Kolink BIG CHUNGUS Review

Closer Look – The Build

The Big Chungus is a beast of a case, easily dwarfing the size of any desk it sits on or monitors it would sit beside. It’s a solid mass of steel and glass that sits upon a red plinth that screams “give me your attention”. 

While this will not be to the taste of most users, you need to remember that this is a showcase. Even Kolink calls the big Chungus a showcase. Form comes before function with this design, and that isn’t a bad thing. Functional sacrifices need to be made to meet the aesthetic needs of this case, so no, this case’s intakes are not filtered, no, this case isn’t convenient to carry and no, this case isn’t designed with optimal airflow patterns in mind. This is a showpiece. 

All around the case are areas for air to intake and exhaust from the chassis, giving the case a semi-enclosed structure. The Big Chungus is by no means an open-air enclosure, but neither is it an enclosed box. This will help keep air moving when necessary, but it is not optimal when it comes to dust management.   
  

  
The base of the Kolink Bing Chungus is a red steel structure, offering users access to the USB 3.1 Type-C, USB 3.0 Type-A, USB 2.0 and audio input/output jacks. Pretty much what’s standard on all premium cases these days. 

Placing these I/O ports at the base is a smart move. If these were at the top, it would be over 60 cm higher than your desk surface, making them difficult to access. Having these ports this low will make them accessible to users, which is a great feature. The base of the case also features an underglow thanks to the enclosure’s bottom-mounted ARGB LED strips.  

  
Note that the base of this case has space for three 120mm fans, and that this area is very close to where the Big Chungus’ power supply is mounted. Unfortunately, this design decision prevents the base of the Big Chungus from accommodating a water cooling radiator, as it would interfere with this case’s PSU mount. 

I don’t know about you, but three 120mm fan mounts in this configuration scream radiator support, but in the case of the Kolink Big Chungus, it doesn’t. This is a missed opportunity from Kolink, as a little more clearance would add support for another huge radiator to this enclosure. Yes, using a MATX motherboard would also add enough free space, for a large radiator, but who uses a case this large for a MATX PC?    

  
On the rear I/O of the Big Chungus, we see support for seven PCIe expansion slots and in the image below, we can see that this enclosure has plenty of room for cable management. 

Strangely, the rear 120mm fan on this enclosure doesn’t feature a fan grill. Instead, it has a folded steel element which prevents any cables from the rear I/O of the case from hitting the fan. This is a clever solution, but a fan grill would be more elegant. 

  
Behind the right side panel of the Big Chungus, sits a bracket which supports dual 3.5/2.5 inch drives and two dedicated 2.5-inch drive mounts. There is also plenty of space for cable management, but no mounting locations for zip ties or other cable management tools. 

Here we can also see the Big Chungus’ Kolink fan controller, which can be used to control this case’s five 120mm RGB fans and its dual ARGB LED strips. Note that these fans use a proprietary connection, and are therefore only usable with this controller. This fan controller is powered using a SATA power connection and can support three additional (non-RGB) 3-pin fans.

This fan controller can use a 3-pin ARGB fan connection to interface with an RGB compatible motherboard. This allows the Big Chungis’ integrated fans and LED strips to be controlled using your motherboard’s RGB software.  

  
The top of the Big Chungus supports two 120mm fans, making this an ideal mounting location for a 240mm radiator. These fan mounts are ideal for exhausting air out of the big Chungus, though this airflow is inhibited somewhat by the case’s tempered glass top panel.