Kingwin KF-83 or KF-91

[crazyjxx]

I am planning on getting some carrages for my computer and am wondering
if anyone has used the Kingwin KF-83 and the Kingwin KF-91. I plan to
get one or the other and wonder if anone thinks that one is better than
the other, or anyone has any problems with either of them. Thanks
alot.

Justin

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I am planning on getting some carrages for my computer and am wondering
if anyone has used the Kingwin KF-83 and the Kingwin KF-91. I plan to
get one or the other and wonder if anone thinks that one is better than
the other, or anyone has any problems with either of them. Thanks
alot.

And... Kingwin calls these "mobile racks", a.k.a. "drive caddies"
and "removeable drive trays":
http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=47

It appears that these differ in the number of cooling fans and the
"anti-shock absorber" in the KF-83. I have a Kingwin mobile rack
for one of my parallel ATA hard drives, and it's well-made and works
as advertized. The single fan is built into the bottom of the tray,
and not at the front of the tray, but it works well to keep the hard
drive cool. I would say that the choice for you depends on how well
the case fan draws air into the tray since the tiny fans at the front of
the tray are really puny and just one would probably produce more
noise than cooling. As for the shock absorber, I'd say it's a gimmick
unless you're a klutz enough to toss hard drives onto the desk.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Anna]

And... Kingwin calls these "mobile racks", a.k.a. "drive caddies"
and "removeable drive trays":
http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=47

It appears that these differ in the number of cooling fans and the
"anti-shock absorber" in the KF-83. I have a Kingwin mobile rack
for one of my parallel ATA hard drives, and it's well-made and works
as advertized. The single fan is built into the bottom of the tray,
and not at the front of the tray, but it works well to keep the hard
drive cool. I would say that the choice for you depends on how well
the case fan draws air into the tray since the tiny fans at the front of
the tray are really puny and just one would probably produce more
noise than cooling. As for the shock absorber, I'd say it's a gimmick
unless you're a klutz enough to toss hard drives onto the desk.

*TimDaniels*

crazyjxx:
As you know, those particular mobile racks are designed for SATA hard
drives. We've no experience with the KF-83 but have worked with the KF-91.
Over the past year or so as we've moved more & more to SATA drives, we've
been looking over a variety of these mobile racks. The KF-91 is (virtually)
an all-aluminum model and seems to be well-constructed. The small fan is at
the rear of the rack.

There's one major problem with the KF-91 (don't know if it applies to the
KF-83) and that is the rack's power connector is *only* the 4-pin Molex
connector. In our view it's important, even crucial, that a 15-pin SATA
power connector be available. In order for the SATA HD to be
"hot-pluggable", specifications call for it to be powered through the 15-pin
connector. Now I have to say that we've experimented with "hot-plugging"
SATA HDs while powered through the Molex plug and we've not experienced any
problems either affecting the drive or involving loss of data. But again,
our understanding is that one of the requirements in the SATA specification
for the device to be hot-pluggable is that it be powered via its 15-pin SATA
power connector.

We've found another problem with this rack (at least it's a problem for
us) - it's a very tight fit to insert a HD in the removable tray (caddy).
You really have to force the drive into the tray. And, of course, once you
do, it's equally difficult to remove the drive from the tray. We had four
KF-91s and they all exhibited this tight fit. This may not be very important
to you but it is to us because in our work we're frequently installing &
removing drives in & out of their trays. For many users this would not be
terribly significant since they infrequently insert & remove their drives in
and from the removable tray.

And there's another negative for us which may not be important to you or
most other users. We want to get away from the ubiquitous keylock that's
found on virtually every mobile rack. Again, in our work, we're frequently
inserting (connecting) & removing (disconnecting) the removable drive from
the computer and we simply find it a pain to use the keylock. So we've been
looking for a model that doesn't need this feature but has an easy,
effective, and "tooless" feature to make these connects & disconnects.

The one we've been working with is the Athena MR-125 (comes in beige &
black) - sells for $24.99 (incl. shipping) at Newegg - see
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817123301

It's an all-plastic model with an 80 mm (very large) fan at the bottom of
the rack. It has a simple ON-OFF button (we leave it always in the ON
position) and a lever that's simply released by a push button so that a
slight outward tug on the open lever causes the tray containing the HD to be
disconnected from the machine. A simple push of the lever inward and the
tray is reinserted and the connection made. Notice there's no keylock
mechanism and that's what we've been looking for. This mobile rack does
contain both the Molex power connector as well as the 15-pin SATA power
connector.

