Gelid Darkforce Gaming Case Review

[siopao1984]

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Among enthusiasts and technology savvies, Gelid is a well known manufacturer of PC component cooling solutions. A few months ago we had a look at the GX-7, the best CPU cooler the company offers at this point of time. We were taken aback when a few weeks ago Gelid announced not a cooling related product but a high performance gaming case which the company baptized “Darkforce”. Being the first case Gelid ever released, this is the company’s stepping stone towards the case market and we are going to thoroughly examine its features and thermal performance in this review.Manufacturer features and specifications

• Optimized Cooling Options s
• Hotswap 3.5" or 2.5" HDD/ SSD
• 5.25" to 3.5" Drive Bay Converter
• Large Transparent Acrylic Side Window
• 6 Individual HDD Trays & a Removable HDD Cage
• Intelligent Sleeved Cable Management

3.5" Drive Bay:	6+1 (Converted from one 5.25" Drive Bay)
5.25" Drive Bay:	4 (Without the Use of 5.25" to 3.5" Tray)
Acrylic Window:	361.5 X 280 mm Visible Area with 3mm Thickness
Color:	Black
Dimensions (LxWxH):	530 x 207 x 505 mm / 20.9 x 8.1 x 19.9 inch
Extension Slot:	8+1
Fan Power Extention PCB:	2 (Supports up to 6 Fans)
Fans (Base):	2 x 140 or 120mm (Optional)
Fans (Front):	2 x 120mm (1 x 120 x 25mm Fan @1200rpm included)
Fans (Rear):	1 x 120 x 25mm Fan 1200rpm
Fans (Right):	Side: 1x 80 or 120mm x 15mm Fan (optional)
Fans (Top):	2 x 140 or 120mm (Optional)
Hot-Swap Harddisk Dock:	1 (Recommend Enabling AHCI Hard Drive Mode)
Material:	0.7mm SECC Steel Body Arcylic Side Window Plastic Bezel with Metal Mesh
Motherboard Type:	Full ATX / Micro-ATX
Net Weight:	9.2KG / 20.08LBS
Power Supply:	Support ATX PS2 / EPS 12V (Optional)

Read more: Gelid Darkforce Gaming Case Review by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

Gelid supplies the Darkforce case inside a relatively large, well designed cardboard box with a dark blue theme. The main subject of the artwork is a picture of the case itself, focusing on its most important features. Inside the box the case is protected by two polystyrene foam pieces and a plastic bag.



Inside the case the user will find a basic installation guide, the necessary mounting hardware (screws and stand-offs), two simple black cable ties, a lock mount and a metallic sticker of the company logo. It is worthwhile to mention that every last one of the screws is black.

[siopao1984]

At a glance the Gelid Darkforce case is a steel tower case of average size featuring a relatively simple but smooth design with few sharp turns and/or edges. The front and top panels are made out of plastic; however most of their surface is covered by a thin metallic mesh.



The drive covers simply are a single metallic mesh piece each, with the exception of the fourth cover which is cut in two pieces, enabling it to accommodate an external 3.5” device if necessary. Almost half of the bottom half of the faceplate is covered by the same metallic mesh as well, allowing the front intake fan to suck air inside the case with ease.



All of the front panel connectors and the case buttons can be found at the top edge of the case. There are two USB 2.0 connectors, a single USB 3.0 connector, an eSATA port, headphone and microphone jacks, the standard power and reset buttons and power on/HDD activity LEDs.



Behind the front panel connectors Gelid designed a simple but effective HDD docking bay for 2.5” and 3.5” disk drives. This allows the user to install/remove disks as if they were simple plug & play devices, which might come in handy for people using many disks for backup purposes or even for users who want the ability to remove their main disk for security purposes.



The rear of the Darkforce case is entirely black, including the expansion slot covers. The power supply bay is located at the bottom of the case.



Three holes covered by rubber grommets can be seen towards the top of the rear side of the case. These are most commonly used to route watercooling tubes to the outside of the case, however companies started adding more because users frequently use them to route cables as well, hence the third hole present on this case.



A massive window covers about 60% of the left side panel, displaying the entire motherboard tray and the PSU area. Gelid installed the window on the exterior side of the panel, probably to maximize the size of the window and the space available for tall CPU coolers. Unfortunately placing the window on the outside of the case with visible plastic bolts and without any kind of frame also gives the panel an amateurish and crude appearance.



The right side panel of the case is all metallic and almost entirely plain, with the exception of a cut for installing an optional cooling fan to reduce the temperatures at the rear side of the motherboard, a feature which is frequently sought after by hardcore overclockers.

[buknoy24]

Same Concept to CM690ll advance...

[siopao1984]

Much like most modern gaming cases, Gelid painted the interior of their Darkforce case entirely black, including all plastic parts and retention brackets. The case is relatively deep, allowing the installation of coolers up to 162mm tall and cards up to 410mm long. The motherboard tray is cut behind the CPU area, therefore most large CPU coolers can be installed without having to remove the motherboard from the case and also the installation of an extra cooling fan for the rear of the motherboard on the right side panel, a feature mostly meant for hardcore overclockers. Note that only a 15mm tall fan will fit!





Gelid also installed two small PCBs serving as power plugs for fans. One PCB can be found right next to the PSU compartment and another is found at the top right side of the motherboard tray. The PCBs are interconnected and powering the bottom PCB allows the installment of up to six cooling fans. Unfortunately there is no speed control associated with this feature; all of the connected fans are simply going to run at maximum speed.



