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How long before a case becomes obsolete?

A

Alex C

Senior member
I was wondering what the average usable lifespan of a decent case is. And by usable, I mean with modern hardware, new MB's, GPU's etc. I was planning on getting an Antec Sonata III for my build, but it looks like I might have some trouble cooling it so I was looking at some other options. The Antec P182 looks nice, but it's $60 more(with the same 500W PSU bundle on newegg+shipping). I dont want to get the Sonata and be wishing I got the P182, and find I need to get a new case for my next build. I'd feel justified in spending a little extra to get a nice case if I could reuse it for my next couple builds, especially since the more reusable parts I have the cheaper it'll be for me in the long run. How many years of use should I expect to get out of a case (the P182 in particular)? It'll be a few years before I upgrade again, and another few before I need another, will the case be obsolete by then? Thanks guys.
 
You can get as many years as you want. I bought a cheap, budget case back in 2004 and it's still working perfectly. As long as it's ATX, doesn't have any major flaws, and can handle a larger graphics card, you're fine.

You can get a $40 Centurion case and be completely happy with it, or buy a 182 and still not be satisfied.

In the end, if both cases have similar fan setups, the difference in noise and temperature will be negligible, even between a budget and high end case.
 
If you a willing to do minor mods like open fan mounts and cut new ones, they can last indefinitely. I've got a nearly 10 year old Enlight that can still handle a decent system. It won't be the optimum in noise and thermal performance but it'll do the job.

.bh.
 
Alright, now I just need to decide if it's worth it. The shipping is what's killing me right now. How does newegg work their shipping? Do you get charged just for the highest shipping cost of all the items you order, do they get combined, or do they calculate it another way?
 
It all adds up on the shipping @ newegg. If you're ordering several things, you might check out Directron.com. Their prices are sometimes more than newegg, but sometimes I save with them because they charge you for shipping based on weight rather than fixed cost shipping like newegg.
 
Well, you can work up an order and see what the total shipping is without committing to buy. It is unfortunate that they don't make use of all that empty space inside a case when it comes to shipping. As Rike says shop your order around, check the price search engines like Froogle, PriceGrabber, etc. It might be worth it to buy your case from the Egg and the rest of the stuff from perhaps SVC or jab-tech or Directron for the lower total bottom line. Except for house brands like Rosewill, you can usually do better on cases from other places than the Egg (if the Egg has free shipping on your item, then it may come out ahead, but I've seen that they adjust the case price upwards when they offer free ship... Provantage often has much better prices on Antec cases, for example. Amazon sometimes does too on popular brands/models and slow-boat shipping is free on most orders over $25.00 . I don't much care for buy.com or Tiger Direct, but it might be worth checking there too.

.bh.
 
I'm not sure how they do shipping at Newegg, but it's definitely not straight addition.

I ordered about 10 items from them a few weeks ago and the total of all the individual shippings would have been ~40-50, but I was only charged 18. Everything came in 2 boxes. On the other hand, for some reason when I tried adding speakers, the entire cost of the speaker shipping was added (so I didn't order them).

I think they have some sort of algorithm but I couldn't find information on it anywhere. Just try it and see what they'll charge--it might be more reasonable than you'd expect.
 
Here's my 2 cents, 2 years ago I bought a crappy case with a crappy PSU. It was flimsy, in the end it simply sucked. I went looking for a new case, and there it was, the sleek looking P182, with a pretty well thought out layout, good cooling, and since it's in my bedroom, also pretty darn quiet! Then again, I'm a poor student, spending 110 euro's on your case when your CPU was only 100 euro's is insane, right? Well, no, because I'm still very happy with my case, it looks awesome and I do foresee myself reusing it in my next build, and probably the one after that. So it might SEEM expensive, because of it's longevity it actually isn't all that expensive, but more an investment.

Of course, there are SOME cases that aren't as costly as a p182 that can still make people happy. But if you want sleek looking, good cooling yet very quiet, you shouldn't look further then the p182. Perhaps a cosmos ain't bad either, or some lian-li's but those are even more expensive.
 
Unless there's some revolutionary new form coming in, I can't see why cases shouldn't last pretty much forever.

I have a Centurion 5, which by my standards was a bit noisy in stock form, and with some extremely easy to do mods (none of which required tearing apart the case or something) is now the most silent computer I've ever heard: Suspended hard drive + 120 mm fan in front at 6V, extra 92mm HDD fan at 6V, 120mm exhaust at 5V. Total cost can't be more than $10. The temps are phenomenal, plus it's got enough room for a moderately sized system inside and even a Voodoo 5 would fit in.

MarcVenice hit a pretty good point: "So it might SEEM expensive, because of it's longevity it actually isn't all that expensive, but more an investment".

That's right, too. It's like a good sound card, good speakers, a good monitor, etc. You just don't upgrade it as often.
 
well unless your running an OG AT case, you know the ones that had a switch for the PSU, i dont think a case can ever become obsolete.

Basically its more your taste in the case thats gets outdated, and not the case itself.
 
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