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Reviews for PC ATX Cases?

Posted by Cliff on from the have-at-it dept.

Jason asks: "Well, I am stumped. While there are hundreds of sites for PC case modding -- water cooling, titanium-alloy, pyramids, etc -- there appears to be no sites I can find dedicated to simply reviewing ATX cases. Case manufacturing seems to have come a long way, with many successful vendors (and imitators). Tom's Hardware, Anandtech, et al, might cover an especially significant case here or there -- but where is a general source of information for Luan-Li, Antec, Superflower, Enermax, CaseTek, Inwin, Cooler Master. Geez! They all have their varying price points and obvious style lineations... where can a geek go to get some comprehensive info?" If no specific site has such information, feel free to use this space to make your own reviews of ATX cases. What sites are the best for finding information and/or reviews on the latest PC cases?

53 comments

  1. Dan's Data has a lot of good case reviews by questionlp · · Score: 4, Informative
    Although the site has a lot of great reviews, including a case reviews. A list of the reviews can be found at:

    http://dansdata.com/altindex.html

  2. google says: by illuvata · · Score: 2, Informative

    this site seems to have user reviews, althoug all the images seem to be broken for me

    pc some more

  3. Here is an article by Loualbano2 · · Score: 4, Informative



    I know that people here seem to hate Tom's Hardware, but this is a
    pretty good article:

    http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20030428/index. html

    -ft

  4. get over it by gmhowell · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Get over it. Go find some cheapass case. Almost all of them have nice rolled edges these days. SAve the money for more RAM, a good power supply, better motherboard, etc. It's a case. All of those little addons are typically pointless masturbation. Do you really need that many fans? Does it matter how easy it is to swap a motherboard? How often is that going to happen? Again, if you spend some money on motherboard, far less often than with your gee-whiz case.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    1. Re:get over it by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      I agree, evercase from newegg are cheap, come with OK power supplies, have nice edges, the cards fit right, the cases are screwless, and it has a bracket in the bottom to hold up to two more hard disks.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:get over it by hawkbug · · Score: 4, Informative

      I disagree with you here - a case is very important. With cpus running hotter and hotter everyday, cooling becomes my main concern when building a system these days. I prefer a case that has good airflow - the number of fans isn't important to me, but the design of the case is. For example, I like to be able to see the inside of a case before I buy it, and that includes online. So, if I can't find a good review with good pics, I won't buy. I need to know that the air will flow from the front of the case to a fans in the back. I HATE cases that have fans on the sides or top - it's idiotic to have fans that fight each other, which reduces over all airflow.

    3. Re:get over it by ralphclark · · Score: 1

      That was a little harsh, gmhowell. I agree that neon lights etc. are an affectation, but some people like that sort of thing. And as for well-designed cases with plenty of room, slide-out mb trays, good cable routing, thumbscrews and the like - these features are useful to those of us who do a fair amount of upgrading. I often have to do component testing and this sort of case saves me a lot of fiddle-arsing about.

    4. Re:get over it by gmhowell · · Score: 1

      Read my journal. That comment wasn't harsh for me. I wield a heavy cluestick, and I wield it without thought or subtlety. If I can prevent one more cold cathode tube in a case, or coffee can muffler tip, I've done a day's work.

      FWIW, I did look for a nearly screwless case on my last machine. I look for that kind of jazz for drives, as those are the only components I regularly replace.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    5. Re:get over it by ralphclark · · Score: 1
      I wield a heavy cluestick, and I wield it without thought or subtlety.

      The language you used before was a little too coarse to be justifiable by that sort of argument, particularly when used without provocation. I mean, I regularly behave like a bit of an asshole, but what you said was a bit over the top even by my poor standards.

      Maybe you should ask yourself this: What is the point in possessing social skills if you don't use them? For that matter, how is anyone supposed to know whether you actually have any?

    6. Re:get over it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      STFU, Karmawhore.

    7. Re:get over it by ralphclark · · Score: 1

      Make me, coward.

    8. Re:get over it by Telastyn · · Score: 1

      One thing I noticed after trying out a few cases after my machine got crashy after one particularly hot day...

      Aluminum cases are good. Very good even. Very light, and they dissipate heat tons better than 'normal' cases.

      [and of course good airflow is important to dissipation as well]

    9. Re:get over it by nil_null · · Score: 2, Informative

      Get over it. Go find some cheapass case. Almost all of them have nice rolled edges these days. SAve the money for more RAM, a good power supply, better motherboard, etc. It's a case.

