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Looking for a sleek, sexy gamer case.

S

Sharkie13

Junior Member
I'm going to be doing my first build, and with such a plethora of cases it's hard to choose what I want. And I happen to be a picky person. Anybody know of a good case that would include as many of the following as possible?

-Like I said, sleek, sexy, and not too in-your-face
-I do however want a side window with blue led fans
-60 to 75 dollar price range
-Black and silver
-If it does have a door, I would like only the top part to open, I feel it looks bad when the entire front section of your case is on a hinge.
-As much tool-less design as possible
-Not a gigantic footprint
-LCD screen/fan controller is a huge plus but I can always get a bay drive one
-I would prefer that the power button is not concealed by a door.
-I would like the ports and power button to be closer to the bottom of the case as it will be put on a desk, so I don't want to have to stand to plug something into a usb port at the tippy top of my case (I've seen cases that have this)

It's a bit of a mouthful but most cases fall into the majority of these categories anyway.
 
Mmmm. That's kind of a lot of specifics, imo, and, not to be rude, but I'd tend to tell you to just go nit-pick your way through neweggs search engine at this point and see what jumps out at you. I think that's likely to be the most efficient way for you to find the case to fit all your criteria.

I'd also chime in that, at some point, you're going to see some tradeoffs between windows/usb and button placements, etc, and older cases vs newer cases in terms of cooling and sound technology.

In general, I tend to recommend the Coolermaster Centurion 590/690 as a general work-horse gaming case. The 690 comes with blue led fans, but no side window. IMO, it has enough of a "presence" without it, and great airflow possiblities. The Antec 900 might fit your needs, but is too high for your budget and has it's usb connections on the top. Both cases do better on a desk than on the floor, but I don't think the Centurion has a side window. The old Soprano cases might work for you, from...Thermaltake, I think?

Like I said, I'd just go to newegg, put in your pricerange, and see what comes up. Try cross-referencing by "top sellers", things like that. Remember to double-check the egg for lowest prices, though, especially on cases/psus.

~Semi
 
I have the CM590 as my desktop rig. It fails the OP's criteria on many counts:

- no side window
- all black, no silver
- technically tool-less, but unless you want things rattling around, you need screws anyway
- no built-in LCDs or fan controllers
- the ports and power button are all at the very top of the case

Personally, I think it's a great case, especially for airflow, but it doesn't really meet the OP's requirements at all, beside the price tag and the non-giant footprint.
 
Yeah, a Xigmatek is probably going to be tight in that. I can fit the Xigmatek S1283 in my 590, but with less than 1/2 a cm to spare before the tips of the pipes hit the side panel. You'd have to check the specs, but I think that TT case is going to be slightly less wide than the 590. But then again, the 590 has that storage area behind the motherboard tray that accounts for some of the additional width, so who knows.
 
Originally posted by: chuckm
The power and ports are at the top of this one, but you may like it. I was going with it, but I don't think it'll be wide enough for the Xigmatek cooler.
http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0279208
Click to expand...

9 5.25" bays and no external 3.5" bays? I'll pass :/

Also yeah you can be loose on the criteria. If there's a sexy black-only case that's fine, stuff like that.

Something that seems to have caught my eye is the NZXT Trinity case here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...015&Tpk=trinity%2bcase

Anybody have any experience with this one or know of anything similar? It's a bit more than I would like to spend, but it comes with a PSU so i can always sell that on E-bay and replace it with a better one.
 
It's not a bad-looking case, but the cooling is kind of meh. There's only one 120mm fan mount, the one on the back. The only other fan mounts are two 80mm ones, which are quite small these days.
 
Actually there's two 120mm fan mounts, one front, one back, and one 80mm, which is on the side. And if I need to, I'll get a bay drive fan or vga fan or something.

Unless anybody has any other suggestions, that will probably be the one I'll be going with.
 
Looks like you got your case!

Never heard of em, give us a little review when it comes in. The plastic front concerns me, a bit.

~Semi
 
Originally posted by: Sharkie13
I'm going to be doing my first build, and with such a plethora of cases it's hard to choose what I want. And I happen to be a picky person. Anybody know of a good case that would include as many of the following as possible?

