decent pc case

  • Thread starter Thread starter Smokeyone
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Smokeyone

Has anyone suggestions for the least expensive but halfway decent pc
case. I do not need lights or state of the art design but it would be
nice to cut down some hassle on the installation. Abit motherboard,
Enermax power supply, two hd's etc etc.

Thanks

Smokeyone
 
Smokeyone said:
Has anyone suggestions for the least expensive but halfway decent pc
case. I do not need lights or state of the art design but it would be
nice to cut down some hassle on the installation. Abit motherboard,
Enermax power supply, two hd's etc etc.
Click to expand...
If you absolutely don't care about style, Aria have some midi towers
from £13+VAT but the PSU's are a bit crap however you state you have an
Enermax.

For something a bit more stylish, PC World - Yes I know, I can't
believe it too, have a nice looking range of cases around the £30 mark.
 
Smokeyone said:
Has anyone suggestions for the least expensive but halfway decent pc
case. I do not need lights or state of the art design but it would be
nice to cut down some hassle on the installation. Abit motherboard,
Enermax power supply, two hd's etc etc.

Thanks

Smokeyone
Click to expand...


Here's a couple of good ones that don't cost too much:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-156-018&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-116-166&depa=0

Just ditch the power supply, if it includes one.
 
Dave C. said:
Here's a couple of good ones that don't cost too much:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-156-018&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-116-166&depa=0

Just ditch the power supply, if it includes one.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't ditch the power supply on the Enlight case, they are pretty good.
I use Antec cases now, but a few years ago I built a few systems with
Enlight cases and not one of the power supplies have gone bad that I know
about.
 
Dave just for clarification, for every person that comes in here or
you have contact with, that have PSU failures, a % of those that are
cheap PSU's, a % are expensive and then there are 100's of both that
work flawlessly for years. The idea Of buying a case and PSU just to
ditch the PSU for another seems pretty non productive. penny wise and
pound foolish.
 
JAD said:
Dave just for clarification, for every person that comes in here or
you have contact with, that have PSU failures, a % of those that are
cheap PSU's, a % are expensive and then there are 100's of both that
work flawlessly for years. The idea Of buying a case and PSU just to
ditch the PSU for another seems pretty non productive. penny wise and
pound foolish.
Click to expand...


Sometimes you really should dump the psu.

Another thing to watch for is that some places will sell you a name brand
case and switch out the psu with a cheap one.

The reason I like Antec (and formerly Enlight), is because they come with a
pretty good psu, and it works out a bit cheaper to buy the combo rather than
separately.

If I were to buy a case and psu separately I would go for a PC power and
cooling psu, but there are some others that are pretty good as well.



..
 
JAD said:
Dave just for clarification, for every person that comes in here or
you have contact with, that have PSU failures, a % of those that are
cheap PSU's, a % are expensive and then there are 100's of both that
work flawlessly for years. The idea Of buying a case and PSU just to
ditch the PSU for another seems pretty non productive. penny wise and
pound foolish.
Click to expand...

I take it you haven't seen a mainboard, hard drive and optical drive all
destroyed by a bad power supply. (yet) Yes, you can get lucky with a cheap
power supply. Yes, you can have an expensive power supply blow up on you,
also. Me, I don't go around grabbing alligators by the tail, and I wouldn't
advise anybody else to. -Dave
 
the point is to buy a case either without a supply or to buy a
reputable case. This whole Expensive versus 'cheap' PSU is vastly over
exaggerated. The damage done by a defective supply is the same cheap
or expensive. I have seen people touting expensive PSU's, calling
codegen the worst ever...I have used them almost extensively...never
had one come back to bite me EVER..so you see its a 'crap shoot' as I
have said, and YMMV no matter the route you take. AFA wattage
advertised vs delivered, I wouldn't go in for a 250w anything anymore,
but I won't go and buy a 500w antec for every build either.
 
the point is to buy a case either without a supply or to buy a
reputable case. This whole Expensive versus 'cheap' PSU is vastly over
exaggerated. The damage done by a defective supply is the same cheap
or expensive. I have seen people touting expensive PSU's, calling
codegen the worst ever...I have used them almost extensively...never
had one come back to bite me EVER..so you see its a 'crap shoot' as I
have said, and YMMV no matter the route you take. AFA wattage
advertised vs delivered, I wouldn't go in for a 250w anything anymore,
but I won't go and buy a 500w antec for every build either.
Click to expand...

My case cost me $35.99, and came with a 420 Watt power supply. A
lot of people here might say, it's a crap power supply. Well,
maybe, but I got to thinking. This power supply, which was
essentially free, since the case alone would have cost $30-40, is
doing the job. It boots my computer every time, without a problem.
Why would I be better off had I paid $80 for a separate power
supply and bolted it into an empty case? It would still boot up
every time without a problem. Just like the el-cheapo power supply
I've got now.
 
can't tell if your agreeing with me or not,,,suffice it to say that
many cases are sold without supplies. The famous newegg has tons of
them. Only on insistence of the customer will I go off and buy
specific expensive cases/PSU's.
 
I think original post said he had Enermax power supply he was going to use.

Maybe he likes the one he has.

