Despite its silent
performance though, we’re still far from convinced by the Fenris Wolf, with the
easily dented and deformed panelling our primary concern. Scythe seems to have
totally omitted reinforcing any of the case’s panelling with the usual methods
and it’s clear that this isn’t a case that’s going to stand up to much wear and
tear or even multiple fittings without showing some very obvious signs of
degradation. It’s a shame really as the black anodised aluminium Scythe has
used feels and looks great – it’s just not strong enough without being
reinforced in some way.
The Fenris Wolf isn’t the
easiest case to put together either, with the rubber grommet mounted hard drive
rack particularly frustrating to build and the mount into the chassis. On more
than one failed attempt at mounting the test system hard drive came close to
being hurled across the room in frustration – it’s just a million miles away
from the easy drive mounting trays used in Cooler Master or Antec chassis and
while we appreciate the excellent vibration reduction it can offer, we’re not
sure it’s worth the bother. Again, it’s a shame as Scythe has gotten the basics
right with the roomy interior and easy PSU mounting, it’s just spoiled by the
irritating hard drive mounting.
The final nail in the coffin here though is the price. Launching next month at
almost £135 we feel the Fenris Wolf is, simply put, comically expensive. The
Hiper Osiris, a case that’s based on the exact same core chassis and which
possesses far superior aluminium alloy build quality is available for just over
£80 – that’s a whopping saving of almost £55, more than enough to replace the
Osiris’ three (admittedly noisy) 120mm fans with ultra low noise models and
have enough left over to buy a new game or two.
There’s also the option of the Akasa Omega for £120, a case that’s comparable
to the Fenris Wolf on thermal performance and excellent noise levels, but
that’s both fantastically easy to work with and very solid indeed, with superb
build quality.
While the Scythe Fenris Wolf is launched as a silent case to the Osiris’ high
performance, there’s just no way that two ultra low noise fans, a vibration
dampening hard drive mount and some foam strips stuck on the side panels are
worth the sort of price premium Scythe is demanding here, especially with the
notable build quality and hard drive mounting problems we’ve encountered.
It’s a real surprise to be honest, especially as the core chassis upon which
the Fenris Wolf has been built has been at the heart of two high quality cases.
Sadly though, that’s not the case this time out and the Fenris Wolf, while at
first seeming to have a lot of potential, just carries too many flaws to be
really worthy of your consideration. @ bit-tech
