MGE Viper: Another Xtreme Gamer Creation
by Purav Sanghani on December 18, 2004 5:14 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
Who is the Viper marketed towards? In our opinion, MGE is targeting those consumers who want a wild look to their computer case, but do not want to spend hundreds of dollars in modifications. The Viper has a simple design, yet has the potential to outperform some of the more expensive cases on the market.Our thermal benchmarks showed that the Viper can compete with any high end case when the cooling system is utilized to the fullest. It comes with two 80mm fans, but adding more fans as well as upgrading the front intake to a 120mm fan can greatly increase performance, bringing ambient temperatures down as much as 5 degrees and certain core component temperatures down a few degrees themselves.
While adding fans may be good for keeping temperatures stable, noise levels will definitely increase if high quality fans are not used. The Viper produced about 46dB on average with just two 80mm fans. Adding a few more would most likely increase noise levels past the 50dB mark and possibly closer to 60dB if the right fans are not chosen.
As far as the looks go, everyone will have a difference in opinion. Either we will like the look or not. What really matters is what we really need and how much we are willing to spend on it. There is no doubt that there are other products out there that have features such as tool-less drive bays and expansion slots as well as removable motherboard trays and even a sleeker looking bezel. Adding a power supply may not be enough to bring a modified case to users' homes. Most of us just want a case that has been carefully planned in the design phase. We want a case that will tend to our needs as daily users and not have unnecessary modifications to distract us from our daily work.
With MGE's 450W Vigor power supply, the Viper has a price of about $90 at this time. For about $30-$40 less, we can get our hands on the Sidewinder, which has the same features with more fans, and as users in the field of IT, we could not choose this case over a simpler looking model.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
Aquila76 - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
AnadTech's case review team - Here is what 99% of your readers look for when buying a case:Subtlety
Great Cooling
Subtlety
Internal features
Subtlety
Room for expansion
Subtlety
Did my semi-sublimnal hints get the point across?
for an example of just such a case, which I received and setup last week, look here:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
mrdudesir - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
im glad i read these comments and found more people like me who are sick of the overblown "modded" cases flooding the market now. I just want something slick, classy, and unobtrusive (why i love my antec sonata so much). Not to mention from my experience these premod cases are loud as hell and cheaply constructed.Poser - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
I was a little surprised to see the comment about the internal speaker being worrysome. See the question, "The enemy within?" here for why:http://www.dansdata.com/io014.htm
TinyTeeth - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
Oh yeah, by the way, sorry for the double post but, is Anandtech going to review the Dragon? That case seems quite a lot more interesting.TinyTeeth - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
Sure, it looks a bit cool, but it ain't anything I'd like on my desk. This is something you show off at LAN parties, not using every day.Besides, the front looks plastic and a bit like it was built in LEGO.
MemberSince97 - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
The upcomoming Dragon looks acceptable...kmmatney - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
The blue version of this case looks better than the red, IMO. Microcenter has it advertised with a 500 Watt PSU, but I think it needs to be cheaper than $99 if it going to sell.Panther - Sunday, December 19, 2004 - link
is there a shortage of legitimate hardware to review around the labs?istari101 - Saturday, December 18, 2004 - link
I like the simplistic, clean style of a coolermaster case. Specifically the Praetorian, but those gaudy plastic facings of the reviewed case is definitely not my thing. Neon lighting in cases is distracting for me.Bonesdad - Saturday, December 18, 2004 - link
cmon, lets do some reviews on REAL cases. Gawd, this has to be the one of the fugliest things evar.