      Depends on what you consider a cheap case. I'm assuming you're talking $30-50, in which case I would disagree. I usually spend around $80-120 for a case. The last three cases I've bought were all Antec (SX830, SX635, SX1040). All three cases use basically the same design with a few differences here and there. The side doors swing open easilly. The mounting mechanism for the 5.25" drives allows for sliding them out easilly with a screwdriver. The 3.5" drive bay can be removed with a screwdriver. The power supplies are good quality. Plenty of space in the bigger cases, and fans can be swapped in and out without tools. Very easy to work on, though no mobo tray. Since all 3 cases are similar, swapping parts in and out between the three is easy.

      Do you really need that many fans?

      Cooling is important, yes. One advantage of having a lot of fans, is you can use many quiet fans, and have a lot of airflow with less noise.

      Does it matter how easy it is to swap a motherboard?

      None of my cases have a motherboard tray. I've swapped motherboards a few times, and it is a pain, and I always wished that I had a motherboard tray.

      Again, if you spend some money on motherboard, far less often than with your gee-whiz case.

      Most of my cases cost about the same as the motherboard I put in them. I think this a very important place to spend money, especially if you swap parts around a lot and do a lot of upgrades. You don't have to spend $300 on one, but don't totally cheap out either. Same goes for fans and heatsink; you're going to have to listen to the noise they produce, so buy accordingly. Most of these components can be reused and don't become obsolete as easilly as the actual PC components.

  5. did you try STFW? by more+fool+you · · Score: 1

    http://www.google.com/search?q=%22pc%20case%22%20r eview&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=u tf-8&oe=utf-8

  6. Arstechnica.com by moonboy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Check out Arstechnica.com.
    They have a nice page devoted to cases and cooling.

    --

    Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
  7. NewEgg! by galaxy300 · · Score: 2, Informative

    While they may not be the most in-depth reviews, NewEgg.com has Amazon.com style forums for each of the cases they sell. I took to the forums and found a case that seemed to be well liked -- it's now sitting in my office and I love it!

    --
    seriouslyexcited.net
    1. Re:NewEgg! by Wonko42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While I love NewEgg.com, and while they've never given me any reason to suspect anything, you should be aware that their user feedback policy clearly states that they don't consider the user forums a place for product reviews, and that they reserve the right to remove negative reviews without notice or justification. I'd be sure to check other sites to make sure that the user reviews that made it to NewEgg.com aren't just the good ones.

    2. Re:NewEgg! by slaker · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've written pretty negative reviews on newegg. I spend about $3000 a month there and handle lots of PC hardware (it's my hobby: I build PCs and sell 'em).

      Anyway, yes, I've written negative reviews. The worst thing that's happened to anything I wrote is that an editor seems to have removed phrases like "crap" and "needs to be beaten down with a stack of 75GXPs" (that whole phrase, BTW, was replaced with Xs).

      As far as cases go, I'm partial to Compucase. I like the HEC PSUs, lack of crappy drive rails and the good airflow. They're roomy, too.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
    3. Re:NewEgg! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      (it's my hobby: I build PCs and sell 'em).
      That's not a hobby - that's a secondary income ...
    4. Re:NewEgg! by Spamlent+Green · · Score: 1

      I'll second (or third) the NewEgg User Reviews. I found enough semi-objective info to base my purchases on. It's easy enough to filter through the "MSI Rocks -- buy this MB today! THNX NEWEGG!!!" garbage reviews and find the useful stuff. There seem to be numerous repeat customers, so I'd say the info base is pretty experienced.

      Another poster above cautions that negative reviews could be removed, but I've always found enough clusters of them scattered through to be satisified that there's not too much censoring going on.

    5. Re:NewEgg! by slaker · · Score: 1

      Not the way I do it. Usually if I'm selling locally I just round up my costs to the nearest $10. Whoever buys the machine gets a pretty nice PC that's cheaper than a Dell, and I get to play with new hardware. By rounding up I make just enough profit that my state revenue service doesn't cancel my tax ID.
      I do usually make decent profit on ebay, however.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  8. Tom's Hardware by Garthnak · · Score: 1

    There's a decent review of 24 cases from Tom's Hardware:

    http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030428/index .h tml

    The ones they pick in the end seem rather expensive relative to what I am used to, and none of them are toolless (boo!), but they do look pretty. *shrug* Tom's is usually a good resource for reviews in my experience.

    --
    Liberty in Our Lifetime - http://www.freeme.org/
  9. Don't sweat it by dozer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cases are like $35 now, including power supply. That's too cheap to care about.