We've been working with a number of these racks for the past six months or
so and so far they've worked flawlessly. Their all-plastic construction is
not of particular concern for us. Over the years we've worked with a variety
of plastic mobile racks designed for PATA drives and we've experienced few
problems with them that could be traced to their plastic construction.
Heat-related problems have been virtually non-existent in our experience
whether one uses aluminum or plastic racks.
Anna

 

[Timothy Daniels]

crazyjxx:
As you know, those particular mobile racks are designed for SATA hard
drives. We've no experience with the KF-83 but have worked with the KF-91.
Over the past year or so as we've moved more & more to SATA drives, we've
been looking over a variety of these mobile racks. The KF-91 is (virtually)
an all-aluminum model and seems to be well-constructed. The small fan is at
the rear of the rack.

There's one major problem with the KF-91 (don't know if it applies to the
KF-83) and that is the rack's power connector is *only* the 4-pin Molex
connector. In our view it's important, even crucial, that a 15-pin SATA
power connector be available. In order for the SATA HD to be
"hot-pluggable", specifications call for it to be powered through the 15-pin
connector. Now I have to say that we've experimented with "hot-plugging"
SATA HDs while powered through the Molex plug and we've not experienced any
problems either affecting the drive or involving loss of data. But again,
our understanding is that one of the requirements in the SATA specification
for the device to be hot-pluggable is that it be powered via its 15-pin SATA
power connector.

We've found another problem with this rack (at least it's a problem for
us) - it's a very tight fit to insert a HD in the removable tray (caddy).
You really have to force the drive into the tray. And, of course, once you
do, it's equally difficult to remove the drive from the tray. We had four
KF-91s and they all exhibited this tight fit. This may not be very important
to you but it is to us because in our work we're frequently installing &
removing drives in & out of their trays. For many users this would not be
terribly significant since they infrequently insert & remove their drives in
and from the removable tray.

And there's another negative for us which may not be important to you or
most other users. We want to get away from the ubiquitous keylock that's
found on virtually every mobile rack. Again, in our work, we're frequently
inserting (connecting) & removing (disconnecting) the removable drive from
the computer and we simply find it a pain to use the keylock. So we've been
looking for a model that doesn't need this feature but has an easy,
effective, and "tooless" feature to make these connects & disconnects.

The one we've been working with is the Athena MR-125 (comes in beige &
black) - sells for $24.99 (incl. shipping) at Newegg - see
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817123301

It's an all-plastic model with an 80 mm (very large) fan at the bottom of
the rack. It has a simple ON-OFF button (we leave it always in the ON
position) and a lever that's simply released by a push button so that a
slight outward tug on the open lever causes the tray containing the HD to be
disconnected from the machine. A simple push of the lever inward and the
tray is reinserted and the connection made. Notice there's no keylock
mechanism and that's what we've been looking for. This mobile rack does
contain both the Molex power connector as well as the 15-pin SATA power
connector.

We've been working with a number of these racks for the past six months or
so and so far they've worked flawlessly. Their all-plastic construction is
not of particular concern for us. Over the years we've worked with a variety
of plastic mobile racks designed for PATA drives and we've experienced few
problems with them that could be traced to their plastic construction.
Heat-related problems have been virtually non-existent in our experience
whether one uses aluminum or plastic racks.
Anna

Your experiences with the Athena mobile rack are very interesting.
I can attest to the efficacy of a bottom-of-the-tray fan, and I was disappointed
to see that it isn't offered by Kingwin in their SATA models. I called them
to ask why, and I was told that it was purely a demand issue - people
don't believe a bottom-mounted fan does the job as well as an in-line fan
so they don't buy the botom fan model. Is the Athena fan in a shell like the
Kingwin bottom fan?

Your positive experience with the plastic construction is also interesting.
I heretofore favored all-aluminum construction, partially on the preferences
expressed in several hardware review websites. It's good to know that
plastic can be used if done right. I suspect that "done right" implies a design
that doesn't use a long lever to force the tray in and out of engagement as
do most of the other designs (including Kingwin). If the plastic isn't put
through repeated stress cycles, it probably will last as long as aluminum.
But I'd like to hear about your long-term experience with plastic, though, as
some plastics can distort with age, especially if heat is involved.

