Am I being too cheap with my cases? Cheap vs more expensive cases.

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arronthebrown

Prominent
Nov 19, 2018
13
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510
Hi guys,

I'm from the UK and new to PC building. I'm trying to find a cheap PC case for my mid-range build.

Here are my components so far:

- Sapphire RX Vega 56
- AMD Ryzen 5 2600
- Asrock AB350M Motherboard
- Sandisk PRO SSD
- 16GB RAM 2666MHz
- Corsair CX 650M PSU
- Acer KA241Y 24" Monitor.

I've narrowed my PC cases down to these two:

https://www.box.co.uk/CiT-Illusion-Micro-ATX-Case_2036018.html
https://www.box.co.uk/Kolink-Aviator-Midi-Tower-Gaming-Case_1868430.html

I don't intend to overclock any of my components. I'm wondering: am I being too cheap in selecting my case? Will higher priced/more popular branded cases make a difference in terms of my components' life span and make them last longer, or will the cheaper cases that I have listed do just as good of a job? With the more expensive cases, are you really paying for a noticeable increase in lifespan for your components, or is it more to do with additional features/design?
 
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rvilkman

rvilkman

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Jun 12, 2009
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It basically comes down to a few of things:
- Sufficient cooling in the form of included fans ( which neither of them seem to have, so you'd be paying extra for some, probably 2, so about 10 quid )
- Size to fit your components, ( which seems to be ok in both cases )
- amount of cable routing options ( basically ease of building, it's also subjective )
- you can stand how it looks ( personal preference )
- USB 3.0 front panel generally is desirable these days ( both claim to have at least one port so it should be ok )

Looking at prices on that site and amazon, if you are willing to pony up about 50 quid you will in general get all of the above without the need to add fans. However as long as you have sufficient cooling going on, the case will have absolutely no performance impact, so to each it's own :)


 
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arronthebrown

Prominent
Nov 19, 2018
13
0
510


Thanks for the advice, didn't realise 2.0 ports don't work with 3.0 and it's good to account for the cost of fans.

However, I challenge you to find me a case <£50 which comes with 3-4 fans and x2 3.0 ports! :p

 
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ohiou_grad_2006

Splendid
Dec 3, 2011
3,551
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Here's the case I have actually. I'm from the USA so I got it from a different retailer.

https://www.box.co.uk/MCB-B510L-KANN-S00-Cooler-Master-MasterBox-MB510L-Red-Trim-_2331186.html

The thing you will run into is it only comes with one fan in the exhaust. If you add 5 more fans to it, it seems to really help airflow.

What I did was to get 3 white led fans and 3 red led fans. Then I alternated them. The whole front of that case is mesh, so I put 3 there for intake, 2 on top as exhaust, then changed out the rear fan with an led fan as exhaust. Seems to have decent airflow.

In mine I have this setup

Ryzen 1700x
Asrock AB350 pro 4 motherboard
2 x 8gb sticks of ddr4 3000 ram
256gb Samsung 960 Evo nvme drive
2 1tb hard drives
750 watt powerspec semi modular PSU
Powercolor Vega 56 red dragon GPU


I'm sure there are better cases out there, but for a clear side window and decent airflow for the money imo it's hard to argue with.

You can go with a cheaper case and things will be ok, but if you spend a little extra, the cases tend to be a little nicer and easier to work with. Sometimes with cheap cases you get cases that just aren't as easy to work in our aren't as well designed, and some you literally cut yourself in due to sharp edges. And the metal on many of them is thinner. It's totally up to you of course. But if you are going to be doing upgrades etc then you might want look at a slightly upgraded model.
 
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
Aug 3, 2006
28,223
1,514
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A number of years back, I picked up a Rosewill case that Newegg had on sale: $34.99 with a $20 MIR.
I also picked up two 120mm cooling fans for it: $7.99 ea.

I spent more on the cooling fans than I did on the case itself. It was pretty flimsy and not exactly aesthetically pleasing, but I wasn't being moved a lot, nor looked at a lot. It worked like a charm for a couple years before I sold that computer. No idea where it is now.

I'll spend more on a case these days; somewhere in the $40-$60 range, but I'll spend more if it needs to fulfill a specific need.

-Wolf sends
 
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