Features - QOTW: Which PC chassis do you use?

[HEXUS]

And once again, how would you rate it going by your own experience?

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[Primey0]

Fractal Design Core 3000. It's a really good case. Bit cramped inside but you expect that from a mid tower I guess. The back could do with a little bit more space for better cable management.

[simonpreston]

I use two cases that could be considered performance cases.

my i5 2300 rig uses a Corsair Carbide 300R whilst my Core 2 Quad Q6600 rig is housed in a Zalman HS1000. The Zalman is excellent at keeping things quiet. Plus the removable hard drive bays are a nice plus - especially when testing out various OS housed on different drives.

Let's have some case pr0n:

Carbide 300R:



Zalman HS1000:

[Firedrops]

I went with a Phantom 410 for my first build, I guess it's a pretty good case but back then I didn't know any better.

Later switched to Fractal's Define R4, it comes at the same price as 410, but the internal layout and modularity(and radiator compatibility, although I'm still on air) are years ahead of the 410's. The silence and the window were also very nicely done. (did I mention the price?)

Now I'm eyeing Corsair's 760t for my next major build. It looks gorgeous, plus I reckon it could fit a 420 up top and 280 in front for a great first WC build. Can't wait for the build logs to start pouring in.

[shaithis]

Corsair 600T (White) - Spacious and beautiful!
Corsair 300R (Black) - Looks good, great cooling, right price!
Silverstone SST-LC20 (Silver) - Looks right under the TV and has loads of room for drives
Silverstone SST-ML05 (Black) - Tiny, lovely looking box, ideal for it's job.

[imshimaru]

I've just completed a new install in a Fractal Design Node 304. It's the smallest mITX that can comfortably fit a huge Sapphire R280x TriX. Seems to work very nicely and build quality is great. Just a minor annoyance of side facing 'front' USB sockets...

[acekorneya]

BitFenix Shadow really good case with good airflow

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Cubitek Mini Cube aluminium mini-ITX case.

Its mostly a nice case,but I think it can do with some improvements

Four things they could improve about it:
1.)Make mounts on the rear fan for a 120MM jobbie and not a 92MM one. I can shoehorn an H40 radiator with a 120MM fan into the space,so it can technically take a 120MM fan.
2.)It might be worth slightly extending the chassis by another one or two cm. ATM,if you want to use the lower 120MM fan slot on the floor,you are limited to shorter PSUs.
3.)The top panel USB has a one modular PSU connector for both the USB3 plugs which is a fail since it won't fit all motherboards. If they had been split I could have used them. Now I cannot.
4.)The screws supplied are a bit fragile,and easily damaged when screwing them in - I would probably try and use a stronger alloy and finish.

My other cases is the aluminium box for a Motorola Razr phone which I modded with a mini-ITX motherboard!!

[DemonHighwayman]

I'm just in the process of building a new system and have selected a Bitfenix Prodigy for my new build. My old system which just died a couple weeks ago was housed in a Coolermaster Cosmos S. I was happy with the case for maybe about five years but have grown tired of its size plus all the fans in it had become noisy and the side panel with the mesh rattled from the 200mm fan. It didn't always rattle but i think removing the various parts to clean the dust out every six months or so must have loosened everything up.

[samuraiweasel]

CoolerMaster CM690
Fractal Design Core 3000
Lian Li PC-Q33

[GuidoLS]

Antec 900 original series. Airflow can't be beat. Creative wiring paths, and water cooling (potentially - I'm straight up fan cooled) are an issue, but 3x120 and a 200mm fan, stock, is still heard to beat, on many levels.

[CGurrell]

I am using the Zalman Z11 Plus for my PC atm (First build), chosen because of it's good looks, it's high number of fans, and good (but not great) cable management options. A few things I've noticed/changed:

The front panel is a pain to take off, and needs to be removed in order to remove/replace the provided front 120mm Zalman blue LED fan.

The top of the PC, however, is even harder to remove. This needs to be removed to remove/replace the provided 120mm blue LED fan, and/or to replace/install a fan in the other 120m or 140mm fan slot (The 120mm included LED fans are also mounted where a 140mm fan can be mounted, something which I have done, replacing these fans with Corsair AF140s for quietness without performance loss).

The two 80mm fans provided in the side panels of the case are extremely loud compared to the other fans installed. I have actually unplugged these fans for the time being, whilst I find some either extremely quiet 80mm fans, or 80mm fans that can be slowed down to quiet speeds (The provided fans are connected via molex and, therefore, cannot be slowed down. The rear 120mm fan is also, unfortunately, molex powered).

The side panel window is excellent as it has a bulge in it, allowing for tall heatsinks on the CPU. I am using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and, without the window, the heatsink would have probably been 5mm or so to tall to fit. With the window however, it fits perfectly. The "toolless" 3.5" drive bays (Although not exactly toolless, you need to screw in mounts to a drive for it to slide in correctly) are very good, the noise cancelling rubber gromits on the drive mounts do their job well, but it's sad to see that Zalman don't provide any 2.5" drive bays, instead opting to include a 5.25" to 2.5" converter (Which can also be used to mount another 3.5" drive) and a 2.5" drive mount on the rear of the motherboard plate.

[FortyNinjaFISH]

White Prodigy mITX with window panel

[phili_c51]

Red BitFenix Prodigy

[SciFi]

I use this puppy.. very happy

[Lord Midas]

Thermaltake Tsunami Dream

Great case and mostly screwless. Plenty of space and no sharp edges. Quiet too.
Often a slight hummbuzz phases in and out of existence with it, and a thump on the front door resolves this. It could just that it's sitting on carpet rather than a hard floor.

It sits between two large wooden furniture fittings yet its huge front and rear fans keep it nice and cool.