DeepCool Packs Your Hardware In Dukase

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Deepcool's Dukase is a case that wraps most of what you need in an elegant, affordable package.

Deepcool is good at two things: making very affordable cases that seem to do the job, and making very expensive, exotic cases. Today, the company is announcing the Dukase, which is a $70 unit targeted at mainstream builders looking for a decent ATX case.

When looking at the Dukase holistically, it seems like a fairly standard ATX case. The interior of the chassis offers room for an ATX motherboard, two 3.5" drives, three 2.5" drives, and two 5.25" optical drives. CPU coolers can be up to 170 mm tall before hitting the side panel, and there is room for graphics cards up to 390 mm long. The case has seven expansion slots, which means there is room for no more than three dual-slot graphics cards.

A trend we're seeing more of over the last few years is the bottom PSU area of the case being sealed off from the rest of the interior, and that design is present in the Dukase, too. What this allows for is a hidden PSU and the ability to tuck the cables neatly out of sight.

As far as cooling goes, the case has support for one rear 120 mm fan (which comes pre-installed from the factory), up to two 120 mm fans up front, and two 140 mm fans up top. The intake is covered with a dust filter, and the top of the case features a fan controller.

Externally, the case features a swivel door to cover up the front of the chassis, hiding the unsightly optical drives you may have installed. You better install some good-looking guts though, as the case does have a window in the side panel.

Front I/O consists of one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, and the usual pair of HD audio jacks. (We would have preferred to see two USB 3.0 ports as opposed to this cost-cutting implementation.)

Pricing sits at $69.99, and Deepcool is shooting for global availability in December.

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Niels Broekhuijsen has been with Tom's Hardware since 2012, and works as a Contributing Editor on the news team. He covers mostly hardware, components, and anything else that strikes his fancy. Outside of work, he likes to travel, cook, and fix things that are broken.

You can follow him at @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

Topics
Cases
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • synphul
    Not a bad looking case and a nice addition by deepcool. Comes at a decent price point and seems to be modeled after similar black/minimalist cases like the define r4/r5, enthoo pro etc. Should make for a nice middle of the road budget solution for a lot of builds. Especially with the tolerances for cpu cooler and gpu length, not as easy finding cases less restrictive once going below the $80 mark.
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze
    If this had a rear 140mm fan, dual 140mm front fan support and a slightly larger window in the side panel, even for another ten bucks it would beat out a lot of cases for that price range. As is, the lack of 140mm fan support on the front and rear excludes it from consideration for me but might make a nice case choice on some client builds that don't necessarily need to go overboard on the cooling.

    I really don't understand the trend towards the smaller side panel windows that hide half of the internals though. Hit the lights and let the LED love flow, the shadows will do the rest.
    Reply
  • synphul
    I'd agree, since going to 140mm fans I love them. Not sure about the panel window, if it's really much smaller or just an odd angle in the photo. It's not as bad as some cases that only give a tiny peep hole along the top for a window. I like the larger windows too, a little framing around the edges is nice for obscuring lighting and preventing direct glare from led strips. Just have to give a little effort to cable management with a larger window though newer cases are making it much, much easier.

    Outside of going to the trouble of custom sleeving cables which can be a time suck it doesn't take near the effort it used to. Back when there was no room behind the motherboard, no slick grommets to pass cables through at various points and back when we had to use wide ide ribbon cables or scsi cables. I don't know why more cases don't at least give a dual mount option with holes for 140 or 120 at the rear/front. 140's aren't that much larger so the case shouldn't have to be made that much wider.

    The top of the case is kind of a nice style touch with the semi floating 'panel' and soft blue lighting separating it from the rest of the case. Makes it stand out a little more from other similar cases.
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze
    Yeah, I really think it has a slightly elegant look that makes it stand out from other cases in this price range, if they'd just have gotten those other factors right. In this day and age there is little reason to not have large fan support at all locations since we know bigger is generally quieter.
    Reply
  • nayrnayr1
    How do you pronounce it? I think it is supposed to be like Da Case, or in proper English, The Case.
    Reply
  • sharkbyte5150
    Pre-installed: Rear: 1×120mm fan
    Optional: Front: 2×120mm or 1×140mm
    Top: 120/240/140/280mm

    Those are the figures straight from DeepCool site so you CAN have 1 140mm fan in front.
    Also it doesn't say that a 140mm fan won't fit in the rear slot, just that a 120mm fan is pre-installed since that's probably the only one it comes with.
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze
    I don't think you read the post in it's entirety or didn't absorb what you read. I said dual 140mm fans in front, not a single 140mm fan. And if you look at the possible listings for front and top, you'll see the supported fan sizes are all listed. If it supported a rear 140mm, that would be listed as an option too. I look at these specs for cases all day long, every day, and they are always listed if it supports it. I see no reason to believe this ONE case would be any different.
    Reply