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Best Of The Best, Part 3: Who Makes The Most Elite PC Case?

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  • Cases
  • Mountain Mods
  • NANOXIA
  • Zalman
  • Components
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September 29, 2014 12:00:15 AM

We continue our search for the best combination of quality, finish and features with three more cases. Do any meet our Elite criterion?

Best Of The Best, Part 3: Who Makes The Most Elite PC Case? : Read more

More about : part makes elite case

September 29, 2014 1:12:25 AM

Dinosaur cases...
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September 29, 2014 1:18:04 AM

Hats off to Thomas Soderstrom and the work put into this series. There is a lack of comprehensive computer enclosure articles, which leaves consumers purchasing decisions to educated guesses, not definitive answers.

This article highlights a sad truth; computer enclosures typically fall somewhere between gimmicky, foolishly designed, or needlessly excessive. I'm astonished by the difficulty manufacturers seem to have in engineering these things, unless it's blatant disregard. No matter what you purchase, you are forced into making sacrifices that are seemingly obvious fixes.

Even the surface details, way above the depth this article explores, are insulting deficiencies. What sort of R&D department places USB ports so close together that two devices cannot be plugged in simultaneously? To me, that's not having an attention to detail, it's a microcosmic failure that is representative of the general design principles of computer cases. Do you really need to be an engineer to get a heat gun and observe the sources of heat in a modern gaming computer in order to devise an adequate ventilation system?

Call me crazy, but none of it seems that difficult. Use a little ingenuity and intuition. If your design team is so out of touch with the amenities aftermarket builders seek, then have a public design contest. Many of us would be eager to show you a truly capable design.
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September 29, 2014 2:00:57 AM

Magnificent work Thomas Soderstrom! The best high end case test I ever seen in the web.

It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...
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September 29, 2014 2:14:47 AM

R9 290X reference cooler not noisy enough?
need to use GTX 580 instead?
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September 29, 2014 2:18:21 AM

These are ugly boxes that no one needs to look at.

An elite case could be something like the PC-CK101. It's beautiful, and actually works(the movement is kind of silly, and not very feasible). It cost me about $350, but every time I look at it, I feel like it's worth it.

Granted, looks are subjective, but these things make no attempt at being anything but simple boxes. If you want a more functional definition of elite, their gruesome appearance is fine, because no one has to look at them, but then why even consider these knock-off brands, and not just get a SuperMicro? They're more attractive, infinitely better designed, and far better supported. They also make the best motherboards money can buy. They are a real server company, so if you're serious, that's the way to go.

These knock-off companies don't have the experience, reputation (nothing says quality like SuperMicro), or long term support for their products. If you're going to pay that much money for a case, either get some really nice looking (or unique, or both), or at least consider something from a company that only makes high quality products, and has been doing it for a few decades. Their designs are very mature, and very refined.

I can't say they're the best, because I haven't tried every brand, but they are clearly less riddled with problems than the normal cases from lower-end makers like Lian-Li (although I still buy them, and think they're fine for their price.). But, when you're talking around the $400+ area, you don't get a pass for "fine for their price". You better be near perfect, or exceptional in some detail. Because at that price, you are competing against the lower-end of real server boxes, with much better support. It's not clear to me these boxes justify the cost.

It would have been interesting to include one for comparison. Even if you don't need it for a server, they are very nice cases, with so many more options directly available from the manufacturer. It's worth a look, if you have a part 4.



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September 29, 2014 3:38:53 AM

Thank you for your efforts Thomas, that looks like it was a ton of work! If I may add a suggestion: Please include a summary photograph of all the cases in one photo. I feel that it would add to the "rounding off" of the article series and give a nice overview of all the cases' looks to the reader.


After reading your review, I'd take a white Nanoxia Deep Silence 6, based on silence, performance and looks.

Thanks again.
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September 29, 2014 5:04:42 AM

All these so called silent cases lack common sense. You can make a truly silent one yourself by using 25mm plywood and 30mm glass wool - very cheap materials.
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September 29, 2014 5:11:34 AM

ta152h said:
These are ugly boxes that no one needs to look at.

An elite case could be something like the PC-CK101. It's beautiful, and actually works(the movement is kind of silly, and not very feasible). It cost me about $350, but every time I look at it, I feel like it's worth it.

Granted, looks are subjective, but these things make no attempt at being anything but simple boxes. If you want a more functional definition of elite, their gruesome appearance is fine, because no one has to look at them, but then why even consider these knock-off brands, and not just get a SuperMicro? They're more attractive, infinitely better designed, and far better supported. They also make the best motherboards money can buy. They are a real server company, so if you're serious, that's the way to go.

