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AMS ATX Full-Tower Case CF-Q45-1 = ~$36 at newegg

Kinda rediculous that it has 5 5.25" bays and only 4 total 3.25" bays. WTH needs 5 5.25" devices?
 
Anyone have an AMS before? Wondering if the finish inside is passable, or if I'll be skinning my knuckles on a regular basis...
 
Originally posted by: Mears
Kinda rediculous that it has 5 5.25" bays and only 4 total 3.25" bays. WTH needs 5 5.25" devices?
Click to expand...

If you want to run swappable hard drive bays or coolers, you need them.
 
Most old full-tower designs are like this, not a lot of bays at the bottom.
What this would be ideal for is putting in a low-RPM 120mm exhaust fan in front, with a water cooler radiator, putting two 120mm intake on the side-panel, and the HDDs in removable racks up top.

IT isn't too pretty though... I need no cases but if I did, I'd buy one and paint it with black appliance (spray) paint. Appliance paint is very rugged, and has some kind of toxic chemicals that give me a buzz and seep into the plastic for added durability, like vinyl dye but also adheres to metal better than vinyl dye. Just don't breathe too much of it or you'll be mindless like me. 😉
 
what gets me about cases like that is the large open space where they could have extended the 3.5 or 5.25 bays all the way down and called it a 'server' case and sold it for 3x more, just for a little extra metal
 
It'd be very easy to fill all the useable drive bays.

1) Media I/O panel (case has no front audio, USB, firewire, etc)

2) Fan controller

3) DVDRW

4) CDRW

5) 1 Hard drive

Then it's full already. The lower 3.5" bays don't have enough ventilation to use for modern HDDs. Granted you dont' "need" fan controller or Media I/O panel but those are just some of the benefits of a large case. Another is being able to use two power supplies. A pair of ~$35 Sparkle 350W PSU have much higher sustained capacity than any one $70 PSU, and potentially half the heat density but twice the ventilation so they'll last longer.

This case is ripe for moddin' though, over the years when i throw out old AT cases, I take out the drive bays when they're the type with front or bottom screw-mounts (or flat tabs that could have holes drilled), because they're easily added to the bottom of a case like this then secured with a $1 pack of nuts & bolts.

This wouldn't be a very good case for someone wanting to just use it "as-is" unless all they needed was 5 5.25" bays for whatever reason, but it's clean lines give it a lot of potential for moddin'. The main limitation I see is that the rear area adjacent the I/O ports isn't wide enough on either side of the recess to add a 80mm or larger fan. Then again, there's room for a 120mm up top so I doubt there'd be any heat retention problems but with 80mm lower in rear it'd be even better.
 
What I am seeing is ability to place a few exhause fans way up high in back , id imagine this case could make for a pretty cool and quiet set-up...as far as looks go , I think its pretty nice. 🙂
 
Another is being able to use two power supplies. A pair of ~$35 Sparkle 350W PSU have much higher sustained capacity than any one $70 PSU
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. I just purchased a Geforce 6800 Ultra, and I'm a bit leery of using my Antec-380 to drive it and three hard drives and two opticals. You could also run the two PSU's fans off of 7V or 5V & substantially reduce noise.
 
Well, I bought one while I was on vacation and fedex was nice enough to leave it outside of my apartment where it sat for 5 days. I'm surprised it was still sitting there when I returned. Not real surprised that several pieces of the cheap ass case, including the front panel, were busted. Thanks to Newegg's stance that they are not responsible for factory defects, I guess I'll be running this thing without a front panel. I've spent thousands of dollars at Newegg, and the only thing I can say they have going for them is prompt delivery and item selection.

From now on, most of my business will be through Monarch Computers, a company that understands customer relations.
 
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