Zalman Z7 Plus
Previously known for expensive and relatively-exclusive cases like the LQ1000, GT1000, Fatal1ty, and TNN series, Zalman surprised us by sending the least-expensive “mainstream” gaming-system enclosure of today’s comparison.
Though moderately-priced, the Z7 Plus top panel still includes eSATA connectivity and a tilt-in cover.
The second feature that vendors seem to like applying to the “game case” theme is a fan controller, and Zalman includes one on the side panel.
Another feature shared by all of today’s gaming cases is support for external liquid cooling, which Zalman accomplishes with holes that have rubber grommets.
Screw-free card latches that are functionally identical to those found in Cooler Master’s Storm Sniper separate the Zalman Z7 Plus from today’s other sub-$100 case. On the other hand, Zalman goes a bit cheap by using knock-out slot covers rather than the replaceable variety.
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Good article. But I'm a little surprised that the Element actually found the Buy award. Usually seems like that's set aside for superior products that don't have the QC issues this did.
I'm sure there will be request for this case and that and across a lot of price ranges.
If you do enough of these, you could do a "Best Gaming Case for the Money" series. Or is that peeing in Don's yard?
No Antec Nine Hundred case...
That wouldnt be a bad idea tbh skora, would like to know what the best budget case is out there... not excactly a fan of the antec 200/300
No CM 690 II??
the cm doesn't have a fan control option, afaik.
Gosh, that Zalman is butt-ugly.
ANTEC 902?
More cases need to be added. There are other case under $150 that are better choices.
the lancool (lian-li) k62 is a very, very good case for a sub $100 range. i'm using one, and it has pretty much everything you'd want in a mid-tower case. i especially like its HDD bay system, which can be configured to have the hard drives straight on, or perpendicular. in addition to that there are four quiet fans (two on top) and room for two 5870s.
No Antec Nine Hundred case...
No OLD cases. The Cooler Master case ended up in here by mistake, it was supposed to be for stuff released from November onward.
the cm doesn't have a fan control option, afaik.
Scroll up and look at the BIG KNOB in the picture maybe?
No CM 690 II??
Got the CM Storm Sniper instead, was looking for 4-8 cases due to time constraints which means one per company.
Gosh, that Zalman is butt-ugly.
And the NZXT isn't?
More cases need to be added. There are other case under $150 that are better choices.
More companies were contacted. Every major brand who released a case between the end of November and the end of January was contacted. These are the ones Tom's Hardware got...most of the older-yet-popular cases have already been reviewed.
More companies were contacted. Every major brand who released a case between the end of November and the end of January was contacted. These are the ones Tom's Hardware got...most of the older-yet-popular cases have already been reviewed.
Fair enough.
While the lack of connector on the side fan of the Thermaltake chassis is a bummer and you painted it as such, you don't necessarily have to get a replacement from the factory. From the looks of it, it still uses the same 3 leads that standard fans do - an 11 year-old with a soldering iron could get any given fan to run off it.
I could, of course, be mistaken. There is only one picture of it.
No CM 690 II Advanced?
While the lack of connector on the side fan of the Thermaltake chassis is a bummer and you painted it as such, you don't necessarily have to get a replacement from the factory. From the looks of it, it still uses the same 3 leads that standard fans do - an 11 year-old with a soldering iron could get any given fan to run off it.
I could, of course, be mistaken. There is only one picture of it.
Yes, the connector was not removed to show the back side but anyone with wiring skills could wire the original connector to a generic replacement fan.
Good article. But I'm a little surprised that the Element actually found the Buy award. Usually seems like that's set aside for superior products that don't have the QC issues this did.
I'm sure there will be request for this case and that and across a lot of price ranges.
If you do enough of these, you could do a "Best Gaming Case for the Money" series. Or is that peeing in Don's yard?
It was a tough call. Compared to the other cases it's an incredible value, but only when the side fan works. Hopefully if Thermaltake sells enough of these and is forced to replace enough of these, they will eventually solve the problem at the manufacturing level!
ugly, big, expensive ... describes all of the cases :-)
cannot help myself, but there's no case that would pass for a decent gaming case ... they are either ugly, have too many lights or too much wasted space or bad airflow.
ugly, big, expensive ... describes all of the cases :-)cannot help myself, but there's no case that would pass for a decent gaming case ... they are either ugly, have too many lights or too much wasted space or bad airflow.
The NZXT is tiny...and both Cooler Master and Thermaltake let you shut off the lights from the fan controller. IMO the big cases are too big, the small cases are too small, and if you're right about the looks than I guess you're not in their target market.
No CM 690 II Advanced?
Got the CM Storm Sniper instead, was looking for 4-8 cases due to time constraints which means one per company.