Best case for under £50?

[Xenor]

I'm having problems deciding which case to get for my new build. There's so much choice available. I've heard of the Antec 300 but it doesn't look that great. Also heard of the Novatech Prowler Midi Case but it seems cheap.

I don't need a PSU so keep that in mind.

It's for a mid-range build, I5 3570, 2 HDDs, SSD, motherboard, GPU, no over clocking so it doesn't need amazing cooling, hence the lower budget.

So what would you guys suggest?

[Rookie1986]

What GPU are you planning on putting in your build because some of them are fairly large and can be a tight fit depending on the case. Also do you have any colour scheme in mind??

Rookie

[Xenor]

I'm just putting my Radeon HD 5830 in for now to get another year out of it, then upgrade to something like a 7850 when they're closer to £100 next year. The 5830 is quite long, was lucky to get it in my current Dell case.

Colour I'm after a black case. I don't mind ones that have other colours that make the case look more visually appealing. Seen some with reds or blues on them.

[SUMMONER]

Fractal Design Core 3000 for £50 delivered
Exellent value for money, it comes with 3 large/quite fans and a 3 channel fan controller. The HDD trays are a pretty nice addition too.
I have used this case in half a dozen builds now and it is always a pleasure to work with.

BitFenix Survivor £53.99 delivered on the Scan Today deal page.
Rubberised outer, convenient carrying handle and sleek roundish looks make this a pretty nice buy. Supports USB 3.0 on the front panel, if you motherboard has the header for it and it doesn't break the bank either.

Fractal Design Define R3 with USB 3.0 ports for £67.19 delivered on the Scan Today deal page.
Up-market model with noise insulation and more drive/fan spaces. It's also more spacious and has a USB 3.0 front panel port, in case your motherboard has the header for it. Comes with 2 large/quiet fans and a 3 channel fan controller. I own this case myself, it's well worth the extra spend.

[Xenor]

Is a mid-tower case going to be enough for me? I don't know if I need a larger one or not.

My motherboard is the GA-Z77-D3H. It says it has support for USB 3.0 but I'm not 100% sure if it's front, back or both.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=4140#sp

Seems I missed the BitFenix, it's closer to £58 delivered now.

Fractal Design Core looks alright, but BT store kinda puts me off. They don't specialise in computers so hard to know if it's a good deal.

Fractal Design Define is a bit more than I want to pay, price seems to have gone back up there too. I guess these today deals were for yesterday.

Forgot to mention I'd like a case that isn't noisy. But most PCs seem to be quiet these days.

[SUMMONER]

Both the Core and the Survivor have modular hard drive bays, meaning you can remove one sub-section to make space for an extra long video card.

In order to get the reduced prices at Scan you need to go to the deal page and click the green buy button next to the item. If you click the blue info button first you will only get the regular selling price.

If you haven't applied for free delivery with Scan, read more about it here.

BT Shop is another name for Dabs, which is a major computer mail order company. The case is also available from Ebuyer and Scan, in fact it appears to be slightly cheaper at Scan now. link

As for USB 3.0 support...

Chipset:
Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB headers)

USB Header means that there is a connector on the motherboard that the cable from the front panel of the case can connect to, so it would make sense to buy a case with USB 3.0 at the front.

[Pob255]

The core 3000 is ok, a bit pricey for what it is, but well worth a look
Like wise the corsair 300r http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsa...usb-30-w-o-psu

The straight survivor is a little over budget but also worth checking out http://www.scan.co.uk/products/bitfe...handle-w-o-psu

the thing a lot of people forget about the original antec 300 was that the layout was not designed to hide cables behind the motherboard tray, it was designed to run the cables behind the off set 3.5 drive bay then back out again, you could get it very neat you just had to approach it in a different and older way.
They newer antec 900 v2 is a more standard design (well standard for now) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/antec...g-case-w-o-psu where you run the cables behind the motherboard tray and the hard drive bays at 90 degrees.

The Zalman cases are not bad and often overlooked
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zalma...erior-atx-case
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zalma...r-case-w-o-psu

A lot will depend on what you're looking for in a case, esp when you consider the outer looks, that's a very personal thing.

A couple of things I've found about cases is width is a big issue, esp with cabling, the difference between a 195mm wide case and a 210mm wide while it might seem can be a major difference when you come to build in it.
My other major bug bare currently is dust, I've currently gone over to a HAF 912+ as much as I love this case, dust is going to be an issue, the two filters it comes with (front 200mm fan and psu) are not very good and having big unfiltered vents on the side makes good front filtering a bit moot.
Which is why I'm currently waiting on a load of samples of fine mesh to arrive, so I can find the best stuff to make my own filters.

