Specifications, Availability and Pricing

This all steel chassis is accented with steel mesh panels surrounded in either the plastic front bezel, or in the case of the door panels. The mesh is surrounded by a plastic ring to hold the mesh in place. The front bezel has five removable covers to expose the 5.25" bays, and one of which has a tray to turn the 5.25" bay into a 3.25" bay for a floppy drive. At the bottom, a 120mm fan sucks in air and pushes it through the rack that houses a slide out tray for a 2.5" drive, and the four 3.5" bays just below it. The motherboard tray is designed to allow for wire management and supports a wide array of motherboard form factors. Since the Dragon Rider is 21.8" deep, internally this leaves room for VGAs up to thirteen inches in length.

Connectivity of the Dragon Rider is handled in the top I/O panel. Aside from the usual power, reset, and activity LEDs, this panel offers a full list of ports. IEEE 1394, two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, e-SATA, and the audio connection cover the I/O panel. That leaves us with the ventilation, and again IN WIN has this part of the chassis fully covered. The front has a 120mm fan, as well as the rear and the top of the chassis. The top does offer an extra place for mounting a 120mm fan in front of the one packaged with the Dragon Rider. The door panels, and yes, I mean both panels, are where "extra" cooling is well handled. The left panel comes shipped with a 220mm fan already attached to the door, but has room to place up to six 120mm fans instead. The right side panel houses a 120mm fan that cools the back of the motherboard and CPU socket via the cut out in the motherboard tray for the CPU cooler access.

So let's get to the part that is usually either a deal breaker, or something that drives us to like a purchase even more; the price. IN WIN shows on the product page that the MSRP is set at $159.99 and from what I found around the internet, this is right around where most e-tailers are listing the Dragon Rider. Hopping over to my favorite place to buy hardware, a $139.99 asking price at Newegg.com plays right into the MSRP once the $20 worth of shipping gets added in. The Dragon Rider is on shelves just about everywhere, so let's move into the packaging so we can get a look at the outside and inside of this new full tower from IN WIN.