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LanCool Dragonlord PC-K58W Mid-Tower Case


Date
: 12/8/09 – 01:42:52 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
LanCool

Everyone is more than familiar with the Lian Li name and their quality aluminum cases, but with that aluminum material comes a premium price. LanCool is a spinoff of Lian Li, using the same top quality designs only packaging them in SECC steel to reduce costs.

Today I'll be taking a look at the LanCool Dragonlord PC-K58W mid-tower case. The PC-K58W is essentially the steel version of Lian Li's ARMORSUIT PC-P50 though it does carry a few differences.

Page 2 : Package and Accessories

The front and back of the box contains a mirror image. A large image of the case dominates with smaller pictures outlining features of the PC-K58W.

The sides contain a list of the specifications for the case and like the front and back, both sides contain the same information.

Protection is pretty standard, plastic bag around the case enclosed in two styrofoam ends.

Accessories seem relatively light scarce but are all that is needed for installation. Accessories include power supply buckle, cable organizers, motherboard thumbscrews, 3-pin to 4-pin adapter, small speaker, bag of screws and rubber pads for the hard drive caddies.

Page 3 : Features and Specifications

I grabbed specifications for the PC-K58W straight from Lancool's product page here..

Quality:

*’Quality’ is always the essence of Lancool's products, All products are manufactured in Taiwan and distributed to worldwide markets.
*The Dragon Load K series builds LanCool's high standard of Quality requirement. This SECC steel cases with completely tool-less design are the perfect complement to a PC gamer's needs.

Design:

*The cutting edge tool-less design is an important key feature in 2009 LanCool cases. LanCool designer considered end user requirements, like those who need to build systems faster, or swap out components often. The brand new tool-less modules can make users? life much more convenient.
*The look of Dragon Lord K58W has no door panel design; users can access the external drive easier. The two red stripes on the front panel done in attractive anodized aluminum give a flamboyant finishing touch to this outstanding high-end chassis.

Feature:

*The hardware installation with Dragon Lord K58W is very easy and simple. The front panel and top panel are detachable and they can be removed without tools.
*The Dragon Lord K58W is targeted for the LAN party gamers. It is a mid-tower case, which is ideal for the latest graphics cards in combination with the best thermal dynamics. All the internal installation can be done without tools, and is easily adjustable to optimize your hardware setup. Especially in the advent of adding in new graphics cards, equipped with 8 PCI slots, can hold three or more graphics cards, supports CrossfireX and 3-way SLI.
*The new internal layout has the motherboard on top of the power supply unit, which allows for easier access to the motherboard as well as more room above, thus larger CPU coolers can be used. The power supply unit at the button of the case is cooled with fresh cool air directly from the outside of the case, instead of pre-heated air from within. This will bring down the core temperatures and extend the lifespan of the PSU significantly.
*To install motherboard require no tools, use tool-less screw to screw a motherboard on case, easily and quickly

Silent:

*The Dragon Lord K58W is equipped with large cooling fans, with low RPM, which still provide enough air flow to cool down the hardware adequately. The front 140mm intakes fan runs at 1000RPM. The top two silent 140mm ball-bearing fans exhaust the hot air out at 1000RPM.
*The fans on the top panel are mounted with Lian Li's new anti-vibration fan mounting system; the rubber ring grommet absorbs the vibration, keeping the case silent.
*The new 5.25′ bay tool-less mounting incorporates a mounting bar equipped with rubber padding. After secure the mounting bar, the rubber pad pushes and holds the 5.25′ device in position to secure and absorb vibration from the device.
*The tool-less HDD cage combines with patented anti-vibration rubber grommets to suspend the HDD's in a noise free environment. The two buckles on both side to hold the HDD in position, also absorb and reduce vibrations.
*The aluminum PCI tool-less mounting module is equipped with a rubber pad which can hold the graphics card firmly while closing the gap found in the PCI bracket and PCI slot to reduce noise from escaping air and furthermore reduce vibrations.
*The Power Supply has rubber pads for both insulation and support. The mounting clip is also aligned with rubber to reduce vibrations but also and also secure the PSU without scratching the painted surface.
*There are special air intake vents at the front of the case, allow cold air to enter, also keep system noise inside the case.
*There are four rubber grommets between the HDD cage and HDD, avoid HDD directly contact the HDD cage, absorb and reduce vibrations, keep the noise down.