    Here's how to buy a case:

    0) Go to your local no-name computer shop.
    1) Find the cheapest case that still looks decent.
    2) Jam a quiet (Panaflo, etc) case fan in it.
    3) Spend the $100 or so you saved over a CoolerMaster on a sweet pair of headphones or something.

    1. Re:Don't sweat it by SN74S181 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Some of us only buy a case or two and use them for years. It doesn't pay to put your expensive hardware in the cheapest case/power supply you can find. Those $35 case/power supply combos are fine if you just run common easily replaced hardware. If you've got expensive hardware, i.e. data acqusition and MPEG capture boards, you don't want the power supply to smoke it all. And that's what cheap power supplies are all about.

      If you're a light duty gamer sort whose hardware goes obsolete ever six months, that's probably not a problem.

    2. Re:Don't sweat it by asteinberg · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Cases are like $35 now, including power supply. That's too cheap to care about.

      Sorry, but I have to disagree. While I wouldn't advise going all-out, don't just get the cheapest one you see either. A bad case can make putting together your own computer a far less pleasant experience...example: a friend of mine got a cheap case and within a day managed to accidentally break the connection between the power button and the wire that goes to the motherboard. Ever since then, he's had to manually touch the two ends of the wire to complete this connection every time he wants to turn on his computer!

      I have had good experiences with Enlight cases. They're pretty inexpensive and, while not particularly exciting looking, function well - the drive bays all slide in and out, and the case is the perfect size (not huge but enough room for expansion and cooling). Relatively easy to take apart, too (snap off the front and take out one screw...not quite on par with the thumb-screws you find on some other cases but the next best thing).

      --
      The first ever Ultimate Frisbee video game: here (now
    3. Re:Don't sweat it by dozer · · Score: 1

      I'm a programmer sort whose hardware goes obsolete every three years. Cheap cases work great for me.

      Here's the problem with expensive cases: motherboard form factors change every two years. Even if the power supply still fits, you're going to have a hard time fitting the plugs on the back of a new motherboard into the back of your high-quality old case.

    4. Re:Don't sweat it by slaker · · Score: 2, Informative

      95% of ATX cases have replaceable backplates, so when I deal with a deviant motherboard like an Abit NF7-S (not that I'd deal with an Abit-anything, but it's the first thing that came to mind with a weird I/O bracket), I know that 1.) There will be a proper bracket for it in the box with the motherboard and that 2.) replacing that bracket is only marginally more complicated than removing the metal shields behind the unused 5.25" bays on most computer cases.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
    5. Re:Don't sweat it by Tux2000 · · Score: 1

      Two options: get a soldering iron or take that case back to the shop.

      --
      Denken hilft.
    6. Re:Don't sweat it by WuphonsReach · · Score: 1

      I've not had experience with the desktop/tower cases from Enlight - but I have been severely dissapointed with their 19" rackmount 5U server case. Dual-300W (or was it 400W) power supplies that only lasted 9-12 months and a bear of a time getting either the vendor or the manufacturer to replace the busted module.

      Ended up buying a *2nd* unit just to serve as spare parts for the first unit (was almost cheaper then the replacement modules for the P/S).

      Needless to say, my next case will be a SuperMicro case - I have 2 of their towers (AT and an ATX) that have seen heavy usage for quite a few years and motherboards. Only drawback to a full height tower is that IDE cables won't always reach the top bays. SATA will fix that problem though.

      --
      Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
    7. Re:Don't sweat it by Telastyn · · Score: 1

      do *NOT* do this, unless you happen to live in an area that never ever gets hot. Assuming you have modern hardware [say... ghz or better] there needs to be proper cooling for the hot days [or nights, you don't leave the AC on full blast 24/7 do you?] or else you'll eventually see oddness pop into the machine, and it'll die 2-4 years earlier than it should. Speaking from experience of course...

    8. Re:Don't sweat it by mod12 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and then you can watch the cheap-ass power supply short out the first time you flip the switch, and fry your video card in the process. And trust me, you are not likely to be able to track down and get any reimbursement money for other damaged hardware out of a company that sells $35 cases. For the future, I do not plan on ever buying a generic power supply or another case that comes with a built-in power supply.

    9. Re:Don't sweat it by SN74S181 · · Score: 1

      Motherboard form factors have changed exactly once over the entire life of the PC Clone market. From baby-AT to ATX.

      There's also full-AT, and there are all the proprietary layouts. Every two years? Ridiculous.

    10. Re:Don't sweat it by Jucius+Maximus · · Score: 1
      "Cases are like $35 now, including power supply. That's too cheap to care about."

