A Workstation System Chassis with Impressive Style and Fashion!
Written: May 26 '09 (Updated May 27 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Superb built--sturdy and solid structure, Tool-less and Attractive Physical Design, Overall Superb.
Cons: No filters, no fans, no keys, no Power Supply; Slightly expensive for just the case.
The Bottom Line: By far the toughest and most sturdy built workstation chassis with attractive design and physical appeal. Despite its high price without additional items (see CONS), I still strongly recommend it.
paulphoto's Full Review: Chieftec CH-05B-B-OP ATX Mid-Tower Case
Chieftec Aegis CH-05B-B-OP Chassis
Many of the workstation systems I build are based on extended ATX (eATX) motherboards (12x13 inches) which require a larger system chassis. System cases designed for eATX are expensive and often lack physical appeal. Since their primary purpose was to provide large storage and cooling capabilities, physical appearance is of little consideration. My first workstation chassis was Antec Titan550, which I initially thought was awesome. Several other workstation/server chasses I have tried were Chenbro and Athena. All three incorporate similar hard drive installation methodology (that is, hard drives are installed longitudinally, parallel to the case and through the front), with Antec Titan550 the worst among the three. For the Titan550, in order to perform a hard drive swap, one must remove the side panel, remove the front bezel (front panel), unscrew the two screws that hold the front fan grill, carefully swing it open, then remove the hard drive. These are all unnecessary steps. Athena is similar in this regard. Chenbro, on the other hand, offers a hot-swap capability which I appreciate immensely, because it provides a perfect method for switching different hard drives accessible through the front door. The only one drawback was that Chenbro only supports four hard drives; Titan550 and Athena both offer up to six. In addition, the drive cage of the Chenbro is raised too high in the case that clutters the connection inside the case, especially with the first CPU and heatsink, and when non-hot-swappable backplate is not in use.
I take pride in building a PC system, be it desktop or workstation, making sure the inside chassis looks clean and orderly. All three cases mentioned above did not seem to offer such flexibility. In the case of my Antec Titan550, with six SCSI hard drives installed the system looks so messy -- and it really bothers me. Athena has similar problem. Without using the backplate for hot-swap feature, the Chenbro suffers the same problem.
The Chieftec Aegis is designed with a workstation in mind since it can accommodate micro-ATX, ATX and extended ATX (eATX) motherboard. What makes it different from the previously mentioned cases is that Chieftec Aegis provides an attractive appeal, in addition to its perpendicular internal hard drive placement to achieve cleanness in the case to allow maximum air flow as well as esthetic appeal. Furthermore, the case supports up to six hard drives, even though it does not feature hot-swap capability.
The Chieftec Aegis comes in two versions: Black and Silver. The unit does not include power supply or any fans, though the case can accommodate three fans: one 120mm rear and two 90mm located at the right front side to help cool the six hard drives. For external accessibility, the case provides three 5.25-inch drive bays (for optical devices) and one 3.5-inch bay for floppy drive or other digital devices.
There are no air filters. The case did come with fans either, although it can accommodate three: one rear, two on the side near front. Its front access is only for power-on and reset buttons. Its front audio connectors, IEEE-1394 and USB2.0 are placed on the side of the front panel. Unlike most workstation chasses, the Chieftec Aegis does not have a key or locking feature to secure the hardware.
The retail package comes with:
-- Screws for motherboard stand-offs and a few extra screws. -- Small instructional sheet (installation manual) in English and German (with color photos) -- IEEE-1394 front connector -- USB front connector -- Independent speaker connector -- power/switch/HDD power LED for front panel.
I was surprised at first to find out that the retail package did not include many things at all, except a few screws for the motherboard stand-offs. Then I learned how and why I did not need them. The case was designed to be truly toolless.
Structure/Design/Craftsmanship
The case has such an appealing design, both inside and out. The chassis has a very solid structure with virtually all metal, extremely sturdy. Its structure is far more sturdier than my Antec Titan550. I would say it is a bit more solid than my Chenbro SR-105. Most appealing about the Chieftec Aegis is it metal mesh grill on the side panel and the front bezel. The front removable bezel is made of high quality plastic. The door opens and shuts very firmly with a solid feel, even though the door only swings out up to 180 degrees, and opens to the left. The overall design is of high quality craftsmanship. The emblem on the front of the bezel adds a distinctive style to the case. I am very impressed overall, compared to my now undesirable Antec Titan550 that has a plain look.
