darkFlash DLX4000

[Darksaber]

The darkFlash DLX4000 is a clean, solid and understated chassis with two clear glass panels, so you can feast your eyes on your hardware from multiple angles. Thanks to the well-built chassis and excellent material mix, if you are in the market for this style of case, add it to your shortlist.

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[john_]

I am looking at the Darkflash DLC29 Mesh as a cheap option of a case with vertical expansion slots for putting my VGA vertically. Just for a change or just for fun. DLC29 is 210mm wide and offers two vertical expansion slots. This DLX4000 is even wider at 248mm wide. So why not having also two or three vertical expansion slots with this model too? I would expect case manufacturers to be promoting such a feature with graphics cards being at least two slots wide, sometimes covering neighboring pcie expansion slots.

 

[bonehead123]

Even though it's still just anutha rectangular boxen, at least they had sense enough to make the front USB Ports white instead of fuggilly blue, and used the subtle grey grommets inside instead of the expected fuggilly black ones...so I'll give 'em credit where credit is due, and they kept the price reasonable too

 

[usiname]

This case does not deserve "Highly recommended" badge with this terrible thermal performance

 

[Chrispy_]

This case does not deserve "Highly recommended" badge with this terrible thermal performance

The terrible thermal performance is a side-effect of being tested "stock" with zero fans.

I've critiqued TPU for this in the past, but in their defence it's a valid way to show the difference between cases pre-filled with fans, and if you have to choose between two similar $100 cases where one includes four fans and the other includes one fan, it's only fair that the case with more fans tests better.

I do also think that much more relevant results to modern PC building would be to test cases with a standardised family of fans - for example Arctic F12 and F14 set to a fixed ~1000rpm and 800rpm respectively, filling all front/lower fan bays with intakes and all top/rear fan bays with exhausts. IMO that would give a much better idea of airflow taking into account things like how restrictive the perforations for intake/exhuast are, and how much impact the dust filters make.

 

[Waldorf]

unless i missed something, not supporting 280 rad on top/right side would be a joke..

if it wasnt for the front being glass, if asked without knowing, i would have said this is a corsair/Tt case,
as i had one few years back with the same everything but the 2nd cut out on the ride side.

 

[Chrispy_]

Right side definitely has rail slots for 140mm fan mounting - the only thing is that you'd need to give up the GPU support bracket:

 

[Waldorf]

@Chrispy_
i know (its the same on the Tt), but that doesnt (automatically) mean, you can actually mount a 280 rad w fans there.
just weary, as other brands (incl cheaper/lower end stuff) usually tend to list ALL options you can install, even if "in between"
the max/min supported, and i had it a couple of times where 140/280 all around wasnt possible, but 120/240/360 was.

yeah, not a good idea on a card that's almost 5lbs.

 

[Vario]

This case does not deserve "Highly recommended" badge with this terrible thermal performance

Wow, 35C delta T between the worst and best on some of those benchmarks! I agree. It must be starved for airflow.

 

[Waldorf]

one reason reviews should be done like Chrispy said,
installing common fans (arctics/noctua/corsair) on all ports with fixed rpms,
as short of an inexperience builder, no one will use this with a 7950x and a 4090,
while running a single 120 fan on the rear, just because it doesnt come with more..

ignoring that virtually anyone spending +500 on mb/ram/cpu will most likely discard installed fans,
and swap for "better" ones..

 

[Vario]

one reason reviews should be done like Chrispy said,
installing common fans (arctics/noctua/corsair) on all ports with fixed rpms,
as short of an inexperience builder, no one will use this with a 7950x and a 4090,
while running a single 120 fan on the rear, just because it doesnt come with more..

ignoring that virtually anyone spending +500 on mb/ram/cpu will most likely discard installed fans,
and swap for "better" ones..

Instead , maybe the case manufacturer should just ship it with more/better fans if they want a better rating. Plenty of generic Yate Loon type fans that are fairly quiet and cheap that could be added for minimal additional cost.

 

[Waldorf]

and produce a lot more waste, when ppl prefer a different type and throw them out.
and it still adds cost for EVERYONE buying it, not just the ones that keep them.

ignoring that reviews are a little bit different in that matter, as not everyone will use the same type/brand for cpu/gpu cooling,
so having a set of case fans that get installed in every case being tested, would make for a much better (as in consistent) baseline.

one reason i like that gpu reviews still incl synth benches, since it makes comparison easier, as not everyone plays the same games,
the same way ppl have different priorities for fans (e.g. perf vs noise).
meaning that for most perf users (like here), a rating related to airflow with the included fans, will probably not make any difference if they buy (or not).

 

[Imouto]

If you are not going to put fans in the case all the thermal and noise testing is a massive waste of time for everyone. Why don't you put a disclaimer in those pages and one by the end like the "but expensive" label? "no fans included" or something. It's curious how Wizzard goes the extra mile to include perf/$ comparisons at different price points for GPUs and cases can't get a "+$70 in fans".

I share the opinion that bundled fans are waste because 99.9% of the time they are garbage and the assembler including them would raise the price for no reason.

Also be wary of these cases because they resonate with harmonics almost guaranteed. Besides the fans rubber fan mountings are mandatory for them and you will likely have to create some DIY solution for the PSU (I usually go with rubber washers or put some rubber with double sided tape).

 

[Minus Infinity]

How do you put fans on the front with glass panel in place????

