I'm looking to put the final touches on my new rig, but I don't know a good case brand. I don't need anything to fucking flashy, just something that's very easy to pull apart and put together.

5/4/2006 1:44:20 AM

Antec Sonata II
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15139

5/4/2006 10:34:20 AM

Thermaltake Tsunami

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133132

5/4/2006 10:38:00 AM

^ thats flashy, with the gay window on the side

the Sonata II is solid Piano Black, and very quiet, easy as hell to take apart, and the overly bright two blue LEDs on the front of the case can be unplugged

5/4/2006 10:42:24 AM

well u and i have different definitions of flashy. just cause it has a window does not make it flashy in my opinion. and it's very easy to work with and in.

[Edited on May 4, 2006 at 10:53 AM. Reason : .]

5/4/2006 10:53:03 AM

It's rice dude. It's got neon lights and a damn window.

If you want it for the insides, get the original Coolermaster Wavemaster case. It's actually nice looking.

5/4/2006 12:13:03 PM

it has a riveted window and blue led's

its rice.

5/4/2006 12:31:39 PM

I have this and fucking love it. Simple, aluminum, no fruity LEDs or dragons or shit. Drives and drive bays are on rails for easy install and removal, plenty of space, good circulation.

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81800

5/4/2006 1:50:06 PM

You can get the Thermaltake Tsunami without the window. I should know, I have one. It's a very easy to work with case.

5/4/2006 2:44:42 PM

^ITS A FUCKING REBRANDED AND RICED OUT Coolermaster Wavemaster

^^Now that's a beautiful case. From an aesthetic and functional standpoint. Good to see some other companies have followed Lian-Li's example for separate air spaces.

[Edited on May 4, 2006 at 3:06 PM. Reason : .]

5/4/2006 3:05:08 PM

I don't know if this is a rebranding of someone else's case but I really like the drive ventilation and the ease of getting to them.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133155 It's pretty expensive though

5/4/2006 3:17:21 PM

I second the Sonata II. Easy as hell to use, very quiet, extremely well put together. Also, they sell them at Intrex on Glenwood for a good price ($120-ish).

Kind of hard to get bigger mobos into, though, and is a little heavy. Not big issues.

5/4/2006 3:38:28 PM

^^^ Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that it has a tiny little toolbox inside to store extra screws, drive rails, et cetera. It's just a really well thought out case design.

It is heavy as shit, though, in case that matters.

5/4/2006 3:46:59 PM

plywood + screws

[Edited on May 4, 2006 at 3:50 PM. Reason : also zipties]

5/4/2006 3:50:11 PM

I can get a tsunami, cheap, the antec p180 was also recommended to me yesterday. (odd).

I was looking at the asus quato or something it's sick like aids.

5/4/2006 3:52:20 PM

wtf is an asus quato? google hasn't even heard of it.

5/4/2006 3:54:08 PM

probably talking about the Vento. its another rice case, but at least its got decent cooling design.

5/4/2006 3:58:32 PM

haha i wouldn't want a darth vader lookin PC case

5/4/2006 4:16:37 PM

It's a good rated case, just pricey, and I know nothing about it.

5/4/2006 7:38:50 PM

lol rated or not, if that case had a speaker you know EXACTLY what it would be saying

5/4/2006 9:57:05 PM

-ZiP!-

5/5/2006 9:19:11 AM

do you have "-ZiP!-" on your clipboard?

5/5/2006 8:15:47 PM

that antec p180 is tight.

5/5/2006 9:18:27 PM

Another vote for the P180, that thing is beautiful. No nonsense, no windows, no crazy designs, clean.

I was going to suggest Lian-Li cases; they tend to be very nice, but $$$. I don't see any need at this point.

If the P180 is too pricey for you, I got a case that I was reasonably impressed with from Tigerdirect last December. I think the brand was "Ultra"; the case looked like a generic version of an older Antec design, but it was solid, well put-together, and everything came apart logically. No windows, solid black with a door over the optical drive bays. The thing that sold me on it was that it seemed sturdy, whereas a lot of the less expensive cases are really flimsy. A little expensive at $60 considering it didn't have a power supply, but since I needed something locally, it fit the bill.

Found a link: http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=13&pPath=250&productID=250
I'm pretty sure it was $60 and not $70 at tigerdirect, though I suppose it could have gone up.


[Edited on May 5, 2006 at 11:18 PM. Reason : link]

5/5/2006 11:13:56 PM

Quote :

"do you have "-ZiP!-" on your clipboard?"

no, i don't

-ZiP!-

5/5/2006 11:30:05 PM

Guys, the p180 has 50% of it's price in shipping, is the motherfucker built by the german army?

5/6/2006 11:18:31 PM

I love my ANTEC case. It's a older model, the SX1000. You can find it around if you look thou. It's got plenty of room, spot for a HDD fan, two rear fans, rails for the four 5"1/4 drive slots, and removable cages for the HDDs (3 max) and 2 3.5 drives. Extremely easy to access and set up as you like. It also has front firewire and 2 usb connectors. I've built two rigs in it and will go with another when it's time for a new one.

5/7/2006 4:40:49 AM

another vote for the P180, i love it, only disadvantage is you may need power supply cable extensions.

5/7/2006 11:00:40 AM

half its price in shipping?

where did you see that? its 124.99 for the case, 18.99 3 day from newegg vrs 169.00 for the case+22.40 shipping from antec online.

5/7/2006 9:48:27 PM

i think it's $138 shipped at zzf, worst case shipping is only ~$20-25 elsewhere...

5/7/2006 11:02:14 PM

Coolermaster Wavemaster from Xoxide.com

very, very sturdy

5/7/2006 11:17:15 PM

Quote :

"http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81800"

Yeah, just ordered that as one of the parts for my new pc. I like the whole "no rice" quality to it.

5/8/2006 1:15:45 AM

the p180 is sick

wow

5/8/2006 1:31:52 AM

ZZF's free two-day shipping is teh wins.

5/8/2006 1:52:31 AM

i don't get the PSU at the bottom...wouldn't it just vent up into the case (well, my PSU has a top fan as well, I guess some only have rear fans)

5/8/2006 6:16:30 AM

Silverstone has a lot of nicely built cases as well.

5/8/2006 1:33:02 PM

the p150 is nice too, it has those hard drive suspension thingys, but it has a weak power supply.

I would rank cases as such:
1) lian li pc6070
2) antec p180
3) antec p150
4) coolermaser wavemaster
5) antec sonata 2

If your not trying to build a big power hungry machine though, you might could try getting one of those shuttle or aopen cubes, but it sounds like you already have a full size mobo so I guess that wouldnt work. I wouldn't pay for a nice lian li even though I want one, the p180 is also outside my budget, for my next rig I am going with either the p150, sonata2, or a sff cube. Personally I'm leaning more towards a shuttle cube for august/september which would be especially nice if intel lives up to their cooler/faster/lower power conroe hype.

5/9/2006 10:43:43 AM