Quick Takes: 13 Mid-Tower Cases Rounded-Up
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Anonymous
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November 11, 2008 6:10:03 AM
Functionality, elegant design, and solid build quality characterize these mid-tower cases. They offer enough space for several hard drives and graphics cards, making them the ideal foundation for enthusiasts.
Quick Takes: 13 Mid-Tower Cases Rounded-Up : Read more
Quick Takes: 13 Mid-Tower Cases Rounded-Up : Read more
More about : quick takes mid tower cases rounded
xizel
November 11, 2008 7:17:02 AM
JeanLuc
November 11, 2008 7:41:19 AM
I would have liked you to put have put these cases through their paces a bit more, looking at how well a case is put together and what fans and tools you get with a case is one thing but it more useful to know just how well these cases keep your components cool.
You could set these case up with a Q6600 @ 3Ghz, HD 4870 512Mb and a 650 watt PSU (with stock coolers) and loop 3Dmark06/Vantage for an hour and see if the cases can keep the PC cool enough for that long.
You could set these case up with a Q6600 @ 3Ghz, HD 4870 512Mb and a 650 watt PSU (with stock coolers) and loop 3Dmark06/Vantage for an hour and see if the cases can keep the PC cool enough for that long.
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5
3lvis
November 11, 2008 8:48:52 AM
Last, computer I built had an Antec 300 case....theres only a couple issues with it.
Side intake doesn't have a Dust filter. I had to use that fan as an exhaust until I can order one for it, which means that the case wont have positive airflow until then.
Its really heavy. This case weighs more then my Lian Li full tower case.
It doesn't have a removable Motherboard tray.
One thing that was well thought out was the 3 fans that were not included. While this sounds like a draw back, it isn't. The 3 optional fans that are availible are the 3 most visible fans in the case. Which means that you can customize the color of LED fans you want in it.
I used 3 green antec led 120 mm fans in this case and the air flow is phenomenal.
Side intake doesn't have a Dust filter. I had to use that fan as an exhaust until I can order one for it, which means that the case wont have positive airflow until then.
Its really heavy. This case weighs more then my Lian Li full tower case.
It doesn't have a removable Motherboard tray.
One thing that was well thought out was the 3 fans that were not included. While this sounds like a draw back, it isn't. The 3 optional fans that are availible are the 3 most visible fans in the case. Which means that you can customize the color of LED fans you want in it.
I used 3 green antec led 120 mm fans in this case and the air flow is phenomenal.
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0
mennethitus
November 11, 2008 9:44:43 AM
Interesting article,
However having owned the Lian Li B25 I disagree with your comments regarding complexity of installation of the hard drives. Having only built one other system I can say that it takes perhaps 30 sec more than normal to figure out what to do. Also I would have liked to see more details about noise regarding all cases. i can't say for the other but the B25 had sound dampening foam on the front door and on the top cover, the side panels were hollowed out further dampening the noise, the hard drives were connected using rubber (grommets I believe) and there were additional anti vibration features (cant remember) and the feet of the case also used rubber.
However having owned the Lian Li B25 I disagree with your comments regarding complexity of installation of the hard drives. Having only built one other system I can say that it takes perhaps 30 sec more than normal to figure out what to do. Also I would have liked to see more details about noise regarding all cases. i can't say for the other but the B25 had sound dampening foam on the front door and on the top cover, the side panels were hollowed out further dampening the noise, the hard drives were connected using rubber (grommets I believe) and there were additional anti vibration features (cant remember) and the feet of the case also used rubber.
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-1
zpyrd
November 11, 2008 11:05:34 AM
I use Antec cases and power supplies exclusively.
I used the Antec 300 and TruePower Trio 650 for my latest build.
The case is spacious and I didn't have a problem installing a full length graphic card. In the past with other Antec cases I've encountered difficulty installing full length graphic cards because it interferes with the installation of 3.5" drives.
