Inside the KT-424

Unlike some other aluminum cases that we have reviewed, the aluminum construction continues inside the case throughout every structure. We immediately noticed the rubber mounts for the hard drives. Kingwin placed these rubber stoppers inside the mounting holes for each 3.5” internal bay. As we have noticed in our testing of this case, these stoppers do dampen the noise of the hard drives spinning. This upgrade adds considerably to the performance of the case at almost no cost.



Our only complaint about the hard drive mounting is the absence of any sort of removable bays. Unscrewing the hard drives requires both sides of the tower to be removed. Welcome back to the dark ages.




The KT-424 came with yet another solution for "screw less" bay mounting on the external 3.5” and 5.25” bays. These are similar to the Foxconn clips that pull forward to apply pressure on the sides of the components. As far as we can tell, these clips are durable and work well, but can inhibit your choke of fan controllers or other half length external devices. Removing the clips does not help, since there are no standard sized holes to mount something with screws.

PCI and AGP expansion bays used standard thumbscrews and metal covers. We have seen a lot of different suggestions to this design, but in our opinion, this still might be the best.

An unusual sharp edge exists up at the top, along the power supply mounting. Kingwin does not include plastic runners with the KT-424, so all edges are smoothed or folded over.

More on External Construction Motherboard Tray
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  • KristopherKubicki - Saturday, September 6, 2003 - link

    BeanTech doesnt manufacturer the case either. I do not recall the manufacturer off the top of my head, but I am pretty sure its a no-name guy.

    Kristopher
  • Anonymous User - Thursday, August 28, 2003 - link

    This is the exact same case as the BeanTech BT60B. I know, I bought it about a year ago from GamePC. Don't get me wrong, it's a great case. It was the first case (IIRC) to have rubber hard drive mounting grommets standard. However, the design is a good year old, and other companies have taken BeanTech's design and improved on it (like the Antec Sonata's removable HD trays with rubber grommets).
  • Anonymous User - Monday, August 25, 2003 - link

    I have this case and it kicks ass. I was able to fit a radiator and two 120mm fans on the front part of the back panel of the case. Install is easy and runs beautifully. Blacklight, watercooling and still able to benefit from all the glorious features. Only thing they could have done better is include USB front header wires to the clip-and-go feature.
  • KristopherKubicki - Saturday, August 23, 2003 - link

    knight, no, just waiting for publishing. dont worry i havent forgotten ;)
  • KnightBreed - Friday, August 22, 2003 - link

    So, was the LCD interview/article cancelled or delayed indefinitely?
  • Anonymous User - Friday, August 22, 2003 - link

    is the ocsystem the OCSystem Diamond Warp Super 10bay Tower Case anygood and how does it stack up with the Kingwin KT-424
  • KristopherKubicki - Thursday, August 21, 2003 - link

    I still dont have a hold of this system. Sorry about the double post.

    The Antec Lanboy weighs about 13lbs with a power supply. The Kingwin KT-424 weighs 20lbs without a power supply.

    I have found no evidence of necesity to ground a hard drive on the outside. Obviously, grounding a power supply over the molex is very important, however.

    Kristopher
  • Anonymous User - Thursday, August 21, 2003 - link

    Grounding - if there's grounding in the HD power connecter, then why does the Zalman heatpipe HD cooler have a separate grounding/chassis wire? They say its necessary due to their rubbber grommet mounts...

  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - link

    I want to thank the author for writing a good article. I also have a question. I have an Antec lanboy and I really love its weight. The author says the KT 424 is rather heavy. I wonder, how much does it weigh? Or at least, is it as light as a lanboy? Thanks.
  • KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - link

    #7, what else would you like me to comment on? Feel free to email me too if you would like. kkubicki@anandtech.com

    Kristopher

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