Looking for a new case, is there one that can meet my needs?

[LiQiCE]

I currently have an InWin Q500 that is about 5 or 6 years old ... Its served me really well, but I'm looking for something to replace it that will have better cooling (I don't want to dremel out the case to add fans or anything like that). The problem is that I can't find a case that has what I need. Here is what I want:

- Slide out motherboard tray (because I swap motherboards on a somewhat frequent basis)
- At least four 5 1/4" external drive bays (I have a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Burner, and Live Drive inside), five would be nice
- At least four 3.5" internal drive bays, and one external
- Good cooling, (ie. ability to place a decent amount of fans inside for air circulation)
- Would be nice, but not necessary: Front loading USB/Firewire

Could be a mid-tower, could be a full tower, doesn't matter to me. Right now the only case I can find that meets my criteria is the Cooler Master ATC-111C-SX1, but its a $200 case and I think I could probably do better. I dont care about color, beige is just fine. Case windows, and neon lights don't matter to me either but I'm not against different colors and extra features, just given the option I wouldn't choose them. Thanks so much for the help! Hopefully there's something out there that fits my need.

 

[Xentropy]

I'm a big fan of the Lian-Li aluminum cases, so here's linkage to a store with a pretty good selection of them:
Lian-Li cases at Beyond Computer

Prices are very near the best available there, too, and it's a good place to go to look at your available options. "Product details" links take you right to Lian-Li's website. Any of the PC-6xxxx series will do you good, with four external 5.25". Standard no-frills PC-60 is almost half the price of that Cooler Master, and has a couple of front USB ports. Lian-Li's are the easiest cases in the world to work inside of, with thumbscrews *everywhere*, removable drive racks, removable motherboard trays, etc. on basically every single model. Most of the PC-6xxxx's have four fans, two front intake, one back exhaust, one top exhaust, for plenty of circulation, plus the slight (though usually overstated) temp advantage of an aluminum case over steel. Not to mention lightweight, if you ever move the PC around (LANning or anything like that).

Plus, well, they look cool :> Especially the silvers with blue LED strips. But plain Jane silver and black are available to save a little dough.

Functional *and* good looking, whaddayaknow...

Edit: Oh, yeah, Lian-Li's never come with a power supply, but you can either move your old one into the new case or drop $60-$70 on a pretty nice 450W Enlight. I suppose if you need a high-wattage power supply a Lian-Li won't be much cheaper than that Cooler Master if that $200 was including PSU.

 

[LiQiCE]

Thanks, some of them look really sweet, but from the ones I looked at, I couldn't tell if they had the slideout motherboard tray or not?

For example: Link

That case only shows a rough sketch of how the pieces fit together (under specs) and otherwise doesn't say much at all.

I checked some other websites and it sounds like it does have the removable motherboard tray ... Anyone know what these cases look like with beige drives in them? I'd imagine they look sortof odd...

 

[Jhhnn]

The slide-out mobo tray is the killer- hard to come by, virtually a thing of the past. The only one I know of other than some inwins and high end aluminum is this one-

758A

I have yet to use one myself, but it has the right features, and should be hell for stout, with 1.2mm sheet metal.... plain Jane, kinda like your inwin....

If you're willing to forego the mobo drawer, then one of the performance Antecs would serve well, one of my favorites, check out the choices at www.antec-inc.com....

 

[Xentropy]

I agree some of the spec sheets at the Lian-Li site have a bit to be desired, but to be honest, the only Lian-Li tower case I've ever seen without a removable motherboard tray is the PC-50. The full line of PC-3x, PC-6x, and PC-7x cases have motherboard trays. Lian-Li definitely designs with functionality in mind. Reviews all over the net attest to the fact that liberal use of thumbscrews and ubiquitous removable motherboard trays make these cases awesome to work with.

Drives don't look *too* awful with beige bezels in a silver case, but it's generally a very easy project to take off the bezels and use silver (or black, depending on the case color) spraypaint to get your drives to match the case. Various places also sell Lian-Li self-adhesive aluminum silver/black panels you can stick on the front of your drives, though that'll cost you a few bucks per drive, and there may or may not be one to match each of your drives' button/LED layout.