Regarding extra trays, though, I see that Newegg also sells extra trays -
but for $22.50 - more than the combo rack and tray! Hmmm....
Kingwin makes trays that sell for 1/2 to 2/3 the price of the combo. That
might be a factor for people who plan to use several trays with one rack.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

The one we've been working with is the Athena MR-125 (comes in beige &
black) - sells for $24.99 (incl. shipping) at Newegg - see
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817123301

It's an all-plastic model with an 80 mm (very large) fan at the bottom of
the rack. It has a simple ON-OFF button (we leave it always in the ON
position) and a lever that's simply released by a push button so that a
slight outward tug on the open lever causes the tray containing the HD to be
disconnected from the machine. A simple push of the lever inward and the
tray is reinserted and the connection made. Notice there's no keylock
mechanism and that's what we've been looking for. This mobile rack does
contain both the Molex power connector as well as the 15-pin SATA power
connector.

Here's the Athena website: http://www.athenapower.com/
It seems they also make aluminum models and models that incorporate
LCD temperature displays. Their tray bottom-mounted "turbo fan" also
appears to be identical in design to that of Kingwin - a plus as far as I'm
concerned. The pricing, though, may be higher than that for Kingwin.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Here's the Athena website: http://www.athenapower.com/

Anna - Check out Athena's external SATA hard drive
enclosures. Two models have an adapter for leading a SATA
cable out the back of the PC via an expansion strip so that
the data connection would be SATA all the way to the hard
drive. It's their model SNT-2316SATA (SATA) and model
SNT-2318SU2S (SATA/SATA or SATA/USB). They would
provide the equivalent of a mobile rack for customers whose
PCs didn't have an available 5 1/4" drive bay.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Anna]

Your experiences with the Athena mobile rack are very interesting.
I can attest to the efficacy of a bottom-of-the-tray fan, and I was
disappointed to see that it isn't offered by Kingwin in their SATA models.
I called them to ask why, and I was told that it was purely a demand
issue - people don't believe a bottom-mounted fan does the job as well as
an in-line fan so they don't buy the botom fan model. Is the Athena fan
in a shell like the
Kingwin bottom fan?

Your positive experience with the plastic construction is also
interesting.
I heretofore favored all-aluminum construction, partially on the
preferences
expressed in several hardware review websites. It's good to know that
plastic can be used if done right. I suspect that "done right" implies a
design
that doesn't use a long lever to force the tray in and out of engagement
as
do most of the other designs (including Kingwin). If the plastic isn't
put
through repeated stress cycles, it probably will last as long as aluminum.
But I'd like to hear about your long-term experience with plastic, though,
as
some plastics can distort with age, especially if heat is involved.

Regarding extra trays, though, I see that Newegg also sells extra
trays -
but for $22.50 - more than the combo rack and tray! Hmmm....
Kingwin makes trays that sell for 1/2 to 2/3 the price of the combo. That
might be a factor for people who plan to use several trays with one rack.

*TimDaniels*

And Tim later adds...
Here's the Athena website: http://www.athenapower.com/
It seems they also make aluminum models and models that incorporate
LCD temperature displays. Their tray bottom-mounted "turbo fan" also
appears to be identical in design to that of Kingwin - a plus as far as I'm
concerned. The pricing, though, may be higher than that for Kingwin.
*TimDaniels*


Tim (& crazyjxx):
I've no experience (that I can recall) with the bottom-mounted fans in the
Kingwin racks so I'm unable to make any comparisons between mounting
differences between those models and the Athena MR-125. We were just struck
by the fact that the Athena's fan is huge (80 mm) for a mobile rack and I
can't recall ever working with a rack that had such a large-size fan.
Incidentally, it's relatively quiet, at least for us. Our surroundings
(unfortunately) are considerably noisy, so extraneous noise from a
computer's fan usually doesn't bother us.

