The first mid tower ATX case review from Anandtech in four months is up!

[UsandThem]

Link

I needed a new case and after reading this (along with some other reviews) I went with the Raidmax X1.

$50.00 case holds it own against the Antec that so many here seem to love.

 

[AU Tiger]

Good review. I can't get past the looks of the X1. That bi-color door is a deal killer for me.

 

[Sir Jman]

eh looks like junk

 

[Zepper]

Here are my remarks re. the X1 posted at the review:

Why was the front fan mount on the X1 ignored in the review. Looks like it can hold a 120mm there too. Personally I'd mount the front and rear fans and block off the side fan (unless I was going to duct directly to the CPU) and any other large area of ventilation holes like those at the back. Looks (from the limited view in the one picture - should have taken the front bezel off and taken a shot of the naked front so we could see what's there for ourselves) like the front fan grille is very restrictive and would need to be cut out for best cooling. No real technical-level user or reviewer would have missed that.

For the fellow in Australia looking for Raidmax, those cases are sold here under several names like Fudin and Logisys as well as Raidmax. I suppose that anyone that wants to can import them from Korea (I believe) and sell them under their own brand name. Another little item that any reviewer with any level of perspective on the PC market would know...

One would hope to get better than superficial, FANBOY-style reviews from AT. <rolleyes>

.bh.

Another question I have is why is there a Mad Dog PSU in there? That is one of CompUSA's in-house packagers. Raidmax usually uses L&C-type bottom-feeding junkboxes... .bh. OIC, the X1 can be had with or w/o PSU. The OE PSU is a junky old design with only 14A on the +12, so now we know the why of the Mad Dog... .bh.

 

[UsandThem]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Here are my remarks re. the X1 posted at the review:

Why was the front fan mount on the X1 ignored in the review. Looks like it can hold a 120mm there too. Personally I'd mount the front and rear fans and block off the side fan (unless I was going to duct directly to the CPU) and any other large area of ventilation holes like those at the back. Looks (from the limited view in the one picture - should have taken the front bezel off and taken a shot of the naked front so we could see what's there for ourselves) like the front fan grille is very restrictive and would need to be cut out for best cooling. No real technical-level user or reviewer would have missed that.

For the fellow in Australia looking for Raidmax, those cases are sold here under several names like Fudin and Logisys as well as Raidmax. I suppose that anyone that wants to can import them from Korea (I believe) and sell them under their own brand name. Another little item that any reviewer with any level of perspective on the PC market would know...

One would hope to get better than superficial, FANBOY-style reviews from AT. <rolleyes>

.bh.

Another question I have is why is there a Mad Dog PSU in there? That is one of CompUSA's in-house packagers. Raidmax usually uses L&C-type bottom-feeding junkboxes... .bh.

I thought the same thing when I seen the Mad Dog in there.

I agree with you 100% on the review. It did feel rushed and I had to go to a few additional sites to read other reviews on the case before I bought it.

I really miss the reviews they used to do. Now there is so much time between them and many seem to be rushed.

 

[Zap]

Part of buying a case is the way it looks. The Raidmax looks too "gamer" for this old gamer. I like my cases to look better than boring beige, but I don't need to compete with 14 year old boy gamers. I like my cases to look sharp yet classy.

Personal preference - I don't like superfluous side and top blowhole fans.

I like filters.

I like side windows (not any X or alien shape, just a window, thanks).

I don't want a PSU with the case.

I like dampened HDD mounts.

The Antec P150 comes close to what I like. Ditch the PSU (which I've heard has some QC issues), give it a pleasant side window and make it under $100 shipped and I'll come looking for one personally.

 

[Wentelteefje]

Hmm... Still like the SLK3000-B more...

 

[RallyMaster]

The reviews I've read on the Internet have all said the Raidmax's PSU sucks so I got myself a Cooler Master PSU instead. The X-1 is actually a good case, but I've also had a bit of trouble with the fan status being displayed on the LED panel. I've replaced all the fans that originally came with the case with Cooler Master Silent LED fans and now it cools a bit better. Now I just need to get my GPU and CPU cooling.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Wentelteefje
Hmm... Still like the SLK3000-B more...

I don't like doors over the drive bays. Now, an SLK3000B just the way it is... plus a side window and no door (perhaps with stealth bay covers) would ROCK! That would be a $60 case that I would be happy owning.

 

[Zepper]

Hey Zap,

Then the Compucase 6A19 as modded per http://www.coolcases.com should be your cuppa then...

.bh.

 

[Zap]

I already have one (modded myself) for my main rig. Some geek pr0n for Zepper, a nakid case. Really, my only mod is cutting out the atrocious rear fan grill. Got an orange Yate Loon fan in there, Antec Truepower II 480W, Scythe Ninja heatsink, Evercool dual heatpipe passive cooler on my 16 pipe modded X800GTO and even have little heatsinks mounted on the hard drive. The computer is actually running at the time but I guess the shutter was fast enough to catch the fans (including chipset fan) w/o blurring. I didn't clean up cabling too much like in my gaming rig because there's no case window, but the cabling is bundled together and out of airflow.

 

[Zepper]

Hey Zap,
. That made me grab my tool(s)...

Here's my fan mod to my Zippy that should really "blow" you away..

fan mod - It's double-decoupled... :shocked:

.bh.

 

[Zap]

Is that a 92mm fan with an adaptor? Nice.