Inside the case is equally impressive. The rear PCI lids (panels) are removable and are secured by the steel clip. To help secure each PCI card, screws can be used to tighten the PCI plates. For internal drive bays, there are two rails used to hold each hard drive. These rails are designed in such a way that the hard drive can be slided in to the bay securely. For external devices, the three 5.25-inch bays for optical devices are also toolless, which only requires sliding in the device and lock it in place using the bay holder with a single screw to lock the screw hold of the device (no need to screw it tight, though).
As a server chassis, the Chieftec Aegis's feet can be removed to install the optional wheels.
Installation
The first Chieftec Aegis houses the following hardware components:
Motherboard: Tyan S2895UA2NRF dual-CPU Opteron CPU: AMD Opteron 285 (2.6GHz) 940-pin Dual-Core RAM: Crucial/HP 4x1024MB DDR400 ECC/REG Video: ATI X700 Pro 256MB x16 PCI-E Hard Drives: Maxtor Atlas 15K II 73GB SCSI (68-pin), Maxtor Atlas 10K V 300GB SCSI (68-pin) CD/DVD Drives: LiteOn iHDS118 DVD-ROM, LiteOn iHAS422 DVD-RW Power Supply: OCZ Fatality 1 550-Watt EPS
The Tyan S2895 is eATX motherboard that fits perfectly in the Chieftec requiring all the motherboard stand-off screws. To install the internal SCSI hard drives, I simply fix the screwless side rails to each of the device and slide it in the bay. Here, care must be taken to decide which side (front or rear) of the hard drive must be put in first. After examining the clearance between the side fans and hard drives inside the bay, I decided to place the HDD with its connector ports facing towards me (that is, towards the accessible side panel). The instruction did not mention anything regarding the placement of the drive. Therefore, I suspect the HDD must be installed with the power/data connecting ports facing out the case; one reason is that it provides an easy removal of the device. It is important to note that the installation procedure only requires opening the accessible side (grill) panel. This side panel can be removed by unscrewing the two thumbs screws.
To install optical devices, I simply popped out the bay lid, slide the device it and locked it in place using the device holder. The front USB2.0, IEEE-1394 and Audio cables are long enough to reach the bottom and toward the rear of the motherboard, and so are the power-on and reset cables. These are color coded. This system does not require installing the FDD, and therefore, I left the bay untouched.
Since the case did not ship with fans, I had to decide on what to get. Of course, the mesh metal grill on the side panel and the front bezel all seem to provide good ventilation; this is not the case. I highly recommend installing a rear 120mm fan. To achieve quiet operation and maximum air ventilation, I selected Antec TriCool 120mm fan with three speed control settings. Another one I had in mind was Zalman 120mm (also with reduced noise operation).
Since this system has only two SCSI hard drives, a single 90mm fan is enough; this will help reduce the operation noise to a minimum. Thus, I only installed a single 90mm side fan to help cool the hard drives; I also selected Antec 90mm fan for its quiet operation. To install the front/side fan, I had to remove the other side panel, unscrew the single screw on the cooler fan bracket, popped it out, and installed the fan by screwing the four screws to secure it in place; popped in the bracket back into place, secured it with the single screw, then put back the side panel and secured it with two screws. Then I connected the power using the four-pin power rail.
Performance
Initially, I did not install the rear 120mm fan; it did not arrive in time. So I had the system run without the rear fan. There are a total of five (5) fans: PSU, two CPU heatsinks, graphics card, front/side fan. The PSU is OCZ Fatality 1 550-Watt with 120mm fan that is extremely quiet. The two CPU heatsink/fans are based on Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro which are also very quiet in operation, the video graphics fan is quiet and so is the side/front fan. During the system software installation, I could feel the heat by putting my hand on the metal mesh side panel; the heat that is accumulated inside the chassis, built up by the two CPU heatsink/fans, PSU and other components, since air did not get circulated. Hence, it is a bad idea to ignore the use of the 120mm rear fan. However, the whole situation has completely turned around after I installed the 120mm rear fan. The system is quiet and is kept very cool. Due to the grill/mesh side panel, the colorful LED from the PSU as well as the rear 120mm fan looks appealing.
The system has been tested to run all day; still the heat dissipation was kept to a minimum. Most importantly, the system was kept at such a low operation noise. I was impressed. The power and reset buttons on the front panel are easy to press with a reactive force from the spring pressure just the right amount to distinguish that the button has been pressed.