With respect to the differences between plastic & aluminum mobile racks...
As I mentioned, we've been working with mobile racks (mainly for PATA
drives, of course) over the past five years or so and have used a wide
variety of these racks. In terms of performance & reliability, we've really
never found any significant difference between the two types. By & large,
the all-plastic models seem to hold up quite well as the aluminum models. As
a matter of fact, we (and many of our customers) have been using a "generic"
type of plastic rack from CompUSA that could be purchased when on sale for
$9. I think the "regular" price was somewhere around $12. And they do the
job just fine. As I mentioned, we rarely run into heat-related problems
involving plastic mobile racks in comparison with aluminum models.

Yes, your comment re the cost of additional removable trays for the mobile
rack is certainly true. Not only for Athena, but for most mobile racks in
our experience. When one needs additional removable trays, it frequently is
more economical in the long run to purchase the mobile rack including its
removable tray rather than purchase only the tray. It's a pity an industry
standard couldn't have been implemented from the start mandating that *all*
removable trays had to be designed for interchangeability between all makes
& models of mobile racks.

You mentioned the LCD temp display on one of the Athena models. That is, as
you know, a fairly common add-on with a number of mobile racks. Frankly, we
never look for models with those devices. The limited experience we had with
them was negative in the sense that they were prone to give false readings
and frequently failed. In general, we never found them particularly useful
and of course they added to the cost of the rack.
Anna

 

[Anna]

Anna - Check out Athena's external SATA hard drive
enclosures. Two models have an adapter for leading a SATA
cable out the back of the PC via an expansion strip so that
the data connection would be SATA all the way to the hard
drive. It's their model SNT-2316SATA (SATA) and model
SNT-2318SU2S (SATA/SATA or SATA/USB). They would
provide the equivalent of a mobile rack for customers whose
PCs didn't have an available 5 1/4" drive bay.

*TimDaniels*

Tim:
We have been using the Athena MR-125 mobile rack *externally* to house a
SATA HD. In this environment it can be used in different ways.

1. If the motherboard is equipped with an eSATA port (only a few
motherboards have this desirable feature at this time), a direct signal/data
cable connection is made between the rack the eSATA port. Power is supplied
to the rack/drive *directly* from the computer's power supply (usually the
power cable is snaked through the I/O backplane of the computer case).

2. In the event no eSATA port is available, as the above, but the
signal/data cable from the rack is connected directly to an available SATA
internal connector on the motherboard. Again, power is supplied to the
rack/drive *directly* from the computer's PS.

3. We've been experimenting with a device named the SATPOWPLAT1 manufactured
or distributed by StarTech.com (http://www.startech.com). The device is
carried by a number of online vendors including PROVANTAGE, which has it for
$11 (incl. shipping). See
http://www.provantage.com/scripts/cart.dll/x/0/rtspecs/STRT0HA)

It's a neat device and simplifies the connection between the SATA drive (in
its mobile rack) and the computer. The device is simply an I/O plate that's
attached to the backplane of the computer case (that area where PCI cards
are connected). It has an external data and SATA 15-pin power connector.
From its interior connectors you would run the SATA data cable to an
available SATA connector on your motherboard and connect the supplied power
cable (Molex plug terminated) to an available Molex plug of your computer’s
power supply. Very simple connections.

The beauty of using a SATA HD as an external device, i.e., it's physically
located outside the computer case, is that the system treats the drive as an
*internal* HD with all the advantages that an internal HD has in comparison
with a USB/Firewire external HD, to wit...
1. Performance-wise, the SATA HD will be considerably superior to a
USB/Firewire EHD.
2. You will be able to either directly install the XP operating system onto
the "external" HD or (using a disk imaging program) clone the contents of
your internal HD including the OS from your internal HD to the SATA HD. And
the SATA HD will be bootable. A most desirable feature.
3. The "external" SATA HD can receive its power directly from the computer's
power supply. There's no need for an auxiliary power supply as in the case
of a USB/Firewire EHD.
4. In many, if not most, cases, the "external" SATA HD will be "hot
pluggable" ("hot-swappable"), identical to a USB EHD.
Anna

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Anna - Check out Athena's external SATA hard drive
enclosures. Two models have an adapter for leading a SATA
cable out the back of the PC via an expansion strip so that
the data connection would be SATA all the way to the hard
drive. It's their model SNT-2316SATA (SATA) and model
SNT-2318SU2S (SATA/SATA or SATA/USB). They would
provide the equivalent of a mobile rack for customers whose
PCs didn't have an available 5 1/4" drive bay.

