Casing steel quality

[bononos]

Is there a guideline for how thick the casing should be to avoid that flimsy caved in feeling and vibrations/noise? I believe that the better ones advertise SECC steel.

[dma0991]

Any mid to high end case bought from a reputable maker like Corsair, Coolermaster, etc will have sufficiently thick panels to reduce vibration and noise. The lower end models are definitely thinner and will have some vibration and noise.

SECC steel does not guarantee that it'll be better. I have a CM Elite 343 which is quite flimsy as I was tugging the back end without the PSU and the case metal warped slightly. No chance of that happening with my Corsair 400R. Some cases do have a bulge to increase its rigidity like the side panels of the Corsair 400R while some have sound dampening material which negates the vibration and noise.

In short, material quality is important to a certain extent but not as important as a well designed case.

[bononos]

According to this discussion, the 343/371 thickness is only 0.5-6mm. I think a more thickness will dampen out the vibrations from the casing fans a little more in my case (370).

[dma0991]

Thickness only adds rigidity which dampens some of the vibration but not nearly enough to be the selling point. If it did, every case manufactured since will mimic the Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1. The CM Elite 370 is almost at the bottom heap with the CM Elite 343 in terms of build quality, decent for its price.

The expensive workaround to this problem is to buy a new case like a HAF series or CM 690 series. The cheaper solution would be to get fan grommets which isolates the vibration of the fan from the case. It definitely works unless you'd prefer a more secure mounting with screws which is also possible with this grommet type.