Rasurbo BC-13: A Basic case that IS worth consdeiring: I have bought one to try it

[Zak33]

Cheap cases huh?

In the past I have cut myself, got my fingers trapped, failed to make motherboards fit.... all in the cause of saving dough on a case. So, second only to the Power Supply... I like a quality case.

I'm building Sair a new rig and had a Coolermaster LanBox HT ... and while it's lovely.. it's too small. I'm back into tower cases with room to swing cats in.

So.... bearing in mind there's nothing wrong with the Lanbox HT... I thought, as I was ordering a new Phenom X6 for me... I'd order a cheap case to see what it was like for her.

Rasurbo got my attention on Scan's website.. and for £17 it was worth a risk

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/rasur...hassis-w-o-psu


Good side ventilation, usb on the front/middle where is belongs, what looked like a large front airtake for a big fan (was guessing here) .. was black....

anyway. it arrived... feather light. Not suprised really.. I've not paid for much metal to be honest!

But so far, it's been good to work in and on. Came with all the screws I needed, quality USB cables and front panel cables... all well insulated. The guess about the front fan space was right.. got a 120mm in it.. bit of a squeeze to get it in place but sorted. Front panel cables go through a smooth enough hold pressed out fo the alloy liner, so no sharp bits.. in fact.. no sharp bits anywhere really.

Paint finish is fine for a unit of this price too. And so far, I've not had to stretch any panels to get stuff to line up.

So.. in short.. yeah it's not Silverstone Fortress standards .. but it's really quite good.

[Pob255]

Meh, most cheap cases are much of a muchness.
rattle your hand around inside the drive bays that's where you'll find the sharp edges.
Beware when "snapping out" the rear slot covers, if you're not careful you bend and twist the metal that's left behind, which in turn causes slight warping of the whole rear panel.
178mm wide so no 120mm rear fan, no tall cpu coolers and no space behind the motherboard tray for cable management.

Haveing everything fit in correctly is more down to quality control and tolerances, one sample is no way to judge overall, just because that one was good doesn't mean the next one will be correctly put together.

You'll find a lot of folded edges even in cheap cases, it's not a cheap way to reduce sharp edges (that's a happy side effect), it's a cheap way to re-strengthen thin steel.
Most cheap steel cases display very high level of origami steel folding to replace the strength that has been lost through the use of thinner steel.
not just the no-names but also the big name brands do this in there budget range cases.

For building a basic pc it should be fine, you'll probably start hitting temperature issues with a raming system.

still let's see some photos zak.

[Zak33]

you'll probably start hitting temperature issues with a raming system.

what's a raming system?

[MaddAussie]

One of these? Ramming Speed!

Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum .. smash!

[Zak33]

still let's see some photos zak.

your wish, my good man.

Pls bear in mind I PUT IN THE FAN AND PSU... they're not part of the deal.

[Zak33]

paint finish is good, holes are all accurate... and places that need to be smooth... are









all the electrical cabling has proper terminations, quality thick cable surrounds, and the glue is in the right place for LED's

[Zak33]

amnd plastic casings and castings are all good.

[Zak33]

so, while I agree, it's just an example... it's really nice and hugely better than other dross I've used for £20

[Pob255]

I meant a gaming system

Interesting to see the front and back are separate panels that are riveted on, not a single sheet connected the the bottom which is just folded round (which is more common on the sub £20 cases)
I cannot tell from the photos but that doesn't look like SECC steel, it looks like SGCC, which is what I'd expect for this level of cost.
That's not to say there's anything wrong with SGCC steel it's just that the galvanised zinc coating tends to be thinner and less well adhered, for the insides of a pc case this really isn't much of an issue as it shouldn't really be exposed to high moisture levels or flexing.

Overall it doesn't look too bad, but not vastly different from other low cost cases these days, I do like the front fan grill on the inside of the case, very open.

All told I'd still look to spend a bit more on something like the Casecom k5, NZXT Source 210, BitFenix Merc beta Or even an older case like the Silverstone PS-01 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...m-fans-w-o-psu

[Zak33]

.... I'd still look to spend a bit more on something like the Casecom k5, NZXT Source 210, BitFenix Merc beta Or even an older case like the Silverstone PS-01 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...m-fans-w-o-psu

but that Silverstone is'nt a BIT more....

it's 86% more.

I've got a £200 graphics card.... not a £360 graphics card.

and if we take % away and deal in just £££££'s... it's £14.96

that's a lot of ram.. or a proper increase in graphics card.

either way... cos we could debate this all night/day... I've used lots of cheap cases... maintly cos people have already ordered them.. and most were rubbish.

this is pretty good... and for £18... it's great!

[Pob255]

Sorry In % it's big, but £15 isn't much of the way of increase in graphics card. a £200 card vs a £215 card is normally just a different brand and maybe a factory overclock. (granted that £15 could be the difference between 4gb and 8gb of ram, But I'm still not struggling at 4gb)
Also the silverstone comes with fans, but the Rasurbo doesn't, so if you don't have any kicking around you'll need to add those onto the cost.
Throw in the cheapest 120mm http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...value-case-fan and 92mm http://www.scan.co.uk/products/92mm-...ance-quiet-fan fans scan sell and you're adding just over £6, which brings the difference down to around £11

I do agree for £18 it's good value and I've also gone through quite a few cheap cases, I think in the sub £20 category this will be hard to beat.

For a basic setup this would be very nice, but I'd still not go for it for a gameing system, the reduced width means you'd not be able to fit a 120mm fan based tower cooler.
Combine that with the lack of a rear 120mm fan, no side panel fan mounting points (how hard would it of been to make a couple of the holes bigger so a fan could be added?)
Your air flow options are rather limited.
It would be great for a basic office/internet pc, but for the added heat of a higher end cpu and gpu spending an extra £12 in the case of the casecom K5 would be a good idea to me.

[wasabi]

Looks like a decent case for the cash.
The biggest moans I have about a lot of cheap cases
- getting the sides back on - and it isn't just cheap ones come to think of it.
- poorly cut pci-e/AGP etc rear slots which don't come away cleanly on removal.

Curious about the sharp edge comments. I've never been cut by a case in my life and I production line built hundreds of nasty old office clunkers back in the day.

[shaithis]

I recently built some units with cheap cases......Asus Ventro and NZXT 210.

Got to say.....looking at your images and comparing to the builds I did, the NZXT 210 looks to be a winner in the £20 case segment.

The silverstone does seem to be a good compromise for the extra cash though.

[cheesemp]

This debate reminds me of an old Durion 650 system I built back in uni 10 years ago. The company I got the motherboard and CPU from had a full tower case for £30. I couldn't resist as a midi case was £28. Worst decision I ever made - The motherboard tray was supported by a single metal bar up one side of the case. While travelling from my parents back to uni six months later the PC stopped working. Took it all apart and found the bar had bent just from travelling in the boot of my car. This had then obviously bent the motherboard beyond what it could cope with and killed it. Thankfully the company replaced the motherboard - Needless to say I bought a new half decent midi case to rebuild it in!

Saying all that some of these cheap cases can be ok (I've had similar to this on other builds) and they've been fine. I am glad I spent out on my antec 300 for my current PC though!

[Zak33]

update

I cut myself on it....


hmmmm

[Butuz]

You probably cut yourself on the cardboard when you were unpacking it

Butuz