*TimDaniels*

Tim:
We have been using the Athena MR-125 mobile rack *externally* to house
a SATA HD. In this environment it can be used in different ways.
[..........]
3. We've been experimenting with a device named the SATPOWPLAT1,
manufactured or distributed by StarTech.com (http://www.startech.com).
The device is carried by a number of online vendors including
PROVANTAGE, which has it for $11 (incl. shipping). See
http://www.provantage.com/scripts/cart.dll/x/0/rtspecs/STRT0HA)

It's a neat device and simplifies the connection between the SATA drive (in its mobile rack) and the computer. The device is
simply an I/O plate that's attached to the backplane of the computer case (that area where PCI cards are connected). It has an
external data and SATA 15-pin power connector. From its interior connectors you would run the SATA data cable to an available SATA
connector on your motherboard and connect the supplied
power cable (Molex plug terminated) to an available Molex plug of your
computer’s power supply. Very simple connections.

The difference between using SATPOWPLAT1 with the Athena SATA
mobile rack and the Athena external enclosures (i.e. models SNT-2316SATA
and SNT-2318SU2S) is that the external enclosures have their own power
supplies. This may or may not be important, depending on the power and
cooling load of a particular system. It does provide you with another option,
though.

 

[Anna]

Tim:
We have been using the Athena MR-125 mobile rack *externally* to house
a SATA HD. In this environment it can be used in different ways.
[..........]
3. We've been experimenting with a device named the SATPOWPLAT1,
manufactured or distributed by StarTech.com
(http://www.startech.com).
The device is carried by a number of online vendors including
PROVANTAGE, which has it for $11 (incl. shipping). See
http://www.provantage.com/scripts/cart.dll/x/0/rtspecs/STRT0HA)

It's a neat device and simplifies the connection between the SATA drive
(in its mobile rack) and the computer. The device is simply an I/O plate
that's attached to the backplane of the computer case (that area where
PCI cards are connected). It has an external data and SATA 15-pin power
connector. From its interior connectors you would run the SATA data cable
to an available SATA connector on your motherboard and connect the
supplied
power cable (Molex plug terminated) to an available Molex plug of your
computer’s power supply. Very simple connections.

The difference between using SATPOWPLAT1 with the Athena SATA
mobile rack and the Athena external enclosures (i.e. models SNT-2316SATA
and SNT-2318SU2S) is that the external enclosures have their own power
supplies. This may or may not be important, depending on the power and
cooling load of a particular system. It does provide you with another
option,
though.

Tim:
As I previously indicated, we consider the fact that an external power
supply is *not* needed by the external SATA HD (since it can use the
computer's PS without any difficulty), is a positive element. If, for some
reason, the user desires to use a SATA enclosure that provides a power
supply, fine. We just don't find any need for it.
Anna

 

[Mike Fields]

crazyjxx:
As you know, those particular mobile racks are designed for SATA hard
drives. We've no experience with the KF-83 but have worked with the
KF-91. Over the past year or so as we've moved more & more to SATA
drives, we've been looking over a variety of these mobile racks. The
KF-91 is (virtually) an all-aluminum model and seems to be
well-constructed. The small fan is at the rear of the rack.

There's one major problem with the KF-91 (don't know if it applies to
the KF-83) and that is the rack's power connector is *only* the 4-pin
Molex connector. In our view it's important, even crucial, that a
15-pin SATA power connector be available. In order for the SATA HD to
be "hot-pluggable", specifications call for it to be powered through
the 15-pin connector. Now I have to say that we've experimented with
"hot-plugging" SATA HDs while powered through the Molex plug and we've
not experienced any problems either affecting the drive or involving
loss of data. But again, our understanding is that one of the
requirements in the SATA specification for the device to be
hot-pluggable is that it be powered via its 15-pin SATA power
connector.

We've found another problem with this rack (at least it's a problem
for us) - it's a very tight fit to insert a HD in the removable tray
(caddy). You really have to force the drive into the tray. And, of
course, once you do, it's equally difficult to remove the drive from
the tray. We had four KF-91s and they all exhibited this tight fit.
This may not be very important to you but it is to us because in our
work we're frequently installing & removing drives in & out of their
trays. For many users this would not be terribly significant since
they infrequently insert & remove their drives in and from the
removable tray.

