Another Vogons member spotted the Chenbro SR20503 on ebay for a possible retro build. Like them, I am also considering this case for its relatively-retro bezel, decent cooling options, and new/old stock availability (while it lasts). Here are my initial impressions.

Keep in mind that these are only early thoughts, and that I'm evaluating it from the perspective of someone most interested in Windows 98-era hardware. I'm also a huge case nerd. Your mileage may vary, based on your needs and tastes.

The case feet have a guide bump for aligning them either parallel or perpendicular to the case. Here they are in line with the case, shown with the plastic washer/screw that secures it.

The case opens uncommonly: after a single thumbscrew is removed from the back, the top slides off, revealing handles for two side panels. After a single screw is removed on top of each panel, panels can be lifted off with the handles.

Here's a quick mock-up installation with an Abit AB-LX6 (ATX, 304x204 mm, 1997). This case excepts EATX, although this form factor would be a tight fit indeed. I'd classify it as a compact EATX midtower given its aggressively short length, especially if you consider the use of traditional drive bays. The case appears to have been inspected in 2010. It has an abundance of mounting holes for different form factors and devices, some of which need to be plugged with larger female-male standoffs (they're provided). You'll see the sheer number of holes when we get to the back of the case.

I'm not sure what cards or devices would fill the ~340mm gap to the card keeper. The card keeper cage, sitting next to the mammoth (56mm diameter!) built-in speaker, is easily removable. The built in-bracket above the expansion slots is for a missing accessory: a long card-keeping plate that runs the entire length of the case. One side of this plate hooks in above the expansion brackets, while the other side slides into the side of the pictured card keeper. The SR20503 shares a chassis with the SR20502 and SR20503, so perhaps it's included with those other cases.

The 3.5" bay hooks into the bottom of the 5.25" bay via a piece that slides across the width of the 3.5" bay. After disengaging the hook and removing a screw, the 3.5" bracket is blocked from removal by the long support beam which runs the length of the case. Removing two screws allows the beam to be removed.

After most things are removed, the inside looks like this. If I were routing wires behind the motherboard, I would expand the hole in the lower left. Such routing, as you will see, is not possible.

The naked front: speaker holes on the bottom-left, 120mm fan intake holes on the bottom-right, 80mm fan intake holes on the middle-left, and general intake holes on the middle-right. The 5.25" internal covers can be reattached with screws, which is not something I often see. Note that the button panel can easily be moved to the upper left, if only there were holes in the bezel for it. The upper-right button location is used by the SR20505, along with a significantly different bezel.

The back of the case. This case was not designed for behind-the-tray cable management. You can maybe fit a molex connector behind there, completely flush with the surface, if you can find a way to secure it without adding any height whatsoever.

Let's take a look at the construction of the case. There is not single rivet or screw holding the internal frame together; everything looks like it's been spot welded. For a second, I thought they might have used a cold weld of some kind, but then I saw the underside of the PSU support attachment.

Here is the rear, and the first of two major problem areas with this case. This is a server case, meant to accommodate two side-by-side, redundant PSUs with the PSU mounting plate removed. The plate thus allows use of more traditional desktop PSUs. However, unlike with PSU mounting plates on modern desktop variants, the PSU must still be inserted from the inside of the case. I recommend leaving it attached to the case and securing it like you normally would with cases that lack a mounting plate.

The deal breaker for me is the substantial restriction of the PSU intake fan: approximately two-thirds of a typical 120mm intake is blocked! Traditional PSUs with 80mm front intakes should work fine, but these are becoming increasingly hard to find in good condition. The profile of the mounting plate will also be restrictive for any modern PSU with a full profile grill exhaust.

This brings me to the second major problem area of this case: mounting bay devices. All 3.5" floppy drives I tested fit perfectly in the two FDD slots of the 3.5" bay; here you see Mistumi and Samsung floppies lining up nicely. The bottom three HDD slots also fit my IDE Seagate Barracuda IVs perfectly. Both my Toshiba CD-ROM (IDE, 1996, XM-5602B) and my "shorty" DVD (SATA, 2008, SH-S203) perfectly fit the attachable case rails and slid nicely into the non-removable 5.25" bay. My SATA-IDE adapter (JP103-5, recommend by Phil) also fit comfortably in the 5.25" bay on my DVD drive.

However, most modern devices and accessories I tried had mounting problems. The popular Gotek Floppy Emulator wouldn't fit in the FDD slots of the 3.5" bay without the top of the front slamming into the bezel. It's difficult to see here, but the mounting holes were too high on the Gotek, so the rear of the drive had to be tilted down to get the crucial middle hole lined up. This caused the front of the drive to lift up and slam into the front bezel when it was attached. Yes, I could make it fit, but with more stress on the bezel and drive than I'm comfortable with. My 3.5" to 2.5" adapters for an SSD (the Sabrent BK-HDDH above and a Lian Li HD-323) also had holes that were too high for 3.5" bay slots. Even if bracket adapters fit the 3.5" bay, it seems unlikely that SATA-IDE adapters on the SDD drives themselves (like the JP103-5) would.

I tried a cheap, plastic 5.25" to 3.5" adapter to put the Gotek in the 5.25" bay, but the Gotek's mounting holes were still too high. The only way to attach it was by using different adapter holes that sucked the Gotek's face back into the drive. Attaching the case rails to the adapter, meanwhile, was only possible using the front set of adapter holes; the adapter holes didn't line up with the rail holes at the ideal points. Similarly, a Lian Li 5.25" to 2.5" adapter (HD-520) that I used for SDD mounting had holes that were too high for the rails to attach anywhere.

Initial Thought Summary

Good

• Retro-ish bezel
• Efficient cooling (probably) with large intakes and exhaust compared to Windows 98-era cases
• Solid construction with thick steel and no rivets
• Compatibility (probably) with Windows 98-era hardware

Bad

• No behind-the-tray cable management
• PSU mounting plate restricts exhaust

Ugly

• PSU bottom intake mostly blocked, 80mm front-intake PSUs increasingly harder to find
• Gotek Floppy Emulator, certain 5.25" and 3.5" adapters won't fit in case bays without modification