The one thing I don't like about the Antec 300 is the power button. I find the button is weak and I have to gently press it to power on my computer.
The one thing I do like is the case ventilation. It’s laid out well and with installation of single 120mm intake fan my overclocked cpu and graphic card remain very cool.
I used the Antec 300 and TruePower Trio 650 for my latest build.
The case is spacious and I didn't have a problem installing a full length graphic card. In the past with other Antec cases I've encountered difficulty installing full length graphic cards because it interferes with the installation of 3.5" drives.
The one thing I don't like about the Antec 300 is the power button. I find the button is weak and I have to gently press it to power on my computer.
The one thing I do like is the case ventilation. It’s laid out well and with installation of single 120mm intake fan my overclocked cpu and graphic card remain very cool.
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-1
neiroatopelcc
November 11, 2008 11:21:03 AM
Good article, but I'm missing a few things from it really.
1) You could've made a few pictures of the packaging. Cases are things your visitors can see, and you'd want them to be transported to you without taking any, visible or otherwise, damage. Silverstone do an outstanding job at this, and so does antec, but I don't think zalman or thermaltake would care much for the packaging quality (they care about flash stuff, not quality stuff after all). Also I'd have liked a list of noise levels for the cases.
Perhaps you can make another roundup, without limiting yourself to a specific case size and color, of potential gamer cases. And at the end of the roundup make a comparison list with external dimentions, motherboard orientation, weight and noise levels. I'm still using an old thermaltake lanfire chassis for a lan gamer, cause though it's ugly, it's very very light (3kg) and rather well built.
On another note - does anyone know if it is possible to only buy the side panel for that aerocool chassis ? I'd like to built such a door into a new top cover for my custom desktop system ...
1) You could've made a few pictures of the packaging. Cases are things your visitors can see, and you'd want them to be transported to you without taking any, visible or otherwise, damage. Silverstone do an outstanding job at this, and so does antec, but I don't think zalman or thermaltake would care much for the packaging quality (they care about flash stuff, not quality stuff after all). Also I'd have liked a list of noise levels for the cases.
Perhaps you can make another roundup, without limiting yourself to a specific case size and color, of potential gamer cases. And at the end of the roundup make a comparison list with external dimentions, motherboard orientation, weight and noise levels. I'm still using an old thermaltake lanfire chassis for a lan gamer, cause though it's ugly, it's very very light (3kg) and rather well built.
On another note - does anyone know if it is possible to only buy the side panel for that aerocool chassis ? I'd like to built such a door into a new top cover for my custom desktop system ...
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0
zpyrd
November 11, 2008 11:31:59 AM
Attention Article Author: Siggy Moersch
Your mid-tower round up article is good. However laying out your article over 41 pages is too excessive. By the time I reached the 20th page I became bored of flipping through pages with only a few paragraphs on each page.
I'm certain your article could have fit on fewer pages. I believe one page for each case reviewed would provide a clean article layout.
Your mid-tower round up article is good. However laying out your article over 41 pages is too excessive. By the time I reached the 20th page I became bored of flipping through pages with only a few paragraphs on each page.
I'm certain your article could have fit on fewer pages. I believe one page for each case reviewed would provide a clean article layout.
Score
10
Well it was called Quick Takes and it certainly was. It was informative to a point and introduced me to a few models I was unfamiliar with.
Not sure why you would base a recommendation on this information however.
Throw a couple overclocked 4850s and an overclocked C2D in those cases and measure the various temps and get a decibel reading from a fixed point. Those are the things I should know before buying a case.
Not sure why you would base a recommendation on this information however.
Throw a couple overclocked 4850s and an overclocked C2D in those cases and measure the various temps and get a decibel reading from a fixed point. Those are the things I should know before buying a case.