The Live!Drive would be the toughest to get to match, since just a straight spraypaint job will cover the labels. If you decide on a black case model, you can get a black faceplate/buttons in a $20 kit (at least, I've seen them for the Audigy front panel, I'd guess the old Live! ones have a version floating around too), but I have yet to see a silver version of the same. That was actually a factor in my decision to get a black instead of silver case. I liked the look of silver overall better, but wanted my Audigy 2 faceplate to match. Still, could just spraypaint and then use a fine brush to paint new labels, if you need labels at all. Or tape over the labels and use a fine brush to paint silver around the letters.

 

[Lufkin]

There probably isn't much difference b/w the 111C and the ATC-201-SX (SILVER), but it's a little cheaper at around $160 (on mwave.com). It has a removable MB tray, 4 - 5.25" bays, 6 3.5" bays (2 exposed), and two front USB 1.1. ports. I just finished a system with one and it was a pleasure to work with. If it had snap-in drive rails and USB 2.0, I would consider it the perfect case.

 

[LiQiCE]

Anyone have any pics of what these cases would look like with Beige drives in them (preferably a silver one)? Checked a bunch of reviews for Lian-Li cases and none of them had pictures with drives in them. Black would probably be a lot easier for me, but I was hoping I could see if the Silver would still look good with the beige drives in it. (Only one of my 3 CD-ROM drives has a bezel made for it by Lian Li), and the Live Drive only has a black bezel...

 

[PlatinumGold]

Picture of my Lian Li w/ Beige Drives.

 

[LiQiCE]

As I've done more research it looks like all of the Full Tower Lian Li cases don't have a slide-out motherboard tray ... I was psyched about getting all of the extra space too Guess its back to the drawing board, looking at some mid-tower cases now.

 

[PlatinumGold]

LiQice

my Lian Li has a pull out MB Tray, it is a mid size but it has all the things you required.

- Slide out motherboard tray (because I swap motherboards on a somewhat frequent basis)
- At least four 5 1/4" external drive bays (I have a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Burner, and Live Drive inside), five would be nice
- At least four 3.5" internal drive bays, and one external
- Good cooling, (ie. ability to place a decent amount of fans inside for air circulation)
- Would be nice, but not necessary: Front loading USB/Firewire

has front load USB but not firewire.

 

[ChefJoe]

Bah on the slide out motherboard tray. I had one in my old case, but having to disconnect a lot of the inner pieces and wires to get it out, it really didn't save me much time. They also tend to make the case heavier and more prone to vibration IMHO.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Bah on the slide out motherboard tray. I had one in my old case, but having to disconnect a lot of the inner pieces and wires to get it out, it really didn't save me much time. They also tend to make the case heavier and more prone to vibration IMHO.

mb for you, i love the one in my lian li. just disconnect the cables and pull it out.

also because the case and tray are aluminum weight really isn't an issue here.

 

[LiQiCE]

Originally posted by: ChefJoe
Bah on the slide out motherboard tray. I had one in my old case, but having to disconnect a lot of the inner pieces and wires to get it out, it really didn't save me much time. They also tend to make the case heavier and more prone to vibration IMHO.

Usually the reason I want to slide out the motherboard tray is to swap motherboards ... So I'd have to pull all the cables to get it out either way. This way though I can install the new motherboard completely free of the case, get all of my PCI cards in there, and then slide it back in ... I've used it countless times in my InWin Q500 case.

Anyways, I was really set on PC-70 Full Tower, since it has 6 5.25" Bays, and 6 internal 3.5" bays, it would be an upgrade space wise over the InWin Q500 ... Now I might have to lose some space to get what I want, or just go with my original choice the CoolerMaster ATC-101 ($199.99 from PCmods.com though! ouch!)... But it has 5 5.25" bays in a Mid-Tower sized case, and 5 3.5" bays ...

Also been looking at the Lian-Li PC-62 which is cheaper ($129.99), but it has about the same footprint of a full tower in terms of length (590mm L)

The PC-10 which is a beige case but aluminum on the inside looks decent but I couldn't find any reputable dealers selling in stock ... I noticed pcmods.com has really good prices on a lot of the Lian-Li cases right now too.