 

[Chrispy_]

How do you put fans on the front with glass panel in place????

You don't, because the front fans don't go on the front glass panel.

 

[usiname]

The terrible thermal performance is a side-effect of being tested "stock" with zero fans.

I've critiqued TPU for this in the past, but in their defence it's a valid way to show the difference between cases pre-filled with fans, and if you have to choose between two similar $100 cases where one includes four fans and the other includes one fan, it's only fair that the case with more fans tests better.

I do also think that much more relevant results to modern PC building would be to test cases with a standardised family of fans - for example Arctic F12 and F14 set to a fixed ~1000rpm and 800rpm respectively, filling all front/lower fan bays with intakes and all top/rear fan bays with exhausts. IMO that would give a much better idea of airflow taking into account things like how restrictive the perforations for intake/exhuast are, and how much impact the dust filters make.

Good to know, in that case, the best would be to be tested with both the included fans and with all fans slots populated with same fans for all cases. This will make this type of review actually much more useful.

 

[Veseleil]

Yeah, another aquarium, another hot one. I could make a blog about that layout and its inability to have a good airflow by design. But it's Sunday, not in the mood for wasting time by pointing the obvious.

 

[Imouto]

Yeah, another aquarium, another hot one. I could make a blog about that layout and its inability to have a good airflow by design. But it's Sunday, not in the mood for wasting time by pointing the obvious.

You could start by noticing that all the testing was done without fans installed.

 

[Waldorf]

@Imouto
even the "cheap" arctic fans i using dont need rubber stuff, same for any decent (quality) psu i have used in builds in the past 5y,
and im a silent freak, e.g. for me, silent means inaudible, at 3ft distance to my head (case on the desk), at least for idle/low loads (fans throttled),
and gaming either incl sound from speakers or HP, and if i encode, im not sitting at the desk, so fans ramping up isnt an issue.

@Veseleil
maybe when running a boxed cooler and a 4090 with a single fan in the back,
when i used the "identical" case from a different brand, i had no trouble with a 5800 and a 2080s under water,
(rad on the side) and all but the bottom fans set as exhaust.

 

[Veseleil]

@Veseleil
maybe when running a boxed cooler and a 4090 with a single fan in the back,
when i used the "identical" case from a different brand, i had no trouble with a 5800 and a 2080s under water,
(rad on the side) and all but the bottom fans set as exhaust.

Fair enough. PSU tray at the bottom and not in a second compartment like in the O11 to open that space for a GPU to breathe, triggers me each time. And I don't like the O11 neither. Glass is for windows and screens, yes I'm old and grumpy.

 

[Imouto]

@Imouto
even the "cheap" arctic fans i using dont need rubber stuff, same for any decent (quality) psu i have used in builds in the past 5y,
and im a silent freak, e.g. for me, silent means inaudible, at 3ft distance to my head (case on the desk), at least for idle/low loads (fans throttled),
and gaming either incl sound from speakers or HP, and if i encode, im not sitting at the desk, so fans ramping up isnt an issue.

I meant for these kind of cases that are rigid as hell and have far more tempered glass than what would be advisable. It doesn't matter the quality of the components since even Noctua fans and a Corsair SF750 made the Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini I'm using right now resonate with harmonics. Mind you, I noticed the SF750 getting in tune with the fans while running passive.

I'm a silence freak too to the point that I run my mechanical drives from a NAS in another room because I can't stand them. I can't wait until thin clients are feasible for home use and send my PC to make the NAS company.

 

[Waldorf]

@Veseleil
hey, im the first one to shout "get of my lawn.." ,
but for the price, case is decent, as long as cpu/gpu are LC.

but yeah, im looking at the evo with full side mesh, then im not worried about the front being glass,
especially as i dont have to throttle bottom/side fans as much (vs fron mounted).

@Imouto
nand FTW.
i switched to hdd free rig after getting my first ryzen with m.2 slots,
no review "scanning" for silent drives, no worries about killing a drive because of decoupling,
less cables and of course better acc/r/w.

and you can still get cheaper sata ssds for the storage/large capacity drives you need..

 

[Imouto]

@Veseleil
hey, im the first one to shout "get of my lawn.." ,
but for the price, case is decent, as long as cpu/gpu are LC.

but yeah, im looking at the evo with full side mesh, then im not worried about the front being glass,
especially as i dont have to throttle bottom/side fans as much (vs fron mounted).

@Imouto
nand FTW.
i switched to hdd free rig after getting my first ryzen with m.2 slots,
no review "scanning" for silent drives, no worries about killing a drive because of decoupling,
less cables and of course better acc/r/w.

and you can still get cheaper sata ssds for the storage/large capacity drives you need..

NAND is still 8 times more expensive than mechanical drives. For my usage SSDs would bankrupt me.

 

[Waldorf]

Like most other stuff: doesnt have to happen all at once for all drives,
perf isnt really relevant, so you can go with the lower end of rice range,
you can spend some time on searching/waiting for sales.

i always wait until someone needs a replacement or wants to upgrade,
and usually can at elast recoup some money from "used" stuff towards new ones..

 

[Nightwalker]

You don't, because the front fans don't go on the front glass panel.

View attachment 336192

Hello stupid question but the fan orientation on this picture looks like ALL of them pulls hot air outside. Why there is no fans actually sucking cool air inside ?