"Cheap does not..."
Do you think anyone here would recommend a case that didn't cool decently? The Rosewill cases I recommend meet all of my casitude criteria, and they are normal mid-tower size. OP just wanted a typical mid-tower... Best way to do a thread like this is to have a short list of cases that are in your ballpark and then let us nitpick them instead of leaving it so open-ended.
The Rosewill R6A series is identical to the Antec SLK3000-B except for the front bezels (which look better, IMO). The R560x series are the same as the Yeong Yang YY-560x series.
Both are highly regarded and not just by me - check out my Rosewill thread here for more info. I scanned an Austrian review of one of the YY-560x series and only in one category did it score below 90 - unfortunately I can't read German so I don't know for sure what category that was. The Thermaltake SViking is also based on the same chassis, if you want something with a bit more glitz.
Casitude Criteria:
1. Decent cooling (120mm fan mount f/r), active cooling of HDDs.
2. Decent apperance (very low on rice).
3- Mostly screwless/toolless - ease of build out features.
4- Roomy enough for comfortable working
5- Some rubber vibe isolation for HDDs
6- Indirect air venting at the front to limit noise coming directly at the user.
I tend to like to have my external connection ports nearer the top rather than way down at the bottom as I don't place my PCs on the work surface - usually on some sort of riser at least 8" off the floor to help decrease dust consumption.
I also like the Raidmax Smilodon for those who like more rice - if they could only get it to you in one piece... Might want to buy it from a place that will double-box it (for a fee, of course) like Directron - or where you can drive to and pick it up. The X-1 is decent too and seems to ship better than most Raidmaxen.
I like Lian Li for their generally high construction quality but they seldom have any convenience features except thumbscrews and sometimes a mobo drawer which usually limits your exhaust fan to 80mm w/o modding a bit.
If you like a really serious looking case, some of the Chenbro server/workstation cases (e.g. SR10568/10569) are dead serious and can hold up to extended ATX mobos. While still keeping the tab under $100.
And the Arctic Cooling Silentium are interesting solutions for moderate systems. Hard to find a decent Seasonic PSU (w/ active PFC and autoranging voltage) in a uniquely designed case for under $100. elsewhere.
Finally, of course there is the rebate offered at SVC.com on the blue Stacker getting the price to $80. + shipping... Another serious case which may be the most geek'O'licious case one can get for under $100.
You can easily pay a lot more and get a lot less case.
Here is an interesting case that doesn't meet many of my casitude points, but may pique your fancy:
Just PC R310 - FDD bay has long slots so another HDD could go there - HDDs won't have any direct cooling unluess you rig something. Ooops, there is a spot to mount a fan to the inside of the right door to blow across the HDDs. It's the smallest case I know of that takes a full ATX mobo.
Follow the llink from the Egg's full description page to the mfr's page to see what might make it worth its high price to some - this didn't work for me (probably some IE only coding :roll: ) - here's a working link:
http://www.justpcusa.com/R301.htm#1 . Newegg needs to get on the ball as they are often completely missing features on cases that explain some of the cost - people scanning this case's description would just go away puzzled as to how they could consider charging so much...
.bh.
Facebook
Twitter