Polaris Iceforge Case Review - Conclusion page 2

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Polaris Iceforge Case Review

 

Company: Xoxide Product: Polaris Iceforge Case Price: USD$115 Availability: Now Written by: Jim (Justifier) Miller Reviewed: March 2002

 

 

QUALITY:

One of the key things we look for in a case is quality construction. While we've already mentioned the quality of the mods that Xoxide made to the case, lets look at the case itself.

Notice the rounded edges of all the exposed metal edges. This is a HUGE thing to look for when buying a new case. If you're gonna save money by buying a case without rounded edges let me know so I can go buy stock in Band-Aid, as you're gonna cut yourself a lot. You can even see the quality construction of the peripheral card mounting location. There are no shoddy thin strip covers here, the good stuff!

In the first picture above you can see the slots that the case side slips into. To remove the case side you MUST remove the top, which sucks, but is a smart design. The top comes off with one thumbscrew and the sides just lift out. You don't have to slide the sides 10inches to get them off, lift them 1/2 inch and they're free, yet when they're in they're in solidly.

The wiring for the two 120mm blowholes is a bit suspect, but comes with plenty of length. I would have liked to seen the bulb for the power switch of the fans be secured in a little better as mine came out the first time I messed with it, but once put back in it has stayed there for good.

This problem is easily remedied with either some electricians tape or preferably some wiring loom, but to have added it would have been a nice touch. That said, they couldn't really pre-wire it as they needed to leave the option up to the end user of whether to route it high or low, and leave enough slack to take the case side off.

One thing that I REALLY liked is that this case comes complete with ALL the fans you need. It comes with the two 120mm fans for the blowholes, two 80mm fans (1 front intake, 1 back exhaust), and of course the fan in the power supply if you choose to buy a model with a power supply. (Ours did not come with one.)

With all of this said, the overall quality of this case is definitely above average. The steel is a bit thicker than the average case adding to it's stability and overall "solidness".

 

PERFORMANCE:

Performance on a case you say? Well... YEAH! Anytime a company gives me the option of having something on or off, the blowholes in this case, I like to see just what kind of difference it makes. What I did to test this out is get the room temperature to a constant 75deg Fahrenheit, then run the case balls to the wall, and at idle and compare the temperatures of CPU and case with the blowholes on, and off.

The temperatures were taken with the internal diode of the AthlonXP 1700 and the board sensor of the Abit KR7A. (Temps in F).

 

 

That information doesn't take much explanation, obviously the blowholes are MORE than doing their job! The major drawback to this superior performance is noise. Those 120mm fans make some racket have no doubt! The good thing is that these are not the ridiculously loud 120mm, but if that's your thing you can always replace them later :).

With this much air moving in a mid-tower case you don't need all the high output fans we normally fill your box with. With the blowholes off the noise of this case sounds almost like a normal OEM computer, which to me is a good thing. I like to leave my system running 24/7 and there's no need in drowning out the TV by running the 120mm's when you don't need it.

 

CONCLUSION:

It's hard to say this case is anything but a solid performer with a fair amount of features for the price. How's that you say with over a $100 price tag without a power supply? Look at everything this comes with... Two 120mm fans, Two 80mm fans, 3 chrome fan grills, high quality rubber shrouds and screws, the rocker switch, the LED indicator, you get a lot for your money. If you figure you are going to be getting around $40 in hardware, the mods predone, and the case, it's a pretty decent value.

That isn't to say there aren't drawbacks, the lack of a mobo tray, the unmodded front intake, and a few other things don't make me happy, but overall the quality and features it DOES come with make up for that.

If you are looking for a trouble and effort free case to build your overclocked system in, this is definitely a case you should consider. If you wanna buy a sleeper case and mod it yourself, you can probably save a few bucks shopping around. Ultimately the decision is yours.

 

PRO's

* Quality Blowhole Construction
* Amazing Amount of room for a Mid-Tower Case.
* Instructions for assembly on the OUTSIDE!
* Performance is unbelievable for a Mid-Tower Case
* Can Turn off the 120mm Blowholes when not in use.

CON's

* No Removeable Motherboard Tray
* Front Intake fan grill not replaced.
* All those fans make a lot of noise.

I'd like to give a big thanks to Xoxide for providing us with this review case, and tell ya all to head over and check out what they have to offer. They sell a buttload of pre-modded cases, this Iceforge is just one of them. They also have many other items to satisfy your case modding needs. Also, Xoxide just let us know they will have a "Black" painted version of this case for purchase very soon. With quite a few folks lately preferring black towers, this will be a welcome product and all painting will be done professionally and in-house.

Thanks for stopping by and checking it out. Feel free to head into the forums to tell us how much you liked or hated this review, or head on to the Front Page and check out the other GOOSH here at OCA..

DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

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