hey all, Investigating cases.. budget of up to £50 all in. Need a new case, to replace me old suntek beige box... a) either aluminium (looking or actual) or black, brushed or otherwise. b) As simple a facia as possible c) Must have 120mm fan front bottom (for fitting wc rad) d) no "gaming case" stylee, hate em. e) Preferably not plastic facia f) ability to remove the 31/2" hdd drive cage if there is one, to make room for wc stuffs d) window optional - but would need to be v.simple Was thinking of a beantech case, but they only have 80mm front fans. Like the look (but too costly) of the Eclipse, lian li range, silverstones and ATC's even the EZ Cool case (G5 style) looked good but the hdd cage looks like you couldnt remove it without loosing the fdd bit.. any ideas - willing to buy new or go for un-modded second hand too. thoughts?
If you could get an Antec SLK3700AMB, SLK3700BQE or Sonata for that sort of money it should be virtually perfect. The AMB is bronze and uses a standard 3.5" removable mounting cage (seperate to floppy bays) which is different to the other 2 which use a sideways mounting system, still removable though. The other 2 are black with the Sonata sporting a shiny piano style finish. All 3 sport 120mm intake, 120mm exhaust and are nice and relatively plain/classic so not gamer-fanboy in style at all. The biggest bonus to all 3 of these is that they come complete with an Antec PSU, one of the best brands. Most of the latest Antec cases lack the PSU but IIRC aren't much cheaper because of it. Biggest downside is that I think they all use a plastic rather than metal door to cover the external 5.25" bays, although it doesn't look cheap or nasty. There should be plenty of reviews online for these, all are essentially the same with a few little tweaks here and there.
Nip into PC-World and have a look at the JeanTech Phoong, cheapo case but it has 120mm fans front & back and meets your Al-looking plain spec. Google may find a better price, but tbh their web special is good, and you can save delivery with collect at store.
those antecs are fugly as hell in my opionion, but the sonata is better... i dont like the idea of faffing with a door though to access the drives (plus the last pc i had with a door got mamed in a twirly chair + knee incident) cpemma - the phong, hmm.. not bad, although cant remove the hdd cage without removing the fdd bit.. might not need to though if i could squeeze a BIX in the gap... and its from PC world.... the shame of buying a case from them
drunknmunky- first inmpressions its almost a winner... but no clearance after hdd rack removed to get a rad in, and the stealthing looks boogered on the opticals. plus what the feck are those pillar things at the front.. tack city.
Well the Lian Li PC-60plus has 120mm in the front, comes in natural or black aluminum and is "plain".
anywhere cheapy i can get one of those, ie is it in my budget range (ill search too, im not that lazy as for that vento, that case fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. not sure i like the bling factor of the super lan boy.
The Lian-Li PC7H+ is essentially the same as the PC-60+, but less expensive. No removable motherboard tray, but it's got a window and front and rear 120mm fans.
Just upgraded to CM Centurion 530 + 4-in-3 Drive Bay. Excellent cooling with 4 in 3. Concealed drive bays not an issue, pillars are actually useful. good value for money. luck
ok.. so i popped down to PC world (the horror) and had a look at that phong case.. yuk is all i can say. felt flimsy and rattly in my hands (compared to my suntek case i have at the moment) Looks like i will have to up my budget if thats the best for that price !
hey hey.. after about 3 months of faffing around i just ebayed a new case... and im quite surprised i havent seen anyone on this forum with one.. its the big brother of the *eurgh* gaming bomb (which i suppose is one reason people werent bidding on ebay) its the Gaming bomb II aluminium case... black aluminium shown here bjorn3d.com and barrys-rigs-n-reviews.com cant wait for it to arrive (it was £56 inc) in a few days time - does anyone have one of these and can tell me if ive got a piece o poo, or a good bargain?
