Silent PC case (5 5.25 bays) or (3 5.25 & 2 3.24)

[ccampbell15]

Hi all.

I’m looking for a new silent case for my main workstation with a price tag not to exceed $150US
My PC has 2 DVD drives and 1 5.25 enclosure that hold 2 SSDs.

I’d like either 2 more 5.25” bays (to hold a 3 bay 3.25” hot swap chassis) or 2 hot swappable 3.25” front accessible slots already provided.

Most everything I’ve found falls shorts on the # of front accessible bays or meets that but has USB2 ports. I want at least 2 USB3 ports on the front/top.

Thanks for having a look!
Lee

PS cooling shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I5-25K with a honker heatsink and good quiet fan

 

[TheBigTroll]

look at the fractal define R4. only 2 optical drives bays which is just enough and there is lots of hard drive space that you can occupy. also has very good build quality and silence

 

[ccampbell15]

Thanks for the reply,

I've used them before for Servers and they do indeed make a nice quiet product but I'm looking for more front accessible bays. I don't want to open the case to change hard drives, insert one for test or add one. Hence I'm going to use something like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817997038&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

and

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_cages_enclosures/


thats in addition to my 2 DVD drives

 

[ccampbell15]

I think I found what I’ve been looking for
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Nexus-Prominent-5-Case-Review/1214/7

$65 on Amazon. That’s a lot less than I was prepared to spend and seems to have eyerything I was looking for.

I’ll post back after I get the case and build it out with a review.

 

[TheBigTroll]

good luck. i would trust a european manfacturer over a no name any day

what is the point of the enclosures when regular drive cages work the same?

 

[ccampbell15]

I don't want to open the case just to change a drive which is something I do frequently for forensic repair. The front of this computer is accessible but the getting inside it is a PITA.

Fractal is one of the first companies I checked with but only 2 5.25 in bays was a deal killer.

 

[TheBigTroll]

they realized that most people dont use more than 1 optical drive or hotswaps. 90% of the people dont so yeah

good luck then

 

[ccampbell15]

Oh,

Nexus is not a no name. They make all those cases for Iphones, Android as well as computer cases and are based in The Netherlands

 

[TheBigTroll]

first time i ever even heard of it. but ok.