Three Gaming Cases, With Power, Under $100

Features
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

Case and power supply combos always look like a bargain, but bargain-basement parts have always seemed to chase experienced builders away. Today, we consider three budget-enthusiast models to determine if any of them can meet our basic gaming needs.

Antec

We begin every roundup by contacting as many qualifying companies as possible, yet many times our requests go unanswered. With marketing events and holidays all over the world causing some announcements to go unnoticed, its often necessary to contact a company several times to get a response. Such was the case with Antec around the time of this year’s Computex. Our message got through at the last possible moment, but not without a snag.

We had requested a case and power supply combination priced below $100, and had even mentioned a couple models as examples, and when the wrong part showed up we had no time to get a replacement. We know the Earthwatts 500W is a well-respected part, but this one didn’t come with a case.

Antec does however produce a few models that could have qualified. The NSK4480B, seen in our previous System Builder Marathon, is but one example, though this particular example has recently been updated to the NSK 4482B.

Several venders even offer Antec’s popular Three Hundred gaming chassis with its low-cost BP430 power supply for less than $100.

Conspiracy theories abound in the comments section whenever a popular brand is unable to participate in a roundup. Today we decided to address those conspiracy theories preemptively. Readers can rest assured that we exhaust every possible avenue in our efforts to include their favorite brands in every roundup, and we know we'll have better luck including Antec in our next chassis or power supply story.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
65 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Vic84
    Good review
    Reply
  • gordo_46
    yeah good review
    Reply
  • xc0mmiex
    In "Measured Test Results", first chart, temperature over ambient in degrees Celsius... even at freezing temperature of 0C, CPU would be at 67+ C.... and on a hot day of 30C your CPU would be approaching boiling... i think its a little too toasty so there gotta be a mistake in there somewhere; wrong unit or math
    Reply
  • dirtmountain
    Good article, i really enjoy these articles about squeezing the biggest bang for the buck out of builds. We'd all like to be able to drop big $$$$ on our systems, but sometimes reality (or the wife) puts a pretty low limit on how much we can spend.
    Reply
  • Just to confirm, are you guys using a dual channel RAM for a 920 build?
    Reply
  • JonnyDough
    Unfortunately, Cooler Master does not include an exhaust fan.

    I would not only prefer not to have one if not necessary due to noise, but I would also prefer to purchase one of my choosing so this is not necessarily a bad thing.
    Reply
  • falchard
    I think in cases more people are looking at aesthetics and ruggedness over temps and acoustics as nearly all cases have acceptable values. When it comes to this NZXT and Rosewill have really seperated themselves from other cases under $50.
    Reply
  • JonnyDough
    I agree, but as an enthusiast I'm really loving that Cooler Master case. I tend to like front to back air flow just because it helps direct noise away from me and I can cool my hard drives first and my GPU last since that seems to be the order of coolest to hottest operating temps.

    I suspect with a bit higher power draw Cooler Master's PSU may perform a bit more admirably on efficiency. The only way to really know is to test the PSUs against each other and measure power draw of the PSUs themselves (until they power off preferably!) under load/idle. If you're going to make a statement about energy efficiency at all then it is my belief that you should test them.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    xc0mmiexIn "Measured Test Results", first chart, temperature over ambient in degrees Celsius... even at freezing temperature of 0C, CPU would be at 67+ C.... i think its a little too toasty so there gotta be a mistake in there somewhere; wrong unit or mathNo, it's an overclocked Core i7 at eight threads of Prime95, if you find those numbers shocking you're thinking of the wrong CPU.
    falchardI think in cases more people are looking at aesthetics and ruggedness over temps and acoustics as nearly all cases have acceptable values. When it comes to this NZXT and Rosewill have really seperated themselves from other cases under $50.These are basically $40 cases in this article. Two of the cases in the review are already far better than this one:
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-computer-case,2579-5.html
    That is to say, two of these $40 cases are vastly superior to that $100 case. So you can say what you like, but words alone will not convince me.
    Reply
  • grossemesser
    Why in blazes you did NOT include in this... comparison the amazingly incredible HAF 922??? Its way better than any of these and costs only $90 Plenty of space, cable management space and of course AIRFLOW! it even has slots in the door so you can fit one big or two small fans... Anyways what can i say, you should have included it

    ... ummm sorry didn't get the WITH POWER part hehe... well i can just add that this is a great case and it is worth saving up the extra bucks for the added money you'll have to pay for the PSU
    Reply