[Rookie1986]

I would say give the Sharkoon T9 Value case a look. It comes in a good selection of colours:

Red, Green, White & Blue

Also comes in an all black edition if thats what you would prefer.

Some info on the case plus size and other specs - Sharkoon T9 Value Case

A Video of the case - Sharkoon T9 Value Case

Scan Link - Sharkoon T9 Value Case

Oh and I don't work for Sharkoon, just think its a good case for around the £50 budget.

Rookie

P.S. - Make sure u get enough posts on Hexus and get setup for the free shipping from Scan

[Xenor]

Thanks guys. I think there's enough suggestions now for me to make a decision. Although I will have to read about them before making a purchase.

At first glance those Sharkoons are my favourite on the outside, followed by the Zalman. But of course like all good looking things in life it's what's on the inside that counts. So I'll look into them all. The Sharkoon has the annoying issue of having to decide on a colour, they all look good lol.

I will get a 3.0 front like Summoner suggested, although I don't actually have anything 3.0 to connect to it but it's futureproof.

I'm not in a massive hurry to build my system so I'm happy to wait until I qualify for free delivery. Hopefully prices won't go up.

PS. How do you thank people's posts? lol.

[shakerist]

if u wanna go m itx
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-074-BX

[Xenor]

That case looks awesome lol. Reminds me of one of those mini fridges. Can it cool my beer too?

[Pob255]

As much as I like the sharkoon cases (the old rebel12 makes for a great server/NAS) they are a bit pricey, it's a nice case decent quality, but for £50 it's really nothing special. you can get similar sort of cases for around £35

One thing I do like about them is the bay system, they've just gone for lots of 5.25" bays and the front is just may up of lots of mesh, dust filtered bay covers, hard drive mounting is via bay adaptors (you can buy them separately http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/conten...rd-disk-drives ) they are smaller than normal 5.25" to 3.5" adaptors this allows for the use of some thick and chunky grommets to absorb vibrations.

The colour painted & matched insides are a nice idea (lifted from current modding trends)

The one thing that really get me, other than the cost, is the total lack of a top vents and fans, not only does it lack them but also lack the room to fit one, so you couldn't mod one in.

They make a slightly larger case called the Tauron which does have top mounted fans and vents, a more normal hard drive cage arrangement (using grommets, like the fractal design drive trays) but this cost £75 http://www.ebuyer.com/341361-sharkoo...-4044951012275

PS the USB3 on these is the pass through connect at the back type, not a motherboard header type, you can buy an adaptor http://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa...e-usb-30-cable but you're adding nearly £5 onto the cost

[Xenor]

Well you've just put me off the Sharkoon Pub255. So I think I will probably go for the Zalman Z11. Or is the Zalman Z9-U3 better?

[Pob255]

review of the Z11 Plus here http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/1504
nothing outstanding, but for under £50 it's good and has a pretty unique look to it.
one thing I will say I like about it is the hard drive mounts

Basically screws with large rubber grommets, screw them onto the hard drive then just slot it in, better than most rail and plastic tray systems with token bits of rubber in that it works well.
Only a piety that there are only 5 and fairly tightly spaced and five 5.25" bays, I'd of preferred a few less 5.25" and more space for the hard drives.

There's a newegg product look here (not a review) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akHcJ2OYAR0
I hadn't realised there was 80mm fans in the side panels, it makes sense. but no filters and why only 80mm no option for larger fans

The Z9 U3 is exactly the same inside as the Z11plus, it's also the same as the Z9plus, only difference is USB3 and a straight window on the side not the mesh and window Z shape on the plus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcwlHsyUC20 3dgamerman but still gives you a decent look at it.

[Xenor]

My concern now with the Zalman is she said in the video that the maximum graphics card size is 11.5 inches. My Radeon 5830 is 11 inches after doing some Googling. Sounds like quite a tight fit... But then if it fits in this small Dell case I should be fine.

I don't really need a ton of drive bays. I've got a 2.5 inch SSD drive to go in, one hard disk and one optical drive. I was tempted to put both my 750gb drives in it but if I do that I leave my current PC without a hard disk, unless I put in a 120gb drive from like 9 years ago lol. It's always nice to have a second PC in working order.

[amjedm]

if u wanna go m itx
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-074-BX

I usually hate Mini ITX stuff but that case looks awesome and makes me want to consider ITX . I think the design is based on the cases a Japanese company used to churn out - I think they went bankrupt but then re-surfaced again?

Back on topic as Pob stated the Core 3000 is a bit pricey. I have this case - only reason I got it was because of the Gumtree offer (I think paid x amount and got x amount plus 10 via Paypal) so basically the case was £10 less the retail price (how I worked it out) .

The build quality isn't very good IMO - I'm comparing to an Antec NSK 4000 II.