Thermal:

*Dragon Lord K58W inputs cold air by the 140mm (1000RPM) intake fan, There are also vents on the 5.25′ bezels, allow cold air to enter the case to cool the system down
*The rear 120mm exhaust fan just next to the CPU, it can remove the hot air out fast and silently.
*There are vents on the PCI slots, provides extra cooling to graphics card.
*The power supply unit is at the bottom of the case. It can draw in cold air directly through the vent below the power supply unit. This cooler, fresh air will keep your PSU components more cool and stable and thus extend the PSU lifecycle.
*Dragon Lord K58W supports liquid cooling system, the two holes at the rear of the case allows water tubes to pass through, and the rubber cover can protect the tubes away from cutting.
*The Dragon Load k58W feature a high density vent design, to make sure fans remove the system hot air out of the case totally.

Friendly:

*2009 has seen an all-new tool-less design from Dragon Lord K series chassis. To do this required a great many innovative patents to be filed worldwide. The ideas will make installing and maintenance much easier. For example when installing the 5.25′ optical drive, just slide the drive into the 5.25′ bay, and close the mounting bar to secure the optical drive, as simple as that.
*The installation of the hard disk is very easy, and tool-less. Place the hard disk into the aluminum cage, and fasten the bucks to secure the hard disk.(2.5′ HDD install feasible), Slide the hard disk within the cage into the special hard disk rack with the rubber suspension grommet.
*To install PCI add-on cards require no tools at all. Simply open the aluminum arm of the tool-less PCI add-on card holder, insert the add-on card to the motherboard slots, and close the aluminum arm to hold the add-on card in position. The additional rubber padding on the aluminum arm assists in gripping the card bracket and securing it firmly.
*To install PSU require no tools. Simply open the aluminum PSU holder, insert the PSU in position, also can turn PSU's fans up or down to suit your need, and then close the aluminum PSU holder.
*There is an air filter at the base of the case to stop dust from entering the case. The filter is washable. The vents are specially designed to retard heat and fire crossover should a short circuit cause sparks and excessive heat within your system. This feature is designed to prevent the problem from spreading outside your case should the unlikely event occur with your components.
*The intake fans are aligned with inlet holes on the bezels. These are equipped with air filters to stop the dust and keep the internals dust free and clean.

Specifications:

Page 4 : Exterior

The entire front of the PC-K58W is mesh, which should allow for good airflow. There are five external 5.25′ drive bays. Power and reset switches reside on the top alongside two USB ports and mic/headphone jacks. Behind the front panel connections is a long section that is vented if you wanted to use additional 140mm fans which we will see next.

Similar to the Lian Li PC-P50 the front and top panels of the PC-K58W pull off, thankfully in this case not with the ease of the Lian Li. The drive bay covers are easily removed and there is a removable filter over the lower front 140mm intake fan.

While the right side has nothing remarkable, the left side panel has a well placed window that lines up for a nice view of the more impressive looking parts of your machine, i.e. not the hard drives.

The backside is a mirror copy in design and features to the Lian Li PC-P50, except the PC-K58W is made of steel. You still get slotted PCI slot covers, pre-drilled water cooling holes, thumb screws and rubber grommet mounted 140mm exhaust fan.

Page 5 : Interior

Side panels easily slide back and off once the thumbscrews are removed.

Now we have our first peak inside, the first thing I noticed was the hard drive bays are situated side to side rather than front to back.

Similar to the Lian Li PC-P50, LanCool uses the same 5.25′ tool free mechanism (though it's all plastic rather the metal and plastic of Lian Li) for the top two bays. Motherboard standoffs are pre installed and a welcome sight is the tool free levers for the PCI expansion slots that we saw in the Lian Li case.

