full review w/ pictures
A review of Broadway Com's 204SGA mini-tower case for micro-ATX-based PCs
At $26.00 shipped, the Broadway Com 204SGA is possibly the cheapest mini-tower case on the market right now, and it even includes a power supply! In this review, we will examine the case, take a look at its features, and discuss its strengths and weaknesses as a chassis.
Although you can get the 204SGA for $26.00 flat, I chose to spend an extra dollar and get the black version, from BBB-certified Real World Technology, AKA ******. Shipping is very slow, and can take up to two full weeks from the moment you place your order to the time it arrives at your door. My case came in nine days, however, having been ordered August 05, 2006, and arriving August 14. Signing for the package is mandatory, although any person (not necessarily the buyer) can do so. The drawback, of course, is that it will never be delievered as long as nobody is home, possibly leading to a return-to-sender fiasco.
When the UPS guy came on August 14, I signed for the package, took it inside and immediately opened it. Much to my dismay, the front panel had broken off from the body of the chassis:
Upon closer inspection, I saw the front panel was held to the body by eight prongs made of brittle plastic and fastened with phillips screws. All eight of these prongs had broken off before the case ever reached my doorstep:
Some of the prongs were still fastened to the body. These I removed using pliers and a screwdriver. Others had fallen to the bottom of the box. See the eight broken prongs:
Why had these prongs all broken off? The answer was obvious: poor packaging. Instead of the standard double styrafoam padding, this case was protected by four flimsy corner guards:
See how thin the styrafoam was, compared to a common pen:
Between the poor packing and brittle plastic, it is a wonder this case ever makes it through shipping unscathed. Curious, I investigated reviews from pricewatch.com and resellerratings.com. Here are a few excerpts:
Horrible packaging....came in nothing but two cheap styrofoam pieces, a plastic bag, and a paper-thin box...Case arrived with front panel broken off, the interior dented up, and the top had a huge dent with the paint chipped away - looked as though someone beat it with a hammer; clearly did not happen during shipping, was sent out in that condition..
--2006-06-10, pricewatch.com
I expected a cheap case with a power supply and thats what I got... Problem is, whoever the reject is that put the item in the box totally mangled the side cover because it appears he was in a hurry and didnt take the .32 seconds it takes to put the side cover on correctly. Instead, he just put the screw through the hole, tightened it as hard as he could, and bent the hell out of the case.
--2006-05-17, resellerratings.com
The case I bought was poorly packed, the front panel was broken off, and the rest of was horribly bent.
--2006-05-15, pricewatch.com
ordered 6 cases , 1 was completely destroyed. 2 had some minor damage, 3 were ok.
--2006-03-01, pricewatch.com
Purchased Broadway Com Mid Tower ATX Case 319-4HL-SB... Case was damaged upon arrival...
--2006-02-27, resellerratings.com
PC Case was damaged upon arrival, the entire front of the case was broken off... Managed to screw case front back on...
--2006-02-27, pricewatch.com
Now, none of these reports mention the 204SGA by name, but they nevertheless paint a clear picture: some cases run the risk of suffering serious damage or even outright destruction at some point prior to delivery. The 204SGA is one such.
At this point it is relevant to pause and discuss the vendor's customer service regarding the defective case. Less than 20 minutes after it arrived and I saw it was defective, I emailed ****** demanding a full refund, who responded a little later that same day. They offered to send UPS back to my home to pick up the case and refund my money in full. I asked them if I could perhaps keep the power supply (which I needed immediately) and get a partial refund for the case only. They replied again, telling me they'd refund the full amount and I could still keep the power supply. Sure enough, the UPS guy came the next morning (August 18), and took away the broken case. On August 22, 2006, seventeen days after my initial order, the $27.00 was refunded to my bank account. All in all, I was very satisfied with the vendor's customer service and communication. My only complaint is that they offer products which have an obvious tendency to arrive damaged, but that may be forgiven to some extent.
