SUMMARY: Many of you have enjoyed the looks and usefulness of the Chenming ATX-601AE enclosure over the years. For those not aware of the manuafacturer, this includes the Chieftec Dragon and the Antec 1030 and 1080 series boxes. Chenming has decided to update their award-winning case and has come out with their ATX-602 series enclosure. It is time to take off the gloves and see whether it has anything new to bring to the table or is just a blast from the past.
Beginning at the front of the box we’ll notice the sweeping curved lines of the front bezel. While not an exact duplicate of the original design, there is enough there to leave no doubt as to its heritage.
The material used for the case is 1.0mm aluminum, so this is already an improvement over the hefty steel design of yesteryear. With an empty weight of only 7 KG (about 16 pounds) it weighs in at only about 2/3 of the original steel model. But if you’re dead set on having the heavier case, Chenming also makes it in Steel as before.
As far as dimensions, you’ll find an identical footprint on the new 602 model. We’re talking 205mm x 522mm x 473mm in overall size. Since the old design had plenty of room inside to play with, we’re expecting to see the same thing in this newer creation.
Another improvement in design can be seen as soon as you open the plastic exterior door. Instead of the old array of four optical drive bays we have five. This lets us continue to grow when newer and better toys hit the streets. After all, isn’t that half the fun of being an enthusiast, getting the new components before your buddy?
Next to the 3.5” bays we have the normal choice of power and reset buttons as well as a power and HDD activity light. Nothing out of the ordinary in this area.
Just below the drive bay door is a small panel that hinges upward allowing access to the front mounted I/O ports. Tucked away behind the panel you have a pair of USB ports (USB 2.0 of course), a single Firewire port for those boards that support this feature, a microphone jack and a headphone/speaker jack.
Again, nothing out of the ordinary but it is good to see that these ports are still mounted on the front of the enclosure. I can’t even mention how many times the USB ports have been a great help since it keeps you from digging the entire box out just to plug in a cable into a back port.
Removing the front bezel shows the front of the case itself. You get yourself another couple of 80mm fan ports for cooling (albeit not filtered) as well as some more goodies. The aluminum 5.25” panels are moved back and forth to remove like always, but there is an update to the 3.5” bay design...
Though simple in design, the inclusion of a removable FDD bay makes for easy installation of your smaller devices. There is no reason at all to have to remove the right side panel from the enclosure to mount your hardware. Just a quick pinch of the two retention handles allows you to slide the 2-drive bay completely from the case.
Cabling Installation & Maintenance provides information to industry professionals involved in the purchase, design, installation and maintenance of premises and campus-wide cabling systems.
Copyright © 1999-2008 Tweak Town Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.