is it just me, or do cases suck nowdays?

[bruceb]

If I was looking for a case I would want, in addition to good cooling:

Full size mobo area
2 or 3 cd mounting areas
1 floppy mounting area
room for 4 or 6 hard drives (for expansion)
USB & Firewire, Game Port, Headset jacks on the front or a place to mount my own

 

[Red Squirrel]

Full size mobo area is another tough one. Most of the cases I've seen leave JUST enough room to put a full size mobo, so if you want to put in a large bay fixture (such as a HDD drive tray) then you have to shave off some plastic as the motherboard capacitors and resistors get in the way. Add 2 inches of room, which adds $200 to the price of the case.

Think once I have my own house I'll start building my own cases, probably out of wood as its easier. Wood would probably muff noise a bit too. Downside is that its not grounded as well, and would tend to insulate heat inside, but with proper air flow sure this would not be an issue. With the right tools and practice one could make a pretty awesome case methinks. Custom wood rackmount case FTW. I'm so gonna try that one day. I don't have room here to build stuff like that though, would need a garage or something. Who says cases have to be all the same shape too? Could so come up with insane designs.

 

[Zepper]

bruceb,

The Rocketfish by Lian Li has all that plus low price right now - check your local BestBuy stores by phone for the good price (under $50 for a full tower aluminum case).

.bh.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Best way to get extra room is to bump up to an EATX case but, that adds quite a bit of $$ to the case. Honestly, even mid-towers can be easy to work in if they're well designed and things go into the case in the right order.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Best way to get extra room is to bump up to an EATX case but, that adds quite a bit of $$ to the case. Honestly, even mid-towers can be easy to work in if they're well designed and things go into the case in the right order.

The biggest disadvantage is lack of depth. My 3870X2 and SAS card barely fit with the mobile racks in an 830! With a standard depth chassis they would never fit. (the long cards such as the 9800GX2, 3870X2, and workstation cards are too long on their own. Standard chassis' which have their lower front areas occupied with fixed 3.5" bays definitely are out with those cards.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Best way to get extra room is to bump up to an EATX case but, that adds quite a bit of $$ to the case. Honestly, even mid-towers can be easy to work in if they're well designed and things go into the case in the right order.

The biggest disadvantage is lack of depth. My 3870X2 and SAS card barely fit with the mobile racks in an 830! With a standard depth chassis they would never fit. (the long cards such as the 9800GX2, 3870X2, and workstation cards are too long on their own. Standard chassis' which have their lower front areas occupied with fixed 3.5" bays definitely are out with those cards.

Quite true. I've never really intentionally made it a criteria that the front lower area be clear or strictly have removable cages but, it seems all the cases I've really like have been that way none the less. Both of the two cases I've used pretty regularly are standard ATX, one a mid tower and the other an HTPC and I'd wager I could fit a 12" long card either. Not that I've much interest in trying.

 

[bruceb]

Zepper ... that is very interesting, but I am not in the market
for the moment. I was simply voicing an opinion of what I
would expect a decent case to have. However, I do have a
Best Buy in the area and will take a look at it.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Lian Li is known for making decent cases, anyone know of a Canadian online store that sells a lot of them? I'm just curious for next time I need a case. Even debating replacing my swish cheese case if I upgrade my server. I just have a whole bunch of totally randomly placed custom fan holes, its the loudest and ugliest thing.

Those drive cages sound interesting too. 5 drives in a 3 bay area.

nono, antec makes decent cases. LL makes high quality cases.


hows the rocketfish aluminum case quality compared to LL's, are they =? i'm in the market for a full tower case

 

[Zepper]

Hey Louiss...

L-L sometimes gets it right, but lots of times their cases have beautifully executed stupidities of design in them. Not having had a L-L here before, but having three RFs (for now), I'd say it would be nearly as good. There are a few cut corners to meet Best Buy's price point (like the cheap, hard plastic feet and some pop rivets instead of screws). There are at least two threads in C&C and one in Hot Deals on the RF. Tons of info there.
. I have at least one for sale in case you can't find a better deal elsewhere. In my FS/T thread linked below.

.bh.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Hey Louiss...

L-L sometimes gets it right, but lots of times their cases have beautifully executed stupidities of design in them. Not having had a L-L here before, but having three RFs (for now), I'd say it would be nearly as good. There are a few cut corners to meet Best Buy's price point (like the cheap, hard plastic feet and some pop rivets instead of screws). There are at least two threads in C&C and one in Hot Deals on the RF. Tons of info there.
. I have at least one for sale in case you can't find a better deal elsewhere. In my FS/T thread linked below.

