Final Thoughts

Overall, the Tagan Black Pearl WCR has a lot going for it. Starting off with a design based from Lian Li makes for an excellent starting point. While some may frown at the idea of using another manufacturer's design, it is nothing more than a starting point and designs are commonly licensed to other companies. Tagan has added its own features to make the Black Pearl a more unique casing solution.

As far as space is concerned, you will likely find yourself having a very difficult time trying to fill it all. With room for six optical drives, a floppy, eight hard drives and motherboards up to the Extended ATX size, there is more then enough space for your current system with room to grow. As stated earlier, this thing is just plain BIG!

The use of a separate compartment for the power supply and hard drives is also a tried and true method to help manage system cooling. Having up to eight drives can create a whole lot of heat. There is a lot to be said about this design and it does work well. The design also planned for the need of a raised platform to mount the power supply on, which is even more important for those with the fan on the bottom. The active cooling allows for the hard drives to remain cool and exhaust the air out the back through the PSU.

My only real concern is the cooling potential of the upper compartment, the one where your mainboard and primary components reside. There is no active cooling on the front bezel to create a proper airflow pattern. The only fan (besides the one attached to your HSF if you are using air cooling) is at the bottom of the compartment at the back of the enclosure, and it is set up as an exhaust. There is venting along the side where air can come in, but it is not filtered in any way and will allow all manner of dirt and dust to take up residence in your system. This was an area of concern when testing the system with a pair of very hot video cards with factory cooling. Normal systems will probably not have anything to really worry about, but the enthusiasts out there should plan accordingly.

Price is what you would expect for a quality made enclosure that is rated toward the high-end of the enthusiast line. The Black Pearl has a MSRP of about $270US but it can be found online for closer to the $250 mark. While not the most expensive case out there, it is priced toward the upper end of the scale. It has a lot to offer for the price, but the upper compartment cooling is a glaring oversight.