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3
arkadi
November 11, 2008 11:46:53 AM
neiroatopelcc
November 11, 2008 12:24:10 PM
@ demonhorde665 : I know I've told you before, but I will again! Please spend a few more seconds writing your posts. There's no need for four posts about how good your chassis is. One post would suffice. But what's worse is, that your posts are riddled with typos. A typo here and there is expected in comments, but you're almost typing more words wrongly than correct - and it does appear you can spell them correct if you were looking at what you wrote, before you hit the submit button.
On a side note, I think coolermaster may not be represented because they didn't send in any case in time - it's entirely possible they were asked to take part.
On a side note, I think coolermaster may not be represented because they didn't send in any case in time - it's entirely possible they were asked to take part.
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5
theLaminator
November 11, 2008 1:09:37 PM
I agree I would have liked to see CM in the round up, after all I have a RC-690 that I've customized for a nice water system but its like neiro said, its entirely likely that they simply didn't get a case sent in THG in time for the round up. Anyway interesting article but I'm not looking to go into another mid-tower at the moment I need more room for my water loop, so I'd like to a see a round up of the full tower cases
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5
boostercorp
November 11, 2008 1:28:55 PM
i used to buy thermaltake cases for my builds but i always found the cases kinda "floppy". They felt like they were made out of tinfoil and never liked to drag it around but, since i've tried an antec case for a build i kept using those instead. Sure they're heavy as hell but at least you're sure that your hardware inside is safe and the case won't fall appart when you pick it up.
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-1
neiroatopelcc
November 11, 2008 1:36:21 PM
I like antec because you can buy a few of their cases with good power supplies already in there and save a few bucks, but in general I don't really like their cases. None of those I've tried to install stuff into (primarily the cheaper, smaller ones) felt like they'd been thought thru. Cable routing always seemed to be a huge issue, and in some cases the stuff's really badly designed.
One example would be an antec sonata (forgot version). Sleek looking piano black chassis. But the plastic front felt like it was gonna come off any second (still hasn't though), and the power supply they supplied, while brilliant in specs, featured too short cables for the sata drives. So before I was done building it I had already broken a sata power connector as I thought brute force would help make it long enough (it usually does with antec problems). Also the chassis was rather tiny once a motherboard, two harddrives, a dvd and a graphics card were installed.
Anyway I've heard a lot of good stuff about the 900 and p150 apart from noise, so perhaps the bigger cases are good. But I don't really like the small ones except for the value they sport when comming with a psu installed.
One example would be an antec sonata (forgot version). Sleek looking piano black chassis. But the plastic front felt like it was gonna come off any second (still hasn't though), and the power supply they supplied, while brilliant in specs, featured too short cables for the sata drives. So before I was done building it I had already broken a sata power connector as I thought brute force would help make it long enough (it usually does with antec problems). Also the chassis was rather tiny once a motherboard, two harddrives, a dvd and a graphics card were installed.
Anyway I've heard a lot of good stuff about the 900 and p150 apart from noise, so perhaps the bigger cases are good. But I don't really like the small ones except for the value they sport when comming with a psu installed.
Score
-1
Anonymous
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November 11, 2008 1:50:48 PM
You ought to check out this case as a possible entry, with the added modular power supply, 2x 120mm fans and 2x 80mm fans, as well as the fold-out motherboard trays, it is well worth note. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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-5
cobra420
November 11, 2008 2:25:35 PM
cool article but why pay over 100 bucks for a case , when you can get a cooler master 690 or antec 900 for example for under 100 bucks . why not do a gaming case review for under 100 bucks ? you might have to do a little more research to find one you like , but the money you save you can buy a game and have somthing to play and enjoy all your hard work building your pc .
Score
-2
hellwig
November 11, 2008 4:11:21 PM
According to the specs you listed, the AeroCool DOES have e-SATA, yet you list the supposed absence as a minus.
Also, is it better to have positive or negative pressure in a case? I.e should more fans be pulling air in, or pushing air out? These cases differed in their approach (some had two 120s pushing air out, while the AeroCool as a giant 400 pulling air in).
I was always under the impression pulling more air in, and directing that air onto the components, was better than pushing air out, and allowing the air to cut its own path in and around the components (where it might miss some).
