Danger Den Black Series Tower 21 Case Review

Assembly and Installation – Part 2

After more than 45 minutes piecing together the chassis, we are finally able to move on to adding the hardware we want to use in the Black Series Tower 21. The first component we added was our Lite-On DVD burner. The burner slid right in and we secure it using four screws. Nothing special to note here.

We moved onto installing our 750w power supply using four screws. This was a pretty standard forward process and was simplified because of the PSU bracket we installed earlier in the build process.

Since we were using an SSD in this build, I had to rummage around my office for a bracket we could use to install our Western Digital 128GB SATA SSD. This was easy enough to accomplish, but it would have been more beneficial for Danger Den to include the right mounting brackets with the case itself to save the user time from finding their own accessories to add their components.

Next, we installed the motherboard, CPU watercooler, memory, and graphics cards. Everything fit like a glove and looked awesome at the same time. The only thing we changed from the original installation procedures was the use of thumbscrews instead of standard screws to install the motherboard.

After getting all the main components in stalled, we started to route power and data cables to each piece of hardware in the Black Series Tower 21. We also did some cable management because this case has absolutely no places to hide any hideous cables. We also installed the power button at the top of the case underneath the optical bay.

Attaching the watercooler to the front panel of the case was a little more complicated because they didn’t use standard 120mm fan mounting holes. They included custom radiator mounting holes instead, which didn’t allow us to use normal fan screws to attach the our radiator from the ECO A.L.C. To overcome this obstacle, I used four rubber screws to attach the radiator to the front panel. I also added another 120mm fan to the bottom of the case to help create more airflow over my hardware.

After almost two hours of assembling the case and installing our hardware, the system is finally fully functional. Overall I think we did a good job with cable management and the available space at the top of the case for the power supply, optical drive, and SSD. Having a modular PSU would have been an optimal solution for a case like this too, but we were able to hide some of the power cables above the SSD in the hard drive bay. The overall quality of the case is outstanding and all the parts came together perfectly. I only had a few issues with installing the radiator on the front panel and the SSD in the hard drive bay.  

Here’s a quick shot of the front panel with everything installed. I wish they would have sleeved the power button wires because they draw alot of attention to themselves on the front panel. I know this case was made for a triple radiator setup too, so I won’t dock Danger Den too many points for not being as cross-functional with standard CPU watercoolers and regular 120mm fans. The Danger Den fan grills are dead sexy though and really added a lot to the look of this case.

The back panel of the Black Series Tower 21 is gorgeous and I like being able to see the back of the motherboard  and other hardware in the case. I wish there were better cable management options though because it looks a bit too messy for my taste. The Danger Den logo at the bottom is minimal in nature, but definitely adds a touch of class to an already impressive looking acrylic case.

The back panel included several locations to add 80mm fans, which really helps with the overall airflow in the case. There’s a bit of a “rat’s nest” of power cables in the hard drive cage, which can easily be viewed from the back panel. The skinniness of the case forced Danger Den to go with 80mm fans instead of 120mm fans, which goes away from modern case techniques that use larger millimeter fans that produce good airflow at lower RPMs.

The final portion of the installation included mounting the acrylic windows over the front and back panels of the Black Series Tower 21 using six screws. I didn’t include them until the end to give you a better view of the hardware and interior of the case. The thick, clear acrylic gives onlookers an unobstructed view of all my hardware that I love to showcase at LANs and other gaming events. This is definitely one of the clear advantages to using a custom acrylic case like this from Danger Den.

Here’s a quick shot of the back panel with the acrylic window installed. Looks pretty sweet.