Page 3 - Installation and Conclusion
The idea of the Danger Den Torture Rack is to keep all the often-changed components on top, and the rest at the bottom. The components residing in the bottom includes the power supply, optical, and storage drives. The rest goes at the second story of the Rack for easy main hardware accessibility.
Regarding the installation on the power supply, it goes at the bottom; top right corner. A hole is located in that spot to accommodate power supplies with bottom 120mm fans.
The power supply we installed is a Tagan TurboJet 1100W power supply. The height of this power supply is exactly the same as the height between the bottom piece and the middle piece. As you can see in our photo above, the case edge is actually very tight with the plastic piece at the perimeter of the male power input socket. This way it will affect alignment with screw holes.
A bit of force will keep the power supply aligned with the holes though, haha.
The optical drive resides in the lower rack; the bottom left corner for easy access. Four Philip head screws are included for mounting the optical drive. As far as hard drive installation goes (Not shown), I would much prefer an HDD rack for easier and more effective multiple 3.5" drive configurations.
What I noticed about the power supply location is how close it is to the motherboard -- especially the CPU socket area. The heat of the power supply may rise up and affect the motherboard to an extent.
Fan installation can be a bit tricky. Danger Den claims up to eight fans can be mounted; but I found this figure a bit unrealistic unless all you have are fans on your Torture Rack without other components. At the bottom part, the power supply, optical and storage drives at the bottom will block out most of the openings.
At the top, four fans can be mounted realistically. The screws will require washers otherwise it won't be held in place. This poses a problem as fans mounted on the inner fan openings will have problems applying a washer at the bottom corner close to the rear wall because nothing practical can reach in there. Therefore, of the four screws, only three can be used with the inner two fans.
Some fans cannot be mounted if a washer cannot be accommodated in that location.
Motherboard installation is quite straightforward. For a standard ATX motherboard, all standard holes can be attached with a screw as you would in a traditional PC case's motherboard tray. Standard motherboard risers are included.
The same goes for add-on cards; installation is quite standard.
Wiring can be pulled through the side 'vent style' openings and access points to prevent all the cables from flowing through only from the front. This is demonstrated in how we pulled our ATX 4-pin power cable and auxiliary Molex power connector into our motherboard in our demonstration photo above.
The reset button (I use it as a power button). You'll need to attach the cables to the switch yourself; but it is as simple as loosening the two screws and sliding it through, ensuring that proper contact between the metal are made. This switch can be installed in four different areas of your Danger Den Torture Rack; two accommodation holes are on each of the left and right side walls.
The finished product. Well, actually, there's no CPU, CPU heatsink/fan and RAM, but that's alright! It still turns on, and installing those parts won't make a difference in assembly regarding the function of this case. You'll see us using the Torture Rack for testing new hardware soon, so this certainly isn't the only time you will see the Torture Rack appearing in our reviews.
In general, there's only one thing I want to say: Danger Den's Torture Rack rocks! Whether you are a computer enthusiast who loves swapping components, a PC shop needing a computer to test equipment, wanting something other than a non-traditional PC case, or even just want to show off the hardware inside your computer, the Torture Rack is designed just for you. This product tells me that you don't need a traditional computer case to use a computer -- the simple construction and beautiful acrylic walls of the Danger Den Torture Rack holds a degree of beauty on its own while retaining what's inside your computer and making it as clear as possible. The build quality is excellent; all cuts are cleanly made and smooth, and carefully engineered to accommodate demands of both looks and functionality. It's certainly not perfect; certain parts can be improved such as power supply opening at the back and possibly the placement -- as well as easier fan mounting without washers to allow easier installation and compatibility with any standard case fan.
The Danger Den Torture Rack is also a very 'flexible' and adaptable product -- a clear top cover can also be purchased separately -- and if an acrylic wall breaks, you can buy replacements from Danger Den directly. For portability, handles are located at the top of the Torture Rack to allow easy movement from place to place. I did not try water cooling on Danger Den's Torture Rack, but as far as I know it can accommodate a system consisting of up to two loops.
Let's say this one more time: In general, the Danger Den Torture Rack rocks. For real!
Special thanks to Dan over at Danger Den for making this review possible.
APH:Renewal Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that aren't likely going to matter to the end user.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 8.0/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
For roughly $150, the Danger Den Torture Rack is certainly not a value-oriented PC case. But let's put it this way -- even if you were to buy all the acrylic pieces yourself at a local hardware store, it will probably cost more than a beautifully cut and engineered Danger Den Torture Rack.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Specifications
2. Build Quality, Assembly
3. Installation and Conclusion