Even though there are no rubber grommets on the drive rails to help reduce operation noise of the SCSI hard drives, it seems that the rails in some way still help reduce the noise. This was I believed due to the plastic rails on the hard drives and the plastic on the bay; no metal to permeate the acoustic noise. unlike, my Antec Titan550, with is rubber grommets installed still did not cut down the acoustic noise from my SCSI 15K RPM hard drive, and I had used the same hard drive. The problem with the Titan550 was that its rails were metal; and the grommets did not do justice to reduce vibration, even though care had to be taken to secure the drive (and over-tighten it to maintain open contact with the metal). During spin-up, 15K RPM SCSI hard drives are noticeably loud. With Chieftec Aegis, it seems that these SCSI drives are kept to a low operation noise.
Drawback
It is important to note that since the hard drive placement is perpendicular to the case, there is limitation on installation. For instance, SATA or IDE type hard drives, SCSI or SAS hard drives can easily fit. However, due to the narrow width, I could not use my SCSI/SCA with 80-to-68 pin adaptor. Such adaptor would add almost an inch which will not fit in the bay, unless the cooling bracket is removed. Also, if you use SATA, it is a good idea to use one that is 90-degree bent. Standard straight cable can still be used, but we just have to bend it. Even for SAS hard drives, I had to use the standard SAS power/signal connector. The use of adaptor with separate power and data signaling cable will add another inch to the total length, thus causing the same problem. This is the common trend of perpendicular design. The upside is that it reduces the cluttering in the wiring in the main motherboard space itself, a trade I am willing to swap.
Warranty/RMA/Support
The product is warranted for one full year, both parts and labor. On the installation instruction sheet, Chieftec indicates a 100% assurance and satisfaction with a phone number and web site for support services. Frankly, I really don't see the need to contact them, since in my opinion the case was built with such high quality and standards.
I visited their web site just to see what they have, and I was surprised to find many other things offered by Chieftec, SAS/SATA-II drive cage, and other cases, including the new introduction.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
After using this case to build a workstation for a client, I decided to get one for myself. To report how much I like this case, let me just say that I have just recently ordered the third one for another client who saw the workstation in my office and want to build the system using the Chieftec Aegis for his small business machine, based on the Tyan S2915-E motherboard.
Compared to the previous workstation chasses, I like the Chieftec Aegis greatly. Its perpendicular design of hard drive placement makes the inside chassis looks clean and appealing, despite a small drawback I mentioned previously. The mesh metal grill on the side panel as well as the front bezel not only allow maximum air ventilation but also offers a nice physical appeal with a fresh look and style. The case benefits from the perpendicular hard drive placement by making it a bit short in depth compared to Antec.
In spite of how excellent the Chieftec Aegis is, I still see a few flaws, but none are from defects or craftsmanship, but marketing options, which I will list below and comment on them individually.
- No Power Supply Unit (PSU) - No filters - No fans - Somewhat expensive without the above items included in the retail package.
Personally, I want to select my own PSU, as many PSUs that came with the case are no good any way. Thus, the absent of PSU is no big deal for me. When I got the Antec Titan550, it came with 550-Watt power supply. Still I replaced it with a better one of my choice. In terms of filters, I have not seen any workstation chassis equipped with such features. With my old Antec Titan550, I had to improvise the filters using home window screen. Even though the Chieftec Aegis did not have filters, its mesh metal grill on the side panel and the front bezel in some way act as filters. However, the side fan pulls air in from the right side and there is no filter. Thus, after days or months of use, dust would get built up on the hard drives and the inside chassis. A custom-made home window screen may be used to help prevent dust from getting built up inside the chassis. It would be nice if Chieftec Aegis uses the mesh/grill on the side fan like the one used on the side panel and front bezel. It is quite odd that Chieftec Aegis did not come with any type of fans, as they may add up to an overall high spending cost. But again, to keep the entire system at a low operation noise, special selection of fans cannot be avoided.
The case alone cost $100. The first two I ordered from newegg.com were $79 + $23 S/H each. Its original price was $99.99, but Newegg ran an instant discount of $20. The third one that I recently ordered was $89.99 + $23 S/H. Thus, with three (1x120mm and 2x90mm) fans added, one could be looking at a total cost of $130. Nonetheless, despite the overhead high cost of ownership, I highly recommend the Chieftec Aegis chassis. The reason is its built quality. It is much more sturdy and better look than the Antec Titan550.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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