The hard drive bays are an interesting mechanism. There are four hard drive caddies that slide in on rubber grommets and get locked into place by one thumbscrew. Hard drives simply snap down into these holders.

The power supply sits on top of two cushioned rails with vents below it.

From the backside you can see several cutouts in the motherboard tray along with decent room for routing and hiding wires.

Here are the front I/O panel connections.

Now let's throw some hardware in it to see how things really work out.

Page 6 : Installation

Ok, so first thing I'll delve into are the hard drives. The mechanism they use really is not my favorite. While it is tool free to snap them into the holders as there are four small plastic pegs that hold it in, to get them out actually requires more work than I think is necessary. To remove them you have to pry these tabs back while pulling the hard drive at the same time, not my idea of quick or easy when it comes time to remove a drive.

Next you'll notice that the hard drives are set up standard with the connections facing the left side of the case, not always the best cable routing for airflow. Luckily they can easily be turned around.

Like we saw in the PC-P50, there is a hole at the top of the tray to run your cables through. It is a tight fit but I managed to fit it through, which is a good thing as the top is riveted on so there is no choice of unscrewing the top.

As we saw before there is a decent amount of room in the backside for cable routing and hiding.

Here is a shot of the cable management piece:

All things considered the install was pretty painless and all parts fit with plenty of room. With a full system installed the PC-K58W does have some weight to it, so I wouldn't really want to tote this case back and forth to any LANs.

Much like its Lian Li cousins, the PC-K58W is not a flashy case as we can see with it powered up and no bright LED fans glaring back at you.

Page 7 : Testing

The following system was installed and used to gather temperatures.

CPU: Intel E8400 w/Zalman CNPS9900 LED
MB: Biostar TPower I45
RAM: G.Skill PI Black PC6400
Video: Biostar Geforce 9600GT
PSU: Ultra X3 1000W
HD: WD 250GB SATA
DVD-Rom: Lite-On 18x DVD Burner – SATA
OS: Microsoft Windows XP w SP3
Ambient Temperature: 25-26C

Cases:

Cooler Master HAF932
NZXT M59
NZXT Beta EVO
LanCool PC-K58W

First up we'll do some testing to see how well the PC-K58W keeps things cool. To get idle temperatures I started the PC up and allowed it to sit at idle for 3 hours with no processes running and recorded temperatures using Everest Ultimate.

Under idle, the PC-K58W performs right about on par with the cases from NZXT.

Next was to load the PC and get some temperatures with a little more heat involved. To get load temps, I ran Orthos blend along with 3DMark06 in a continuous loop for 3 hours.

Under a full load the PC-K58W is right on par with the Beta EVO except in the hard drive temps where it matches those of the HAF932. That front 140mm fan is doing its job quite well.

LanCool's PC-K58W is also quite silent while running. There is no need for a fan speed controller when you can hardly hear the fans when they are running at full speed, and judging by the temps of the hard drive they are doing more than an adequate job.

Page 8 : Conclusion

LanCool's PC-K58W certainly lived up to my expectations, that being the quality of Lian Li without the high price. The PC-K58W features the same elegant and simple looks without any unneeded flash. You get some of the great tool-free features of higher priced cases such as PCI slots, 5.25′ drive bays and even the power supply bracket.

My biggest complaint with the PC-K58W is the hard drive system. While it is not too difficult to remove them, there are certainly better ways it can be done. Also while the use of steel reduces the cost it also adds a good bit of weight.

Overall my impression is positive with LanCool's PC-K58W, it's a solid and sturdy case that is sure to make a happy home for any PC.

Advantages

• Tool-less designs

• Subtle and clean looks
• Decent cooling with room for more fans
• Side window

Disadvantages

• Hard drive system

• Heavy

Overclockers Online would like to thank LanCool for supplying the PC-K58W mid-tower case for review.