Best ATX Case with USB3 Front Ports and 2.5" Bays under $80?

[Madmick]

I'm building a few computers for friends for their office. No component choice is causing me to pull my hair out as much as the case. I'm looking for the best case that including shipping is $80 or less (preferably less) that will:

• Support a full-sized ATX Motherboard (ASRock Z75 Pro3)
• Has one or more USB 3.0 Front Ports
• Has at least one 2.5" SSD Drive Bay

Of course, I'd entertain the option to add a mounting bracket like this Rosewill RDRD-11003 to convert a 3.5" drive bay into two 2.5" bays for cases that lack native 2.5" support. Just bear in mind that adds $5 to the cost.

After that nothing is a huge concern. At most I might Turbo Boost their i5 CPU's with the stock coolers, but I won't be overclocking these aggressively, so I don't think multiple case fans are a major concern, although better cooling is always welcome; in fact, I won't even be adding a discrete GPU to their builds because they do absolutely nothing that requires powerful 3D rendering, or that the Intel HD 2500/4000 IGP won't handle. The top priority after the above would probably be air filtration because I know they won't be opening these up and cleaning them out...ever. Next, I suppose, would be sound dampening and cable management. Mostly I just want the sturdiest case that satisfies the above criteria, and is easy to work with in case they ever want to install another drive.

I've been looking at these so far, but I'm open to any suggestions:
($57) Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus
($63) Antec One
($57) Silverstone RL-04B
($61) NZXT Tempest 210 + Rosewill 2.5" Mounting Bracket
($70) Rosewill Blackhawk
($70) Corsair 200R (out of stock)
($70) Corsair 300R
($73) Antec Three Hundred Two
($80) NZXT Tempest 410

 

[aj654987]

I just got the 200R. It works well for me. Its got usb 3 on the front, supports full size ATX and has room for four 2.5 inch drives inside without adapters. Comes with 2 bigger fans. Its one of the smaller cases that fit a full ATX board. It doesnt sound like you need anything bigger.

 

[tarmc]

any of them would probably work well for you, i personally prefer antec cases the 302 or 300r would be good choices in my opinion

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Just step up and get the Antec 900. It's a great case. Not worth skimping on the case in any build. The 900 is the minimal case I'd use for a system.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Just get the cheapest case. They're going to be used in an office.

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Everyone knows people play WoW from work. Throw a GTX 690 in all of them and the offices morale will skyrocket!

 

[Madmick]

Just get the cheapest case. They're going to be used in an office.

Yeah, this is what I was figuring, but I thought maybe the forum would talk me out of it. Things turned out well because...

I just got the 200R. It works well for me. Its got usb 3 on the front, supports full size ATX and has room for four 2.5 inch drives inside without adapters. Comes with 2 bigger fans. Its one of the smaller cases that fit a full ATX board. It doesnt sound like you need anything bigger.

...I checked over at TigerDirect and they had the Corsair Carbide 200R for $60 with a potential $10 rebate and free shipping. Also, here in CA, we don't pay tax on TigerDirect (unlike with Amazon and Newegg), so that saved yet more scratch. Solid purchase.

Everyone knows people play WoW from work. Throw a GTX 690 in all of them and the offices morale will skyrocket!

League of Legends, bro! Ha! Actually, one guy said he does infrequently play RTS games (although the games he quoted to me were "Red Alert" and "Civilization III", so I don't think he's serious about it, LOL). Ironically, he was the one who said he was only interested if I could hit a $400 budget, but thanks to the A10-5800K, things worked out perfectly.

The two willing to pay a bit more got i5 builds:

Z75 INTEL BUILDS
CPU: [FONT=&quot]Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5-3470 Quad Core 3.2GHz ($189)[/FONT]
GPU: Intel HD 2500 [CPU Integrated]
MoBo: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX ($86)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3-1600 PC-12800 9-9-9-24 RAM ($52)
SSD : SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB MLC SATA III SSD ($97)
ODD : Lite-On Super All-Write 24x DVD/RW ($19)
PSU: Corsair CX430W v1 ($43@Amazon)
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R ($60- $10 Rebate = $50)
TOTAL= $545 - $10 Rebate = $535 (includes tax/shipping).