MrKoko
 
Has anyone suggestions for the least expensive but halfway decent pc
case. I do not need lights or state of the art design but it would be
nice to cut down some hassle on the installation. Abit motherboard,
Enermax power supply, two hd's etc etc.

Thanks

Smokeyone
Click to expand...

How much are you willing to drop? I just finished building a 2.4GHz
Northwood machine using a Antec Sonata box - very stylish in black
with front-side USB and firewire connectors and all drives behind a
door. It is pretty quiet as well even though I have all fans cranked
up all the way. I picked it up for $59 at Fry's after a $30 rebate
about 2 months ago. I have seen it come on sale at the same price
every 2-3 weeks.

One cool feature of the Sonata (and maybe other Antecs as well, I
don't know) is that the 3.5in drives load sideways so that the
connectors face the open door. It makes wiring the drives a *lot*
easier. A simple thing but very effective in reducing wiring
drudgery.....
 
JAD said:
I have seen people touting expensive PSU's, calling codegen the
worst ever...I have used them almost extensively...never had
one come back to bite me
Click to expand...

It helps Codegen that the average computer draws less than 250W, but
can you explain why the better companies bother with higher-capacity
components in their supplies if they don't improve reliability?
 
Has anyone suggestions for the least expensive but halfway decent pc
case. I do not need lights or state of the art design but it would be
nice to cut down some hassle on the installation. Abit motherboard,
Enermax power supply, two hd's etc etc.

Thanks

Smokeyone
Click to expand...


You might be able to pick up a used case at a flea market for a few
bucks (or buy a used computer for 30 bucks and use the case). I have
a Micron case I got for $3 and a Compaq case for free. Buying a case
is very personal. But, I'd much rather have a case without sharp
edges and holes for 120mm fans, perhaps an Antec.
 
It helps Codegen that the average computer draws less than 250W, but
can you explain why the better companies bother with higher-capacity
components in their supplies if they don't improve reliability?
Click to expand...

to get you to pay more, what else
 
JAD said:
I have seen people touting expensive PSU's, calling codegen the
worst ever...I have used them almost extensively...never had
one come back to bite me
Click to expand...
to get you to pay more, what else
Click to expand...

That could be the case with PC Power & Cooling, but it doesn't explain
why companies with no direct retail presense do so. What incentive is
there for Dell's power supply manufacturers to include such hidden
improvements?
 
JAD said:
Dave just for clarification, for every person that comes in here or
you have contact with, that have PSU failures, a % of those that are
cheap PSU's, a % are expensive and then there are 100's of both that
work flawlessly for years.
Click to expand...


I had a good PSU, a 300W Antec (actually CWT "B" -- same thing) fail,
but that was because its capacitors were involved in the Taiwan
counterfeit electrolyte scandal of 2-3 years ago. Actually I wasn't
having problems with it but just happened to have it open and noticed
some bulging caps. OTOH bad design caused failures of my 300W Codegen
(10-16V capacitor had 50V spikes across it) and 250W King Case (blew a
MOSFET when +3.3V rail was shorted).
www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=824361 is a thread about PSU
failures, and more cheapos, like Deer (Codegen's parent co.), seemed
to fail more than quality Antecs, Fortrons/Sparkles, etc.
The idea Of buying a case and PSU just to ditch the PSU for
another seems pretty non productive. penny wise and pound foolish.
Click to expand...

I bought a free-after-rebate Soyo case w/ 300W Soyo/Key Mouse/MaxPower
PSU from Fry's and substituted a $15 300W Fortron/Sparkle. Why was
that foolish? The Soyo PSU had much lower +3.3V and +12V amp ratings
(probably not enough for a mobo that uses +12V for CPU power), its fan
was noisy because it wasn't temperature-controlled, and it had no EMI
filter (drowned out AM radio and TV ch. 3). Fry's often features
cases for $5-15 after rebate, but their PSUs usually seem so bad that
I wouldn't dare use them, except for spare parts. Still a person
could sub a quality PSU from NewEgg for $25 (Hi-Q, PowerQ, both made
by Fortron) and still come out ahead.

I expect Fry's to have another really cheap case-PSU deal either on
11/26 or 12/26.
 
larrymoencurly said:
That could be the case with PC Power & Cooling, but it doesn't explain
why companies with no direct retail presense do so. What incentive is
there for Dell's power supply manufacturers to include such hidden
improvements?
Click to expand...

If your assumption that the part really is of 'higher capacity' is true
then reliability could be one reason. So could different requirements over
a range of intended application (such as surge requirements in servers), or
parts inventory reduction across multiple models or the natural result of
which 'standard' size parts are available.

'Bigger and heavier' doesn't always mean 'higher capacity' though. For
example, one might use 'large' heatsinks to offset the heat generated by
low cost, less efficient, power devices, etc. and it's sometimes less
expensive to use a 'larger' part than the, more difficult to make,
'miniaturized' version.

The 'reason' isn't always obvious.

The one thing it isn't, however, is "to get you to pay more" as the natural
incentive is to charge what the market will bear while keeping the cost of
business as low as possible.
 
there are always specific scenarios which support either side of the
coin...in general, its a crap shoot.
 
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