These knock-off companies don't have the experience, reputation (nothing says quality like SuperMicro), or long term support for their products. If you're going to pay that much money for a case, either get some really nice looking (or unique, or both), or at least consider something from a company that only makes high quality products, and has been doing it for a few decades. Their designs are very mature, and very refined.

I can't say they're the best, because I haven't tried every brand, but they are clearly less riddled with problems than the normal cases from lower-end makers like Lian-Li (although I still buy them, and think they're fine for their price.). But, when you're talking around the $400+ area, you don't get a pass for "fine for their price". You better be near perfect, or exceptional in some detail. Because at that price, you are competing against the lower-end of real server boxes, with much better support. It's not clear to me these boxes justify the cost.

It would have been interesting to include one for comparison. Even if you don't need it for a server, they are very nice cases, with so many more options directly available from the manufacturer. It's worth a look, if you have a part 4.



You bought a case that looks like a train. That's not elite, that's niche as hell. On top of that, it's a Mini-ITX case which puts it outside the scope of these articles by default. Besides, if we factored in Mini-ITX the NCase M1 would blow your train out of the water.

Other than some of their cases holding a lot of hard drives, I fail to see what makes SuperMicro cases amazing. They look unbelievably bland on the outside, and like every desktop I've ever seen on the inside [with the exception of the swinging HDD cage, which is of dubious necessity]. Of course I'm only looking at their freestanding computers, because rack cases are also outside of the scope of these articles. Honest request, point me to these outstanding and attractive SuperMicro cases that I'm missing. I'm not familiar enough with the brand to just say you're wrong, but I haven't found evidence myself to the contrary.
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September 29, 2014 5:17:11 AM

All these so called silent cases lack common sense. You can make a truly silent one yourself by using 25mm plywood and 30mm glass wool - very cheap materials.
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September 29, 2014 5:27:47 AM

Maybe you can consider LittleDevil LD PC-V8 with it's 299.99 price tag , Aluminum built and Pro lock.
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September 29, 2014 5:51:19 AM

Where are the Caselabs cases? They are clearly the most elite of all cases.
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September 29, 2014 5:52:17 AM

What is "elite" is highly subjective if you start admitting anything beyond the fundamental functional elements and "niche as hell and priced to match" in the definition.
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September 29, 2014 5:59:52 AM

No Cooler Master Cosmos? I am disappoint 8(

The Cosmos, albeit old, it is a great full tower case. The HAF X is another good option, but I'll concede it's not the best. The CM 932 is much like the HAF X, so the same goes for him.

Also, no Lian Li? I have to say they might not be the cheapest options, but they're very good as well.

Cheers!
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September 29, 2014 6:11:18 AM

Caselabs cases are super pricy. Great quailty look super cool, Pro, and alot of radiators and I think it worth money you pay
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September 29, 2014 7:21:08 AM

I'm sorry to say that this article series is completely useless. It is no help in selecting a case or coming to any conclusion about cases. An "elite' nomination should not be for something that's as impractical as the Mountain Mod, nor should it have as a primary entry criteria a minimum price.

You're like trying to survey the entire auto market for "vehicles over $75,000" and then commenting on their passenger carrying and road-holding capability while some entrants entered an airplane into the competition - and one or two even entered a boat!
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September 29, 2014 7:23:05 AM

Quote:
An elite case could be something like the PC-CK101. It's beautiful, and actually works(the movement is kind of silly, and not very feasible). It cost me about $350, but every time I look at it, I feel like it's worth it.


I just looked it up, that's a hell of a cute case. I might end up doing a build for my kids with one of these. I'm sure it's capable of a lot more but... it's a freakin train! Thanks for mentioning it!
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September 29, 2014 8:13:43 AM

If I was in the 1% and could afford this, it would be my elite choice

http://www.frys.com/product/7930060?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN...

Every time I pass by it as Fry's I just want to touch it and caress it. It's massive, it's construction beauty, it's built like a brick. It's.... my preeeeccciiiiooooouuusssss.
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September 29, 2014 8:22:16 AM

Exactly, Yuca!! Where is the top COSMOS II ? I don't care if it's old or something, it has been my dream case for a long time now. =)
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September 29, 2014 9:21:02 AM

Nice article. Man, them cases are expensive though. I still like my Corsair 300R.
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September 29, 2014 9:30:26 AM

Musaab said:
Maybe you can consider LittleDevil LD PC-V8 with it's 299.99 price tag , Aluminum built and Pro lock.
Look great! I just sent them contact information.

