which case?

[Davegod]

OK post is a bit long, quick version is "which of these 3 cases - click on links for pics and remember the top one is steel others are Alu"

The Long way, soz but this is like 3x more than I've paid for a case before, but im tired of my crappy one:

Coolermaster ATC-710 £98 inc. shipping, no psu
Reviews/pics @ Mikhailtech; UKGamer; Review Nation; Bit Tech

Main thing about this is its like £90 for basically a steel case that just looks like an Alu (and weighs 13kg), and no reset switch or HDD LED (which I might mod onto one of the floppy drive space covers; when I screw this up I can replace with a USB panel thing or something). The front is meant to be v hard to take off but is needed to clean the inbuilt dust filter.

It does however look good imo and has 2x 80mm intake/HDD and 2x 80mm extractor fans, plus it's huge. Better yet the door covers up my nasty beige cd drives Case inside/structure is good, actually is the cheiftec (below, I think they call themselves Chenming in US) but in steel. Def' the best looking.
Also, silver or Gunmetal? I think I prefer silver.


Thermaltake Xaser II 6000 Plus Aluminum £96 inc shipping, no psu
Reviews/pics @ Overclockercafe; Tweak Town

Its all alu, for low price. Some really useful features like slowing down fans. Looks a tad, er, loud for my tastes - I really hope the windowed door isnt included at Dabs. The drive bay door does cover up the beige though. Inside/structure is the cheiftec in aluminium.


Cheiftec Dragon AX-01SL-D £120 inc. shipping + 340w psu
piccy

All alu, door to hide beigeness, what you cant see is same as other two cases (in alu). Unfortunately the £122 is from Komplett which I've heard a few moans about lately, only other place I can see is over-clock.co.uk for an extra £20 :frown:
Although this case is £20 more than the others, in the end its more like £30-£50 cheaper but with a 340w who-knows PSU rather than a 350w Enermax or 430w Antec True Power. I've a 300w atm which is a touch underpowered and upgrading cpu so 340w would be fine though the Enermax/Antec even better.


TBH what I really want is the ATC-710 but Alu Any other ideas for cases welcome, should be able to guess my price range from those above (and those are above the upper price limit )

 

[455Buick]

Hi Davegod,

Your price range is in pounds and converted to USD is about $150 - $160, I think. So you might want to check out this site for other options in that price range. http://www.big008.com/ I bought my Lian Li case from them and love it. As to your choices: I like the Thermaltake. It's also similiar to Antec cases and I've bought several of them as well (SX-800 and SX-1030) I generally prefer cases without power supplies so I can buy my own for the particular system needs. The link above also has good buys on power supplies and their support is very good.

I hope this helped,

 

[orion7144]

The Chieftech is almost Identical to the Antec. I just bought the CHieftech from Newegg with the window and front USB and I am very happy.

 

[BowlingNut]

you might also wanna check out a kingwin case. their new 436 is getting very popular very fast.
directron sells an exact copy of it for much cheaper than the cases you're looking adirectron 201b
they also sells a version with windows for about 30 extra dollars. this case has great cooling, good looks IMHO, and modability.
its and Al-MG alloy which makes it slightly stronger and tougher than the pure Al cases, yet it retains the lightweight (comparable to a large Al case, but not as much as my current steel POS) and the enhanced heat dissipation.

 

[Davegod]

That Kingwin 436 looks pretty good (nice review at Overclocker Cafe, just lacking the drive bay door. Would probably go for it if I found it signifcantly cheaper than those others; unfortunately I cant find one in UK e-tailers [edit: found some Belgian place that exports them to all europe, waiting on an email but bit dubious about buying outside UK, from a site that isnt exactly professional with "construction" all over it, and shipping probably high /]

Also saw this, but they dont show any internal pics or anything, even though it's their own brand

Could be perfect but just can't tell.

Coolermaster ATC 111 is perfect, at approx twice the price I'd even consider

 

[BowlingNut]

i'm using a case right now (my mom's computer) that is almost identical to that Cylon case. its ok, reasonably quiet, lightweight - though it feels a little flimsy and the inside has quite a few sharp edges. overall not shabby, but not great

that coolermaster is supposedly a very nice case, and it is a very reputable manufacturer. i'd say you cant go wrong with it if you're willing to spend that much money. i guess its a permanent game of stepping stones, but there are some prebuilt watercooling cases around for very close to that price, another avenue to explore

and oh btw, if you feel like contributing to my new case fund (using a big old steel POS) so i can get a kingwin 436, feel free to PM me!!!

 

[Davegod]

I found the Kingwin, they call 'em Super Flower here. at £130 theyre a 1/3 more than the other cases, maybe because only a couple of places have them.

I'm basically still in same situation as before, deciding between those 3 cases; only that I've found Dragon without PSU. Each time I think I'll go with the chieftec I take another look at the 710 and think how ugly the cheiftec is. Then I remember the 710 is steel and others alu, and consider the fan control on the Xasier... If the 710 was all Alu and only £20 or so more it'd be easy.

bah

 

[Davegod]

went for the Coolermaster BTW, arrived yesterday rebuilt into it today

really like the case so easy to build comp in it, feels quality contruction and looks good too imo. Doesnt half weigh a lot though, really heavy with the drives/HSF in there... Only other thing that bugs a bit is the front door, the magnets are a little loose hence the door is a touch loose; wondering if it's going to vibrate when i burn cd's. I just noticed though if i put a floppy in the drive, the floppy button pushes out just nicely to hold the door more tightly so it no longer rattles