As noted above, I removed the power supply for another system and eventually returned the chassis, as well. While I was waiting on UPS, I used the opportunity to further examine the case. First I took a look at the accessories. Like most other case/PSU combos, the 204SGA comes with a standard power cable for the power supply. It also had a baggie of basic screws, both standard hexagonal and motherboard mounting screws, as well as a few other smaller screws for various other purposes. After using about ten screws, this little pile remained:
It also included a tiny slip with instructions for attaching the USB headers. Interestingly, the speaker was not connected to the case, but plugs nearly directly into a motherboard.
Next I turned my attention to the case. Could I fix it? I noticed that two of the prongs, one located on the center right and the other center left, remained unbroken from the front panel. I was able to use one of the excess screws to attach one side. The other side proved trickier, as the screw would fit only partially. So I used several red washers to wedge between the screw head and the prong:
Surprisingly, this actually worked. I managed to re-fasten the front panel using only two prongs, though I could tell it would need some superglue reinforcement if it were to remain unbroken for long. Here's what it looked like after I repaired it:
The metal interior was extremely sharp. Had I attempted to install anything inside of it, you could bet I would have been bloody by the time I was through. The rear of the case was undamaged, per se, but did suffer some bowing.
The front USB 2.0 ports are protected by a sliding plastic cover. Beside them, ghost ports for audio and firewire are visible, which detracts a little bit from the case's looks.
It's a shame the case is such a risky purchase. Its front exterior is actually pretty nice and sleek:
In conclusion, the Broadway Com in general, and especially the 204SGA series, are cases to be avoided at great cost. If you need a case/PSU combo on the cheap, get an LCT USB-07-4HL for $28.99 (also from ******). If you need it fast, NewEgg.com has case/PSU combos starting at $31.83. If you need a mini-tower, and a mid-tower is too big, NewEgg.com ships combos out from $51.81 up. Yes, all these are more expensive, but do you really want to risk a damaged or destroyed case from Broadway Com? I should think not.
Please note: I will be reviewing the LCT USB-07-4HL, $28.99 from ******, in the near future, so check back soon!
A review of Broadway Com's 204SGA mini-tower case for micro-ATX-based PCs
At $26.00 shipped, the Broadway Com 204SGA is possibly the cheapest mini-tower case on the market right now, and it even includes a power supply! In this review, we will examine the case, take a look at its features, and discuss its strengths and weaknesses as a chassis.
Although you can get the 204SGA for $26.00 flat, I chose to spend an extra dollar and get the black version, from BBB-certified Real World Technology, AKA ******. Shipping is very slow, and can take up to two full weeks from the moment you place your order to the time it arrives at your door. My case came in nine days, however, having been ordered August 05, 2006, and arriving August 14. Signing for the package is mandatory, although any person (not necessarily the buyer) can do so. The drawback, of course, is that it will never be delievered as long as nobody is home, possibly leading to a return-to-sender fiasco.
When the UPS guy came on August 14, I signed for the package, took it inside and immediately opened it. Much to my dismay, the front panel had broken off from the body of the chassis:
Upon closer inspection, I saw the front panel was held to the body by eight prongs made of brittle plastic and fastened with phillips screws. All eight of these prongs had broken off before the case ever reached my doorstep:
Some of the prongs were still fastened to the body. These I removed using pliers and a screwdriver. Others had fallen to the bottom of the box. See the eight broken prongs:
Why had these prongs all broken off? The answer was obvious: poor packaging. Instead of the standard double styrafoam padding, this case was protected by four flimsy corner guards:
See how thin the styrafoam was, compared to a common pen:
Between the poor packing and brittle plastic, it is a wonder this case ever makes it through shipping unscathed. Curious, I investigated reviews from pricewatch.com and resellerratings.com. Here are a few excerpts:
Horrible packaging....came in nothing but two cheap styrofoam pieces, a plastic bag, and a paper-thin box...Case arrived with front panel broken off, the interior dented up, and the top had a huge dent with the paint chipped away - looked as though someone beat it with a hammer; clearly did not happen during shipping, was sent out in that condition..
