#rotated layout

Cases with rotated motherboards are still a bit of a rarity, despite not really being a new design anymore.  Because of that, we were intrigued when darkFlash reached out to us about their V22 ATX mid tower case, their take on the rotated motherboard layout.  darkFlash has been developing a new design language for their cases, moving away from the glass and RGB formula of their earlier products to a more refined styling more in line with the likes of Fractal Design and NZXT.  The V22 is their first ATX case to feature this new styling, alongside the MATX DLM21 and DLM22.  darkFlash offers the V22 in white, black, mint green, and pink.  Offering two pastel colors is a bold move from darkFlash, and it sets their cases apart from the vast numbers of black cases on the market.  Is the combination of a new style and an uncommon layout a winner, or has darkFlash missed the mark?  Let’s dive in and find out.

  [sc name=”sponsor” sponsor=”darkFlash” product_link=”https://darkflashtech.com/collections/gaming-case/products/darkflash-case-v22-white” product_name=”darkFlash V22 Mid Tower ATX Case” ]

    Specifications

Material Steel, tempered glass Front Panel Steel with plastic venting Left Side Panel Steel Right Side Panel Hinged tempered glass, lightly tinted Top Panel Steel with plastic dust filter Front Ports 2x USB 3.0

2x Front Audio

Weight 15.67 lbs / 7.11 kg Dimensions 17.3″ (H) x 8.4″ x 17.5″ (D)

440 mm (H) x 215 mm x 443 mm (D)

  Compatibility

Motherboard Compatibility ATX, MATX, DTX, ITX CPU Cooler Clearance 6.5″ / 165 mm Maximum GPU length 12.5″ / 318 mm

11.5″ / 293 mm above drive cage

Power Supply Type ATX Maximum Power Supply Length 7.9″ / 200 mm Storage Drive Bays 2x 2.5″ behind motherboard tray

1x 3.5″ in drive cage

1x 2.5″ or 3.5″ on top of drive cage

Expansion Slots 7 Fans Supported Up to 5x 120 mm

Up to 2x 140 mm

Front Fans 3x 120 mm

or

2x 140 mm

Rear Fans 2x 120 mm Radiator Support 2x 120 mm (rear) Dust Filters Front, top, power supply

Included Accessories

Cleaning Microfiber cloth Dust Protection Front I/O dust covers

[section_title title=Unboxing and a First Look]

Unboxing

The V22 comes in a printed brown cardboard box, which is pretty typical of modern cases.  The front and rear of the box both feature a picture of the V22, along with some small images depicting various features of the case.  The front of the box also has a few lines of text which were likely translated for English speaking markets.

The side of the V22’s box has a basic specifications sheet printed on it.  Interestingly, the numbers on this sheet do not quite match up with the numbers listed on the case’s official Amazon page.  Unfortunately, it seems that darkFlash doesn’t really have their English language documentation fully sorted out yet since not only do their spec sheets not fully match up, their official product page for the case is still full of sample text months after the case launched.  This isn’t a particularly encouraging sign, but it isn’t the worst I’ve seen.  If you look in enough places you can find all of the relevant information.

Inside the box is where things really start to get exciting.  The V22 is protected by large blocks of soft closed cell foam, including a block that protects the glass side panel from damage and prevents it from opening in transit.  The case itself comes wrapped in a plastic bag, the glass panel is covered in plastic film on both sides, and the panel is taped shut to add an extra layer of protection.  darkFlash did an excellent job here.  Also in the box is a small, but well thought out manual that explains all of the case’s features at a good level of detail.

  A Closer Look at the darkFlash V22

Our review sample is the white version of the V22, a refreshing break from the monotony of all black cases.  Both the metal and plastic panels have a satin feel to them and don’t pick up fingerprints.  Color and texture matching between panels is excellent.  The front edges of the case have a thick black stripe that covers the front vents and a bit of the panel underneath them.  The feet of the case, the expansion slot covers, and the hinges are also black.

  On the right side of the case, we can see that the glass side panel does not extend all the way to the bottom of the case.  Instead, there’s a steel panel that covers the part of the case where the power supply and hard drives go.

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  The left side of the case is a simple one-piece steel side panel with captured thumb screws.

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  Because the V22 has a rotated motherboard, the back of the case is very different from the back panels of most ATX cases.  Much of the panel is taken up by the two 120 mm fan mounts.  The remaining panel houses a power supply cutout, a large cable grommet, and a pair of cable management loops for securing any cables that run down the back of the case.

