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Bought a $33 case. Bad move.

DivideBYZero

DivideBYZero

Lifer
I bought a $33 case, with a 350W PSU for a second machine.

I wish I had spent double for a decent case.

False economy, nuff said. :|
 
I hate cheap cases. Flimsy, dangerous, hard to work in, no anemities, and did I mention they're dangerous? I have so many scars from cheap cases... death to them all.
 
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
I bought a $33 case, with a 350W PSU for a second machine.

I wish I had spent double for a decent case.

False economy, nuff said. :|
Click to expand...

Which one did you get?

Curiosity, as I almost bought a cheap case.
 
Sometimes you'll be lucky and get a decent cheap case. eBayer salebuyer@hotmail.com sold some excellent cases for $36 shipped. The ONLY thing that I don't like about them is the lack of drive rails, which my Enlight 7237 has. Rounded edges, great for modding, good steel thickness, etc. He stopped selling awhile ago though. 🙁
 
Yea, I have always gone the cheap way out and always regretted it, so this last build, I went out and bought an Antec AMG1080 and love it to pieces. Do yourself a favor and get a decent case if your situation allows, because as you've already said, cheaper isn't ever better.
 
In my case, my "cheap" case was actually pretty expensive! I paid $90 shipped last year (september 2002) for a black premodded no-name case with a window, and a 350W L&C PSU (which died and killed my DVD-ROM and CDRW GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - whoops I just get pissed off when I think about that). I regret that very much. A lot of the paint has scratched off, the front glass piece has a crack in the corner, and the screw holes (that hold the side panels) are stripped out after opening it about 3-4 times (I dont even tighten the screws (thumb screws) - but now it has no screws). So I bought a Antec SLK3700AMB (with a Antec SL350 - SmartPower 350W PSU), and I am BLOWN away by the build quality. Even the paint is high quality. It feels like a freshly waxed car! I just wished I bought this case in the first place...oh well live and learn.
 
I got lucky on a couple of $30 cases. No fans though. I have so many spare parts lying around that it was a good investment. Heck, I can outfit two more machines if I only had the cases. I spent the bux on the one at the house, a Xaser II. I like it, it's heavy but the window is superfloous. Anyone wanna trade a windowed side panel for a windowless side panel?

Gravity
 
When I got my Evercase 4282 (or whatever model) for $40 locally, I got a pretty good deal. After modding the Enhance 300W with a Panaflo, it's both quiet and very reliable. Inside, the PCI/AGP, floppy, and 5.25" drive installation is all toolless. It also has front USB. I'm glad I chose this over then Enlight 7237 (which uses rails and had no front USB back in the day).

My bro's $40 + $15 shipping case from Compgeeks, OTOH, really sucks. It's that Dreamstar one that's all pretty. Even though there's a colorful fan and the front lights are cool, the case is cheap, their shipping sucks (window had 3 contact points broken after it arrived), and the PSU sucks like no other (Powmax "400W" that is really loud, not easily moddable, spits out heat like no other, and doesn't have many connectors).
 
Eh, I like my Powmax PSU. It aint great, but it's been pretty reliable for me. It is a little sparse on the connectors though (4 isn't enough, I have at least 5 passthroughs on the bizatch).

I agree on cheap cases being spawns of satan though. I bought an ahanix dbox. I have sooo many scars from it (not that I'm not safe, but that case has more sharp edges than a box of razors). Suffice it to say I bummed another case off a friend (This one is really cheap too, but I'm working on it). I took the front panel off of the dbox and modded it into the top of the other case (fan speed controller, thermometer, and whatnot, for those who don't know).

*EDIT
Powmax manufactures the dreamstar cases, right?
 
yup, like many cheap things, you just regret that you didn't have those X dollars to put towards something that wont make you 🙁
 
Ok, sins by this case so far:

- Front plastic bezel extends past width of case for 'asthetic' effect, just means you can't put it next to another machine without a gap.

- Mobo stand off are specific to the case. I used brass studs and they leave the mobo to high off the case mobo tray. Result - no screwing in of PCI cards for me.

- side panels have been 'pre-cross threaded'. All of them.

- Most panels have been sharpend and cursed by the devil, hence the new reddish-brown internal 'paint' job.

- Expansion card blanks are press out type. Except they can only be pushed one way when teh mobo is in place, causing warping of the whole rear panel.

What a waste of money. I might just get myself an Antec Minuet, as the mobo is MiniATX.

/homer

MMMmmm, piano black.

/homer
 
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Ok, sins by this case so far:

- Front plastic bezel extends past width of case for 'asthetic' effect, just means you can't put it next to another machine without a gap.

- Mobo stand off are specific to the case. I used brass studs and they leave the mobo to high off the case mobo tray. Result - no screwing in of PCI cards for me.

- side panels have been 'pre-cross threaded'. All of them.

- Most panels have been sharpend and cursed by the devil, hence the new reddish-brown internal 'paint' job.

- Expansion card blanks are press out type. Except they can only be pushed one way when teh mobo is in place, causing warping of the whole rear panel.

What a waste of money. I might just get myself an Antec Minuet, as the mobo is MiniATX.

/homer

MMMmmm, piano black.

/homer
Click to expand...

You mention PCI cards.

Be careful with the minuet as it can only handle low profile PCI cards.

A good altertnative to the minuet is the athenatech a100 at newegg for $43 $10 shipping.

linky

It' is quite small, easy to work with but allows full height PCI cards and seems to be loved by all. At least the folks at arstechnica like it and of course the newegg reviews are glowing.

Still have not decided myself which small case to get.

Thinkg of this one:

Cheep small compgeeks uATX case

Similar designe to the athenatech A100 but the 3.5" drive bays are exposed and it looks like the case might have great ventalation (assuming those holes are not just for looks).

Only drawback: that is one BUT ugly case!
 
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