Case in point: I know what I want

You can also check out Lian Li and Cooler Master. They make many different aluminum case. I have aluminum cases from Lian Li, Cooler Master, and Kingwin. Personally I perfer Lian Li.

My personal choice is the Antec PLUS1080AMG ... Heavy as hell but is that really a bad thing? Build quality is second to none and the 430w true power speaks for itself.

"There is no dark or light side, only power and those too weak to seek it."

I do not like the design of Antec PLUS1080AMG too much. I have an Antec 1030B which is similar to the Antec PLUS1080AMG. It is larger than my Lian Li PC68 case have less drive bay and does not have removable motherboard tray. The first case for the harddrive cage is blocked by the Vidoe card and every time you have make change to the hard drive you have to remove the video card. I also perfer to choose PSU myself.

May i suggest an Atlas case? (Also called Superflower or Directron depend on where you live)

<A HREF="http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_product_info.php?cod...*" target="_new">http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_product_info.php?cod...*</A>

I just got this one, in black. Its so very cool.
And its got most of the things you want (I think). At the bottom of that page are links to reviews of it.

-Aluminium - Yes!
-Mini/Mid tower - Yep!
-Slide out mobo tray - Yep. Very nice and easy to use!
-Removable drive cages - Yes and No. The top tray you cannot move, but the bottom on behind the front fans is removable and can store up to 5 drives mounted vertically. Ive got two in there kept nice and cool.
-Snap in fan mounts -Yes, sortof. All the casefans in the case use firm plastic push pin thinggies. Its pretty easy to remove the front fans as i did. Of the space for 6 fans, im only using 3 and its uber cool inside.
-PSU not necessary - Usually comes with a 400W psu, but auspcmarket removed it for me. Other distributors should do the same.


<b>The Intel Celleron 2.1 & 2.2Ghz processors provide consumers with a great way to get on the Internet. Which one of the 478 pins plug into the phone socket? - <i>Intel & The Inquirer</i></b>

Yeah, that one does look pretty much exactly like I want.

Now, here is the million dollar question: how loud is it?

-DOOM

Suprisingly good actually.
After reading reviews i was expecting noisier fans. They do have a slight buzz, thanks to their ball bearings, but are pretty quiet, Allmost as good as a panflo silent fan.
And im only running 3 of them, so its even better.

<b>The Intel Celleron 2.1 & 2.2Ghz processors provide consumers with a great way to get on the Internet. Which one of the 478 pins plug into the phone socket? - <i>Intel & The Inquirer</i></b>

ya, i was thinking of running only three on the antec truepower, since it can only auto-throttle a max of 3 case fans.

-DOOM

That sounds good. 3 casefans is more than enough.

<b>The Intel Celleron 2.1 & 2.2Ghz processors provide consumers with a great way to get on the Internet. Which one of the 478 pins plug into the phone socket? - <i>Intel & The Inquirer</i></b>

btw, which 3 fans are you running?

-DOOM

Rear two and top.
All pushing air out.
50% of the air seems to come in the side hole, with the other 50% being drawn in the front and over the hard drives. It works well, except the side gill is loose without a fan there. Must fix that.

Decently quiet.

<b>Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk. <i>Terry Pratchett</i></b>