  The top of the case contains all of the case’s I/O ports.  The front I/O is mounted at the leading edge of the case and consists of power and reset buttons, two USB 3.0 ports, and a pair of audio ports.  Behind the front I/O is a large plastic dust filter that covers the expansion slots and rear I/O panel.

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  The bottom of the case is largely featureless aside from a set of rubber soled plastic feet and a sturdy plastic dust filter for the power supply.

[section_title title=An Inside Look at the V22]

  An Inside Look at the V22

Opening up the V22 immediately presents you with all kinds of delightful features.  To start with, the right side panel is magnetic and opens with a simple fabric pull tab.  It’s a clever solution, and much more elegant than the fastening methods used on most cases with glass panels.  The magnets run down the entire left side of the panel and hold it firmly in place, preventing it from accidentally swinging open under most circumstances.  The other side of the panel is mounted on a pair of hinges that can be disassembled so the panel can be removed.  The glass is on the thinner side and quite light, so the risk of accidentally dropping it is low.

The motherboard area is spacious and has large access holes at both the top and bottom of the board, a promising sign for the case’s usability.  The bottom edge of the motherboard tray is several inches above the bottom of the case and there is no conventional power supply shroud, so access to the right edge of the board is completely unfettered.

  The V22’s hard drive cage is mounted directly to the bottom of the case with enough space on both sides for the front fans and the power supply to fit in uncontested.  There are holes to mount one drive inside the cage and one on top, and the top face of the cage is marked with a little arrow to show which way the connectors on the drives should face, since the cage can be removed to make installing drives easier.  Little touches like this go a long way towards a good user experience.

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  The left side panel of the case is a traditional steel panel held in place by two captured thumb screws.

  Taking off the panel, you’re greeted by two 2.5″ drive trays, a CPU socket cutout, and an abundance of cable management hard points.  The drive cages feature the same directional arrows as the drive cage and are elevated away from the back of the motherboard tray to give clearance for daisy-chained SATA power connectors which require extra space for their wires.  The large CPU socket cutout should give excellent access to the socket area of most motherboards, for those who want to install or swap coolers after their motherboard is mounted in the case.  Each cable routing hole in the motherboard has a corresponding cable management hard point, and there are four hard points below the two drive trays and one directly above the power supply.  The placement of these hard points seems well thought out and there are no areas that are significantly lacking in cable management options.

The front panel of the case is mounted with traditional plastic clips and is a little difficult to remove.  A more modern mounting system would have been better, since the panel has to be removed in order to clean the front dust filter, but it is functional enough.  Underneath the front panel, the dust filter is mounted to the case with a pair of tabs and two magnets.  To remove the filter, you simply swing the filter away from the body of the case and pull the tabs out of their slots.  This is yet another clever use of magnets on the V22, and one of the better dust filter mounting systems currently on the market.

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The top of the case houses the expansion slots and motherboard I/O in a chamber that is covered by a sturdy plastic dust filter.  While the filter feels sturdy and is relatively easy to remove and replace, it is held on with plastic clips instead of magnets which feels like a missed opportunity given how well the mounting system for the front dust filter works.  Under the dust filter you’ll find ample space for cables, along with a locking cable clamp to assist in routing cables out the back of the case.  The I/O chamber is not entirely closed, and includes a cutout that can be used to access the top corner screws on a rear mounted radiator if necessary.  This cutout is also useful for the handful of devices that require passing a cable from an expansion slot into the case.

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[section_title title=Building in the V22]

Building in the V22

To test the build experience of the V22 I used my standard ATX test bench, which consists of the following parts:

Motherboard MSI X370 Gaming M7 Processor AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Cooler Silverstone PF120 AIO Graphics Card 1 Nvidia GTX 1070 FE Graphics Card 2 EVGA GTX 980 K|NGP|N Storage 2x XPG SX950U Power Supply Corsair CX750M

Building in the V22 is about as simple as it gets.  The glass side panel comes off by simply lifting it off its hinges and the captured thumb screws on the other side panel reduce the number of loose screws you have to keep track of.  The motherboard tray is incredibly spacious considering the size of the case, so mounting the board and plugging in the front I/O cables are very easy.  The power supply can be mounted through either side of the case, thanks to the unusual skirt style shroud design. Many mid tower cases suffer from poor cable management around the top edge of the motherboard due to its close proximity to the top case fans.  The V22’s rotated layout basically nullifies that problem.  The large cutouts around the motherboard tray give ample room for power cables and accessory cables.  The 24 pin power cable simply tucks away at the bottom of the case.