Zepid said:
Where are the Caselabs cases? They are clearly the most elite of all cases.


You mean this?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atx-pc-cases-casela...

Done.
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September 29, 2014 10:41:30 AM

Where is the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe?
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September 29, 2014 11:12:25 AM

How about a "Smart Buy" award for slim mini-ITX cases ?? I'm tryng to chose one to use with a Core i5 4430 and a GTX 750 Low Profile, to be my "console-PC"...
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September 29, 2014 11:43:52 AM

Yuka said:
No Cooler Master Cosmos? I am disappoint 8(

The Cosmos, albeit old, it is a great full tower case. The HAF X is another good option, but I'll concede it's not the best. The CM 932 is much like the HAF X, so the same goes for him.

Also, no Lian Li? I have to say they might not be the cheapest options, but they're very good as well.

Cheers!


The Cosmos II was reviewed in this article from 2012: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/switch-810-cosmos-i...

That Mountain Mods case is insanely huge - it's the PC equivalent of the Ford F150s with the 6' diameter tires. :lol: 

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September 29, 2014 3:24:44 PM

Memnarchon said:
It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...

With three 180mm fans, a low speed already provides good airflow. Kicking them on high is usually unnecessary. I suppose if you wanted to hook them to a more granular fan control, it'd be nice if you wanted just a little extra air without sending them to max rotations.

I really like the DS6 here. It seems to be very well thought out. Even if you don't get as much acoustical insulation as you hope it would give, I think it's obviously a premium product.

However I have to agree with the frustration of many people here. Too many of these products have "well, duh" problems with them. Here's some ideas for an "elite" case:

  • Aligned backplane for at least three drives. Drive rails should be correctly offset for either 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
  • Large intake fan ( 140mm or better, ) blowing over the aforementioned drive cage.
  • 140mm exhaust fan in CPU area.
  • Room above mboard to mount triple radiator ( both 120mm and 140mm support. )
  • PSU mount with independent intake and exhaust grills.
  • Easy remove dust filters over every intake.
  • 12.5" GPU card clearance without removing drive cages.
  • Front access USB, audio, and eSATA.
  • Sound dampening material on main panels.
  • Triple channel fan controller with gradient knobs ( no high/low switches. )
  • Bonus points if you can get the 90* Raven rotation.

  • This can't be too hard to combine in a tower case and keep it under $200, right? Makes me want to fire up some 3D software and design my own.
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    September 29, 2014 3:40:18 PM

    RedJaron said:
    Memnarchon said:
    It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

    If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...

    With three 180mm fans, a low speed already provides good airflow. Kicking them on high is usually unnecessary. I suppose if you wanted to hook them to a more granular fan control, it'd be nice if you wanted just a little extra air without sending them to max rotations.

    I really like the DS6 here. It seems to be very well thought out. Even if you don't get as much acoustical insulation as you hope it would give, I think it's obviously a premium product.

    However I have to agree with the frustration of many people here. Too many of these products have "well, duh" problems with them. Here's some ideas for an "elite" case:

    • Aligned backplane for at least three drives. Drive rails should be correctly offset for either 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
    • Large intake fan ( 140mm or better, ) blowing over the aforementioned drive cage.
    • 140mm exhaust fan in CPU area.
    • Room above mboard to mount triple radiator ( both 120mm and 140mm support. )
    • PSU mount with independent intake and exhaust grills.
    • Easy remove dust filters over every intake.
    • 12.5" GPU card clearance without removing drive cages.
    • Front access USB, audio, and eSATA.
    • Sound dampening material on main panels.
      Triple channel fan controller with gradient knobs ( no high/low switches. )
    • Bonus points if you can get the 90* Raven rotation.

  • This can't be too hard to combine in a tower case and keep it under $200, right? Makes me want to fire up some 3D software and design my own.


  • I agree that high settings on fans are not required. I have the same case as you do and I never used anything than low fans...

    But I don't think that having a tons of features is the ideal since as you said it your self, anyone can design a case large enough (like mountainmods) in order to have all these. What makes a case special is its thermal and acoustic performance.
    Who would buy a case with all these features if it cannot provide good temps or it will sound like a jet?
    That's where innovating engineering comes to play and offer incredible performance and acoustics and great designs.

    Although I agree that some features should be like minimum requirements for the best of the best....
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    September 29, 2014 7:09:05 PM

    Quote:
    It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

    If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...