--2006-06-10, pricewatch.com
I expected a cheap case with a power supply and thats what I got... Problem is, whoever the reject is that put the item in the box totally mangled the side cover because it appears he was in a hurry and didnt take the .32 seconds it takes to put the side cover on correctly. Instead, he just put the screw through the hole, tightened it as hard as he could, and bent the hell out of the case.
--2006-05-17, resellerratings.com
The case I bought was poorly packed, the front panel was broken off, and the rest of was horribly bent.
--2006-05-15, pricewatch.com
ordered 6 cases , 1 was completely destroyed. 2 had some minor damage, 3 were ok.
--2006-03-01, pricewatch.com
Purchased Broadway Com Mid Tower ATX Case 319-4HL-SB... Case was damaged upon arrival...
--2006-02-27, resellerratings.com
PC Case was damaged upon arrival, the entire front of the case was broken off... Managed to screw case front back on...
--2006-02-27, pricewatch.com
Now, none of these reports mention the 204SGA by name, but they nevertheless paint a clear picture: some cases run the risk of suffering serious damage or even outright destruction at some point prior to delivery. The 204SGA is one such.
At this point it is relevant to pause and discuss the vendor's customer service regarding the defective case. Less than 20 minutes after it arrived and I saw it was defective, I emailed ****** demanding a full refund, who responded a little later that same day. They offered to send UPS back to my home to pick up the case and refund my money in full. I asked them if I could perhaps keep the power supply (which I needed immediately) and get a partial refund for the case only. They replied again, telling me they'd refund the full amount and I could still keep the power supply. Sure enough, the UPS guy came the next morning (August 18), and took away the broken case. On August 22, 2006, seventeen days after my initial order, the $27.00 was refunded to my bank account. All in all, I was very satisfied with the vendor's customer service and communication. My only complaint is that they offer products which have an obvious tendency to arrive damaged, but that may be forgiven to some extent.
As noted above, I removed the power supply for another system and eventually returned the chassis, as well. While I was waiting on UPS, I used the opportunity to further examine the case. First I took a look at the accessories. Like most other case/PSU combos, the 204SGA comes with a standard power cable for the power supply. It also had a baggie of basic screws, both standard hexagonal and motherboard mounting screws, as well as a few other smaller screws for various other purposes. After using about ten screws, this little pile remained:
It also included a tiny slip with instructions for attaching the USB headers. Interestingly, the speaker was not connected to the case, but plugs nearly directly into a motherboard.
Next I turned my attention to the case. Could I fix it? I noticed that two of the prongs, one located on the center right and the other center left, remained unbroken from the front panel. I was able to use one of the excess screws to attach one side. The other side proved trickier, as the screw would fit only partially. So I used several red washers to wedge between the screw head and the prong:
Surprisingly, this actually worked. I managed to re-fasten the front panel using only two prongs, though I could tell it would need some superglue reinforcement if it were to remain unbroken for long. Here's what it looked like after I repaired it:
The metal interior was extremely sharp. Had I attempted to install anything inside of it, you could bet I would have been bloody by the time I was through. The rear of the case was undamaged, per se, but did suffer some bowing.
The front USB 2.0 ports are protected by a sliding plastic cover. Beside them, ghost ports for audio and firewire are visible, which detracts a little bit from the case's looks.
It's a shame the case is such a risky purchase. Its front exterior is actually pretty nice and sleek:
In conclusion, the Broadway Com in general, and especially the 204SGA series, are cases to be avoided at great cost. If you need a case/PSU combo on the cheap, get an LCT USB-07-4HL for $28.99 (also from ******). If you need it fast, NewEgg.com has case/PSU combos starting at $31.83. If you need a mini-tower, and a mid-tower is too big, NewEgg.com ships combos out from $51.81 up. Yes, all these are more expensive, but do you really want to risk a damaged or destroyed case from Broadway Com? I should think not.
Please note: I will be reviewing the LCT USB-07-4HL, $28.99 from ******, in the near future, so check back soon!
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