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Ideal Computer Case

J

johanh13

Member
Hello you all,

Just trying to get an idea of what is the ideal case for you. Over the years I have seen many cheap cases, none that really impressed me. Moving to the midrange, I have always been impressed with the SuperMicro 733 cases. They are awesome cases with either 350, 450, 465, or 650 watt power supplies. I do not know much about the 465 watt power supply, but the rest do not have modern SATA power connections. Also, they do not have sound ports on the front panel. Because of this, I started searching for another case to use for my personal builds. Recently I have built four systems using the Antec SOLO case, along with PC Power & Cooling power supplies. However, this case has a few shortfalls as well. The major one being that it does not fit full length cards, you will be limited to cards of about 10". The SuperMicro has all full length slots. Some of the benefits of the SOLO are: hard drive fan mounts (2 * 92mm), 120mm rear fan, VERY quiet. I install REXUS fans in the SOLO, 120x38mm rear, and 92x25mm front. The tri-speed fan included with the SOLO is JUNK. I have had 3 of them fail in less than a year and they are loud for how little air they move. The Supermicro 733i-645 has a 120x38mm PWM fan (model: FAN-0077)that can move up to 150 cubit feet of air in a minute! That is what I installed in my latest SOLO (the one with the Intel DX38BT). The motherboard controls the speed of the fan, it works great, and it is quiet too.
To make the Supermicro case perfect, just let me choose my own power supply, remove the floppy (and offer one more hdd bay instead), add sound to the front panel, add a fan mount for the hard drives, keep the same overall dimensions...
 
I designed my own Casitude (tm) scale that will get you in the ball park on PC cases. It's a 5 point scale with one point for each of the following.

1- 120mm fan mount rear, 120 (preferable) or 90mm fan mount front. Deduct a half point for restrictive grillwork.

2- Rubber anti-vibe HDD mounts, easy access drive bays or rack/cage, front to rear orientation is preferred but sidesaddle is acceptable if attention was paid to getting good airflow.

3- Has some ease of use features, toolless etc.

4- Indirect paths for front intake air to help keep the noise inside. Most mesh-front cases lose this point.

5- Decent aesthetics - IOW, doesn't look like a steaming pile...

Starting at around $50. for the Rosewill R5600 or R6A series, some of which get 4.5 to 5 points, it's all up from there. The R5600 series has 11" of card space, but now with the 8800GT, that isn't so important any more. At least I haven't found any for less that score as well. The Antec B Stock store has some SLK3000B (same as R6A inside) and p160 that have high Casitude scores but their shipping is often excessive.

A lot of folks like the new CM 690, but it looses a point for the mesh front.

.bh.
 
1st requirement is quality and looks. I had a really cheap look and feeling Antec Super LANBOY and I grew tired of it within months.

2nd requirement is cooling and interior size. I got the P182 because it satisfied the first, but was too small inside to cool effectively (for crazy air OCs though, perfectly fine for my 3.6GHz clocks). I got a Lian-Li PC-A70b and it's much more spacey inside with 4 intake fans, so cooling is much better. Small interior also makes installation a bitch.

3rd requirement is price. I don't think I'll ever get a case that cost me above 300 if it wasn't special in some way (i.e Mountain Mods, but those cost about 100-300 USD to ship here, so unless I've already bought that Ferrari and yacht..). The Lian-Li and Antec had about-right prices.
 
My requirements for traditional, mid-tower cases.

Must come with 120 MM rear fan and 90 or 120 MM front fan. Must have mounts for additional fans.

Must come with USB/Firewire/Audio/eSata ports and must NOT be near the bottom of the case (Like almost every Lian Li case - why the heck would you put these ports 1CM off the ground?). Preferably the ports are on top.

Some sort of quieting features like rubber grommets for HDs and rubber liners for the PSU.

Must allow discreet cable management. Needs plenty of little holes to wrap zip ties around.

No space alien designs - if the case would look out of place in the office of a Fortune 500 company then it's too flashy for me.

MUST HAVE A RESET BUTTON. Lots of cases are forgoing the reset button these days.

Removable motherboard tray is a plus but not required.

Hard drive cage is a plus but not required.

Must be heavy/sturdy enough not to warp in shipping. Steel frame is required.

Preferably no doors - some doors are ok like on the P18x Antec line. Door must not interfere with function of the case be it air flow or drive/panel access.
 
Most cases don't need extra fans if the front to rear was done correctly.

Some bioses allow you to set the power button (not just the usual two choices) to also operate as reset: short press when power is On is reset, long press (4 sec. +) is power off. But a separate reset button is nice to have. I don't like that they left the reset button off the R5605, an otherwise nearly ideal case. 270 degree opening door.

.bh.
 
Ideal case:

1) Motherboard mount location has minimum 1" clearance on all sides (excluding the I/O port side)

2) use at least 120mm fans with rubber grommet mounting and high flow, easily removable dust filters on all intake fans

3) side loading hard drive bays (like in Lian-Li PC-201 series) with the addition of using rubber posts instead of the metal stand-offs to hold the drive in the slot (or allow suspension mounting of the hard drives)

4) fan configuration with an intake fan directly next to the CPU and an exhaust fan where the PCI-E/graphics card slot it located (thus removing the need to a graphics card that uses a second slot to duct the hot air out the back of the case, the air would be pulled out the side exhaust fan located right there)

5) cable management routes built in the insides of the case behind the location for the motherboard with slots along the top, bottom, and non-I/O side of the motherboard to allow cables to be routed to the other side of motherboard tray, and slots by each external and internal drive bay and power supply. Extra long wires for the case power switch/reset switch/hdd led/power led which can reach the motherboard after being routed thru the cable management and hidden from view

6) room for at least 4 5.25" external drive bays and 1 3.5" external bay

7) sound dampening insulation on all case surfaces where no component will be seated.
 
Face it.....there is no "perfect" case for everyone. Picking out a perfect case for your own use involves a lot of research. First in my list.....can I find the thing for sale somewhere that I trust, at a reasonable price?

After that.....depends, depends on what you consider most important, and the components you intend to stuff into the thing. I prefer a case w/o a PSU. Very few cases come with an acceptable PSU (to me). After that......I want quality, with the ability to make the thing run quietly, with acceptable temperatures. Frankly, there is no case I have ever seen that I could use as it comes, without modification.
 
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