 

[LazyBastard]

You need to check out the Lian-Li PC-6x cases at NewEgg or Directron. The Lian-Li's with removable motherboard trays also have the coolest thing ever. The normal case connectors (power led, hard drive led, power switch, reset switch) are all connected together into a two-part connector. One part connects to the pins on your motherboard, and then to an all-in-one connector. This picture from Dan's Data's review of the Lian-Li PC60 shows what I'm talking about.

 

[chizow]

Just ordered a Lian Li PC-65B from Essential Computers for $144 shipped. This is my second favorite company next to Newegg now. Same great service, but even better prices (on some stuff). Also got my A7N8X-DLX from right before X-mas when no one else had it in stock.

Chiz

Edit: Actually ended up getting the Lian-Li PC-65 Plus Edition from PCMods for $109.99 + $15 shipping and added 2 80mm window blowholes for only $9.99. Ordered yesterday and it already shipped

 

[Jolt2]

This looks like it would work for you. I was at overclockers.com and looked at a review of this case. It looked good and I was thinking about getting one. It has places for five fans, front I/O ports, slide in tray, etc.. Besure to check out the "Motherboard Tray Slide Out View".

Black alum case

They have a lot of reference links for reviews on this case from other sites. The case is on sale now for $109.00 plus shipping.

 

[chizow]

That's a good deal on that case, CompUSA (although not the cheapest place) sells it for like $220.

Chiz

 

[DX2Player]

I have the windowless version of a Black Kingwin case and it has 6 fans which keeps it very cool. I picked it up at newegg for about $140 and its beautiful case. The thumbscrews on it make opening up the case so easy. If i want to check somethign i can be inside in about 5 seconds without tools. I would highly recoment this case for both its looks and awsome functionality and at decent price. It doesnt have one of those annoying bay doors that serve no purpose either.

Heres a link to an article about one, its silver but I think the black one looks beter but whatever floats your boat
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/Kingwin_KT436/index.htm


Specifications

Suitable Hard Disk Type 1.0" or 1.6" Height, 3.5" HDD

Size: Mid Tower

Material Aluminum Alloy

Dimensions: 500 mm x 210 mm x 460 mm

Drive Bays 4 x 5.25"; ;3 x 3.5"; 6 x 3.5" (Hidden)

Intake Filter

USB x 4 front accessible ports

Firewire x 1 front accessible port

Mic x 1 front accessible port

S/P x 1 front accessible port

Case Fans: Six 80mm Case Fans

High Ventilation

Slide Out Motherboard tray

EDIT: Hh didnt see the link that Jolt2 put up, its the same case just under different name that is the black one i got

 

[erikistired]

i just bought this. no removable tray tho. lots of space and cooling (the fan configuration has changed, better cooling now). it should be here on friday. yay!

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: fisher
i just bought this. no removable tray tho. lots of space and cooling (the fan configuration has changed, better cooling now). it should be here on friday. yay!

Whoa! Nice! and great price too! You can do so much with those cases. I've seen some awesome mods done with those, especially with all the drive bays and the extra room (can enclose extreme cooling systems). Not something you'd bring to a LAN party, but something it'd be hard to grow out of

Chiz

 

[naddicott]

Saw (and worked with) the silver Kingwin KT-436 in person yesterday. Damn that's a nice case! The windows on both sides and the top look great, especially with a cold cathode inside the case adding some ambient light. The top fan has multi-colored lights but we ended up disconnecting it to get rid of the lights (personal tastes). My impression was the beige drives look quite fine against the silver casing, but there's always spraypaint.

The front USB and firewire are trivial to hook up, and connecting the power switch, reset switch, etc. is a breeze with the bundled cable that detaches in the middle so you can attach everything while you still have the motherboard tray outside of the case.

There's a review of the Kingwin on anandtech... here.

That said, from the research I've done the Lian-Li PC 6x series are all great cases too.

 

[LiQiCE]

Wow thanks for all of the suggestions. Some really good choices out there ... Still haven't made a final decision, I may hold off for a month or so to wait for some of those Christmas bills to clear