DarkFlash DLH 21 Review 8

DarkFlash DLH 21 Review

Thermal Stress Test »

Review System

System Parts for Case Reviews
Processor:Intel Core i5-9600K
Motherboards:ATX: MSI Z390 GAMING EDGE AC
MATX: Z370M GAMING EDGE AC
Mini-ITX: MSI Z370I GAMING EDGE AC
Provided by: MSI
Graphics Card:ATX/mATX: Palit GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming Pro OC
ITX: EVGA GTX 1650 SC Ultra Black 4 GB
Memory:16 GB XPG GAMMIX D20 DDR4 3200 MHz
16 GB XPG SPECTRIX D60G DDR4 3000 MHz CL16-18-18 1.35 V
Provided by: ADATA
HDD:Western Digital 320 GB 7200 RPM
SSD:ITX: ADATA SX6000 Pro M.2 256 GB
mATX: ADATA GAMMIX S11 Pro M.2 256 GB
ATX: ADATA SPECTRIX S40G M.2 256 GB
ADATA XPG SX850 256 GB
ADATA Ultimate SU800 512 GB
ADATA Ultimate SU720 500 GB
Provided by: ADATA
Power Supply:Fractal Design ION+ 750W 80 Plus Platinum
Provided by: Fractal Design
Cooling:be quiet! Pure Loop 120/240/280/360
Provided by: be quiet!

Assembly


To add a motherboard, simply remove the fan bracket for unrestricted access, and secure the board with screws on pre-installed spacers. As you can see, the thin 92 mm fan means you should be able to use a larger top-down cooler without sacrificing that active cooling element. The GPU also fits easily with plenty of room for those thicker variants that have a dual-height backplate, but are a bit thicker internally.


Even with the GPU installed, you are able to place the SFX-L PSU within the DarkFlash DLH 21, but things get a bit tight when dealing with cable management. Thus, the best method is to install the PSU after adding the motherboard and connecting as many of the power cables as possible before adding the graphics card. Unfortunately, the CPU power cable of the PSU is a bit on the shorter side, so we ran it across the PSU fan, but you can totally just route it inside the chassis as well.


Thanks to the individual mounting trays, adding a 2.5" solid state drive is simple and quick. Just fill the tray and put it back in place, securing it with the thumb screw. As you can see, there is a little cable mess on the floor of the case, so the DLH 21 could have profited from a few hooks on the solid floor to secure these.


Once everything is installed, looking at the front, it is taken up exclusively by the GPU which will draw air in through this part of the case. In the rear, you can see that the left half of the chassis is pretty empty, so you should have no issues when employing a 240 mm AIO, either.


The area around the CPU and motherboard is pretty clear, but things are a bit tight between the 24-pin power connector, so you will have to get creative when routing it in combination with larger coolers that may block access. On the backside, the cable hooks come in pretty handy in keeping things tidy.


Taking a quick look at the top before closing up the DarkFlash DLH 21, you can see that all the cables may easily be routed out the hole in the back panel. DarkFlash has also placed a cable clip here, so you can group the cables nicely as well.

Finished Looks


With everything assembled, the DarkFlash DLH 21 makes for a pretty understated look. The only immediately visible lighting element is the clean-looking power button in the top of the chassis. Thanks to the grommet in the rear, the DLH 21 looks great from this angle, too—it could be freestanding on a reception desk, for example, and have one bundled strand of cables coming out the back.


Even though the case looks pretty mellow when turned on, DarkFlash has embedded a ring of ARGB lights in the base. In a dark environment, you will see a gentle glow there. You may cycle through a set of single and multi-colored animations or opt for one of the seven solid colors seen below. Naturally, with motherboard control, you are free to customize this ARGB element further.

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Jan 30th, 2025 22:23 EST change timezone

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