      Until the cheap-ass power supply shorts on the DC side and cooks your hard drives. That 1337 RAID array won't save your butt because both drives will be cooked. Or worse, wait till your drives die a slow, horrible death from weak, out-of-spec voltages.

      For my next upgrade, I am looking seriously at the Nexus NL-3000 power supply which is super-quiet and was well-received by many reviewers. A PSU is *not* something you skimp on for serious computers.

      "Jam a quiet (Panaflo, etc) case fan in it."

      So you are circumventing the airflow characteristics for which the PSU was designed by removing the manufacturer's fan and adding a different one. That's a good idea. Have fun when your PSU dies from overheating.

  10. Antec cases by The+Bungi · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I'll chip in with my $0.02. I buy mostly Antec cases at Fry's Electronics. They're really great - but get rid of the crappy fans they include. They're noisy as hell and vibrate like crazy. Get an Antec along with good fans and you'll be OK.

    Then again there's not much science to cases at that level, unless you go to the high end. One of my boxes at home is an older Gateway and it comes with the most kickass high end (non-moddy) case I've ever seen. Can't tell the manufacturer though.

    1. Re:Antec cases by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. No one should trust his computer to an Antec fan. They have a very high failure rate. They are noisy. Don't wait till it fails. Replace it ASAP. Otherwise, I like Antec cases. They seem to be a good value.

  11. Old but good... by chriso11 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, you were looking for a website that has case reviews - here's two.

    I've been using the Supermicro 750A for a long time. It is an awesome case, both in design and size. Bringing it to a lan party is an exercise close in scope to Stonehenge...

    What I like about it:
    1) Size. It fits 4 hot scsi drives, a floppy, 2 optical drives, and a flash-card reader without a problem.
    2) Cooling - plenty of places for cooling fans. And you really don't need to use all of them. I have 4 10kRPM HDs, and I only have 4 case fans used.
    3) Solid construction. Buy two and a door, use it as a desk. Stand on the desk. Put 3 21" monitors. No problem. Also, no sharp edges anywhere. I don't think I've cut myself on the metal in the case in 4 years.
    4) No stupid windows! Stop the insanity!

    What I don't like:
    A) I needed a new power supply: the 300W supply that came has been replaced with an Antec Truepower 480W.
    B) My version doesn't have a slide-out tray
    C) No drive-rail clips.
    D) No front mount usb/sound/firewire. I got around that with an internal flash card reader/usb panel
    E) expensive and/or discontinued.

    My friend recently bought an Antec full tower with a locking front (pesky kids!). That is a nice case -almost as big, drives mount on rails, front usb and firewire, Antec truepower 430W ps, pewter grey color, and 2 extra leds for an internal lan or whatever. It cost $129 at Frys. Just don't drop it on your foot.

    --
    No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
    1. Re:Old but good... by questionlp · · Score: 3, Informative

      I also have the Supermicro 750A case and I like it's build quality as well, but the one thing that I hate about it is the tiny opening to route all of the drive cables through. It's not much of a problem if you use rounded cables for everything... but I have several SCSI cables, two IDE cables (both rounded) and a floppy cable that have to fit through that relatively small opening.

      The Addtronics versions of the case, the 7890-series IIRC, are nearly identical to the Supermicro 750A case (Addtronics is the OEM for the Supermicro case, I think). The Addtronics cases use drive rails (as well as the old version of the Supermicro 750) and should still be avaliable from some online resellers. I don't remember of the Addtronics version have a removable motherboard tray or not.

  12. Case review in a nutshell by photon317 · · Score: 2


    Based on my past experiences, I have the very subjective view that for the most part if you're blindly buying a case based on specs from an online retailer, go with Antec. They've never once let me down, whereas many of the other major brands have. The only case that ever impressed me more than an Antec was CoolerMaster's ATC-201C, if I was looking for really good thermal properties for a known-hot setup, I'd probably buy from them again. But in the overall, it's Antec for general purpose stuff. On a related note, even in my CoolerMaster I use Antec's power supplies, they're hard to beat, especially the newer TruePower series.

    --
    11*43+456^2
  13. get it right, man by Rock+Ridge · · Score: 1

    It is lian li. Their add is even on this same page! Coincidence?

  14. These guys ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These guys make nice cases...kinda pricy though.

  15. Have you googled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=review+pc+case&ie =UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

    Doesn't look as though one site does it all.

