A few small requirements narrowed a field of over fifty mainstream cases to just fifteen, but even an in-depth look at that subset would have taken us a full month to complete. Rather than tackling a 15-case round-up, we broke the samples into three groups of five.
But that presented a new conundrum: in what order should we present the contenders? The easiest solution was to create groups of five enclosures based on when each brand delivered its first sample. Second samples will show up in the third round-up.
Now, you'd think that our almost completely random selection would result in an equally random set of features in each five-way comparison. So far, though, each story has only seen one stand-out design. We already saw these features individually, and here’s how they compare:

| Antec Eleven Hundred | Cooler Master Storm Enforcer | Fractal Design Arc Midi | Raidmax Agusta | SilverStone Kublai KL04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | |||||
| Height | 20.7" | 19.0" | 18.7" | 23.8" | 19.3" |
| Width | 9.3" | 9.0" | 9.3" | 9.3" | 8.4" |
| Depth | 21.7" | 20.8" | 21.6" | 21.7" | 19.8" |
| Space Above Motherboard | 1.2" to 2.2"**** | 1.6" | 0.6" to 1.6"**** | 0.2" to 0.8"**** | 1.6" to 2.6"**** |
| Card Length | 13.8" | 11.1" to 16.6"^^ | 11.7" to 17.8"** | 16.9" | 17.3"^^^ to 18.1"^^ |
| Weight | 20.0 Pounds | 19.0 Pounds | 23.1 Pounds | 17.7 Pounds | 18.5 Pounds |
| Cooling | |||||
| Front Fans (alternatives) | None (2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 200 mm (2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (2 x 140 mm) | 1 x 120 mm, 1 x 80 mm (None) | None (None) |
| Rear Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 120 mm, 2 x 80 mm (3 x 80 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm) |
| Top Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 200 mm (None) | None (200 mm, 2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 180 mm, 3 x 140/120 mm) | 2 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm, 1 x 140 mm) |
| Left Side (alternatives) | None (2 x 120 mm) | None (None) | None (2 x 180/140 mm) | None (1 x 180/120 mm) | None (None) |
| Right Side (alternatives) | None (1 x 120 mm) | None (None) | None (None) | None (None) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm) |
| Drive Bays | |||||
| 5.25" External | Three | Four | Two | Five | Four |
| 3.5" External | None | 1 x Adapter | 1 x Adapter | None | 1 x Adapter |
| 3.5" Internal | Six | Six | Eight | Six | Nine |
| 2.5" Internal | Two | Two + 1 x Adapter | Eight* | Six* | Six |
| Card Slots | Nine | Seven +1 | Seven +1 | Seven | Eight |
| Price | $100 | $80 | $100 | $120 | $95 |
| *Shared on 3.5" tray **Slots 1-3 ***Slots 2-4 ****w/o Top Fan ^w/o fan bracket ^^w/o Center Cage ^^^12.5" w/HDD installed | |||||
Carnival geeks are a good reminder that standing out isn't always a good thing. Yet, the computer geek in all of us hopes that the most elaborate of these designs can stand up to the performance and quality of its less-flashy rivals. We built a system into each of these cases to find out.
If you missed the first part of this series, or our recent picture-based tour of the five enclosures being evaluated today, then check out the links below:
Antec’s Eleven Hundred stands out among large mid-towers most notably for its support of oversized motherboards up to 13” wide and 13.6” tall, thanks to a deep interior an a total of nine expansion slots. We don’t find an added row of standoffs in either of these directions, but it’s nice to know that EATX- and XL-ATX-based boards will at least fit.

A spacer atop the 3.5” hard drive cage holds 2.5” drives using a single screw and several built-in slides, which is adequate for the low weight and solid-state nature of SSDs.

Hard drive rails comprise the majority of the Eleven Hundred’s installation kit, though a few screws are included to secure the motherboard, additional fans, the power supply, and a couple of SSDs.

Pulling the tabs on 5.25” bay latches releases pins from the bay for quick installation and removal.

Though many users prefer to let their motherboards manage fan speeds, the Eleven Hundred’s fan power hub provides a simpler solution.

Antec cleaned up the cables a little by removing the old AC'97 audio connector from the front-panel headset lead. Double-row connectors power two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 jacks.