  I did run into a minor issue when trying to mount my CPU cooler.  I had initially planned to use a 480 mm AIO, but the front of the case only has space for fans, and not a full radiator.  This is actually mentioned in the documentation for the case, so this issue was all on me.  Sometimes you just have to read the manual.  I decided to go with the PF120 120 mm AIO instead, which fit just fine in the back of the case.  I installed two 140 mm fans in the front for the case’s intake and a 120 mm fan below the AIO as an exhaust.

  Mounting graphics cards in the V22 is about as simple as it gets.  The rear I/O covers are far away from the edges of the case, which makes them very easy to remove.  My two cards fit in the case easily despite their large size and their cables tucked away neatly at the bottom of the case.

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  The raised drive sleds made mounting and plugging in the drives a breeze.  Because I also use the test bench as a VR system when I am not reviewing cases, I also added a USB card in the bottom expansion slot of the motherboard.  The routing holes around the motherboard are easily large enough to pass a SATA power cable through to power the card.

Tidying up cables in the V22 is surprisingly easy considering the lack of a fully enclosed power supply shroud.  The skirt panel at the bottom of the case does a good job of hiding the power supply and cables without getting in the way while building.  You can still see the cables if you look down into the case at an angle, but they don’t look particularly messy.  On the back of the case, the cable management hard points offer plenty of places to tie off loose cables.  I had no issues fitting the rear panel back on the case and securing it in place.  At the top of the case, there’s plenty of room for routing cables, though you may have some issues routing out the back of the case if you’re using a huge number of cables.  My full complement of VR headset and peripheral cables fit just fine, so for most people, this shouldn’t be an issue.  Cables as large as DVI can pass through the rear cable grommet.

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[section_title title=Final Thoughts and Conclusion]

Final Thoughts

It was clear right from the moment that I opened the box that darkFlash was doing things right.  The packing job was impeccable, the case looked clean and elegant, and all of the panels were properly matched in both color and texture.  While darkFlash still needs to work on their online documentation, but their design work is top notch.  I found myself frequently marveling at design touches like the hinge and magnets panel and dust filter mounting and wondering why they aren’t used in more cases.  The magnets eliminate the stiffness of plastic clips, while the hinges eliminate the common issue with magnetic filters sliding around.  It’s an elegant solution to a common problem.  And the thoughtful design details don’t stop there.  All throughout the case I found little details that showed that darkFlash’s designers had taken the time to think through and test every little piece of the case.  Even things that you normally wouldn’t think about, like external cable management, are carefully considered and implemented on the V22.  The case even comes with a cleaning cloth and I/O dust covers.  To come back to that text on the front of the box, darkFlash calls the V22 a “Luxury Middle Tower”.  After working with this case, it’s clear that the V22 is going for luxury the old fashioned way.  Not by packing in gimmicks, and not by trying to do everything at once.  The V22 is luxurious in that it is elegant, refined, and intuitive.  Sometimes, that’s the best kind of luxury.

Pros Cons Rotated layout makes building in the V22 easy Not designed for custom water cooling Clever tool-less side panel and front dust filter Online documentation needs improvement Excellent cable management Front panel is a little tricky to remove Split side panel hides cables and power supply without compromising ease of building No internal cable grommets Classy exterior design Top dust filter could have been magnetic External cable management Space for 80mm fan at top of case, but no mounting holes Metal and plastic elements have excellent color matching Drive cage and trays are designed with right angle SATA power connectors in mind Packaging is superb

So who is this case for?  If you are looking for a dedicated water cooling case, the V22 might not be what you need.  While the V22 can comfortably support up to a 240mm radiator and even a full pump/reservoir combo if you are creative, custom water cooling isn’t really its forte.  However, if you don’t plan to go all out on water cooling, the V22 is definitely worth taking a good look at.  darkFlash has done an excellent job designing this case, and I highly recommend considering it for your next build.  It’s an all around well designed case that offers an exceptional build experience and manages to be classy without being boring.  It looks like darkFlash is serious about competing with the best of the best, and I expect that we’ll be hearing a lot more about them in the near future.

[sc name=”editors_choice_award” ]