Also, is it better to have positive or negative pressure in a case? I.e should more fans be pulling air in, or pushing air out? These cases differed in their approach (some had two 120s pushing air out, while the AeroCool as a giant 400 pulling air in).
I was always under the impression pulling more air in, and directing that air onto the components, was better than pushing air out, and allowing the air to cut its own path in and around the components (where it might miss some).
Score
0
ravenware
November 11, 2008 7:11:32 PM
Anonymous
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November 11, 2008 9:20:10 PM
Some temp and noise facts would help the reader get a better idea of the cases. It's one thing to have a case that looks nice and is well built, but another if you want to throw it out the window cause it sounds like a 747 taking off.. Also not all chassis are good at keeping the temps low, so for an overclocker the nightmare is a case which builds up heat.
Myself settled long ago for the Antec three hundred. It was a tight budget decision.. but geez did I get alot for my bucks!!!
Corsair support say the clearing of about 1 inch between the fan and the bottom of the case is enough for sufficient airflow to the PSU.. In this case it was in regards to a TX650W. I've got a HX520 there turned right side up. So probably need not to worry install the PSU with the fan down.
There was only two tri-cool fans included with the Three Hundred, one 120mm facing back and one 140mm in the roof. They are quiet at the low setting and a bit noisy at medium.. but way to audible at the highest speed! The Tri-Cool 140mm was vibrating a bit so I eventually decided to replace it with a Fractal Design 140mm fan, this lowered the vibrations though I did not use the rubber mounts.
I can second Toms recommendation for the Antec Three Hundred.
Myself settled long ago for the Antec three hundred. It was a tight budget decision.. but geez did I get alot for my bucks!!!
Corsair support say the clearing of about 1 inch between the fan and the bottom of the case is enough for sufficient airflow to the PSU.. In this case it was in regards to a TX650W. I've got a HX520 there turned right side up. So probably need not to worry install the PSU with the fan down.
There was only two tri-cool fans included with the Three Hundred, one 120mm facing back and one 140mm in the roof. They are quiet at the low setting and a bit noisy at medium.. but way to audible at the highest speed! The Tri-Cool 140mm was vibrating a bit so I eventually decided to replace it with a Fractal Design 140mm fan, this lowered the vibrations though I did not use the rubber mounts.
I can second Toms recommendation for the Antec Three Hundred.
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0
Anonymous
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November 12, 2008 12:10:05 AM
bobbknight
November 12, 2008 1:56:52 AM
Another beauty of a review that continues in the tradition of inconsistency and missed features.
Some cases have eSata ports, and this is listed as a plus, but some cases with the eSata ports do not have a listing in the Pro Column. Some cases with out eSata ports do not have that listed in the Con Column.
One of the things I do not like are propitiatory plastic fittings made of crap plastic easily broken and expensive to replace.
My take on the review of the Antec Three Hundred.
Complained about no eSata port, umm so what, the motherboards I buy have that. If I want that feature.
Completely left out the fact that this case has great air flow through for a case of this price point. In the same class as the 900 and 1200. The 300 has a filter behind the bezel that easily removes and gives you access to the add on fan cages.
"The power supply in the Antec housing sits on the bottom. However the case does not have any ventilation openings for the power supply there". Umm WTF A PSU vents out the back, pulling air from the inside of the case. The PSU can be mounted with either the top or bottom of the PSU facing up or down. There is 3/8 of an inch of clearance between the case floor and the PSU.
But hey for $170 I can get a key chain with a serial number on it.
Some cases have eSata ports, and this is listed as a plus, but some cases with the eSata ports do not have a listing in the Pro Column. Some cases with out eSata ports do not have that listed in the Con Column.
One of the things I do not like are propitiatory plastic fittings made of crap plastic easily broken and expensive to replace.
My take on the review of the Antec Three Hundred.
Complained about no eSata port, umm so what, the motherboards I buy have that. If I want that feature.
Completely left out the fact that this case has great air flow through for a case of this price point. In the same class as the 900 and 1200. The 300 has a filter behind the bezel that easily removes and gives you access to the add on fan cages.
"The power supply in the Antec housing sits on the bottom. However the case does not have any ventilation openings for the power supply there". Umm WTF A PSU vents out the back, pulling air from the inside of the case. The PSU can be mounted with either the top or bottom of the PSU facing up or down. There is 3/8 of an inch of clearance between the case floor and the PSU.
But hey for $170 I can get a key chain with a serial number on it.
Score
-1
one-shot
November 12, 2008 3:46:26 AM
xsamitt
November 12, 2008 11:20:05 AM
Anonymous
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November 12, 2008 12:50:59 PM
heltoupee
November 12, 2008 1:45:22 PM
xizelnice article, shame you didnt publish it earlyer i would o defenatly gone for the antec three hundred instead of the thermaltake VD2000BNS i got.Same price range looks better and PSU at the bottom, i like that.
I'll be building a budget gaming rig in an Antec Three Hundred next weekend. Newegg has an insane deal on this case right now which basically amounts to them giving you a 500W earthwatts PSU for free when you buy this case.
I'm not a huge fan of PSU-on-the-bottom. It does help with cooling - I will give you that, but when I built my own machine a couple years back in an Antec P180, I had a hell of a time routing all the PSU cables where they needed to go. With the power supply at the lower rear of the case, and the power block connector on the board on the upper front, I had to get an extension to get it there. Pain. In. The. Butt.
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-1
anartik
November 12, 2008 2:35:47 PM
As far as the Stacker, Cosmos, and Silverstone TJ's I can understand leaving them off since they have been beat to death with reviews and monthly system builds by just about every hardware site. And of course since case prices vary $80-400 in this article its more like a random sampling(with 100’s possible no one is ever going to be happy).
Personally I would not buy much of anything not made by Lian Li or Silverstone (of course with some exceptions like the NZXT Khaos and maybe Stacker EVO). If it has plastic, paint, too much steel, flimsy aluminum, poorly designed ventilation & vibration control or gaudiness I would not touch it with your motherboard. I tend to see a quality case as more of an investment and I often reuse cases for multiple system rebuilds. Sometimes you have to cut corners to stay on budget but putting a good computer in a cheap/dysfunctional case is like putting a luxury interior in a Yugo... Some of these cases are OK but there is not one that I would buy. Even for Lian Li and Silverstone they are some of the less popular and more obscure models. The Zalman at $399 is a joke with the best feature being that you can see and read "Zalman" from every possible viewing angle lol. You can get a far better “high end” case $100-200 less.
As for the comment about the PC-B25 and the complicated HD mounting... get real. It has the same system as my Lian Li PC-V1010. Screw in 4 screws to the drive with 4 rubber grommets and slide the drive into the rack. It's simple, secure and vibration free. I guess you would rather have regular mounting screws or the cheap, easily broken, plastic mounting system of the Chinese cases that even have a mounting system? The Lian Li solution (also in LanCool) just works and you won't need any sort of anti vibration kit for your drives. I don't really care for the PC-B25 design but I would assume it is as vibration and noise free as mine. My Lian Li does have ESATA connections but who cares. If anything the panel has too many connections resulting in a massive bundle of cables sitting in the top of the case. I don’t know about you but I prefer to have my wiring mess behind the computer with the convenience of maybe a couple USB & a firewire in front.
Personally I would not buy much of anything not made by Lian Li or Silverstone (of course with some exceptions like the NZXT Khaos and maybe Stacker EVO). If it has plastic, paint, too much steel, flimsy aluminum, poorly designed ventilation & vibration control or gaudiness I would not touch it with your motherboard. I tend to see a quality case as more of an investment and I often reuse cases for multiple system rebuilds. Sometimes you have to cut corners to stay on budget but putting a good computer in a cheap/dysfunctional case is like putting a luxury interior in a Yugo... Some of these cases are OK but there is not one that I would buy. Even for Lian Li and Silverstone they are some of the less popular and more obscure models. The Zalman at $399 is a joke with the best feature being that you can see and read "Zalman" from every possible viewing angle lol. You can get a far better “high end” case $100-200 less.
As for the comment about the PC-B25 and the complicated HD mounting... get real. It has the same system as my Lian Li PC-V1010. Screw in 4 screws to the drive with 4 rubber grommets and slide the drive into the rack. It's simple, secure and vibration free. I guess you would rather have regular mounting screws or the cheap, easily broken, plastic mounting system of the Chinese cases that even have a mounting system? The Lian Li solution (also in LanCool) just works and you won't need any sort of anti vibration kit for your drives. I don't really care for the PC-B25 design but I would assume it is as vibration and noise free as mine. My Lian Li does have ESATA connections but who cares. If anything the panel has too many connections resulting in a massive bundle of cables sitting in the top of the case. I don’t know about you but I prefer to have my wiring mess behind the computer with the convenience of maybe a couple USB & a firewire in front.
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-1
0bsidian
November 12, 2008 3:30:12 PM
I ordered an Antec 300 case before this article was published, it hasn't arrived yet, but I see a potential flaw. The PSU in the image is clearly mounted right-side-up, as if you'd mount it at the top of any number of ATX cases. What about the people that have those extra large 120mm fans on the bottom of the PSU? Are they forced to mount this unit only that direction or can you flip it around in the Antec 300 so the fan is at least getting some air flow? Or is there a gap not shown where the PSU will get 'enough' air even though it's mounted in the bottom? Thanks for any answers in advance.
I like the article but it seems to be missing some very small technical details that would help builders make the decisions needed to buy one case over the other.
I like the article but it seems to be missing some very small technical details that would help builders make the decisions needed to buy one case over the other.
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-1
mbaroud
November 12, 2008 3:58:15 PM
anartik
November 12, 2008 5:17:04 PM
Obsidian... I would not worry about the PS. Aside from the fact you can probably mount your PS either way look at image 9/12 and the elevated PS support rails inside the case. Its hard to tell from the picture but you probably have .75-1" clearance which is plenty for the 120mm fan (probably low speed controlled anyway) in your PS. I have a bottom 1000w PS w/ bottom 140mm fan and it is just fine with about 1" of clearance.
Score
-1
kep55
November 13, 2008 9:08:04 PM
Anonymous
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Graphics card
November 14, 2008 6:13:22 AM
The reason you had trouble installing the hard drives in the LanCool PC-K1 is because you put them in backwards! I recently bought one of these cases and it caught me out the first time as well. If you look at the photos on the instruction sheet you'll see the hard drives are supposed to be inserted from the other side of the chassis and the cables routed behind the motherboard and out through the holes in the motherboard tray (which is removable and has metal cable clips on the back to keep things tidy).
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-1
Anonymous
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November 14, 2008 6:21:52 AM
Anonymous
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November 21, 2008 11:46:44 AM
Anonymous
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January 29, 2009 4:09:53 PM
Anonymous
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February 5, 2009 11:55:27 PM
StfnoPad
February 20, 2009 12:30:03 PM
zpyrdAttention Article Author: Siggy MoerschYour mid-tower round up article is good. However laying out your article over 41 pages is too excessive. By the time I reached the 20th page I became bored of flipping through pages with only a few paragraphs on each page. I'm certain your article could have fit on fewer pages. I believe one page for each case reviewed would provide a clean article layout.
I agree, but until the author fixes this what you can do is press the print link at the end of the article. Then everything is joined in just one page. Works wonders!!
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-1
nkarasch
February 26, 2009 7:26:41 AM
thedreadfather
January 1, 2010 8:04:46 PM
triny
February 19, 2012 2:53:32 AM
!
. Even a cave man could do it