Our oversized ATX board fits easily within the Eleven Hundred’s cavernous interior, with enough space remaining to allow clean cable routing through all of its holes.

Our finished builds looks almost classy by game-themed case standards, and users who don’t like the flair of a lighted top fan can even disable that via a rear-panel switch.
Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer fits into more traditional mid-tower dimensions, its tall feet and front-panel peak pushing its height to a mere nineteen inches. With an extra-deep door constituting more than an inch of its 21” total depth, this case's interior is limited to ATX-sized motherboards and a maximum graphics card length of 11.1”.

Sacrificing the four-bay center hard drive cage gives builders room for cards up to 16.7”. Fortunately, that sacrifice wasn’t needed for our build.

The Storm Enforcer includes several 3.5” drive rails, a pair of 5.25”-to-3.5” external bay adapter rails, a 3.5”-to-2.5” hard drive adapter tray, several screws, a PC speaker, and cable ties. If you need more 2.5” drive mounting space, you'll find a two-drive cage mounted to the case’s floor.

Installing our 2.5” drive in the adapter allowed us to use one less power cable in the installation, since our power supply's cable has three leads spaced approximately 6” apart.

Drive latching pins for 5.25” devices rest within a swinging mechanism, engaging the drive’s mounting holes with the flip of a lever.

Shoulders on the two factory-installed standoffs center the motherboard over holes to insure proper alignment. These also enable one-handed installation, since they prevent the board from sliding out of position.

Cooler Master unclutters the Storm Enforcer’s cable kit slightly by omitting USB 2.0 connectivity, though some users will likely prefer the added ports you get from some competing products. The firm goes on to add clutter by including an AC'97 audio lead. Motherboards have used HD Audio for many years, guys. Let's retire AC'97 once and for all!

Our oversized motherboard fits inside the Storm Enforcer with barely enough of its cable holes exposed to pass through SATA connectors. Most of our larger cables were forced to follow an alternative path around the hard drive cage, though the case at least has space above the motherboard we could use to route our ATX12V lead.

Red LED fan lighting finishes the Storm Enforcer’s gaming theme, without being so bright as to distract us from getting our work done.
Employing a similar layout as the Storm Enforcer, Fractal Design’s Arc Midi gives us two more hard drive bays, two fewer 5.25” drive bays, grommets on cable pass-through holes, slightly greater card length, and a flatter top panel for reduced peak height.

Removing the center drive cage extends maximum card length from 11.7” to 17.8”, but only in slots one through three. Since most motherboards place the graphics card in slot two, the extra space is usually useful for one dual-slot card.

The Arc Midi’s 5.25”-to-3.5” external drive adapter is factory-installed in the lower external bay, but its face plate is packaged separately. You'll also find a three-fan controller with adapter cable, two reusable cable ties, and a bag of screws and standoffs in the installation kit.

The Arc Midi’s cable kit is cluttered up a little by the presence of both HD Audio and AC'97 front-panel connectors. The latter has been out of use for several years.

While 3.5” drives use grommets to dampen vibration, 2.5” drives screw directly to the Arc Midi’s hard drive trays, since SSDs don’t vibrate.

Our slightly-oversized ATX motherboard covers the Arc Midi’s cable holes about half-way, forcing us to maneuver large cables around the front edge of the motherboard tray. A hole above the motherboard makes room for our ATX12V lead.

With no windows or lighted fans, the Arc Midi looks more like a workstation than most of its competitors. A side-panel fan mount is the only visual cue to its gaming intent. But then again, some folks like their gaming boxes looking clean.
Raidmax turns the layout of traditional full-towers upside-down in its Agusta, its modernized motherboard-on-top design putting drive cages at the bottom. Like most cases with a power supply below the motherboard, the Agusta has a hole at the top of the motherboard tray that looks like it'd be suitable for an ATX12V lead.

You might also expect a 23.8” case with a top panel over 2” thick to support liquid cooling, but the Agusta’s design doesn’t make that possible. There’s barely enough room in the top panel to hold its two stock fans, and those can only be installed and removed after first pulling out the motherboard.

Our Agusta sample arrived without a manual, but the rest of its installation kit includes three cable holders, several fiber washers, several cable ties, and mounting screws. Standoffs were factory-installed on the motherboard tray, with one missing.