And there's another negative for us which may not be important to you
or most other users. We want to get away from the ubiquitous keylock
that's found on virtually every mobile rack. Again, in our work, we're
frequently inserting (connecting) & removing (disconnecting) the
removable drive from the computer and we simply find it a pain to use
the keylock. So we've been looking for a model that doesn't need this
feature but has an easy, effective, and "tooless" feature to make
these connects & disconnects.

The one we've been working with is the Athena MR-125 (comes in beige &
black) - sells for $24.99 (incl. shipping) at Newegg - see
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817123301

It's an all-plastic model with an 80 mm (very large) fan at the bottom
of the rack. It has a simple ON-OFF button (we leave it always in the
ON position) and a lever that's simply released by a push button so
that a slight outward tug on the open lever causes the tray containing
the HD to be disconnected from the machine. A simple push of the lever
inward and the tray is reinserted and the connection made. Notice
there's no keylock mechanism and that's what we've been looking for.
This mobile rack does contain both the Molex power connector as well
as the 15-pin SATA power connector.

We've been working with a number of these racks for the past six
months or so and so far they've worked flawlessly. Their all-plastic
construction is not of particular concern for us. Over the years we've
worked with a variety of plastic mobile racks designed for PATA drives
and we've experienced few problems with them that could be traced to
their plastic construction. Heat-related problems have been virtually
non-existent in our experience whether one uses aluminum or plastic
racks.
Anna

Not sure on those cases, but the Kingwin cases I have (KF-32)
have two "problems" -- the first, they use a sleeve bearing in the
fans which die (ball bearing fans last much longer usually). It also
has the "key" operated lock/power switch. The stupid key is
spring loaded and pops out -- put a hanger on the side of the
case so you can keep track of it (it has to be off to remove the
drive but "on" to use the drive so you can't just leave it in one
position).

mikey

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Not sure on those cases, but the Kingwin cases I have (KF-32)
have two "problems" -- the first, they use a sleeve bearing in the
fans which die (ball bearing fans last much longer usually).

That model has two fans - a 50mm fan in the bottom of the tray
and a 40mm fan in the front:
(http://kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=35&ID=86).
You must be referring to the 40mm axial fan at the front of the tray
as the 50mm fan in the bottom of the single-fan tray has ball bearings:
http://kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=35&ID=95 .

I found that the single bottom fan keeps my hard drive below
body temperature, almost at room temperature, so maybe the
way to go would be to just use the bottom fan.

It also has the "key" operated lock/power switch. The stupid key
is spring loaded and pops out -- put a hanger on the side of the
case so you can keep track of it (it has to be off to remove the
drive but "on" to use the drive so you can't just leave it in one
position).

Yes, the key does fall out. It's a mild annoyance. Maybe it can
be seen as a "feature" that encourages one to hide the key somewhere
else.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Mike Fields]

That model has two fans - a 50mm fan in the bottom of the tray
and a 40mm fan in the front:
(http://kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=35&ID=86).
You must be referring to the 40mm axial fan at the front of the tray
as the 50mm fan in the bottom of the single-fan tray has ball
bearings:
http://kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=35&ID=95 .

I found that the single bottom fan keeps my hard drive below
body temperature, almost at room temperature, so maybe the
way to go would be to just use the bottom fan.




Yes, the key does fall out. It's a mild annoyance. Maybe it can
be seen as a "feature" that encourages one to hide the key somewhere
else.

*TimDaniels*

Actually, on mine, it is the bottom fan that has died (or sounds
like someone strangling a duck when it spins up - it is a sleeve
bearing in that fan). Just ordered some new ball bearing fans
from newegg. The other complaint I saw somewhere about
one of the other Kingwin cases was the fan was on the back
of the main housing instead of the removable cage and was
always on even if there was no drive in it. Don't remember
which case it was though.

mikey

 

[Timothy Daniels]

[........]The other complaint I saw somewhere about
one of the other Kingwin cases was the fan was on the back
of the main housing instead of the removable cage and was
always on even if there was no drive in it. Don't remember
which case it was though.

Kingwin makes several mobile racks with a fan at the back
of the stationary rack. Since the fan could easily be wired to
the power switch, it sounds like a manufacturing error. I would
have returned it or fixed it myself.

*TimDaniels*