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ATX Case - 5 5.25 drive bays

sgs

Member
Looking for atx case. Need:

1. 5 or more external 5.25 inch drive bays, 1 or more external 3.5 inch drive
bay. Since I always use removeable drive drawers for my "internal" hard
disk access, 5.25 inch drive bays must be external.

2. Mildly prefer case height <= 20 inches.
3. Mildly prefer case be Enlight or Lian-Li brands.
4. Case should be under $90.

5. Case should be compatible with Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Motherboard which has
1 AGP slot and 5 PCI slots, plus onboard audio, video, and gigabyte lan
controller. Board also has Back Panel I/O Ports:

1 x Parallel 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Audio I/O
1 x Serial 1 x S/PDIF Output 4 x USB 2.0/1.1
1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x IEEE1394 1 x RJ45

Internal I/O Conn. -2 x USB 2.0 connector support add'l 4 USB 2.0 ports

6. Case should have no power supply or power supply that is easily
replaceable. I plan to install power supply of approximately 500 watts.

7. Prefer that case has no fan(s) or fan(s) that are routinely removeable. I
prefer to choose and install my own front and rear fans to the inside of
the case. Alternatively, if power supply that I choose has a fan, then
I'll install one additional case fan.

8. Case should allow front and rear air flow. To quote a magazine article:

&quot;Unobstructed air hole in the front of the case for a front-mounted case
fan, with some method of air flow from the rear of the case as well&quot;.

Request brand/model #'s or website references.
 
You may need a full tower if you want 5 5.25 bays, unless you get a mini-server case (something like this, though I would suggest a better brand like Supermicro.) I've never seen a normal tower case that is under 20" with more than 4 external.
 
Athenatech 811/812, A-GPB 800 series (actually the same case). Easy to find what you want, just punch the wanted features into the case configurator at newegg.
.bh.
 
If want external 5 5.25 inch drive bays, chances you will have to deal with height. Addtronics has a case, the 7896A that may be a little too big, but worth looking into. I have one and love it. Built like a tank and very accessible. You can purchase without pwr as well. They are not cheap, but they make quality cases.
 
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-045&amp;depa=1

Has the 5X 5.25" Slots, but also has PSU, Fans, is neither Enlight nor Lan Li, and is $95.

Entire front is mesh though, so airflow should be pretty good. I'm leaning towards this case for my next computer. Still haven't found any reviews on it though (in english - found a couple french ones, but my french isn't very good, pretty much limited to fries and toast 🙂)

-D'oh!
 
Just for fun (please sit down before looking at price): Lian-Li PC-75 MaxFlo

or

Lian-Li PC-72 SCA, with four hot-swap SCSI bays, oooOOoooo! :Q

Coming back down to earth... if you don't mind the silver color and the door over the bays, Chieftec full-tower case with dual 80mm exhaust, three 80mm intakes (two of which blow directly through the hard-drive cages if you decide to use them), and a side-panel fan that can blow either way at your discretion.
 
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