Raidmax ditches the outdated AC'97 audio connector in favor of cleaner HDA-only wiring. A flat ribbon holds power, reset, and activity leads to further clean-up the cable cluster.

The Agusta’s drive trays place 3.5” drive mounting holes on the side and 2.5” holes on the bottom. Five-and-a-quarter-inch bays above those use quarter-turn release latches.

We stated that a hole at the top of the Agusta’s motherboard tray appears to support ATX12V leads, but that hole gets covered up by any motherboard. Raidmax can’t fix this without a complete redesign, since there’s no room above the board to move it. We were instead forced to wrap our cable over the motherboard’s surface.

The finished build looks like it should be an excellent performer.
Like the Storm Enforcer, SilverStone’s Kublai KL04 (KL04B for black; add –W if you want a side window) uses a bottom-mounted SSD cage behind the hard drive cage. But with room for six 2.5" drives, the KL04 holds three times as many SSDs. Its 3.5” cage also has more capacity (up to eight drives) in the removable portion and one hidden bay in its base. What's more, the SSD cage can be moved from the KL04’s base onto the removable hard drive cage.

SilverStone’s attempt to cut cost without sacrificing durability or performance shows through in places like its missing internal grommets and folded-out card holder tab, both of which appear out of place on a case with such a flexible storage configuration. One of the ways SilverStone retains its hallmark quality is through rolled edges on all cable holes, which really make grommets superfluous.

The KL04’s installation kit includes a 5.25”-to-3.5” external bay adapter, a USB 3.0-to-USB 2.0 header adapter, and a bag of miscellaneous mounting hardware complete with cable ties and a miniature screwdriver.

A ribbon-style front-panel lead and HD Audio support (no AC'97) clean up and simplify the KL04's cable bundle.

Elegant simplicity is found in the KL04’s external drive latch. If the latching tab doesn’t appear secure enough to you, holes in the mechanism also support screws.

We installed our SSD without removing the cage, since the case has screwdriver access from both sides. The rest of the enclosure is large enough to accept our slightly oversized motherboard without blocking its cable access holes.

The finished build again looks more like a workstation than a gaming PC, but that’s fine with most of us. Reduced noise is a benefit of the windowless, ventless panels, and we look forward to finding out if fans and vents in other parts of the chassis can still give us the cooling performance we require.
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E): 3.30 GHz, Six Cores O/C to 4.25 GHz (34 x 125 MHz) at 1.40 V Core |
| CPU Cooler | Coolink Corator DS 120 mm Tower |
| Motherboard | Asus P9X79 WS: LGA 2011, Intel X79 Express, Firmware 0603 (11-11-2011) O/C at 125 MHz BCLK |
| RAM | G.Skill F3-17600CL9Q-16GBXLD 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-2200 Benchmarked at DDR3-1600 CAS 9 defaults |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 580: 772 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4008 Maximum Fan Speed for Thermal Tests, SLI |
| Hard Drives | Samsung 470 Series MZ5PA256HMDR, 256 GB SSD |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Power | Seasonic X760 SS-760KM ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 296.10 WHQL |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.2.3.1020 |
We reused the test platform from Four ATX Cases For High-Capacity Water Cooling, Reviewed, but at an overclocked setting that’s more appropriate for air cooling. It includes Asus’ P9X79 WS and a sacrificial C0-stepping Core i7-3960X.
While we normally choose a cooler for its low noise and high cooling, Coolink’s Corator DS provides the moderately-low temperatures and moderately-high noise needed to properly evaluate the airflow and noise-dampening capabilities of these cases.

| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Prime95 v25.8 | 64-bit executable, Small FFTs, 11 Threads |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.1.0, Extreme Preset: Graphics Test 1, Looped |
| RealTemp 3.40 | Average of maximum core readings at full CPU load |
| Galaxy CM-140 SPL Meter | Tested at 1/2 m, corrected to 1 m (-6 dB), A-Weighting |
Antec’s Eleven Hundred, the only case to arrive without any intake fans, amazingly matches SilverStone’s KL04 in average temperatures. And it wasn’t even the CPU that received the most benefits from its design, as low GPU temperatures put it in the top position. That is to say, we can’t even credit its 200 mm top fan directly…or can we?