.bh.

i dont think a case design can be stupid. there are functions for each case for every user, the design might not fit your needs, but may very well work with anyone else. for example, cases with upside down motherboards.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Lian Li is known for making decent cases, anyone know of a Canadian online store that sells a lot of them? I'm just curious for next time I need a case. Even debating replacing my swish cheese case if I upgrade my server. I just have a whole bunch of totally randomly placed custom fan holes, its the loudest and ugliest thing.

Those drive cages sound interesting too. 5 drives in a 3 bay area.

nono, antec makes decent cases. LL makes high quality cases.


hows the rocketfish aluminum case quality compared to LL's, are they =? i'm in the market for a full tower case

The rocketfish is lower quality than your standard lian li case. It's really subtle the difference though, and I think a lot of it may not be the assembly, but the shitty packaging (Best Buy employees are not kind to HUGE boxes, trust me).

Bottom of the case had a few scratches, the side panels have about a 1mm gap between the top piece towards front of the case. The side panels are a bit too thin I think too.

Things like that though you really only notice when putting it together, not when it's sitting next to you on your desk.

For the price, the quality cannot be beat, but I would not pay $200 for it.

 

[Zepper]

For the life of me I cannot think of any rational need for an inverted ATX case, but I'll grant that there might be one. But back to front air flow?.. And on the RF, the HDD cage placement one behind the other such that the rear one gets little air. There are plenty of other examples of things in their cases that just don't make any functional sense. Luckily the Rocketfish is little afflicted by them and the few there are, aren't too difficult to remedy.

.bh.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: Zepper
For the life of me I cannot think of any rational need for an inverted ATX case, but I'll grant that there might be one. But back to front air flow?.. And on the RF, the HDD cage placement one behind the other such that the rear one gets little air. There are plenty of other examples of things in their cases that just don't make any functional sense. Luckily the Rocketfish is little afflicted by them and the few there are, aren't too difficult to remedy.

.bh.

I thought it had started so cases could be both ATX and BTX compatible with little to no modification needed. I guess since it was associated with BTX, people thought it would cool better so case manufactures continued to make them even after BTW died off.

 

[mercanyin]

http://www.directcanada.com for Lian Li cases in Canada. Cheaper, and more selection than NCIX. http://www.coolerguys.com/lianli1.html#top for the accessories... but I'm pretty sure it's in the US.

I'm also in the market for a case, something cool and quiet, but allowing aftermarket cooler (Arctic Freezer Pro 7) and possibly OC down the road. Considering the A10, A17, B25B, and V1000 PLUS2, I even considered the Armorsuit lol... Also looking at Silverstone TJ07 and 09, Antec P182 and 900. Decisions!!! =/

Cheers,

-Merc

 

[Zepper]

I'm guessing you're in Canada so the Rocketfish is out of the running. Can hardly get more case for the money.

.bh.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow direct canada is worth looking at... rackmount case for a tad over 100 bucks... in the future once I have my own house I want to move to having most of my stuff rackmountable to save space, so its good to know I can actually get affordable rack mountable cases. Most of the ones I see are over 1 grand, its insane.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

the upside down MB is to keep the hot component (GPU) on top of the CPU. These days, high end GPU's run hotter (up to 100C) than high end CPU's (up to 72C.) since heat rises, its better to let the hot air from the gpu be on top.

 

[Banzai042]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
the upside down MB is to keep the hot component (GPU) on top of the CPU. These days, high end GPU's run hotter (up to 100C) than high end CPU's (up to 72C.) since heat rises, its better to let the hot air from the gpu be on top.

That could be a valid reason, though I still don't see any logic behind having intakes on the front and back of a comp and exhaust on the top and side.

 

[piasabird]

Maybe one of those server rack cases 3X or 4X that lets you hang the hard drives perpendicular might be a good idea.

Here is a Cube Server Case. Rock on Baby.

http://www.directron.com/yy0221bk.html

Lian Li has some full size Aluminum EATX cases with the ability to use 2 power supplies. Cooler master has a wide range of their Stacker cases. That use the 4-in-3 modules or something like that.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

That thing would take a little modifying to get just right but, I like it! A little smaller than most of YY cubes but, still got tons of space. Just cut in some 120mm fans in the front and rig some exhausting fans on the top/bottom(doesn't look like there's much room on the back) and you're set.