Gelid placed a meshed filter beneath the PSU area which is not very dense but will hold the largest dust particles. The PSU can be firmly secured with the aid of the large black scratch. There is also another 120mm/140mm intake fan slot at the bottom of the case, unoccupied. You may use any size ATX PSU inside the Darkforce case but if you install a 140mm fan at the bottom of the case you are strictly limited to standard ATX size (maximum depth of 160mm) PSUs.



The expansion slot covers are partly perforated, allowing small volumes of fresh air to enter (or, depending on the configuration of the cooling fans, exit) the case. Thumbscrews are used to hold the expansion cards, although a screwdriver should be used for firm long term installation. Gelid also included a vertical expansion slot which of course is not meant to be used by any kind of expansion card which needs to be connected to the motherboard, it can however be used by accessories such as fan speed controller rheostats, diagnostic LEDs, switches and any other similar device which takes up an expansion slot without being actually connected to the motherboard itself.



Right above the slot covers Gelid has a simple black 120mm fan installed. It is a medium to low speed fan, rated at 1200RPM. Two more 120mm/140mm fans can be installed at the top of the case but out of the box these slots are empty.



A total of six HDD trays are present at the lower front part of the case, divided between two removable cages. The trays are facing sideways, allowing the easy removal of disk drives even when long cards are installed. A 120mm 1200RPM fan is installed right in front of the drive trays.



The HDD trays are plastic but they are tough and very nicely made, with rubber grommets to minimize vibration noise and feature support for 2.5” drives (laptop HDDs and SSDs) as well.



At the rear of the motherboard tray Gelid left enough space for the easy routing of the cables. All of the cables already present in the Darkforce are sleeved, forming a very clean look.



Our ICTT system fits inside the Darkforce very comfortably. There is plenty of room for working around the system and for routing the cables behind the motherboard tray.

[siopao1984]

In order to assess the thermal performance of the case we will be using our Integrated Casing Torture Test (ICTT) system to take readings over a period of one and a half hour. All of the case fans are operating at their maximum speed during the test and both side panels are closed. The exhaust temperature probe was placed above the rear fan of the case.



Keeping in mind that the Gelid Darkforce is a high performance gaming chassis, our results clearly indicated that the stock thermal performance is just above average. The case could handle our massive thermal load for several minutes but the few and slow factory fans are clearly unable to cope with such monstrous heat dissipation. Considering that only two 120mm 1200RPM fans are installed we can even consider our results to be very good, meaning that the Darkforce case has great cooling potential if the end user wishes to install more/better cooling options.

When it comes to acoustics performance, the Gelid Darkforce performed amazingly good by generating only 31.2dB(A), one of the best figures we have ever seen in our labs. However that is because the case only uses two slow cooling fans to begin with – installing more or more powerful cooling fans will certainly increase this figure considerably.

[siopao1984]

Quality (30% of the total score)

Gelid’s first attempt to design and manufacture a quality case has been a success, with the Darkforce being a well made and versatile gaming case without any manufacturing imperfections, aesthetic or otherwise. Even though the top and front panels are mostly made out of plastic, their quality is high and thus they do not reduce the overall quality factor of this case. While the body of the Darkforce case is nothing short of exceptionally made, there Achilles’ heel of this product is the left side panel. The 3mm windowed side panel is thick enough to withstand some abuse but its plastic surface can be scratched with relative ease and its size, quality and installation method leave us concerned.

Quality Score 9.0/10



Performance (30% of the total score)

Even though the stock thermal performance of the Darkforce case was hardly better than average for a gaming class case, it was the result of having only two slow 120mm fans installed out of the box. On the other hand, the use of only two quiet 120mm out of the box also leads to outstanding acoustics performance while the case can still cope with average thermal loads, which should be more than sufficient for casual users and gamers. While this level of performance will not be enough for power users and enthusiasts, with six unoccupied fan slots and watercooling support this product offers massive headroom for improving the system’s thermal performance.

Performance Score 9.0/10



Aesthetics (30% of the total score)

Although the Gelid Darkforce on first sight appears to be a little too simple and plain, it is actually designed very cleverly. There are virtually no sharp edges or turns, with the top and front covers generating an almost perfectly smooth, rounded design. The crudely installed window on the left side panel is practically the only design slip, which reduces the overall high quality appearance of the case. Finally, even though there is no lighting installed despite the use of a massive side panel window, we cannot consider this to be a problem because users who would install lighting would prefer to choose their favorite color(s) rather than be stuck with a factory option.

Aesthetics Score 8.0/10



Value (10% of the total score)

Gelid’s MSRP of the Darkforce case is 119.99$ USD, which troubled us while we were considering the value score of this case. Even though the street price of the case will most likely be lower, the Darkforce will have to meet some very steep competition from other manufacturers. While the Darkforce can certainly compete in terms of quality, versatility and aesthetics against other products of the same class, users who would like good thermal performance for their overclocked or power hungry gaming system will have to spend their money to purchase several more parts. On the other hand, the quiet cooling fans which Gelid installed are a huge plus for casual users and gamers who enjoy quiet computing. Nonetheless, we believe that the most ideal configuration for a product of this price range would be two powerful fans but with controllable speed, which would allow the end users to choose their own balance between thermal performance and acoustics.

Value Score 8.0/10