    The FT04 has analog fan controllers built-in so you can fine-tune its fan speed to any setting that suits your system.
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    September 29, 2014 8:12:33 PM

    Quote:
    Where are the Caselabs cases? They are clearly the most elite of all cases.



    They used the SM8 Merlin and only the base model. So no fans, or dampening. The case had no airflow nor any db resistance. so that case would never win, But if they would have added some fans say 8-10 fans and a good control unit and it would be one damn good case in this race.

    What I don't get is most of these cases are not elite, even the SM8 Merlin is not elite and that's probably one of the most expensive cases in the group, but to make it really elite you have another $120 to put in it and it is getting nice.

    For an elite case they should have picked out a Magnum STH10 added 20 Noctua case fans and you have the starts of an elite airflow case... But for really elite is taking this same case and having the ability to add 5 480 RADS, and 3 360 RADS at the same time is what elite is truly about...

    Oh... Not to mention get a killer paint job from an art studio, as many have with CaseLab cases and see what elite really is...
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    September 29, 2014 8:13:46 PM

    Quote:
    Where are the Caselabs cases? They are clearly the most elite of all cases.



    They used the SM8 Merlin and only the base model. So no fans, or dampening. The case had no airflow nor any db resistance. so that case would never win, But if they would have added some fans say 8-10 fans and a good control unit and it would be one damn good case in this race.

    What I don't get is most of these cases are not elite, even the SM8 Merlin is not elite and that's probably one of the most expensive cases in the group, but to make it really elite you have another $120 to put in it and it is getting nice.

    For an elite case they should have picked out a Magnum STH10 added 20 Noctua case fans and you have the starts of an elite airflow case... But for really elite is taking this same case and having the ability to add 5 480 RADS, and 3 360 RADS at the same time is what elite is truly about...

    Oh... Not to mention get a killer paint job from an art studio, as many have with CaseLab cases and see what elite really is...
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    September 29, 2014 10:16:12 PM

    what about the primatek enthoo primo?
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    September 30, 2014 12:44:58 AM

    Shadz said:
    what about the primatek enthoo primo?

    Please ask them, I'm sure they'd love to tell you why they didn't send it.
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    September 30, 2014 4:52:53 AM

    Quote:
    f we factored in Mini-ITX the NCase M1 would blow your train out of the water.

    Maybe I don't get the definition of Elite being used here, but personally I'd have been inclined to include the NCase M1; it's small but can still fit a full-sized dual slot GPU. Even better, if you use a liquid cooled CPU and GPU (either a custom loop or a single-radiator all-in-one each) then it can beat these cases on noise while maintaining competitive thermals. You even still have a good amount of room for hard-drives (who really needs more than two drives in their gaming rig?) so I'd call that pretty elite IMO, more so than these unnecessarily huge, ugly-as-hell, over-priced cases.
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    September 30, 2014 5:11:34 AM

    Cases have evolved since these models so I wouldn't brand them as "elite"

    Right now the trend is to separate a case into compartments for actively cooled components such as processors, motherboards and video cards, preferably in front of large window to be showcased, and passively cooled (& ugly) ones such HDDs, SSDs, PSUs and optical drives to be hidden along with the cables.

    Thermaltake somewhat started with the level7 and Corsair showed how it's done and took it into mainstream with their Carbides Air 540 & 240.

    High-end aluminum case manufacturers finally took notice that this is the way to go. Their cases cost half of what was reviewed today but I'd choose theirs over these any day.

    Jonsbo has made the W2, which is the most elegant, high-end, compact & roomy ATX case I have seen, Lian Li made the PCV359 MATX, which did not impress me due to it's close size to the W2 & PCQ36 MITX, which is 32x32x25cm in dimensions vs the W2's 40x40x28cm and fits any video card, PSU and CPU cooler you can think of. Not bad at all. Please check them out Tom's and let me/us know if you think they're worth a review.
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    September 30, 2014 5:45:16 AM

    Cases have evolved since these models so I wouldn't brand them as "elite"

    Right now the trend is to separate a case into compartments for actively cooled components such as processors, motherboards and video cards, preferably in front of large window to be showcased, and passively cooled (& ugly) ones such HDDs, SSDs, PSUs and optical drives to be hidden along with the cables.

    Thermaltake somewhat started with the level7 and Corsair showed how it's done and took it into mainstream with their Carbides Air 540 & 240.

    High-end aluminum case manufacturers finally took notice that this is the way to go. Their cases cost half of what was reviewed today but I'd choose theirs over these any day.