  16. Some good sites by ghastard · · Score: 3, Informative
    Virtual Hideout has some good case reviews. One of my favorites is Bit-Tech. Bit-Tech tends to cover the higher end cases, but touches on some cheaper ones too. Based on their review of the Coolermaster ATC-101, among other sites reviews, I decided to buy one, and haven't been dissapointed at all.

    I know cases are dirt cheap nowadays, and Coolermasters are a bit expensive, but you get what you pay for: great looks, great performance, and great construction. No matter what, I reccomend going with an aluminum case. The difference in weight is well worth it if you ever move it around. Another thing you get with better cases is a slide-out motherboard tray, which makes installations and upgrades a breeze.

  17. One more note by chriso11 · · Score: 1

    The Antec case is a 1080amg.

    --
    No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
  18. Dan's Data by Chris+Brewer · · Score: 1

    Dan makes it his mission to review any hardware that comes his way. Consequently, he has a large collection of case reviews, including 20 separate articles on Lian-Li cases and accessories. You'll find all case reviews in one handy section in his full list.

    --
    Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
  19. newegg by gabe · · Score: 1

    newegg.com is a great source of customer reviews. they generally tend to include photos (often more than one) of the products they sell also, so you get a very good idea of what you're about to buy...

    --
    Gabriel Ricard
  20. Jinco, baby... by SaDan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Go browse for cases at http://www.jinco.com

    They've got all kinds of stuff there.

    Don't have reviews, but they tend to have enough specs and sometimes all the pictures you could possibly want.

  21. Surprise... by dargaud · · Score: 1
    I ordered 12 Lavita cases to build a cluster, but surprise, when I got them, they weren't quite E-ATX as the webpage said: the 5 1/4" bays were in the way. I had to spend an afternoon cutting metal (as I wasn't going to put CDs in them anyway). THey were light, cheap and small, but I hope no one will move them or they'll fall apart.

    Antec is much better. Heavier too.

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
    1. Re:Surprise... by RocketJeff · · Score: 1

      Why didn't you send them back and get cases that met your needs? There's no reason to put up with this when they didn't meet the specs.

      Sometimes rolling over and playing dead isn't the best way to handle business transactions...

    2. Re:Surprise... by dargaud · · Score: 1
      > Why didn't you send them back

      Because the shipping was almost the same as the price of the cases themselves ! And once 'modified' they worked fine for the purpose of the cluster (with a few extra fans).

      And because I just suck at business. Specs, code and bugs I can handle, but not a vendor that says: "sure, send them back, we'll give you only 30% restocking fee."

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
  22. two brands only by Zugok · · Score: 1

    Supermicro

    Thermaltake

    --
    "I just can't sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it's nonsense" J Watson, Sci Am 288:(4)51
  23. Someone send me some cases... by MImeKillEr · · Score: 1

    ... I'll throw up a review site for ATX cases. I'd need some systemboards for Intel and AMD, as well as procs, video cards, etc. Not like I'm ripping apart my Athlon XP 2100 for you peeps! :-P

    Anything for freebies. And I've got enough buddies to 'share the wealth' with in order to get more than just my opinion.

    Anyone? Helllooo? :-)

    --
    Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
  24. Get it from the source... by phineasx · · Score: 4, Informative

    Although I agree that sometimes there isn't a lot of reviews about non-specialized cases out there, it's also worth noting that the case you use is very much specific to your needs. I mean unlike motherboards, RAM, drives, etc, sometimes you have certain size restrictions, power requirements, or certain features (such as front USB ports) that are common among motherboards, but not all cases. Sure, other components do have different features when compared to one another, but you tend to see more drastic differences in cases.

    I've always hit up the manufacturers websites to get all the information I need in choosing a case for a particular rig. Online retailers are usually handy for getting some snapshots of cases you are interested in. If you're not seeking maximum airflow or some watercooling setup, then it really comes down to a few things:

    1. Will it hold all the drives you need?
    2. Can it supply enough power for your system?
    3. Is it going to fit under your desk?
    4. Do you mind slicing your hand open to save $30?

    The last one is obviously a reference to no-name cases - they'll work just as good as an Antec or Enlight case with a good power supply, but you may also shed some blood in the process. Having a good quality power supply is what usually makes or breaks a general use case, as long as it meets your other requirements.

    That being said, I'm particularly fond of Antec's Performance and Solution series cases. They're just as good as an el-cheapo case at holding everything in, but you get nice features like removable drive cages and rails for all of your external devices. Plus a good quality power supply that will actually last a few years. I'm rocking an Antec SX1040B right now, which is absolutely humongous, but holds my slew of hard disks and 5.25" devices.