Downgrading from full tower. Looking for mid-tower case suggestions.

[sohcrates]

I am trying to get rid of my Supermicro SC750A full tower because it is big, loud, and obnoxious.

I am looking for suggestions for a nice mid-tower with at least 4 5.25 inch drive bays.

I am looking to spend $100 or less if possible.

I'm not looking to mod it with windows or lights or anything. I bought my supermicro case because it was one of the best designed cases at the time and it didn't cut open my fingers when i worked on it.

The case needs to be beige though since all my drives are beige!

I haven't bought a case in 4 years so i'm not really up on what a good case is these days.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[mechBgon]

Are you going to be happy with beige drives in a silver case? (assuming your drives are currently beige)

 

[sohcrates]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Are you going to be happy with beige drives in a silver case? (assuming your drives are currently beige)

doh

you just made an excellent point

darn. so i guess i can't get a silver case

any suggestion for a ...ugh...beige mid-tower?

looks for nice quality case. don't wanna go too cheap here

 

[mechBgon]

Well, or if you've been needing an excuse to get some new drives anyway... :music: ...you could get black ones! They'd look sharp in a silver case.

As for beige mid-tower cases with 4 5.25" bays... maybe take a look at the Inwin J-series cases? Here's a link. Inwins are usually pretty sturdy. I haven't worked with the J-series models, but here's a photo spread of one at newegg: photos They have some interesting-lookin' stuff going on in there. I see that the hard drives are now mounted in the path of the intake fan. Too bad they only have room for two HDDs

 

[sohcrates]

hmmm...i have three hard drives. this could be difficult.

do most mid-towers only fit 2?

 

[mechBgon]

What about one of the Antec clones based off the 1000-series case like this one: link That has four 5.25" bays, a fan-cooled HDD cage for three HDD's, and room for a floppy drive plus an additional pair of non-fan-cooled HDD's. But it's not exactly a "mid-tower," more of a small full tower I guess.

The Lian-Li's are going to be hard to beat on a drives-to-size ratio.

 

[sohcrates]

will look into that matrix case. i kinda like it.

so you're saying that lian li is the way to go though?

 

[mechBgon]

I think the Antec clones are more practical, especially for the dollar, and they go well with beige too. Good cooling, sturdy... I made a comparison recently:

Antec: Ford F150 pickup
Lian-Li: BMW 535 sedan

I happen to have just made the switch from an Antec 800-series case (Plus880) to a Lian-Li (PC-86). Ahh, that reminds me: if you did want a silver Lian-Li, consider re-using your beige drives but get the silver floppy bezel and the silver flip-down covers for your optical drives. Here's a photo of mine with those items, except in black: photo That would set you back about $12 each for the optical drives and about $7 for the re-usable floppy cover. Sotrickcomputers.com and coolerguys.com have 'em and so do some other outfits like FrozenCPU and maybe Directron.

 

[sohcrates]

thanks for all your help!

 

[Richdog]

Originally posted by: sohcrates

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Are you going to be happy with beige drives in a silver case? (assuming your drives are currently beige)

doh

you just made an excellent point

darn. so i guess i can't get a silver case

any suggestion for a ...ugh...beige mid-tower?

looks for nice quality case. don't wanna go too cheap here

Antec Plusview AMG1000, it has a case door so you won't notice your beige drives most of the time. It also has 5 slots for fans, a nice window, front USB
&
Firewire, drive rails, front air filter, and plenty of room for modding/airflow. :beer:

Review @ MonkeyReview

Review @ TweakTown

:beer: