Looking for a good case

[halcyon]

Why does it seem so hard to find a good heavy-gauge all-aluminum mid/full-tower?

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

My case is all metal... has plastic on top and in the front (on TOP of metal) but it doesn't take away from the build quality at all. If you're looking for ALL metal, that will be more difficult...

 

[clonazepam]

You need steel. It offers a lot more protection in the event of a fire. Also, bunched up cables will bend aluminum, and steel will bend the cables. Heavy-gauge all-aluminum is difficult to find. It's available at a higher cost, which makes it generally undesirable to the general public.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

Besides, they're heavy as hell... my friend has this Antec steel case which by itself weighs as much as my fully loaded NZXT Phantom. I was unpleasantly surprised with the weight - nothing I can't handle, but I nearly dropped the thing since I expected it to be MUCH lighter :lol:

 

[halcyon]

Aaaah, its good to see you guys down here in the THG basement.



I like the Mac Pro's case. The aluminum is thick and heavy...it'd be nice if I could find aftermarket chassis similar. However, I'm still pretty excited by the Corsair 800D and 500R.

 

[ssddx]

have you checked into LIAN-LI ?

i have a midtower from about five years back and its built out of heavy gage aluminum. definitely some very nice products in the lineup.

as far as the corsair 800D obsidian goes... i upgraded to this from the lian-li. its definitely a huge improvement in terms of cable management and space but it does have its own flaws. still a good choice though.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

Unfortunately, here in India I'm not able to take a look at many different cases... 95% of what I see around is generic $15 crap; the rest is what I order for myself or our clients. So far I only saw a few CM cases - they're quite good for the price, considering they're not much more costly than the cheap no-name boxes.

I just got a Cooler Master Elite 343 case for a standby system - it's light, has just enough space for a microATX board and is completely silent due to the components I've installed It's lightweight, and therefore definitely not full aluminium or full steel... but it's meant to be like that in order to be carried around easily.

I don't really see a benefit in a case if it's just heavy - difficult to work with and to carry around. IME, it's not just about the weight - you can have a heavy case that's made of something like pig iron :lol: Has to be solidly built and have good cable management, as long as it has that, I don't mind some plastic, especially if it provides good eye candy

ssddx, iSee your avatar... if it's not just random and you do know that game, are there any good servers still left around?

 

[halcyon]

have you checked into LIAN-LI ?

i have a midtower from about five years back and its built out of heavy gage aluminum. definitely some very nice products in the lineup.

as far as the corsair 800D obsidian goes... i upgraded to this from the lian-li. its definitely a huge improvement in terms of cable management and space but it does have its own flaws. still a good choice though.

I've had a couple Lian-Li cases and mostly, I like their their stuff, but the Aluminum seems very thin, to me, and it does scratch easy...but it looks great.

Unfortunately, here in India I'm not able to take a look at many different cases... 95% of what I see around is generic $15 crap; the rest is what I order for myself or our clients. So far I only saw a few CM cases - they're quite good for the price, considering they're not much more costly than the cheap no-name boxes.

I just got a Cooler Master Elite 343 case for a standby system - it's light, has just enough space for a microATX board and is completely silent due to the components I've installed It's lightweight, and therefore definitely not full aluminium or full steel... but it's meant to be like that in order to be carried around easily.

I don't really see a benefit in a case if it's just heavy - difficult to work with and to carry around. IME, it's not just about the weight - you can have a heavy case that's made of something like pig iron :lol: Has to be solidly built and have good cable management, as long as it has that, I don't mind some plastic, especially if it provides good eye candy

ssddx, iSee your avatar... if it's not just random and you do know that game, are there any good servers still left around?

I don't move my desktops around too much, I want something that's really going to stand the test of time and still look new with good care. I have a thing for metal, though a nice case is a nice case whether it be metal or plastic. Just about any case I'd consider is going to have good cable-management so I'm kinda taking that for granted.

 

[ssddx]

@amk-aka-phantom

you are right, technically any case will work. however if i can pay $200 for junk or $400 for real aluminum i'll go with the better case.

sorry i dont play the game my avatar came from. i'm just an avid fan of the manga and anime. i do play the ps3 game soul ressurecion though.

@OP

its the finish they put on some cases. its more durable than the paint on most cases but yes it still does scratch easily enough. the aluminum on my lian-li is at least about 3/32" thick in most places. this is more than heavy enough for a case. consider that steel cases are often maybe 1 to 2/32 thick in some areas.

cable management is important i agree. so is a case with good airflow. however, the more time you spend in setting up the pc the better it will be.

for instance, instead of using the stock cables that come with everything you could custom wire/connector/braid everything to the perfect length and attach wires to panels/supports using clips. even a case without wire pull throughs can be made to work better this way and a case which does such as the corsair obsidian can be made even better.