A month or so ago we had the opportunity to look at the Ultra X-Connect PSU, it was our first look at any product from Ultra and to say we were completely impressed with it would be an understatement. The build quality was excellent, the aesthetics outstanding and we really couldn't fault it. Ultra further impressed us with their after sales service, the X-connect didn't come with SATA cables originally and so they are sending all customers who register a free SATA cable, excellent service. Ours arrived promptly and is working a treat. After such an experience we have delved further into the Ultra product range and will be looking at 2 items, the first is today's Ultra Dragon ATX case and in a few days we'll look at the Ultra DDR thats available (and really is something special).

The Packaging

The Dragon comes well packaged in a box much to the same style as Ultra's PSU's. There are some nice detailed pictures on the outside which detail the main features of the case.

Lifting the case out of the box shows it has cardboard bumpers to protect it in transit. UPS were a bit rough on our sample if the box is anything to go by, thankfully the internal packaging has protected the case well.

The case itself is then wrapped in 2 layers, an external thick plastic/polythene bag and then a further layer of protective plastic/shrink wrap which is attached to the case to protect the finish/case window.

The Case

Those of you out there who know your cases will immediately recognise the design of this case, its a re-branded Chieftec Dragon (no bad thing). The main difference between the Chieftec and Ultra models is that all Ultra Models come with the side window and the finishes that are available are more impressive on the Ultra models.

Available finishes are :
Glossy Black, MS-Blue (matches Microsoft Blue tooth mouse), Glossy silver, glossy red and glossy white. The Gloss finish (called liquid gloss) on our model (black) is stunning, absolutely smooth and really head and shoulders above any finish I've seen on a PC case. Probably the best way of describing it is that its got a similar appearance to the skin of HR Giger's Alien when wet... very cool.

Drive bays are hidden behind a front panel door, the door is quite light and moves smoothly. Its also lockable which is a benefit if you want to keep people from tampering with your PC. Behind the door are the power and reset switches, IDE and power LED's and the drive bays of which there are five 5.25 inch and two floppy spaces.

With a lot of cases nowadays the 5.25inch drives are screwed directly into the case. Ultra have followed the design that companies such as Dell and Compaq have used for a while where the drives have brackets attached to them which slide in and out of the case very easily. These brackets also give you something to hold onto when removing the drive. This feature is something i always wished my Coolermaster Wavemaster had. It just makes things easier. In the bottom of the case there are enough brackets for all 4 drive bays.

Below the swing door is the front panel vent which allows airflow through to cool your components.

On the base of the case are four feet which swivel to various positions. We found the case to be completely stable with the feet tucked in, this was partly due to the material being used which is heavy steel rest assured it will take a lot to knock this over.

Moving to the side of the case we have a perspex window. The window is large enough to show all of your PC components to the world and directly above the AGP slot is a Cheiftec fan drawing air into the case. In the times of graphics cards which regularly hit high temps this is a welcome addition.

In just about every case I've used to date the side panel is removed by sliding to the side or sliding up. The Dragon takes a different approach where a handle is used to swing the door out, in practice this is actually a much better way of opening the case. You'll notice from the pics below that the side panel is also lockable.

Inside the case the good feature set continues. Firstly the cables for the front panel USB and Firewire sockets are long enough to stretch anywhere in the case, they are also attached to a plug. In a lot of cases the cables go to individual plugs which you almost need an electrical engineering degree to work out, not the case here. The plugs used just slot into your motherboard additional usb sockets.

Next on the list of good features is the fan mounts of which there are 4. These mounts allow you to slide/clip in 80mm case fans with almost no effort and no tools required. 2 are placed on the back of the case and the other 2 are on the front drawing air through the front vent. Our only concern with the clips was that they made adding the Ultra UV fan lights a little awkward. It was doo-able, just not as easy as we would have liked.

In the 3rd picture above you can see one of the front fan clips sits inside the 3.5inch drive slot, so as well as pulling air into the case its blowing it onto the hard drives, users of western digitals raptors will find this to be a good benefit as those drives get very hot.

Speaking of the 3.5inch bays, they are the 3rd of our good internal features. Working in a case can often prove to be cramped and in many situations swapping of 3.5inch drives can involve having to remove loads of cables and even on occasion the motherboard before you can get the drive out. This isn't the case on the Dragon. As the pictures below show there is a latch on the drive enclosure, just move the latch and the drive bay slides out of the case.

Here's some detailed specs on the case:

Specifications:

System assembled.
Here are a few pics of the system when the build was complete.

 

Conclusion
Because the Ultra Dragon is based on the Chieftec model of the same name there was never really going to be an issue with build quality. As expected the case is weighty and would appear to be hard wearing. There is plenty of space on the inside to accommodate even the largest of components or case lights. Accessibility is also excellent, from the drive addition/removal to the screw less fan mounts or even the way the side panel opens everything is aimed at making the end users life easier. If we were being really tough on the case the only addition we'd like to see is the ability to change the way the front panel door opens, on my desk layout I'd prefer the hinge to be on the other side, this does however apply to most cases. If i had to move back to the Wavemaster there are so many things I'd miss about the Dragon such as the internal layout but probably most of all the finish. The liquid gloss coating is a real eye catcher. Visitors to my house regularly comment on it and how cool it is. Unfortunately it really has to be seen first hand to be fully appreciated, the pictures we've taken (and seen elsewhere) really don't do it justice.

An all round excellent product.

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