-Like I said, sleek, sexy, and not too in-your-face
-I do however want a side window with blue led fans
-60 to 75 dollar price range
-Black and silver
-If it does have a door, I would like only the top part to open, I feel it looks bad when the entire front section of your case is on a hinge.
-As much tool-less design as possible
-Not a gigantic footprint
-LCD screen/fan controller is a huge plus but I can always get a bay drive one
-I would prefer that the power button is not concealed by a door.
-I would like the ports and power button to be closer to the bottom of the case as it will be put on a desk, so I don't want to have to stand to plug something into a usb port at the tippy top of my case (I've seen cases that have this)

It's a bit of a mouthful but most cases fall into the majority of these categories anyway.
Click to expand...

NZXT Zero meets most of these requirements.

Doesn't meet:
Price - its more like $150
Side panel window - its a mesh panel with 4 fans attached but you can still see into the case.
lcd/fan controller - doesn't come with one but if you purchase on use the top 5.25 drive bay so you can see the screen through the smoked window on the door. Also font of the case has blue led's in the front of the case.
footprint - i don't know what you mean.

I actually on the case and very pleased with it, much better than my last case. The only real complaint I have about it it the top 80mm fan; you have to take it off to install your power supply.
 
Ehh...the fact that its twice the price and doesn't really have a true window isn't great. Also it's a full tower, which is overkill for me.

Another case I've been looking at is the NZXT Alpha (So I guess we've confirmed they make sleek sexy cases). It's cool because it managed to come off as sleek without a door, and it also has eSATA on the case which you don't see often. The bad about the Alpha is that it doesn't have internal cable restraints (for tidiness) and lacks a temp lcd, oh well. So it's pretty much between the Trinity and the Alpha.
 
I would choose the alpha case then as it's going to be quieter than trinity due it using 120mm fans rather than 80mm however it can fit up to 3 120mm fans, they only include 1.

nother case I've been looking at is the NZXT Alpha (So I guess we've confirmed they make sleek sexy cases).
Click to expand...
Lol, it's more less because NZXT seems to make sturdy cases as apposed to other options in their market. I wouldn't touch their psu's though.
 
All of the NZXT Apollo cases are on sale today with rebate - the black one is only $50. after rebate + shipping - no PSU but then you could buy one of my Earthwatts EA-380s - linked below.... 😉 All have 5-star buyer ratings.

.bh.
 
You guys all have it wrong 🙂 i did sum shopping recently, and for the price range you are looking at, maybe a bit beloew, you get yourself the Aerocool Masstige A ( Gaming Case )
2 x 12cm fans on the sidepanel(seethru), 1 x 12cm possibly more if you get the bracket on the front( which is mesh and get good air flow) and 2 x 8cm or 1 x 12cm on the back 🙂
Its got a sexy design like the Thermaltake armour but obviously not anywhere near that league, take a look at it, you might like it, as i have bought one and never looked back, but dont expect it to be the best material(metal)...
Hope i can help you out
 
I built an SLI system with CM690 to a great satisfaction. I ended up purchasing another one to house my X48 rig. With a modular PSU, cable management is excellent and for the most part you don't need a screw driver to change HDDs or any expansion card. Only thing against your criteria is that USB/eSATA/audio ports are on the top side of the case. (But the power/reset buttons are towards the bottom)

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=37&threadid=2158699
 
Super LanBoy is no longer in production - hard to find them any more. Hard to find Masstige any more but the Egg has the Coolview version at a good price, but it's big and heavy so shipping is high (I've got a Coolview for sale if you want one. And the Masstige is a bit high for the OP at $95. and up.

.bh.
 
Oooh, the Egg has a good rebate on the Enermax Chakras going too (good for two more days). I always wanted to play with a case with a 250mm fan... 😉 Double Ooooh, the Phoenix has an even better deal on it... Some other Enermaxen on not so big of a rebate as well.

.bh.
 
I really hate the Chakra's look. It just looks so weird...

I would recommend the Cooler Master Centurion 590 (I have one) and removing the LEDs or replacing them with lower output ones. The blue ones currently light up the whole room + hallwy and literally guide me around my house when all the other lights are turned off.
 
I know a lot of cases are based on that chassis but the Centurion doesn't have the weird extrusions and strange colors.
 
I don't know where those shapes come from but the blue anodizing looks kind of nice in person. There was a blue Stacker too.

.bh.


 
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