Perhaps Antec’s 200 mm fan worked a little too well. After all, pulling hot air up from the graphics card would certainly make the CPU warmer, and the Eleven Hundred has the second-highest CPU temperature. Still, we believe that the position of its side-panel vents—which were right below the graphics cooler—played a larger role in its lower graphics temperature. Further analysis might even show the 200 mm fan pulling cool air in from those side panel vents, reducing ambient temperature surrounding the card.
SilverStone’s results are easier to figure out, with an intake fan that sits mostly below the graphics card and a case design that allows that fan to push air to nearly every component.
Fractal Design's submission had the lowest CPU and highest GPU temperatures, and a look back at the build hints to how that happened. The Arc Midi’s included intake fan sits above the level of our graphics card, feeding the CPU cooler air, while leaving the GPU to fend for itself. This might be addressed by moving the fan, though it'd take a while to figure out if dual intake fans, single intake fans in two locations, or extra top fans would yield the best results. The broad number of configuration options forces us to rely on case manufacturers to optimize component placement, as they have the best reason to do so.

Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer had the highest average temperature, but it makes up for that by doing the best job of containing the noise from our graphics card's fan running at 100% duty cycle. It’s unvented side panel appears to be the reason for this performance mix.
Runner-up in the noise stats, SilverStone’s KL04 is the only other case with a solid side panel. Yet, the company had a second trick up its sleeve. Knowing that most folks concerned about noise measure acoustics either from the front or left sides, it put the case’s intake fan on the right side. Seeking the most realistic worst-case scenario, our noise readings are normally taken at 45° from the left front edge.
Indeed, the KL04’s noise measurements were one to two decibels lower than the charted values when we tested it from the same 45°-left angle as the other cases. Because the KL04’s intake fan is actually on the right side of the case, we retested it from 45° to the right, and used the higher noise numbers. SilverStone could have won, but testing it only from the left would have been unfair to its front-fan competitors since we can’t assume everyone is using a PC on their right side.

Even when we use a less favorable angle for testing, SilverStone’s KL04 tops our Acoustic Efficiency chart. Antec and Cooler Master aren’t far behind, though.
Limiting our value analysis to the five cases present, we have already seen that one of these is less expensive than the rest. Fortunately for its manufacturer, that same enclosure also finishes in the middle of the pack with regard to overall performance.

Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer appears to be the best value in a simple comparison of performance to price, yet a comparison that simple leaves out things like added features. And the one case that cost 50% more than the Storm Enforcer, the Raidmax Agusta is packed with features.
Or are they gimmicks? The biggest case in today’s comparison was also the lightest, and that lightness doesn't come from the use of exotic material like carbon fiber or even aluminum. Instead, Raidmax manages to make a bigger/lighter case in the most frugal way possible, by removing much of its structure. It goes head-to-head with In Win’s recently-reviewed Mana 136 in a flimsiness competition, and comes out only slightly better.
Other things that didn’t help make the case for an Agusta win were that it has only a quarter-inch of space behind most of its motherboard tray for cable management, that the access hole for ATX12V leads is blocked by any motherboard, that it requires motherboard removal to service its fans, that its grommets fall out whenever they're touched, that its card holder screws are blocked by the edge of the chassis, that a bridge of metal between the top slot and I/O panel partly blocked our DVI cable, and that we somehow managed to push its power button out of its mount when attempting to turn on the finished build. It still has the longest features list of any mainstream-priced case we’ve ever tested, and thus might be recommended to new system builders who would like to attend the PC builder’s school of hard knocks.
Our final analysis ends with Antec’s Eleven Hundred getting a recommendation for its support of oversized motherboards, SilverStone’s KL04B (the B is for black, remember?) getting a recommendation for its slight edge in overall performance, dual-fan radiator support, and enhanced drive capacity, and Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer getting a recommendation based on its mid-pack performance, quad USB ports, and low price. All three of these medium-duty cases are sturdy enough for most users, yet the Storm Enforcer’s ultra-low price and lack of obvious flaws (apart from the missing radiator mounting space) makes it the most attractive option for a majority of mid-budget builders.

We know that a recommendation appropriate for most folks doesn't fit every need. One of our readers complained that our most recent System Builder Marathon included mostly un-awarded parts. In the example of this review, we would happily pick the Eleven Hundred to fit larger hardware or the KL04B for low-cost radiator support, even though neither of these could match the overall value that today’s award winner offers to a majority of buyers.