    Jonsbo has made the W2, which is the most elegant, high-end, compact & roomy ATX case I have seen, Lian Li made the PCV359 MATX, which did not impress me due to it's close size to the W2 & PCQ36 MITX, which is 32x32x25cm in dimensions vs the W2's 40x40x28cm and fits any video card, PSU and CPU cooler you can think of. Not bad at all. Please check them out Tom's and let me/us know if you think they're worth a review.
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    September 30, 2014 5:47:35 AM

    No CaseLabs SMA8 or similar?
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    September 30, 2014 5:49:11 AM

    ...Or How about an Enthoo Primo?

    Meh...decent article but I really think there are more that could have easily been included for comparison.

    Just my $0.02
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    September 30, 2014 7:20:59 AM

    I'm surprised and disappointed that Phanteks' Enthoo Primo is missing! "Elite" is a very subjective term, but the Primo's quality is outstanding and that is not subjective. Just sayin'.
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    September 30, 2014 7:22:13 AM

    I'm surprised and disappointed that Phanteks' Enthoo Primo is missing! "Elite" is a very subjective term, but the Primo's quality is outstanding and that is not subjective. Just sayin'.
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    September 30, 2014 7:31:03 AM

    i gotta say, when you started this series one case came to the top of the list of cases i knew about... that would be the Fortress Series by silverstone. I knew this contest would be lacking without the fortress, and that it would be one of the best "elite" cases out there.

    I have to admit, This result is about what i'd expect. The fortress series has long been a bit on the high priced side of things, but it's also been at the top of the list of high quality cases. Not a surprising result, but still, quite an interesting series. good job to the author.
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    September 30, 2014 8:00:57 AM

    400$ just for cases o.O That's a lot of money in my country !!
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    September 30, 2014 9:52:01 AM

    As far as non-custom cases go, the Enthoo Primo is what I'd consider "elite".
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    September 30, 2014 9:35:40 PM
    October 1, 2014 4:43:13 AM

    The caselabs is decidedly a chassis for the watercooling enthusiast,and it does what it does very well. I get an elite case should be good at everything though.
    I do feel the silverstone deserved it's award. It may not be elite designwise but it is insanely good performancewise,and function can come before form any day. Zalman should've sent in something more expensive,theydo have them. Oh well...lets do it again sometime,different brands!
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    October 1, 2014 4:50:06 AM

    Silverstone, Corsair and Thermaltake all had great ideas in spite of that order of "cheapness" in materials and quality. If a premium case company could incorporate some real genius they'd have won.
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    October 1, 2014 5:09:37 AM

    Caselabs and Monstermods won't stop making ultimate rad support cases any time soon. Caselabs especially does have the build quality to make a niice "enthusiast gamer" sort of "ordinary" chassis though. Other than them and maybe Lian Li if they took two seconds to actually design a proper interior,not a lot of people left.
    Something i would have been interested in seeing here is the Jonsbo UMX2 Zone/Rosewill Legacy MX2,but Rosewill dropped the ball on that one. It is probably the cheapest chassis with 2/3mm aluminum panels
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    October 1, 2014 2:02:49 PM

    These three articles have been some of the most interesting reading I've done here. Great stuff. Thank you =)
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    October 1, 2014 4:11:30 PM

    Memnarchon said:
    But I don't think that having a tons of features is the ideal since as you said it your self, anyone can design a case large enough (like mountainmods) in order to have all these. What makes a case special is its thermal and acoustic performance.
    Who would buy a case with all these features if it cannot provide good temps or it will sound like a jet?
    That's where innovating engineering comes to play and offer incredible performance and acoustics and great designs.

    Although I agree that some features should be like minimum requirements for the best of the best....

    I agree on the acoustic efficiency, which is why I like to see thick panels and noise dampeners. And you're right, I'm not saying an elite case needs to have every feature thrown in just because. But we are talking about the premium case market. People willing to spend $180+ on a case either have more money than brains, or they have very specific reasons for it. Usually those reason are for a high-end PC. To that end, I think a premium case should have a number of features not often found in the sub-$150 market that aren't there just to be there, but because they're more likely than not to be used and appreciated.

    Let's use the Raven 3 as an example. It's already a very nice case. Now add some acoustic damping material. Next, switch the bottom three 5.25" bays for 3.5" bays that are accessible from the left and have an aligned backplane. Finally, change the fan controller from switches to granular knobs. Those changes would take it from "very nice" to top-shelf and highly desirable to just about anyone.

    Innovative engineering as you call it can design a case that has the "kitchen sink" features, but includes them in a way where they're all useful rather than tripping over themselves.
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