Our "gamer" got a more budget-minded A10-build:

FM2 AMD BUILD
CPU: AMD A10-5800K Quad Core 3.8GHz APU($125)
GPU: Radeon 7660D [CPU Integrated]
MoBo: MSI FM2 A75MA-E35 MicroATX ($60)
RAM: 2x2GB Corsair XMS DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 9-9-9-24 RAM ($33)
HDD : WD Blue 7200RPM SATA III 500GB ($65)
ODD : Lite-On Super All-Write 24x DVD/RW ($19)
PSU: Corsair CX430W v1 ($43@Amazon)
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R ($60- $10 Rebate = $50)
TOTAL= $405 - $10 Rebate= $395 (includes tax/shipping)


As I mentioned, they're not overclockers, but I will Turboboost for them, and the Intel HD 2500 will handle 1080p media playback (the most demanding thing the Intel guys will do), so the non-K series i5's were a better value. The motherboards in both builds sport dual 3-pin chassis fan support, so the 2x120mm fans in the Carbide 200R will ramp with the CPU's to keep things quieter; they also both have SATA III support for faster speeds on the SSD; the Intels also boast 2xUSB 3.0 onboard support, so they'll be able to charge their phones faster with the front ports, and download/upload data faster with their iPads and Laptops.

One of the Intel guys is gonna scavenge his NVIDIA GT430 from his old Q9400 comp that he's kicking down to his dad, so he won't even use the Intel HD 2500, actually. He also has an old SATA II hard drive he'll use for storage. I told the other that he can always buy a cheap WD Blue or Spinpoint HDD if he needs more storage than the 128GB SSD, but I highly doubt he'll ever use 1/2 of the remaining ~100GB after we're done installing Windows 8 64-bit and Microsoft Office.

I'm pretty pleased with myself with the economy of those builds, but tell me if you spot anything, guys. I suppose I should submit these for review in the general section. Thanks for the input.

 

[Obie327]

I just skimmed over most of these posts but didn't see a mid tower that I found for about 80 bucks. It's a Msi Raptor. Power button upper top left corner nice front lower mesh grill in front that glows blue. Two 120 side intake spots and rear 120 exhaust. Easy tower to work with. Black and kinda beefy mean/business looking. It has front usb 3 on it also. I like it alot, Even more when I eventually replace the old Phenom 2 940 that's in it now! lol! Keeps my phenom running really cool. Hope this helps

 

[Madmick]

I just skimmed over most of these posts but didn't see a mid tower that I found for about 80 bucks. It's a Msi Raptor. Power button upper top left corner nice front lower mesh grill in front that glows blue. Two 120 side intake spots and rear 120 exhaust. Easy tower to work with. Black and kinda beefy mean/business looking. It has front usb 3 on it also. I like it alot, Even more when I eventually replace the old Phenom 2 940 that's in it now! lol! Keeps my phenom running really cool. Hope this helps

Appreciated, but I already grabbed those Corsair 200R's for $50 (after $10 rebate and including shipping/tax). Couldn't beat that. A review round-up:

Corsair 200R Reviews
Tweaktown= 92% (Editor's Must Have Award)
Techpowerup= 9.2 (Editor's Choice Award)
HardOCP= Editor's Choice Gold Award
Hardware Secrets= Gold Award
NewEgg Customers= Avg. 5 Eggs (90 reviews)

Can't beat that, either. Dustin Sklavos of Anandtech didn't like the tool-less drive cage, but that's become sort of a standard among newer cases (the only kind featuring USB 3.0 front ports), so it isn't really a unique criticism of the Carbide 200R among the cases carrying the feature I want. It traps some heat around those bays, but that's not an issue with these office builds. Besides, I couldn't find either of his suggested Bitfenix alternatives for less than $80 all-in.