the Dragon fro review.
Don't forget to participate in this months contest where you can take home either this case or one of many great prizes!